Category: San Diego

By Kate Callen and Paul Krueger

After decades of neglect and a controversial parking fee that has endangered its attractions, Balboa Park could be rescued as early as next fiscal year through the determined efforts of its rightful owners, the people of San Diego.

More than 80 community advocates for Balboa Park gathered at a March 28 public forum to map out steps for saving San Diego’s embattled crown jewel. The first step: a change of the current park governance, which must happen immediately.

A new governance model would be an engine for addressing two Park priorities: raising the necessary funds to keep Balboa Park healthy and intact, and balancing the fragmented needs of numerous park constituencies.

“It is important to recognize that every blade of grass in this park has a constituency,” said former City Architect Michael Stepner, “and when you want to mow the lawn, you need to talk to everybody.”

Stepner and landscape architect Vicki Estrada led the discussion at “The Future of Balboa Park: A Community Conversation,” co-hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego at the Mission Valley Library.

Congrats to Mandy Havlik, Andrew Hollingworth, Angela Vedder, Dee Brown, Cori Salcido, who were elected to 3 year seats on the Peninsula Community Planning Board and Eric Law and Robert Jackson who were elected to 1 year seats.

Here are their bios from the PCPB website:

Mandy Havlik

Mandy Havlik currently serves as the First Vice Chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB). She is a proud spouse of a disabled Navy Combat Veteran, a mother of two, and an indigenous woman who is a registered member of the Timiskaming First Nation in Canada. Most recently, Mandy ran for City Council in District 2 in 2022 and is preparing to run again in 2026.

If You Want Chaos and Community — Go to Dog Beach in OB

By Lark Coryell / DogTrekker

San Diego has more dedicated dog beach than any city in California, and most of the state doesn’t even come close. Four beaches allow dogs, each with a different personality. Here’s what actually matters at each one.

Dog Beach, Ocean Beach
This is the original. Dog Beach at the south end of Ocean Beach has been off-leash since 1972, making it one of the first legal off-leash beaches in the country. It runs about a quarter mile from the Ocean Beach Pier south to the San Diego River channel.

The sand is wide and flat, the surf is mellow, and on any given Saturday there are 100 dogs doing exactly what they want. No permit, no check-in, no nonsense. Just park on Voltaire Street or Abbott Street, walk past the sign and unclip the leash.

Two things to know: the river mouth at the south end gets murky after rain, and the parking situation is genuinely bad on weekends. Go before 10 a.m. or accept your fate.

Fiesta Island
If your dog needs to run — really run — this is the place.

Famous Bar Survived Prohibition, Developers — and Now This

By Jacob Smith / Hoodline / March 26, 2026

The Waterfront Bar & Grill has been pouring drinks in Little Italy since 1933 — the year Prohibition was repealed, the year it all became legal again, and the year San Diego’s oldest tavern planted its flag on Kettner Boulevard and never left. Developers eventually built condos around it rather than demolish it. Celebrities including Gene Wilder and Bill Murray came through. Regulars have been coming for decades.

One of them loved the place so much he asked to have his ashes placed on the north wall when he died, and they honored the request. So it takes more than a health inspection closure to rattle a place like this — but that’s exactly what happened on March 25, 2026, when San Diego County inspectors found a major vermin violation and ordered the doors shut.

What Inspectors Found
The routine inspection on March 25 flagged five violations, according to records on SD Food Info: a major vermin violation (the category that triggers automatic closure), a minor food contact surfaces finding, and three out-of-compliance findings covering toilet facilities, premises and vermin-proofing, and floors, walls, and ceilings.

OB Rag Staff Report

Our “Follow the Money” series on the biggest contributors in city elections continues with this review of the latest figures from Campaign Disclosure Reports (Series 400) of two District 6 City Council candidates, incumbent Kent Lee and challenger Mark Powell.

These reports fulfill the Rag’s promise to “scrutinize the candidates in the 2026 primary: who they are, what they’ve done, what they say, and most importantly, where their money comes from.”

District 6 includes Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City.

Kent Lee

Lee is in first place in D6 fundraising totals with $60,633. That money includes the maximum $1,600 donation from 16 individuals, some of whom are listed below. According to the Voters’ Voice Initiatives, Lee has raised almost 9 times more money from outside D6 than from inside. His contributors include Rep. Scott Peters ($800), Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera ($320), and Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe ($100)

Lee’s $1,600 contributors include:

Recently, Voice of San Diego ran their “Politics Report” on the “the Midway Rising Bill” (behind a paywall) where they begin with this dire warning:

“…San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has entered the nothing-is-going-to-get-in-our-way phase of the plan to build a new arena and more than 4,000 new housing units on the city’s nearly 50 acres of land along Sports Arena Boulevard in Midway.”

The focus of the report was on how different politicians and parties reacted to State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson’s brand new bill to exempt Midway Rising from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

The Voice noted, “The city is officially sponsoring the legislation …that would exempt the Midway Rising project from the sometimes onerous requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. Inadequately fulfilling the requirements of CEQA and getting sued has caused countless projects delay or failure.” (We take exception with this phrase, “the sometimes onerous requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA”.)

Because this project — the Midway Rising redevelopment of the Sports Arena area — has been so contentious and important to our readers, we here recount the responses to this bill by both politicians and wannabe pols — like those running for District 2.

Forum at Mission Valley Library Organized by San Diego Community Coalition – Also Hosted by Neighbors for a Better San Diego

From San Diego Today / March 29, 2026

San Diego community members are voicing concerns and calling for significant changes to the governance and funding of Balboa Park, following a public forum held at the Mission Valley Library on Saturday, March 28. Dozens attended the meeting, organized by the San Diego Community Coalition, to discuss the future of the iconic public space, with the central issue being the current city-controlled management system.

Why it matters
Balboa Park is a beloved and heavily utilized public space in San Diego, and the way it is governed and funded has major implications for its long-term health and vitality. The community’s push for change reflects a common challenge faced by urban parks and cultural institutions – balancing local control with the need for sustainable funding and regional benefit.

City News Service – CBS8 / March 29, 2026

8 to 9 Million Turn Out Nation-Wide

A record 94,000 people participated in 21 separate “No Kings” protests in San Diego County on Saturday, organizers said Sunday.

The events were part of a nationwide day of demonstrations against the Trump administration that organizers were calling the largest single-day pro-democracy turnout on record.

The local crowds surpassed the more than 80,000 who mobilized countywide in October 2025. The figures came from an independent analysis by Take Action San Diego, the same organization that provided independent crowd counts for both previous No Kings events in San Diego, organizers said in a statement Sunday.

“What a day! San Diegans from every neighborhood, every background, and every generation came together around one simple truth: There are no kings in America,” said Wendy Gelernter, lead downtown organizer for Take Action San Diego.

5:40 pm PDT Hey everybody, we’re wrapping up our live blog, as we’ve been blogging since 8:15 this morning.

Chula Vista

5:29 pm PDT Byron Morton sent a batch of shots from Chula Vista. He reported, “There were about 250 people of all walks on the sidewalks bordering the intersection of H Street and Broadway. There were multilingual signs. Protesters blew whistles and cars honked constantly in passing.”

Downtown
4:26 pm PDT Even though the main march downtown San Diego has been over for hours, photos are still coming in to the Rag. Here’s a batch of the Waterfront march taken by OBcean Charles Landon:

“The Future of Balboa Park: A Community Conversation”

When: Saturday, March 28, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Where: Mission Valley Library Community Room

“The Future of Balboa Park: A Community Conversation” will invite members of the San Diego public, who are the real stakeholders of the Park, to begin exploring new strategies for effective park stewardship and responsible park management.

The town hall, organized by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, will be facilitated by two foremost Balboa Park advocates, landscape architect/urban planner Vicki Estrada and former City Architect Michael Stepner.

With increased public interest in San Diego’s “Crown Jewel,” Estrada and Stepner will lead this public discussion of critical issues, including:

• How do we ensure that the park has the resources it needs to provide the services and benefits San Diegans deserve from this regional asset?
• How can we unify Park stakeholders to work together toward common goals?

By The Associated Press / 7SanDiego / March 26 -27, 2026 

The Trump administration has opened investigations into how race is considered in admissions at three medical schools, ratcheting up its pressure campaign against colleges and universities.

The Justice Department opened the investigations Wednesday into possible discrimination at the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced the investigations on X.

Through a series of investigations and executive actions, President Donald Trump has been ramping up scrutiny of universities he decries as overrun by liberal influence. His administration previously has targeted undergraduate admissions at selective colleges, demanding they collect data to show they are in line with a 2023 Supreme Court decision forbidding affirmative action in college admissions.

The investigations were reported first by The New York Times.

In a letter to Ohio State, Dhillon wrote that the Justice Department was seeking any documents related to “the use or lack of use of race” in evaluating applicants. She said they were also seeking all applicant-level admissions data and any reviews by the school of admissions trends or outcomes by race.

By Alex Cheney / CBS8 / February 25, 2026

The City of San Diego is actively searching for a new management company to operate the temporarily closed Tecolote Canyon Golf Course, a beloved community asset that has served local golfers for decades.

A trunk sewer line construction project forced the closure of the course, which cuts through the property and has rendered multiple holes unplayable. Construction equipment now occupies the fairways where golfers once played their rounds.

American Golf had managed the course for the last three decades before its lease expired. The city viewed the expiration as an opportunity to close that chapter and pursue a new operating plan.

“American Golf was on an expired lease, so it was the natural time to close out that former chapter, look toward the future investment of the course, and look toward a new operating and management plan,” said Jim Mandler with the City of San Diego.