Category: San Diego

By Doug Poole

What is going on with 820 Fort Stockton? I’ll break it into sections for ease of reading.

Status of the Permit
There has been no activity on the permit since February/ March 2026. The same 17 deficiencies remain, the most critical being the number of affordable units and the building height. There has been no communication from the Development Services Department (DSD) to our attorney, DeLano & DeLano, nor any response to repeated requests from Ralph Teyssier — a very experienced structural engineer who, together with me, tried to arrange a meeting with the DSD engineers and the project manager.

Fees and Why Developers Love Micro-Units
City records show the developer paid several permit fees on 6/6/2025, totaling $52,000. These fees so far are based on what was on the site — the six units in the three buildings Stockdale demolished.

The Development Impact Fee (DIF) portion of that appears to be about $33,000. For a Complete Communities project in Uptown (which includes Mission Hills), DIFs run about $16,000 per unit, as long as each unit is under 500 square feet — versus roughly $28,000 per unit for regular units over 1,301 square feet. Complete Communities projects also get a 25% DIF discount, largely because they’re “near transit.” DIFs are meant to fund parks, mobility (bike infrastructure), libraries, and fire service

By Michael Angelo Hernandez

What the Flock is Going On?

Mass-surveillance tech company Flock Safety made the news again here in San Diego recently.  This time, due to an appearance before the San Diego City Council from the infamous villain of the widely popular Star Wars franchise, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Or at least someone dressed like him, to mockingly defend the city’s use of Flock surveillance cameras.

It was during a Public Safety and Liveable Neighborhoods committee meeting on Wednesday Aug. 19, that “Vader” took the podium and proclaimed “The emperor is a fan of flock”. In his comments throughout the meeting, the Vader impersonator called for a stronger police force in San Diego and the continued use of Flock Surveillance technology “so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium, because we all know that the Flock Cameras are not only following the license plate readers, they are following children, they are following children in parks, and gymnasiums, and we need this, I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend.”

City News Service – CBS8 / August 26, 2026

The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday, Aug. 26, that would maintain free parking at local beaches and Mission Bay “in perpetuity.”
The ordinance must go before the full council before it becomes law.

Committee members Council President Joe LaCava and Councilman Raul Campillo authored the ordinance, while the full committee restricted it to city residents only and removed a 10-year sunset clause.

“Councilmember Campillo’s initial proposal aligned with my held belief that beaches and Mission Bay should be accessible and free to San Diegans,” LaCava said. “By repositioning this from a ballot measure to an ordinance, I saw the opportunity to save taxpayers nearly $1 million through council action and not a public vote. Advancing this proposal ensures that these prized public parking spaces will be available at no cost to San Diegans.”

San Diego does not charge for city-owned beach and bay parking lots. Wednesday’s proposal is intended to ensure that they remain free of charge for San Diego residents.

By Paul Krueger / Letter to the Editor, U-T / August 25, 2026

Re “Can Gloria break San Diego’s mayoral curse?” (Aug.16): Thanks to Carl Luna for his insightful take on the unforced errors that define Mayor Gloria’s second term. But I disagree with Luna’s speculation that the mayor’s staff has been “keeping him in the bunker of City Hall.” A cursory review of the mayor’s daily social media posts and newsletters confirms he spends significant time outside his office. We see him marching and smiling at the Gay Pride Parade, singing and smiling at the start of a 5K race honoring military members, shaking hands and smiling at an affordable housing summit.

Resident Kenny Key Is Well-Known Activist

By Katie Hyson / KPBS / August 21, 2026

An Emerald Hills resident is suing the city of San Diego over a housing development coming to his neighborhood. It’s the latest challenge to the development in a years-long debate.

Residents have been asking for a park on the hilltop for decades. Their appeal to stop the new development was rejected by the city council last month.

Kenny Key, who lives next to the lot, is challenging that rejection in a new lawsuit.

“It’s just a proud Black neighborhood that I grew up in,” he said. “I feel an obligation to stand for my community.”

He’s a retired heavy equipment operator for the Department of Public Works, he said. He was trained by CalTrans and worked on a striping crew. In other words, he knows roads.

San Diego City Council unanimously repealed Measure C, but state affordable housing law could still allow the 48-acre Midway Rising project to bypass coastal height limits.

By Allison Ash / 7SanDiego / August 24, 2026 

The San Diego City Council unanimously voted to repeal Measure C, eliminating the voter-approved law that allowed the massive Midway Rising project to circumvent the city’s 30-foot coastal height limit.

The repeal adds another wrinkle for Midway Rising, a proposed 48-acre redevelopment of the Sports Arena area that would include a new 16,000-seat venue, restaurants, shopping and more than 4,000 homes. Nearly half of the homes would be designated for low-income residents.

Measure C was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2022, allowing developers to move forward without being bound by the coastal height limit. Courts have since ruled that the measure may violate California’s environmental impact rules.

City Council President Joe La Cava said the council had an obligation to remove the Measure C language from the city’s municipal code.

by Dorian Hargrove / Times of San Diego / Aug. 18, 2026

Two California housing advocacy groups are suing the city of San Diego, alleging city planners illegally excluded properties from a state program meant to spur development near transit stations.

In a legal filing obtained by Times of San Diego, Californians for Homeownership and the California Housing Defense Fund say San Diego ran afoul of the state housing law by requiring that projects are connected to bus or rail stations by dedicated sidewalks to qualify.

Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2025, Senate Bill 79 allows developers to build more housing than allowed by local zoning restrictions for projects that are near major transit stops.

In May, city officials adopted an ordinance that interpreted the state law to exclude any property within a mile from a transit stop that does not include a sidewalk connecting the project and the station.

Matt Gelfand, counsel for Californians for Homeownership, said that was a misinterpretation. The law calls for a “safe walkway,” but the housing groups say that does not require a dedicated sidewalk.

By Angelo Haynes

The city of San Diego is a diverse community, home to many cultures that define the identity of America’s finest city; whether it be your favorite local Pho restaurant on El Cajon Blvd. or the murals of Chicano Park and the World Beat Center. San Diego is an embarrassment of cultural riches.

In Southeast San Diego, one woman has been preserving her native Chamorro culture for over 27 years — using her passion for traditional Chamorro art to connect with neighbors in the Skyline Hills neighborhood, all the way to representing Guam in cultural delegations internationally.

Rosemary Mantanona is a local dance group leader or Fafa’nå’gue (Cultural Leader in the Chamorro language) and cultural activist. In this role, she leads by example as a role model for the young men and women who have the opportunity to be in her dance group or “Guma” in Chamorro.

Imåhen Taotao Tåno’, which means “Images of the People of the Land” in native Chamorro language, is the first Guma established in San Diego that focuses on Chamorro cultural preservation. Ms. Mantanona migrated to the US in 1995 and created her Guma in 1999.

by Dorian Hargrove / Times of San Diego / Aug. 18, 2026

The family of a young girl who was severely injured when a drunk driver drove onto a pedestrian pathway in Liberty Station in September and plowed into her is now suing the city of San Diego, the driver and a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform.

The collision occurred Sept. 6, 2025, just after 4:30 p.m.

Alex and Leann Tomasevic, their young son and 5-year-old daughter were standing on the pedestrian pathway near the flagpole circle at Liberty Park in Liberty Station when Savannah Monique Taylor, 22, drove onto the promenade, striking the girl.

Taylor was drunk at the time and has since been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, August 24: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 200: Proposed FY 2027 Statement of Budgetary Principles

Why it matters: Significant addition: “The Risk Management Department will provide an annual presentation … detailing City’s settlement and judgement payments, including settlements and claim count information for the San Diego Police Department.”

Item 201: Repeal of Measure C Amending Ordinance … to the San Diego Municipal Code and Local Coastal Program

Why it matters: This is an opportunity for the public to speak against Senator Akilah Weber Pierson’s legislative proposals to get around a CA Supreme Court decision that has upheld the 30-foot height limit on the gargantuan Midway Rising project.

By Donna Frye

Last year, four councilmembers (LaCava, Foster, Moreno and Elo-Rivera) supported charging non-residents to pay to park at our beaches and Mission Bay Park and included it in their budget priority memos. Paid parking was being seriously considered as a potential revenue source for this year’s budget.

After lots of public opposition and media coverage, the city council decided not to move forward with this very bad idea.

The issue of paid beach and bay parking remained a topic of public discussion, however, due to concerns that it could easily resurface at any time, especially during the budget hearings.

Those on the council who opposed it, such as Councilmember Campillo, brought forward a proposal for a ballot measure to ensure that parking at our beaches and Mission Bay Park remained free.