Category: San Diego

Surfrider San Diego has come up with their report on the amount of trash collected on July 5th — making it “America’s dirtiest beach day of the year” as after the fireworks and celebrations fade and the crowds go home, our beaches are left covered in trash.

They reported:

On Saturday morning, 866 volunteers gathered along the coast on Saturday morning to assist with the Surfrider Foundation San Diego’s 19th Annual “Morning After Mess” beach cleanup series — a post-Fourth of July effort to tackle the trash left behind after the holiday. In three hours, volunteers removed more than 2,617 pounds of trash, preventing it from ending up in our ocean and contributing to the growing pollution crisis impacting marine ecosystems.

Vice President JD Vance was met with a chorus of vigorous boos and jeers as his motorcade departed a University Heights sushi restaurant over the Fourth of July weekend.

A crowd of protesters gathered outside Soichi Sushi on Adams Avenue Sunday, July 6 to show contempt for the vice president and criticize recent policy decisions.

“I hope your Michelin-star sushi was worth it with 82 people dead in Texas. Thanks for cutting the National Weather Service,” one protester shouted.

Videos posted online show Vance’s motorcade being escorted out of the neighborhood by police as demonstrators lined the sidewalk, some flipping the bird.

By Lisa Mortensen

After reading the article about a ‘rehashed’ real estate deal on 101 Ash Street, I had concerns. Having been a San Diego Realtor for close to 50 years, from a real estate professional’s point of view, here are my list of red flags.

A 4% interest rate on a 55-year loan term without receiving payments on the loan for 15 years?   While current residential home interest rates for a 30-year mortgage with 20% down are hovering around high 6% low 7% range, this 4% rate appears extremely low based on ‘risk assessment’ of a 55-year loan.

The developer will once again ‘pocket’ $24.5 million in developer fees.  This is a similar situation to the $24 million credit arrangement on developer fees that Todd Gloria gave Bosa Development for a ½ acre open space parcel.  A spit of land that, let’s be clear, should have been donated.  So, if the city approves this deal, then basically close to $50 million dollars of developer fees are being waived which will greatly benefit these developers.  $50 million that could be used toward much needed infrastructure maintenance and upgrades for our city.

Editordude: The following two posts are on the new City of San Diego plan to turn 101 Ash Street into low-income housing. The first one is a comment on a July 2 U-T article on the plan by reporter Jennifer van Grove by Paul Krueger, a writer for the Rag. The second (below) is by Lisa Mortensen. 

By Paul Krueger

It’s a huge understatement to say there are “warning signs” about a new proposal to convert the asbesto-ridden 101 Ash Street high-rise into low-income housing.

And a City Council committee’s decision to move forward with the plan could pave the way for yet another financial fiasco tied to this Frankenstein property in the shadow of City Hall.

A private development team proposes to transform the vacant, scandal-plagued office building into 247 apartments for residents who make no more than 80 percent of area media income. The proposal also includes three units for managers, retail space, and a child care center.

The director of the city’s Economic Development Department told council committee members last week that the proposal “does just want the city needs in a time of crisis: big, bold ideas and a tenacity to re-envision a vacant, underperforming skyscraper into an exciting adaptive reuse conversion.”

But this initial proposal cries out for more detail, and taxpayers should demand that it be subject to a thorough review by an outside, independent real estate expert.

The obvious warning signs include:

By OB Rag Staff / July 7, 2025

A City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department manager is facing federal charges of attempting to smuggle fentanyl and cocaine across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Juan Nazario Lizarraga Peralta was arrested May 13 and charged with importation of a controlled substance. According to a May 16 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, Lizarraga, a U.S. citizen, “was attempting to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry after Customs and Border Patrol agents found seven pounds of fentanyl and 11 pounds of cocaine strapped to his body.”

Hillcrest, San Diego

ESCONDIDO,

ESCONDIDO, A coalition of North County San Diego organizations will host a pro-democracy, pro-community rally on Friday, July 4th at 10:00 AM Pacific to reaffirm the value of the immigrant community in Escondido and their rightful place in America.

The rally, organized by Indivisible North County San Diego, We the People, and 50501 North County San Diego, will take place at the corner of E Valley Parkway and Ash Street in Escondido (e.g. 1201 E Valley Pkwy, Escondido, CA 92027).

by Mike Russo / Catalyst California – Times of San Diego / July 3, 2025

For a lot of us, this Fourth of July feels impossible to celebrate.

It’s always been complicated. The soaring ideals etched into America’s founding documents have too often come with a silent asterisk, a quiet caveat that “liberty and justice for all” didn’t really mean ALL. Generations of Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other marginalized Americans have carried that contradiction, living with both the broken promises and the undeniable contributions they have made to this country.

But this year, the gap between America’s professed values and lived reality feels more like a chasm.

Across the country, we are watching scenes that belong to an authoritarian state, not a democracy.

Masked men operating under the color of law are snatching our immigrant neighbors off the streets.

Our Supreme Court ignores executive overreach and overturns rulings that protect our rights, in seeming determination to crown the president a king.

California’s own National Guard is under federal control, with active-duty troops deployed to intimidate peaceful protesters.

Congress, by the narrowest margin, just authorized a spending bill that funds border detention camps, guts health care and lines the pockets of oligarchs and regime cronies.

By Kate Callen

More than 100 Golden Hill residents filled all but four seats at a surreal June 30 Zoom briefing about an eight-story complex that will tower over surrounding homes.

The four empty chairs were placed at the front of the room behind a table bearing four name cards: Todd Gloria, Stephen Whitburn, Chris Ward, and Toni Atkins.

No one expected the four YIMBY Democrats to attend. But the event’s organizers, Preserve Greater Golden Hill, wanted to send a message: These elected officials sold out our community to serve the interests of the building industry.

The Golden Hill meeting was the second time Chicago-based developer CEDARst presented plans for its 180-unit project at 2935 A Street. The firm’s principals showed up in person for the first meeting on May 20. It didn’t go well. A broken wi-fi connection disrupted their slideshow, and an angry crowd shouted down their remarks.

Technical difficulties on June 30 were far worse. But the CEDARst team were in offsite locations at a safe distance. “They hid behind a Zoom platform that they controlled, and they selectively heard questions from the audience,” said Susan Bugbee, a long-time member of the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee.

By Lucas Robinson / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 29, 2025

As a policy researcher, Noah Yee Yick knows more about keeping tabs on the San Diego County budget than the typical resident.

But the sprawling document, hundreds of pages long, can vex even a professional researcher like Yee Yick.

After the county released the budget in May, Yee Yick combed the pages trying to confirm that it still would fund a legal aid program for detained immigrants. But the document can be sparse on those kinds of specific details about county spending, and Yee Yick had to contact Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s office to confirm the program still existed.

“That’s been one of our big frustrations,” said Yee Yick, who works for the Center on Policy Initiatives, a think tank that has long pushed for the county budget to become more transparent and better shaped by community input. “Plain and simple, it’s not accessible. It’s not transparent. It’s really difficult to know what the county’s spending money on.”

In recent years, the county has transformed and expanded how it engages the community, moves appreciated by many of the groups most tuned in to policy.

But those same groups remain frustrated by a budget document bursting with figures about complex intergovernmental revenues but short on exactly how money is spent on the ground.

RV Residents to Be Directed to “H” Barracks Lot

After residents and visitors in Mission Bay grew frustrated over what they perceived as a lack of enforcement of overnight parking rules, the San Diego Police Department announced this week that it will take action to crack down on parking violations. SDPD said they receive the most reports about people living out of vehicles or campers in beach areas, especially Robb Field and Mission Bay Park.

In late May, the City opened the H Barracks lot, which combined with the other four City-funded Safe Parking lots, nearly doubled the program’s capacity to just under 400 spaces, including room for oversized vehicles (RVs). With space available at H Barracks, police can enforce the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance in compliance with recent legal settlements.

The ordinance restricts overnight parking of large vehicles, including RVs, between the hours of 2 to 6 a.m. Supportive services, including referrals to the City’s Safe Parking Program, are offered at each SDPD contact.

On July 2, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428, and 1442, together representing more than 45,000 grocery workers across Southern California, finalized a tentative agreement with Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions. The agreement includes significant improvements for grocery workers, including higher wages, increased pension contributions, expanded health and welfare benefits, staffing commitments, and other key wins.

“This agreement is a testament to the strength, unity, and determination of our members,” said UFCW Local 135 President Todd Walters. “Our members stood strong, took a strike vote over unfair labor practices, and showed the companies that we were ready to fight. They responded with a deal that addresses many of our core issues. This contract reflects the power of our members and what we can achieve when we stand together.”

By Lucas Robinson / The San Diego Union-Tribune UPDATED: July 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM PDT

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre led Chula Vista Mayor John McCann in early results in the race for county supervisor representing South County’s District 1 — an election that will decide the direction of a Board of Supervisors that’s been left in limbo for months.

Partial returns late Tuesday after the polls closed showed Aguirre, the Democrat, leading by more than 6 percentage points over McCann, her Republican opponent, with about 70,000 ballots counted.

In a statement, Aguirre said the results showed South County backed her platform of fixing the area’s sewage crisis and opposing cuts to the social safety net being pursued by the Trump administration.

“Today belongs to the working-class people of District 1,” Aguirre said. “County government has been deadlocked for months while families pay the price — from rents being too damn high to beaches being closed and contaminated. That inaction ends today.”

Despite trailing in early returns, McCann said Tuesday night he was in a “competitive position.”