OB Rag

Ocean Beach, San Diego — On Sunday morning, June 8, more than 300 people came together at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach to form a bold human banner spelling out the phrase “NO KINGS.” Organized as a peaceful visual demonstration, participants stood shoulder-to-shoulder to send a powerful message in defense of democracy and the Constitution.

Set against the natural beauty of San Diego’s iconic coastline, the banner was captured from above by drone photography, creating striking aerial images and videos now available for media use.

Protect Point Loma will hold a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, June 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the Liberty Station Conference Room, 2600 Laning Road.

The meeting will feature an update on controversial plans for a four-story, 56-unit (8 affordable) apartment building at 1004 Rosecrans Street at the intersection of Rosecrans and Talbot.

Protect Point Loma, a 501c4 non-profit, has organized opposition to the project, which would sit on an active fault line on a site where a previous gas station left hazardous waste on the property.

By OB Rag Staff / June 6, 2025

In a decision that has received international “only in California” news coverage, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that San Diego’s 2024 ban on teaching yoga at shoreline parks and beaches is unconstitutional.

The judgement, which reversed a lower court ruling that yoga instruction is not protected by the First Amendment, clears the way for plaintiffs Steven Hubbard (aka “NamaSteve”) and Amy Baack to resume their free oceanfront yoga instruction.

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 6, 2025

Not long after President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term, there was plenty of advice from law firms and analysts on how businesses should prepare for increased immigration raids.

Among the highlights: recheck employee documents, advise workers of their rights and tell them who to notify should immigration enforcement officials show up.

One thing that didn’t appear on many lists: Get ready for a SWAT-like operation.

By Neighbors for a Better San Diego / June 5, 2025

Senate Bill 79 (SB 79) narrowly passed the California Senate vote with a bare minimum number of votes (21 out of 40).

The San Diego County delegation was split: Catherine Blakespear and Brian Jones voted against the bill, while Steve Padilla and Akilah Weber Pierson voted for it.

Now, we must focus on our local Assembly members. It’s important to let them know that you oppose SB 79!

CA State Assembly members who represent residents in San Diego County are:

NO KINGS Human Banner Action at Dog Beach – Pre-Rally Demonstration Sends Message Across the Nation

Join us on Sunday, June 8 at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach for a powerful and creative act of visual resistance as we form a massive “NO KINGS” human banner in the sand.

By Arturo Castañares, Editor-At-Large, La Prensa San Diego

The Mayor of Imperial Beach made a false claim against the Mayor of Chula Vista as the two city leaders face off in a special election to fill a vacancy on the County Board of Supervisors.

Paloma Aguirre posted on social post this week that  John McCann was “at the center” of a school district political corruption scandal that saw 18 people indicted in 2012, including six school board members, but McCann was the only sitting Board member not charged with any crimes in the investigation that included three school districts.

McCann, who had previously served two four-year terms on the Chula Vista City Council before being elected to the Sweetwater Union High School District in November 2010, later returned to the City Council in 2014 and was elected Mayor in 2022.

In early 2012, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis charged 15 individuals in a years-long corruption ring that included the Superintendents of three school districts, school board members, and a private company executive who conspired to direct lucrative construction contracts to companies who had provided campaign contributions and expensive dinners to officials.

But the majority of the corrupt acts occurred before McCann was even elected to the school board.

By Kate Callen / June 3, 2025

San Diegans who feel the strain of overdevelopment in older neighborhoods won’t recognize the halcyon city in Wesley Morgan’s May 31 Times of San Diego commentary, “Opinion: Privileged Homeowners Like Me Shouldn’t Resist New Housing.”

Morgan, treasurer of YIMBY Democrats of San Diego, describes how he and his wife bought a Mission Hills home 11 years ago where they “raised our daughters surrounded by great schools, walkable streets, and reliable city services.”

Over time, Morgan writes, “it became painfully clear how few others had that chance and how little our neighborhoods were doing to welcome others.”

The rest is a story of virtue and evil. Virtuous people like Morgan want to see a lot of new housing bring a lot of new residents into their flourishing communities. Evil people want to keep new residents out because they are mean and they hate strangers.

Morgan’s essay reads like a fairy tale because it is. Let’s look closely at some of his assertions and see how they square with reality.

By Geoff Hueter / June 4, 2025

San Diego’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) program has been successful in enabling greater housing density within single-family and multi-family zones. However, the Bonus ADU program in single-family zoned neighborhoods, which allows an unlimited number of ADUs on parcels designated within the Sustainable Development Area, has had a profound negative impact on neighborhoods, with predictable community backlash.

In response, the City Council on March 4 asked the Planning Department to present revisions to the program to address the over-sized scale of some projects in single-family zones. The Planning Department’s proposals have been reactive and convoluted, in no small part because the Planning Department has not provided a comprehensive public input and review process.

A real revision of the Bonus ADU program would start with a foundational question — what role do we want single-family neighborhoods to play in providing new options for infill housing?

Proponents of the Bonus ADU program reflexively cite that we have a housing crisis that justifies building any kind of housing anywhere in San Diego. However, San Diego’s affordable housing needs are more nuanced than that. San Diego’s focus on total units rather than type of units means that San Diego struggles to provide family-sized housing.

By Ben Christopher / CalMatters / June 4, 2025

The northern tip of the Vermont Square neighborhood in South Los Angeles gentrified in many of the usual ways over the last decade.

Median incomes shot up. The neighborhood’s share of Black residents declined. On the list of fastest growing home prices across the region, Vermont Square cracked the top ten. Along Western Avenue, new apartment buildings popped up as visible markers of change.

But there is a less obvious, if no less profound, marker: Fewer people began riding the bus.

Between 2012 and 2017, public transit ridership fell in this Census designated tract — a roughly half-square mile neighborhood spanning Western — by 24%. In that same period, the neighborhood-wide rent increased by an average of $468 per month.

That, according to UCLA researchers, is probably not a coincidence. A study published late last year compared changes in transit ridership numbers to rental market trends in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and Orange counties. It found that in neighborhoods well-served by buses and trains, transit ridership tended to fall in places where the rents were rising.

By Frank Laughton / June 3, 2025

First, a true confession, I am not a financial wizard, and I have never run for or held a public office. I’m just a lowly taxpayer, and recent decisions from our political leaders make me feel even more lowly.

I was a firm supporter of the strong mayor concept in 2004, when the passage of Proposition F eliminated the city manager form of government on a trial basis, and again in 2010, when the passage of Proposition D made the new arrangement permanent. I believed at the time that the Mayor needed to have the flexibility to carry out his or her agenda.

But the past several years have delivered a strong wake-up call. Everywhere I look, I see hard evidence that the Mayor and the City Council do not have the competence to run the affairs of the city.

Let’s start with fiscal mismanagement. I’m a former long-distance biker who is all for safety. But how can the City justify spending $90 million on 26 miles of bike lanes that are hardly used? There was no cost-benefit analysis done (that I know of). When the Mayor was asked for a justification of the large expenditure, his answer was “safety.” Where was the data to support that position?

By JW August / June 3, 2025

San Diego Congressional and local elected officials stood together Monday to denounce last weekend’s armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a South Park neighborhood restaurant.

Four U.S. representatives and two mayors vowed to challenge the Trump Administration’s militaristic tactics in storming the popular Buona Forchetta eatery on Friday and intimidating the South Park community. An estimated 20 to 25 ICE agents handcuffed the entire staff while looking for 19 employees named in a warrant signed by local magistrate Judge Karen Crawford. Four employees with no identification were taken into custody.

“Over the past week, the immigration enforcement tactics we’ve seen in San Diego have crossed a new line,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs. “This isn’t about going after criminals. They’re going after people who are trying to do the right thing and people who are contributing to our economy.”

Jacobs was joined at the press conference outside the James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep Federal Courthouse by Reps. Juan Vargas, Mike Levin, and Scott Peters and by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre.