Category: San Diego

By Jim Varnadore

Dear SD U-T Editor,

There are recent rumors that San Diego will soon have a new ride-share called “Waymo”. As I understand it, Waymo is a vehicle without a driver.

I look forward to reading the newspaper coverage of that new service.

It raises a question.

Under state law drivers must exchange identification and insurance information in the event of a collision. If I were to bump into a Waymo, how do I tell it who I am and who is my car insurance carrier?

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings December 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th.

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine
The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach: Point Loma Native Plant Garden Club on the 2nd and 4th Sundays
Every Sunday 2 pm – 4 pm Occupy Otay Sunday Action Otay Mesa Detention Center

December 1st Monday  12 pm – 1 pm Interfaith Vigil For Earth Justice
December 1st Monday 4 pm – 6 pm The Courage to Connect:
December 1st Monday We Ain’t Buying It

December 2nd. Tuesday 6 pm – 9 pm Community Craft & Film Night Fundraiser
December 3rd. Wednesday 5 pm Santa’s Clean Air Workshop:  Holiday Crafts for a Healthy Portside
December 3rd. Wednesday 10 am- 11am Celebrate Without the Waste: Sustainable Holidays Webinar
December 3rd. Wednesday 5 pm – 8 pm Salty Cinema Fall 2025: Tides of Renewal.

December 4th Thursday 6 pm – 8 pm Protecting Southern California from Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
December 5th Friday 6 pm Film Night “The Great Debaters”  Event by Black Panther Party of San Diego
December 6th Saturday 1 pm – 3:30 pm Party for the Planet

December 6th 12 pm – 3 pm Active Duty Coffee Talk
December 6th Saturday 11 am – 2 pm Friends and Neighbors Holiday River Celebration & Art Market
December 6th Saturday 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Mission Beach Community Climate Conversation

December 7th Sunday 12:30 pm- 3 pm South Bay Community Climate Conversation
December 7th Sunday 9:30 am  – 10:30 am Ramona Wildlife Center Tour

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 22-24, 2025

An aggressive plan to add nearly 20,000 potential new homes to Clairemont over the next 30 years got a key green light Friday when the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee unanimously approved it.

The new growth blueprint for Clairemont — the oldest and largest of San Diego’s suburban neighborhoods — also includes a new fire station, new parks and a possible new trolley station at Jutland Drive and Morena Boulevard.

The blueprint, which could boost the neighborhood’s population from the current 80,000 to about 119,000, also shrinks vehicle lanes on Morena Boulevard and Genesee Avenue to make way for bicycle-only and bus-only lanes.

There are also some ambitious goals like aerial tramways over Interstate 5 to connect Clairemont to coastal areas, and a missing link hiking trail that would connect Marian Bear Park and Tecolote Park.

And the neighborhood’s 30-foot building height limit would be wiped out in many areas to allow high-rise and mid-rise buildings that would range in height from 40 feet to 65 feet.

Campillo Is Lone Vote Against Approval

By Maura Fox / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 24, 2025

A development blueprint that plans for tripling the population of the College Area over the next 30 years is one step closer to being adopted, after a San Diego City Council committee voted to approve the update.

The community plan, which hasn’t seen an update since 1989, will guide land use and development for the neighborhood for the next two to three decades. It will now head to the full City Council for review.

It projects ambitious population growth in the College Area and expects more opportunities for cycling and public transit, green spaces along busy streets and a campus town center near San Diego State University.

“I’m excited to see how, outside this plan update, we can work to make those recommendations a reality for the community,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, whose District 9 includes the area, said at Friday’s meeting of the Land Use and Housing Committee.

The plan update passed 3-1, with Councilmember Raul Campillo, who represents nearby District 7, voting no.

From Fox5 San Diego / November 25, 2025

A class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of violating due process by targeting people after court proceedings in San Diego County.

Represented by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA’s School of Law and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), three detained immigrants filed the lawsuit.

“Entrapping and imprisoning people who are complying with their immigration requirements isn’t just cowardly, it’s unconstitutional,” CHRCL Legal Director Bardis Vakili said via a press release. “Due process requires that, before taking away our freedom, the government must prove at a hearing that detention is justified.”

Throughout the summer, ICE targeted people leaving court hearings at 880 Front Street, according to the lawsuit.

San Diego City Council Committees Disrespect the Public

By Paul Krueger

Twice in one week, City Council Committees demonstrated blatant disregard for public interest and input on important issues.

At the November 19 Council Rules Committee meeting, Kent Lee was absent, and Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera abruptly walked out — with no explanation — before the meeting ended.

Their absence deprived the Committee of a quorum, ending discussion and a committee decision on a proposed ballot measure calling for free Sunday parking in Balboa Park.

That proposal by Shane Harris was endorsed by several members of the public, who testified in person and by phone.

The Committee’s failure to finish its work could jeopardize Harris’ proposal, because there is a strict timeline for the council to review citizen-proposed ballot measures, and the Rules Committee isn’t scheduled to meet again until January.

By Donna Frye

On November 13, I sent an email to the city requesting information about how high the buildings could be in Clairemont if the Community Plan Update is approved, taking into account the State Density Bonus Law and Senate Bill 79 (SB79).

On November 21, the OB Rag published this as part of my ongoing requests to the city for some answers.

This is Part 2 which is my progress to date. In case you’re wondering why this even matters, it’s because we have the right to know what’s going on in our communities. And even though my question is about a specific community, the height limits and many other development issues, are not unique to Clairemont.

On November 21, I received the following email response to my question from the city:

“Under SB79, development would be allowed at 65 feet in height if within 1/4 mile of a trolley stop, and up to 55 feet in height if within 1/2 mile of a trolley stop, which is generally consistent with the 65-foot height limits in the overlay zone. Regarding other development incentive programs, both at the state and local level, projects that include affordable housing may also be eligible to receive development incentives and waivers that could allow a project to further exceed these height limits.”

By Paul Krueger

Before City Councilmembers adjourned to Closed Session on November 17 to discuss and vote on the controversial 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway area, I asked them to disclose after that meeting why they voted as they did.

I told our representatives they owed the public an on-the-record explanation on this very important land use and housing density issue.

I didn’t ask — or expect them — to reveal any “privileged” information discussed in Closed Session, including legal strategies, the odds of winning or losing an appeal to the State Supreme Court, or the possible cost of that litigation.

But I told councilmembers that their constituents deserve to know if they agree with Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferber’s harsh criticism of the recent appellate court decision that reinstated the 30-foot height limit. And if so, did they support the Mayor and City Attorney’s strategy of asking the State Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court and allow high-rise construction without a more thorough review of the negative environmental impact of that density?

By Rob Nikolewski / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 20, 2025

The pathway for robotaxis in San Diego may have hit a pothole.

[Please see original for all the great links.]

Just weeks after officials at the autonomous vehicle company Waymo announced early steps to bring its ride-hailing services to San Diego in 2026, the Taxi Advisory Committee at the Metropolitan Transit System came out in opposition to driverless vehicles.

“My chief concern is what this means for people who are keeping a roof over their head and feeding their families by being drivers,” said San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who is also chair of the Taxi Advisory Committee.

By San Diego Business Journal / Nov. 2025

A former Point Loma hotel that closed in 2019 and has been vacant ever since is being redeveloped into apartments in a $23 million project by Ambient Communities and C2 Building Group.

“It struggled as a hotel in Point Loma because there are thousands of hotel rooms in Point Loma right along the water,” according to Robert Horner of Ambient Communities.

Built in 1971, the 110-room Consulate Hotel at 2901 Nimitz Blvd. is about two blocks from the waterfront and couldn’t compete, Horner said.

Ambient communities bought the hotel in February and renamed it Celeste.

Since it closed, the hotel had been used as a training ground for police to practice breaking down doors and a crash pad for vagrants, according to Horner.

by Sharisse Cohee / Fox5 SanDiego / Nov 18-19, 2025 

A woman in Point Loma pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, Nov. 13, admitting she embezzled more than $8.5 million from her employer and spent a portion of the stolen funds on luxuries and high-end fashion.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Ping “Jenny” Gao, 55, embezzled the funds from her employer by draining four bank accounts belonging to his U.S. companies.

In her plea agreement, Goa admitted to funneling company funds into fraudulent accounts she created. She reportedly used the stolen funds on lavish shopping sprees at high-end fashion retailers and also purchased a $160,000 Porsche and a $2.9 million home overlooking San Diego Bay.

When the employer discovered the stolen funds, he attempted to sue Gao in San Diego Superior Court, during which she falsely claimed that the person suing her was an imposter and that the real owner of the company in China authorized her actions.

By Ralph Teyssier, S.E.

I wanted to respond to Geoff Page’s November 19 Rag article about bringing the city’s neglect of our Ocean Beach Fishing Pier to the forefront.

What should concern all of us is that this iconic public treasure — our beloved OB Pier — has effectively become a forgotten park resource under the Todd Gloria administration. What began as a promising effort in May 2021, when Mayor Gloria, less than six months into his first term, expressed strong enthusiasm for jump-starting a new pier, has now seemingly stalled.

For context, it’s important to remember that the initial momentum, via community urging, arrived when Mayor Todd Gloria, with help from Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, secured an $8.4 million state grant to begin design work. Details of that effort can be found on the city’s OB Pier Renewal Project page, including the recently posted Task Force White Paper:

This document — made public only after multiple requests — makes it clear that real progress is slipping away. The contrast between the 1½-year construction timeline in the September 2024 White Paper and the protracted 3½-year timeline currently shown on the city’s website speaks volumes about the administration’s waning interest. And just as the project loses momentum, the pier itself is literally disappearing, piece by piece. I doubt this level of prolonged neglect of a historically recognized coastal icon sits well with the California Coastal Commission.

Geoff’s reporting makes the demolition-by-neglect painfully obvious: copper and iron piping stolen, gates breached, lighting stripped, and the structure left unsecured and unlit