Category: San Diego

By Eric Law

In response to Nicole Capretz’s commentary (SDUT August 28, 2025, Housing policies are sabotaging family budgets and climate goals), the housing densification policies in force across California make our state the least affordable in the nation. Senate Bill 79 (SB 79) would make this even worse.

SB 79 incentivizes very dense development of up to 8-story apartment buildings in areas that are purportedly close to transit. Large-scale development could occur anywhere within ½ mile of designated transit stops, regardless of local zoning, neighborhood type, or even the city’s development plans. Any local say in building these enormous structures would be eliminated.

SB 79 relies on the premise that we need more affordable housing, and it needs to be close to transit so that low-income people can easily access public transportation. This is where SB 79 and other dense housing “initiatives” completely fail. Dense urban building does not create affordable housing. It makes housing more expensive.

Densification advocates argue that simply building more housing will lower the cost of housing. If this was true, California would logically have the cheapest housing

By Donna Frye

The mayor wants the city council to declare three properties in Mission Bay Park, “surplus land” in order to allow the city to receive new lease proposals that would bring in more money. The three properties include Marina Village, Dana Landing Marina and Sportsmen’s Seafood.

The mayor believes that the recently amended Surplus Land Act requires the city to follow certain procedures in order to lease the three Mission Bay properties if the lease terms exceed 15 years.

However, if the city council declares the properties “surplus land” the city would be required by law to solicit and receive offers that would give priority to housing developers, despite the fact that Mission Bay Park is dedicated public parkland and our city charter does not allow it.

The mayor’s director of communications has stated that the “city unequivocally doesn’t want housing on the three Mission Bay properties”, but that does not change the reality of what would happen if the city council supports the mayor’s request and declares the Mission Bay Park properties “surplus land.”

KPBS – City News Service / August 26, 2025

The city of San Diego recently completed a pilot program in which people transitioning out of homelessness were hired to pick contaminants out of organic waste collected in the city’s green bins, it was announced Monday.

The two-week program, which concluded last week, was intended to improve the quality of compost generated by Miramar Greenery. The “Follow The Compost Pile” project employed homeless people, working through the East County Transitional Living Center, who were tasked with removing any non- organic material brought to Miramar, including plastic bags, scrap metal, glass bottles and more.

“If we are able to implement this process moving forward, we can lower the number of contaminants at the end, improve operational efficiencies, and in turn produce better compost to put out to the community,” said Jennifer Winfrey, assistant deputy director in the Environmental Services Department, which led the pilot program.

By Francine Maxwell

San Diego’s parking enforcement is not equal across the city, and District 4 residents see the consequences every day.

In July, a San Diego resident filed a Get It Done report [see above] about a car parked in the wrong direction on 68th Street. The violation was clear — a 72-hour parking violation. The city’s response was just as clear:

“Due to limited resources, SDPD was not yet able to address your report. If the vehicle has moved, please Close Your Report. If the vehicle is still there, it will be addressed as SDPD resources are available.”

This response is common in District 4. But the lack of enforcement doesn’t stop at cars parked the wrong way. It invites larger problems. On Streamview, illegal dumping piles up when abandoned cars are left on the street. Missed enforcement also means more unsafe encampments, repeated Oversized Vehicle Ordinance (OVO) and Vehicle Habitation Ordinance (VHO) violations, and blocked street sweeping that leaves our neighborhoods dirty and drains unchecked.

By Staff / CBS8 / August 25, 2025

The Chollas Valley Community Planning Group is suing the City of San Diego, alleging officials broke state planning laws and violated California’s fair housing mandate by approving a 23-home subdivision on land long promised for a public park.

The lawsuit targets the city’s use of Footnote 7, a controversial zoning loophole that enabled dense housing development only in Encanto and Emerald Hills, each neighborhood historically impacted by redlining.

Residents say city leaders ignored environmental justice rules and fair housing law by fast-tracking the Klauber Project over unanimous local opposition.

The suit argues that San Diego’s City Council applied Footnote 7 to sidestep the area’s 20,000-square-foot minimum lot standards, allowing the developer to subdivide steep hillside terrain for an inward-facing subdivision.

The council approved the project 6–3 in July, despite warnings that it violates more than 40 provisions in the city’s General Plan, Community Plan, and local land use rules.

Community leaders call Footnote 7 a form of targeted upzoning, claiming city officials applied it exclusively in the poorest and most segregated areas, not in higher-resource, wealthier, and whiter communities.

August 25, 2025

Office of Mayor Todd Gloria
City of San Diego

Subject: Urgent Request to Address Parking Reform Rollout & Special Event Pricing Impacts Downtown

Dear Mayor Gloria,

I am writing to express serious concerns on behalf of the Gaslamp Quarter Association regarding the upcoming parking reform rollout scheduled for September 1, 2025, and more specifically, the Special Event Parking Rate Zone that will impose a $10/hour rate two hours before and two hours after major events at Petco Park. While I understand the need to address the City’s budget challenges, this plan fails to account for the very real and immediate consequences to downtown’s workforce, residents, and business community.

In 2025, there are 18 remaining Padre’s home games and 16 special events at Petco Park that meet the threshold to trigger this pricing structure. In 2026, we anticipate a minimum of 81 home games and up to 10 large-scale events or concerts. That means nearly one-third of the calendar year could be subject to this surge pricing, is proportionately affecting downtown.

By Blake Nelson / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 26, 2025 

Several residents of San Diego’s designated camping areas for homeless people are suing to overhaul the program, alleging that both lots are dirty, lack quality food and remain unequipped to aid those with disabilities.

The safe sleeping sites hold hundreds of two-person tents near Balboa Park. Each location is “rodent infested” and a “fire hazard,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court. They are also host to “excessive and dangerous heat” during part of the year as well as “cold and flooding in the winter,” weather that often leaves belongings “saturated with mold.”

All in all, “living conditions in the Camps” are “untenable, seriously threatening and aggravating mental and physical health,” the filing says.

The lawsuit asks a court to force reforms on the effort.

by Drew Sitton / Times of San Diego  / Aug. 24, 2025

A controversial 453-unit housing development has been unanimously approved by the San Diego County Planning Commission in Harmony Grove, an unincorporated rural residential area in North County sandwiched between Escondido and San Marcos.

Several neighbors spoke out at the meeting over the controversial proposal because it does not include a secondary access road to escape wildfires.

They fear entrapment if a wildfire came from the direction of the single dead-end road.

Winding approval
The project, Harmony Grove Village South, had been before the commission in 2018 and later approved by the Board of Supervisors.

However, CEQA litigation from the Sierra Club, residents and other parties had delayed construction.

The board rescinded approval in 2022 after a trial court sided with residents. However, a state appellate court then found all but one aspect of the project complied with CEQA.

The same project as in 2018 is now headed back before the board for the third time,

by Kyle Krahel / Times of San Diego / Aug. 22, 2025

I don’t like the game Trump Republicans are forcing us to play, but I refuse to let them play it unopposed. The path to protecting democracy runs right through San Diego County.

Redrawing congressional districts mid-decade feels uncomfortable. But what’s worse would be watching Democrats roll over while Republicans change the rules of the game, calling foul to referees who do nothing.

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the Election Rigging Response Act, setting a special election for Nov. 4. Triggered only if Texas or another GOP-run state enacts partisan map changes, the measure allows California’s Legislature to draw temporary congressional maps through 2030.

After that, power reverts to the Citizens Redistricting Commission. So this isn’t a unilateral power grab; it’s a transparent proposal going directly to the people for their vote of approval.

Contrast that with Texas, where Republican lawmakers are redrawing maps mid-decade behind closed doors, without voter approval, without oversight, without an independent commission. California’s path is fundamentally different: conditional, subject to a vote, and designed to reset the playing field, not entrench power.

Trump allegedly told the Texas governor to “find me five seats,” and Texas capitulated. California’s answer is very different: put the question to voters, debate it in public, and let the people decide. That’s not a power grab. That’s democracy in action.

ALL DETAILS ARE INSIDE

Come Labor Day in San Diego County, September 1, there are 6 planned protests against the Trump regime, titled “Workers Over Billionaires.”

They’re in downtown San Diego, Chula Vista, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Carlsbad and Escondido. (All details are herein.)

Downtown San Diego

It begins at 10am and runs to 12 noon at the Waterfront Park at 1600 Pacific Hwy. (That’s San Diego CA 92101)

About this event (Each event — except Escondido — starts at the same time, 10am, has the same demands and script, so we’re running just the downtown San Diego details, but with more info about each of the events.)

There are actually two events, one sponsored by the coalition that organized the No Kings event at Waterfront Park. The other, at the same place and time, is sponsored by San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, No Kings and a host of other groups we list below.

Here’s their script:

This Labor Day we will continue to stand strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over corporate politics.

Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. The billionaire’s time is up.

On September 1st we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people.

By Abbie Black / CBS8 / August 15, 2025

What appears to be pristine water in San Diego Bay is hiding a disturbing secret beneath the surface.

University of San Diego graduate students working with a local company have discovered alarming levels of heavy metals, microplastics and invasive species in Mission Bay and San Diego Bay using innovative cleanup booms made from recycled materials.

The partnership, called 24/7 Blue, pairs USD students with San Diego-based Earthwise Sorbents to test sustainable cleanup technology that could serve as a model for ports and marinas nationwide.

“It’s unbelievable the amount of material that we are picking up,” said Dr. Michel Boudrias, who chairs USD’s sustainability task force. “We’re picking up 30 times the amount of heavy metals that are typically out there.”

The 5-pound, 10-foot booms are placed in local waters for two to three months before being replaced. When flipped over, the seemingly clean-looking devices reveal the extent of contamination lurking in San Diego’s waterways.

By Lu Rehling

Question for our elected representatives US Congressman Scott Peters and CA Senator Akilah Weber: Who does this sound like to you when it comes to advocating for changes to housing policy?

• Bypass environmental and safety protections.
• Blame regulations [not developer/corporate greed].
• Apply trickle-down economics [newly applied to the housing market].
• Promote gentrification [driving mid- to lower-income resident out of their homes].
• Encourage short-term rentals [discouraging starter home ownership].
• Off-site affordable housing [so only the entitled enjoy exclusive perks and only with each other].
• Disenfranchise community groups [by waiving reviews and defunding appeals].
• Ignore the needs of disabled and families [prioritizing transport options for the fit and unencumbered].

If your answer is “progressives,” then read your Orwell, because progressive policy instead asks government to tackle inequality and promote social justice. And yet you align with so-called progressive YIMBY Dems.

In fact, Congressman Peters, you co-sponsored and continue to smugly tout the “Build More Housing Near Transit Act” legislation that would enable all of the policies stated above, allowing “by-right” density development: the “right” being to waive height, parking, and safety review requirements.

Of course, being a politician, you also say that you favor “community input,” but that’s NOT in the law that you’ve proposed. And its affordability and building reuse inclusions are minimalist-to-toothless: options, not mandates that developers, laser-focused as usual on their own self-interested goals, can freely ignore.

And, in fact, Senator Weber, you approved passage from committee of SB 79 (“Housing Development: Transit Oriented Development”) that would do the much of the same as Peters’ proposal, similarly without urgently needed and appropriate safeguards.