OB Rag

Sale of French Gourmet reportedly in the works– Reality check for those thinking decision was made on high-rise

For those who thought the fate of the Vela project – aka Turquoise Tower – aka Pencil Tower — already had been decided, think again.

Michel Malecot, the long-time owner of the French Gourmet, told reps from the group Neighbors for a Better California on Thursday, Jan.30 that a check for $6.5 million was being wired to him to complete the sale of his property to Kalonymus, the developer that is proposing to build a 23-story skyscraper on the Turquoise Street site.

By Member of Community Hub

On the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) website, the About page still features a section discussing Affordable Housing for Ocean Beach — but the reality has changed.

The video on their site talks about replacing existing cottages at 4823-25 Saratoga Ave with a scaled, community-aligned affordable housing project. However, FUMC has abandoned this reasonable initiative and is now exploring plans to sell the entire church property to developers.

By Kate Callen

After decades of City Hall neglect, Encanto residents are savoring their stunning victory over predatory development at the January 28 City Council hearing. And it looks like they’re just getting started.

At a jubilant February 2 gathering, leaders of Neighbors for Encanto said they are ready to double down in the battles ahead. And they are confident neighborhoods across the city will stand with them.

“This isn’t just Encanto’s fight,” Lisa Becerra told the crowd at the Encanto Recreation Center. “We’re hearing from people all over San Diego who are already pissed off and already fighting this.”

By Joni Halpern

On January 17, 2025, I sat next to an elderly African-American woman, both of us waiting for the San Diego Housing Commission to start the board meeting. The woman was clothed in simple, attractive garb, her gray hair combed neatly.  She sat with dignity, her chin lifted, her shoulders squared.  She smiled and nodded when she caught my gaze.

The business of the meeting began with public comment. She was the first one to speak.

“Good morning, Honorable Members of the San Diego Housing Commission,” she began.   “I live in City Heights with my husband.”

She struggled to find her notes, then added, “and we are both disabled.  We had applied for Section 8 [federally subsidized housing] on November 2012, and on November 2021, we were told we were on a waiting list for ‘mod rehab’ for the elderly and disabled.  Up to this point, we are still on the waiting list.  I am here to request…uh…the Board to grant us a priority, based on our situation…uh…my husband is diabetic…”

By JW August / Special to the OB Rag

In the Trenches–

The term “fog of war” is an apt description of what’s going on now in Washington.

Confusion, fear and paranoia stalk the halls of the federal bureaucracy, often maligned and rarely appreciated these days.  So says a long time source whom I’ll name “S” who holds a senior leadership position with a large federal agency.

“It’s important that Americans know what is going on” says “S” and says he/she is not motivated by belonging to any political party; the skin in the game for “S” is having served this country for more than 25 years of federal and military service. “S” worked in San Diego in the past but has been in D.C. now for over ten years.

A large protest against Trump immigration policies was held in National City Friday afternoon. Hundreds of people jammed National Avenue — and an eventual street take-over resulted in teargas being used by police after it was called an “illegal protest.”

Starting out as a peaceful protest, the demonstration quickly grew in size, as Highland Avenue was swarmed with people.

“I see a lot of youth which I’m happy to see here that are out here supporting. I see a lot of families with kids. I see a lot of older people as well,” said Violet, an immigration activist.

ABC News

MINNEAPOLIS — Civil rights activists gathered outside the headquarters of Target Corp. on Thursday to call for a national boycott of the retailing giant over its decision to phase out its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Target announced last Friday that it would join competitor Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back their DEI initiatives, which have come under attack from conservatives and the new White House of President Donald Trump.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a veteran civil rights lawyer in Minneapolis and founder of the Racial Justice Network, joined other local activists and their supporters at a news conference to urge people to begin the boycott on Saturday, the first day of Black History Month. Many of the participants were regular Target shoppers until now, she said.

Levy Armstrong said they were “stunned” that Target, which increased its commitment to building a more diverse workforce in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis in 2020, backed away from its support of racial equity.

Waymo, the self-driving division of Google parent Alphabet, announced Wednesday it plans to test its autonomous taxis in San Diego this year.

After extensive testing in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, where trips are publicly available 24 hours a day, the company says the technology is adapting successfully to new environments, leading to the expansion.

San Diego and Las Vegas will be next, with as many as 10 new cities to be announced this year.

Today, Friday morning, the White House affirmed that President Donald Trump will move forward with aggressive new tariffs on Canada and Mexico (and China) on Saturday, February 1 and that he will stick to his deadline for the new duties that could have widespread effects on the economy.

“I can confirm that, tomorrow, the February 1 deadline President Trump put into place with a statement several weeks ago continues,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Friday’s briefing.

Her confirmation of the new tariffs appeared to end speculation on whether the president would follow through on the pledge he made as a candidate to levy the new duties.

She said the tariffs would amount to a 25% duty on Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on China.

If U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to slap 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico it could usher in a volatile new chapter in the longstanding trade relationship with the impacts hitting consumers.

7SanDiego / January 27, 2025

San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park will grow by 15 acres once a sale goes through, thanks to newly acquired land north of state Route 52 and west of Interstate 15, it was announced Tuesday.

The land, which is in escrow but expected to close within 30 days, will be added to the city’s Multiple Species Conservation Program with the intent of protecting threatened and endangered species.

San Diego purchased the two parcels, part of the East Elliot Community Planning Area, from a private buyer for $431,500, using money from the city’s Habitat Acquisition Fund. That fund is solely for purchasing and preserving land for conservation.

The climate emergency has led to dramatic changes for Alaska fish and wildlife and for the subsistence-based communities of the Arctic who depend on these creatures for their survival.

By David Helvarg / Common Dreams / Jan 22, 2025 

In early January, as one of his last acts in office, former U.S. President Joe Biden banned future offshore oil and gas drilling on more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters including the entire East Coast, West Coast, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico as well as the northern Bering Sea.

He did this using presidential powers granted under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which in 2019 a federal judge in Alaska ruled cannot be rescinded by a future president. This means, despite his day one executive order reversing Biden’s order, President Donald Trump will likely have to get Congress to pass legislation negating this drilling ban.