Category: San Diego

By Anonymous 

‘Twas the night before Christmas in San Diego town,
And all through the streets, potholes still could be found.
The meters were standing with QR codes near,
In hopes that a plate number soon would appear.

The trash cans were placed by the curb with great care,
Though fees now were charged just for leaving them there.
The residents nestled all snug in their beds,
While nightmares of parking fees danced in their heads.

By Kate Callen

Paid parking in Balboa Park is scheduled to begin Monday, January 5. If you’re willing to pay standard hourly or daily rates, permit kiosks have been installed, and their operation will be familiar: punch in your license plate number, choose length of visit, and pay with a credit card.

But if you want to use the discounted permits that were promised to San Diego residents, you’ll have to trust that City Hall can roll out a new multi-step system of permit application and payment in just 10 business days – including two city holidays.

In the seasonal spirit of good will, we are going to believe that. For once, the Rag will have faith that Mayor Todd Gloria will fulfill a pledge to the people of San Diego. We’re just not sure how he can pull it off in such a short time.

The original plan was for paid parking to begin in October. But under fire from angry constituents, the City Council decided in mid-September to extend the start date to January 1.

On December 18, we asked the Mayor’s office if another postponement might be in the works. The answer was “No.”

By Donna Frye

On December 17th, a city council majority voted to adopt their Legislative Priorities for 2026. Included in those priorities was language specific to Mission Bay Park that supports amending the State Surplus Land Act to exclude Mission Bay Park so it could not be used for housing development.

Their priorities also included supporting “ legislation that would amend the State Surplus Land Act to clarify that not all public land is suitable for housing, particularly where development would conflict with the City Charter or voter-approved measures, including, but not limited to, dedicated public parkland such as Mission Bay Park, Balboa Park, Mission Trails Regional Park, other regional parks, open space, or canyons.”

This is the outcome we all have worked so hard for since July, when we first learned about the issue of surplus land.  At that time, it looked like it might be a done deal since the Land Use and Housing Committee had voted to support it. But we got the matter continued when it went to the city council and here we are- not out of the woods but headed in the right direction.

On Tuesday, December 16, the San Diego City Council approved new updates to community plans of two long term neighborhoods– Clairemont and the College Area. The updates are considered blueprints for development changes over the next 30 years — and both project thousands of new residents to both of the neighborhoods by allowing mid-rise and high-rise housing in more places.

Although approved on the same day by votes of 7–1, the updates were treated differently. The College Area plan slams the community with a projected tripling of the current population to nearly 77,000. U-T reporter David Garrick calls the approach to College as “more aggressive…” Clairemont is projected with a 50% population increase.

Also, as Garrick reported:

The number of housing units in Clairemont would rise by 59%, from 33,300 to 52,800, while the number of units in the College Area would more than quadruple, from 8,200 to 34,000.

By Danna Givot

If rudeness to his constituents and fellow council members (as noted by Paul Krueger in “Councilmember Elo-Rivera Leaves the Dias while Resident Speaks at City Council Meeting”) isn’t enough to kill Sean Elo-Rivera’s political career, there is plenty more working against him besides bad manners.

On December 16th, Sean was the primary cheerleader for the College Area Community Plan Update that quadruples the density in this area with no funds or firm commitment to remedy the long term park, recreation center, and fire station deficiencies in this neighborhood in his District 9. The upzoning in the newly passed College Area Plan will immediately make those upzoned properties more expensive based on their development potential. That will please Sean’s campaign donors, but it won’t
solve the community’s serious and long term infrastructure deficiencies, and it won’t make housing more affordable, as noted by Council President Joe LaCava.

While chairing the Select Committee on Addressing the Rising Cost of Living in San Diego, Elo-Rivera has supported exorbitant trash fees

by Calista Stocker / Times of San Diego / Dec. 16, 2025

In 2017, the Metropolitan Transit System spent $1.4 million upgrading bus stop benches throughout the county. In addition to improved water drainage and material updates, the new benches came with dividers, which their contractor refers to as “vagrant bars.”

That was a year after the city of San Diego raced to install jagged rocks downtown under Interstate 5 in time for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Petco Park, and five years before the Downtown Partnership built a controversial bike rack/bench designed to deter lying down.

These are all examples of what urban designers call “hostile architecture.” Commonly referred to as “anti-homeless architecture” or “defensive design,” the concept is used to describe public infrastructure design intended to subtly (or not so subtly) change behavior.

San Diego-based urban designer Howard Blackson argues that hostile architecture reflects the hostility of human nature.

By Paul Krueger

If you’re motivated enough to share a concern with our elected city officials be prepared for some disrespect.

As a rule, only two council members — Steve Whitburn and Joe LaCava — will even acknowledge your presence during non-agenda public comment. They’ll make eye contact with you, and at least give the appearance of listening.

The other seven council members might be listening but they don’t show it. They usually won’t even glance up from their phones or laptops when you start speaking, and rarely give the slightest indication of any interest in what you’re saying.

There have been some recent displays of more blatant disrespect by council members.

On November 19, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera abruptly walked out of a council Rules Committee meeting — with no explanation — depriving the Committee of a quorum and ending discussion of a citizen-proposed ballot measure to reinstate free parking on Sundays in Balboa Parking.

But on December 8th, Sean Elo-Rivera raised the bar for discourtesy.

A sandy, muddy salt marsh is the reason San Diego is the West Coast home of the Marine Corps

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma– OB Monthly SDU-T / December 15, 2025

I liked the old main post office on Midway Drive. Perhaps I should have spoken up sooner. The place was intentionally, brutalistically, functional. Plus, it was close.

Remember the Old Town Philatelic Center in there? No? I don’t know if stamp collectors made much use of that desk or not, but somewhere in that big airplane hangar of a room I once noticed a plaque on the wall, maybe 16 inches square, that proclaimed “DUTCH FLATS — On this site on April 28, 1927, the Spirit of St. Louis was flight-tested by Charles A. Lindbergh.” How cool is that?

I had heard of Dutch Flats, but it is certainly not a place name that folks use these days.

The area referred to as Dutch Flats is simply the alluvial flood plain and former arroyo created by the watercourse of the San Diego River as it flowed past Old Town at the base of Presidio Hill, hung a hard left and was seemingly drawn directly toward San Diego Bay. A substantial portion of what is now arbitrarily referred to as the Midway District, all of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and parts of Liberty Station and San Diego International Airport were once known as Dutch Flats.

Town Hall Hosted by San Diego Community Coalition on Dec. 13

Rag Staff Report

At the December 13 San Diego Community Coalition Town Hall, Union-Tribune City Hall Reporter David Garrick spoke candidly, listened carefully, and laid out the challenges facing journalists who cover local government.

As the City Hall reporter for the city’s major metropolitan daily, Garrick is the unofficial dean of the San Diego press corps. When he started covering City Hall in 2014, Kevin Faulconer was the new Mayor, Todd Gloria was City Council President, and Sempra Energy occupied the tower at 101 Ash Street.

In an hour-long exchange at the Logan Heights Library with community activists from across the city, Garrick was straightforward and thoughtful.

He explained that while journalists rarely report things perfectly, they always try to report things accurately. Throughout the discussion, he was open to hearing views that had not occurred to him.

Developers of 186-unit apartment building have the green light to continue work

By Paul Krueger

Developers of an eight-story, 186-unit apartment building in the heart of Golden Hill can resume work on their controversial project following a significant legal ruling.

Opponents of “The Lawson” housing project on 29th and A Streets had temporarily stopped excavation of the complex in October, following a favorable ruling by Judge Joel Wohlfeil.

But Judge Wohlfeil last week declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the developer, which which would have extended his initial stop-work order. In his 16-page ruling, the judge said a more thorough review of evidence in the case convinced him that the community group challenging the project does not have the “probability of prevailing” at a trial.

Judge Wohlfeil did agree with several arguments made by attorneys for “Preserve Greater Golden Hill.” He acknowledged that project opponents have a “reasonable skepticism” that a required bus stop will ever be established within walking distance of the development. He also said the community group made a strong argument that the Golden Hill neighborhood “will be irreparably diminished…if adequate infrastructure” is not built.

By Lori Saldaña  / Op-Ed  San Diego Union-Tribune / December 15, 2025

The Clairemont Mesa Community Plan Update — envisioning the future of the region’s 8,557 acres — goes before the City Council on Tuesday, seeking to update a vision last adopted in 1989.

It calls for tens of thousands of new homes in San Diego’s original, post-World War II “planned community” and seeks to enhance “mobility” and “connectivity,” “protect open space,” and preserve “historical resources and districts that embody architectural and cultural history.”

But while these are admirable, aspirational goals, the plan should not be adopted until it also addresses more recent housing and transportation concerns in Clairemont. They include:

Coalition Bulletin: “This Week at City Hall”

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the public informed about important Council and Planning Commission Hearings. City Hall is beginning to wind down this week before it goes into a 3-week legislative recess for the holidays. We will resume this bulletin when the city government reopens Monday, January 12.

Monday, December 15: City Council, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda link:

Items include: Closed session discussion of “City of San Diego v. 101 Ash, LLC et al,” involving “the City’s claims against its contractors for negligent disruption of asbestos during renovations of the 101 Ash Street property.”

Why it matters: After 10 long years of civic disgrace and hundreds of millions of dollars gone, this albatross is still around the city’s neck. Will it ever end?

Monday, December 15: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda link: