OB Rag

By Jan Zverina, 20-Year Resident of University City

Dear Mayor Gloria:

Allow me to begin with the opening statement in the City of San Diego’s latest University Community Plan Update Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR), which is a blunt contradiction to the City’s stated intent to foster “an inclusive and constructive dialog” with University City residents regarding future plans for our community:

By Gary Wonacott

I filed a complaint against the short term rental office and SANDAG described below.  But in essence, it says that the STRO pressured SANDAG personnel to publish erroneous data for the number of housing units and population for Mission Beach.  For example, in 2020, the census value for number of housing units is 3188 for MB while the SANDAG published data is 3,620.  This is a huge difference.  This week, I should get back the results from the City’s fraud investigation.  It will be interesting either way it goes.

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa / July 18, 2024

San Diego County Board of Supervisors this week asked staff to examine the level of corporate ownership of single-family rental homes in the region and look for ways to protect renters through legislation or even lawsuits.

The proposal by County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer directs the County’s Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton to report back to the Board on the percentage of ownership of single-family homes held by corporate landlords and to “explore options for initiating, pursuing, and/or joining litigation against corporate landlords and property firms to address allegations …”

By Colleen O’Connor

As I predicted in an OB Rag column on December 12,  2022. “Thus, the big predictions.  Neither Biden nor Trump will be the U.S. President.” Simple reason two years ago. Same simple reason today.

As I also stated in another OB column. “It’s the Women, Stupid” who will decide in 2024. Despite all the chaos, the cruelty, the ignorance and the fear, good things have already happened and will continue. Credit women. The suffragettes.

By Patty Ducey-Brooks

Residents, business owners and homeless advocates from throughout the city of San Diego are meeting at 1 p.m., Monday, July 22 at City Hall, located at 202 C Street, to urge the City Council to fulfill its fiduciary duty by rejecting the flawed Kettner & Vine Homeless Shelter Lease because of the major operational, legal and financial risks it imposes on San Diego identified in the City Attorney and Independent Budget Analyst Reports to the City Council.

(1)  Lack of Adequate Protection for the City:

The Callen Report

By Kate Callen

Once again, Mayor Todd Gloria wants the instant gratification of a real estate deal that seems financially perilous and legally tenuous. This time, he may not get it. Like 101 Ash Street and Midway Rising, the Kettner and Vine homeless campus has been hurtling forward at Gloria’s insistence since he abruptly announced the project April 4.

The scenario is all too familiar: Gloria is exuberant about a land use proposal, and he wants it to happen fast. Maybe the estimated costs of tenant improvements seemed reasonable (101 Ash). Or maybe the winner of a bidding process was an unknown player with no track record (Midway Rising).

President Joe Biden just announced he was ended his candidacy for the 2024 campaign. He thanked Kamala Harris for being a good partner and endorsed her.

Here’s his statement to the American people:

My Fellow Americans,

Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.

Demler Brothers Egg Ranch site of a 2019 animal cruelty investigation

From Direct Action Everywhere

A large barn fire broke out Thursday, July 18, at Demler Brothers Egg Ranch, a factory egg farm in Ramona that confines approximately two million chickens and supplies eggs to Walmart, Smart & Final, and other chains.

Tens of thousands of birds inside the impacted barn burned to death,

Quisling Pride

By Mat Wahlstrom

Ever heard of “Cop City”? No, that isn’t the name for the unseemly rush to install surveillance cameras throughout Hillcrest before this coming weekend, in violation of the TRUST Ordinance — though there is a direct connection.

I don’t see that it’s been written about here before, so allow me to explain. Cop City is the nickname for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a project to bulldoze hardwood forest and historic structures to build a massive complex — the largest in the nation — for the sole purpose of training law enforcement as urban paramilitary, in a historically Black and unrepresented section of Atlanta.

By  Bonnie Kutch

Blame it on the “Strong Mayor System.”  With almost total administrative authority previously held by the city manager, and the power to appoint and dismiss department heads, one man alone has all but succeeded in pushing through what’s likely to be the most deceptive and destructive community plan update in San Diego’s history.

The University Community Plan Update, which goes before the San Diego City Council for a final vote on July 30th, would add 30,480 housing units to the existing 26,520 homes, swelling the population from 64,206 to 129,566 people – without adding the infrastructure needed to support such an enormous population increase.  The community, which already experiences heavy traffic congestion, has a limited traffic grid and sits within a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.