OB Rag

There’s been a spike in detentions of Afghans living in San Diego recently and it’s being condemned by the local chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil rights group, CAIR, which stands for Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In a statement issued Dec. 3, the Executive Director, Tazheen Nizam of San Diego’s CAIR said:

“This past week, our office has seen a spike in calls from Afghan community members suddenly facing new threats to their status and safety. This morning, I accompanied an Afghan evacuee to what ICE claimed was a routine check-in in San Jose; despite full cooperation, he was detained immediately. We’re hearing the same fear from long-time green card holders, already-vetted refugees, and families who have waited years to reunite with loved ones now trapped in limbo.

$283.7 million in tax revenue raised in the third quarter of 2025 alone

by: Chris Ponce / Fox5 San Diego / Dec 2, 2025

Legal cannabis sales in California brought $283.7 million in tax revenue in the third quarter of 2025, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) announced Tuesday.

Cannabis excise tax revenue funds childcare programs, youth substance abuse prevention, environmental recovery, medical research and more, according to CDTFA. Officials shared that more than $7 billion in cannabis tax revenue has been raised since 2018.

During the third quarter, July to September, this tax rate temporarily increased 19%. However, the tax rate returned to 15% following legislation signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

“We’re rolling back this cannabis tax hike so the legal market can continue to grow, consumers can access safe products, and our local communities see the benefits,” Newsom said in a news release.

Assembly Bill 564 stops a 25% tax increase on the cannabis industry, hoping to promote long-term success of the industry in California.

A brand new Smart & Final Store will be opening in the Midway District on December 10. And it appears it will be opening in the former Big Lots! on Rosecrans.

Here’s part of the announcement on Morningstar.com:

New location will deliver exceptional everyday values and club-sized savings to local families and businesses

Smart & Final, the smaller, faster grocery warehouse store known for delivering value to both households and businesses, will open a brand new 25,000-square-foot location in San Diego’s Midway District on December 10. Located at 3705 Rosecrans St., the new store will offer Smart & Final’s signature mix of fresh groceries, club-sized options and one-stop convenience to the Midway District – a neighborhood in the midst of a transformation into a walkable entertainment, retail and residential hub.

OB’s Azucar just made “10 Best San Diego Bakeries” in the national website Modern Luxury. Here’s what they had to say:

AZÚCAR

Owner and head pastry chef Vivian Hernandez-Jackson is living her American dream at Azúcar, the Cuban-style patisserie she opened in Ocean Beach in 2012.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 3, 2025 

Ridership on local buses and trolleys is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic much faster than the national average, but San Diego transit officials say that progress is jeopardized by a looming financial crisis.

Annual ridership on Metropolitan Transportation System buses and trolleys rose more than 7% to 81.2 million during the fiscal year that ended in June — only 4.2 million lower than the pre-pandemic ridership of 85.4 million.

MTS’s ridership recovery of 95% is the second highest for large transit systems in the nation and is well above the national average of 85%, according to surveys by the American Public Transportation Association.

Buses and trolleys have also begun to attract more riders who have cars and aren’t transit-dependent. Trips by such people, which MTS calls leisure rides, jumped by 44% in fiscal 2025 compared to fiscal 2024.

MTS officials attribute the improving ridership numbers to new services — including an express bus connecting downtown and the U.S.-Mexico border — and to more frequent trolley service and enhanced security at stations and on trains.

From the City of San Diego website:

December Nights is back for 2025!
Join us on December 5 and 6 for the City of San Diego’s largest free holiday festival in beautiful Balboa Park. The family friendly event brings San Diegans together to enjoy the lights, the sounds, the attractions and of course, the amazing food.

For Entertainment, go here.

Museums and Organizations

Balboa Art Conservation Center:
Come celebrate the season by making stamp art with Balboa Art Conservation Center! Using cochineal dye, guests of all ages will be able to combine science and art to make prints inspired by the History Center’s Poinsettia Tree. Located in the San Diego History Center: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m

Comic Con Museum:
Guests can participate in a FREE activity called “Paint and Take”. Each guest (ages 5+) can choose a small miniature figure to paint and take home. Activity takes about 30 minutes per guest once seated. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Supplies limited. Retail shops are open. Museum exhibits closed. Friday: 3pm-8pm & Saturday: 2pm-7pm

Fleet Science Center:
Join us for December Nights, San Diego’s largest holiday festival in beautiful Balboa Park on December 5 & 6, 2025! This free, family-friendly event brings San Diegans together to enjoy all of the lights, sounds, attractions, and amazing food that Balboa Park has to offer. At the Fleet, guests can experience over 100+ interactive exhibits and discover the power of science free of cost from 3 p.m.- 9p.m.

Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum
The Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum will be opening the upper garden for free from 3:00PM-8:00PM on December 5th and December 6th. *Paid admission 10:00am-2:00pm; View the garden’s decorations, participate in fun crafts for the family, and enjoy festive drinks in the beer garden!

This OBcean Actually Rides the Bus

By South OB Girl

San Diego City officials who tout “transit-oriented development” for Ocean Beach may have never actually taken the bus in our community.  I have, and what I’ve seen is both instructive and alarming.

OB streets are not wide enough for buses to operate safely.  Cable Street, the main thoroughfare for MTS Bus #35 and MTS Bus #923, which are the current buses in OB, is one lane on both sides, with cars parked up and down the whole length of it. Buses routinely drive close to or over the double yellow lines. When the bus makes a left turn down Cable from West Point Loma Blvd. or a right turn onto West Point Loma Blvd. from Cable, it takes up all the space of both roads, and it blocks the entire intersection of Cable and West Point Loma Blvd.

Most drivers in cars behind the bus try to pass because of the frequent stops along the route. Because there isn’t much room, passing cars cross over into the other lane when there is no oncoming traffic. Too often, the result is a collision.

From Associated Press , San Diego UT

Starbucks will pay about $35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, city officials announced Monday, hours before Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders visited striking baristas on a picket line.

The development came amid a continuing strike by Starbucks’ union that began last month at dozens of locations around the country [including San Diego].

The workers want better hours and increased staffing, and they are angry that Starbucks hasn’t agreed on a contract nearly four years after workers voted to unionize at a Buffalo store. Union votes at other locations followed, and about 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned stores are now unionized. The coffee giant also has around 7,000 licensed locations at airports, grocery stores and other locales.

Workers and the company dispute the extent and impact of the strike, but Mamdani, Sanders and some state and city officials sought to amplify the baristas’ message by mingling with scores of strikers and supporters outside a Starbucks shop in Brooklyn.

“These are not demands of greed — these are demands of decency,” Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on pledges to aid working-class people, told the crowd. Some workers carried giant mock-ups of Starbucks takeout cups, bearing the union’s logo instead of the coffee chain’s insignia.

by Ernie McCray

Oh, as I looked back at pictures
of the “No Kings” protesters
in San Diego
I so wished that I could take to the streets
as I’ve done so many times before
over my lifetime
but standing and walking
for a longtime
would not treat me very kind.
But it’s plain to see
that this kind of massive togetherness
is the key
to our surviving the mess
we find ourselves in,|
chaos brought to us
by a madman
whose goal in life
is to do us in

Joe Adamantly Still Supports 30-Foot Height Limit and Opposes Turquoise Tower

By Madison Beveridge / PB Monthly SDU-T / December 1, 2025 

Large-scale, controversial housing projects and people staying overnight in vehicles were the top concerns voiced by Pacific Beach residents during a recent town hall meeting.

The Pacific Beach Town Council hosted the Nov. 5 meeting with City Council President Joe LaCava at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in PB.

With attendees ranging from locals to government officials, the primary focus was a question and answer session with LaCava.

The councilmember, whose District 1 includes Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Carmel Valley, Torrey Pines and Del Mar Mesa, served as a sounding board for the community during the meeting. The evening was a chance for locals to connect directly with their elected city representative and address the region’s short- and long-term goals.

“Several of the most notable topics discussed were the two large project developments happening in Pacific Beach right now,” said PB Town Council President Charlie Nieto. “The first is the Turquoise Tower, which is a 23-story residential tower. The other is a newer project called Chalcifica, a 136-unit project.”

Zohran Mamdani’s plan for free buses is not a pipe dream. Montgomery County, Maryland, made its buses free this year.

By Alexis Goldstein / Truthout / December 1, 2025

During the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic downturn, many people couldn’t pay their transportation costs, and often didn’t. In New York City in 2021, some 21 percent of bus riders did not pay the fare, a figure that grew to 48 percent in 2024. Some local governments, including New York City, responded with reduced or free fare programs.

From 2023 to 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) ran a zero-fare bus pilot that served around 43,000 riders. The pilot, championed by then-assembly member Zohran Mamdani, offered free trips on one bus in each borough.

To expand this small pilot to universal zero-fare buses throughout New York City is a tall task, with a total 2024 bus ridership of 409 million and 6,300 buses. As mayor-elect Mamdani and his administration look to grow zero-fare buses in New York, they have a stellar example just a few hours south of New York, in Maryland.

The largest free bus program in Maryland by ridership is in Montgomery County, a suburb north of Washington, D.C.

Check out this cute and quick video of the OB Christmas Tree, just erected today, Tuesday December 2. The vid is produced by Charles Landon.