Category: San Diego

Voice of San Diego reporter MacKenzie Elmer explains that when pressed as to why SeaWorld’s summer fireworks are still with us after saying they had to go a year ago, City Council President Joe LaCava answers, “It’s complicated.” Here is Elmer’s full report:

After some nesting birds nearby died last year following back-to-back pyrotechnics for the Fourth of July, the most powerful person on the San Diego City Council said SeaWorld’s nightly summertime fireworks have got to go.

Almost a year later and Mission Bay is still booming night after night.

When asked what San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava’s done so far to make good on his promise, his office told me it’s complicated.

By Kate Callen / August 1, 2025

A year ago, after hearing countless stories about monstrous accessory dwelling units (ADUs), OB Rag staff wanted to find out how bad things were. So we launched a “Worst ADU in San Diego” contest on August 9. And we sat back and waited for entries.

By the August 23 contest deadline, the Rag received over 50 submissions from 20 communities across the city. Our panel of five judges drove around town looking at one eyesore after another. It was depressing work.

The three top prizewinners were announced September 12: Gold at 4578 Jicarillo Avenue in Bay Ho, Silver at 4974 54th Street in College, and Bronze at 5732-36 Dorothy Drive, also in College.

The combined awfulness of the projects prompted us to add 12 “Dishonorable Mentions.”

The 15 contest “winners” fell into two categories of greed. In the first, predatory developers crammed multiple units onto a single lot for maximum profit. In the second, selfish property owners built gigantic structures onto small lots for maximum living space.

The second category included the Bronze recipient. The judges commented, “This demonstrates how a single ADU can have an overwhelming neighborhood impact. Our first thought was: Could this be any uglier? Our second thought was: Is this an architectural middle finger to the surrounding neighborhood?”

S.D. puts Mission Bay land use issue on hold – Review of step toward redevelopment pushed back to September

By Jeff McDonald / SD Union-Tribune / July 31, 2025

The San Diego City Council isn’t signing off yet on a plan by Mayor Todd Gloria that would declare dozens of acres of commercial property in Mission Bay Park surplus so it can be offered to developers.

On a 7-1 vote after an hour of debate and criticism of the plan from members of the public, the council agreed this week to revisit the proposal in September, after their August recess.

Council President Joe LaCava voted no on delaying the proposal; Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent.

San Diego’s decades-old long-term master plan for Mission Bay Park calls for a hotel in the area of the three proposed surplus sites.

A top aide to Gloria acknowledged the city had been approached about building a hotel on the largest of the three parcels — currently the 23-acre site of the Marina Village banquet and conference center. The other sites are home to the Dana Landing Marina on nearby Ingraham Street and the Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant just down Quivira Way.

“The city did recently receive an unsolicited proposal for one of the three parcels,” said Christina Bibler, the city’s director of economic development.

From Point Loma-OB Monthly

ArtWalk Liberty Station returns for its 20th year this weekend with more than 175 artists from around the United States and Mexico showcasing their paintings, photography, glass, ceramics, jewelry and sculptures.

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, at Ingram Plaza in Liberty Station’s Arts District at 2751 Dewey Road, Point Loma. Admission is free.

A ticketed preview party where guests can get an early look at the artwork and mingle with the artists is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1. Tickets are $25 (free for children 12 and younger) and include live music by Fleetwood Max and James Taylor tribute act Never Die Young. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Live music also will be offered all weekend by performers including San Diego Music Awards nominees and winners.

Here’s the musical lineup:

A few days ago, KPBS ran a story entitled “San Diego is building a lot of new homes, but not always in places that need them most” by Jake Gotta, which was picked up by their media partners at Voice of San Diego. Gotta interviewed our good friend Bonnie Kutch, the head of UC Peeps who is also a steering committee member of the San Diego Community Coalition.

However, mainly Gotta quoted Colin Parent extensively, the head of Circulate San Diego, a group that masquerades as pro-envirionment and pro-mass transit advocates but who are mainly paid lobbyists and pro-development shrills. Gotta made Kutch out to be the “bad guy” in his totally uncritical “gotcha” YIMBY piece. Here below, Bonnie responds:

Hi Jake:

In case you’re doing more stories focusing on housing issues, I wanted to make a few points that weren’t covered in your story that aired today.  I wasn’t clear on what the focus of today’s story would be, thinking it was housing in general, so I failed to point out a few things:

• First, the City of San Diego spent $2.1 billion of taxpayer money building the Blue Line Trolley Expansion alone so it could supposedly bring people who work in UTC back and forth.  Yet, the City has failed to advocate for new affordable housing near all 62 trolley stops to serve that purpose.  Building all the housing in UTC or Sorrento Valley alone is a huge waste of the trolley expense and negates its intended purpose.

Come Inside to Order Your San Diego Community Coalition T-shirt

Tuesday, the 29th of July, witnessed another vote by the San Diego City Council. This vote — a unanimous one — crystalized the city handing over, as Jennifer Van Grove at the UT, described as “its asbestos-plagued office tower at 101 Ash St.” for a 60-year lease to the development team headed by none other than Kelly Moden, the chair of the City’s Planning Commission. She heads MRK Partners and Create Dev LLC.

Moden gushed, “Today’s council approval gives us the green light to transform a city-owned liability into a legacy. We are honored to have the trust and confidence of the San Diego City Council as we turn our attention to meeting September’s state and federal affordable housing deadlines, which will keep our timeline and financing moving forward.”

As Van Grove reported:

The project presumably raises ethical concerns because of Moden’s involvement.

Michael Aguirre and Maria Severson, partners at Aguirre & Severson LLP who have sued the city over its past dealings with the building, threatened additional litigation. They alleged violations related to public noticing requirements and argued that Moden’s financial participation in the deal is illegal.

On Tuesday, July 29, the San Diego City Council voted overwhelmingly to continue the issue of Mission Bay “surplus land” into September. This was upon former councilmember Donna Frye’s request, as expressed both in her letter to the Council and in her statements in the OB Rag.

The issue was initially on the Consent Calendar of the council’s agenda for the day, which would have only called for a simple vote and no discussion of this important issue by councilmembers. Councilmember Marni von Wilpert pulled the item from the Consent Agenda and made the motion to deny the staff — the Mayor’s — recommendations.

After some discussion, the final vote was 7 for the continuance and one opposed. Councilmember Joe LaCava was the sole vote in opposition.

To their credit, councilmembers Jen Campbell, Stephen Whitburn, Henry Foster, von Wilpert, Kent Lee, Raul Campillo and Sean Elo-Rivera voted for the continuance. Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent (again).

The reasoning of most of the Councilmembers and of the public speakers was that this was too important an issue for an immediate vote and that the public needed to be more informed and brought up to date on the matter; that a vote on it should be put off a couple of months.

LaCava’s argument for not supporting the continuance was a slap in the face to the public as he derided the idea that the city’s citizens needed to be more informed

Editordude: The Rag broke this story days ago July 9th to be exact —  and ever since we’ve tried to find a mainstream reporter to take the story up; none of the reporters we contacted took it up or even responded. Now, finally, today, July 29, Jeff McDonald at the UT has written about this — but of course does not give the Rag any credit, which is par for the course. Mainstream reporters hardly ever accredit us. But at least McDonald quotes Donna Frye, who wrote several articles about this “surplus land” issue in Mission Bay here at the Rag. 

By Jeff McDonald / San Diego Union-Tribune / July 29, 2025

Mayor Todd Gloria is asking the City Council to declare three parcels in city-owned Mission Bay Park surplus land — the first step toward redeveloping over 28 acres of commercial property in the popular open space.

The idea, according to the city’s Economic Development Department, is to remake a conference center, two marinas and a restaurant into new community assets — in particular a hotel, as called for in the city’s long-term master plan.

“The city leases portions of Mission Bay Park to various entities,” Director Christina Bibler wrote in a report to the council. “The city intends to issue requests for proposals to offer three of these properties for separate long-term ground leases, with the goal of facilitating redevelopment.”

The affected parcels include the 23-acre Marina Village banquet and conference center on Quivira Way, the 4.5-acre Dana Landing Marina on Ingraham Street and just under an acre nearby that hosts the Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant and various water-related businesses.

In her report to the council, Bibler notes that the Surplus Lands Act is generally used as a tool to develop affordable housing.

But the Mayor’s Office said the city is not seeking to build homes on the properties. Instead, the city wants a new hotel at the site of the banquet center.

By Donna Frye

Plan B, in case the City Council Does NOT Support a Continuance of Item 105 on the July 29, City Council Docket  Declaring Three Properties in Mission Bay Park “Surplus Land”

In 1962, Mission Bay Park was officially dedicated as public land in perpetuity. It is one of our most incredible coastal treasures and includes a variety of public uses.

The Surplus Land Act is a state law whose primary purpose is to facilitate residential development with more affordable housing on public land.

It’s not surprising that we got upset when we read last month in the OB Rag that Mission Bay Park was being described as “surplus land”.

On a moment’s notice, our elected officials can and do change the meaning of words and turn our dedicated public parks into surplus land. They eliminate our voter-approved land use measures that have been in place for over 50 years, such as the 30-foot height limit, and upend our community land use plans.

Only a fifth of  ineligible customers have secured new service from private haulers, who are ill-equipped for this new volume of customers

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / July 27, 2025

San Diego’s transition away from free trash service is creating chaos for property owners, homeowners associations and management companies that handle 21,000 properties recently declared ineligible for city service.

The city’s controversial transition has focused mostly on 225,000 single-family homes and small apartment complexes that will soon be forced to pay $43.60 a month, after decades of not having to pay a fee to get trash service.

But the people in the 21,000 properties declared ineligible for city service are facing more daunting challenges — and many fear they could be left without trash service.

By Kate Callen / July 28, 2025

This Thursday, July 31, YIMBY Democrats of San Diego are holding a “Summer Soiree” fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. at the Town and Country Resort. YIMBY politicians like Congressman Scott Peters and Assemblymember Chris Ward will be there, along with developers, lobbyists, law firms, and … representatives of Airbnb.

The event flyer gives a big shout-out to the vacation rental conglomerate: “We would like to extend a special thank you to Airbnb, our presenting sponsor this year.”

Come again? Why would a local group dedicated to boosting the housing supply embrace a global conglomerate that shrinks that supply by converting residential units into vacation units?

Airbnb may rightly believe that more housing production will deliver more opportunities for future vacation rentals. And YIMBYs are understandably happy to take the corporate money.

The short-term rental behemoth has been courting density advocates since at least January 2024, when it launched the Airbnb Housing Council. Like its new YIMBY allies, Airbnb expressed concern about the shortage of affordable housing.