OB Rag

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / Jan. 16, 2026

High above San Diego Bay, Fort Rosecrans occupies one of the most commanding pieces of land in the city. Long before it became a national cemetery, the Point Loma military reservation played a central role in coastal defense, guarding the harbor entrance from the late 19th century through World War II. Today, Fort Rosecrans is best known as a place of remembrance — but it has also, briefly and intentionally, become part of San Diego’s film history.

Hollywood Backlot

What Fort Rosecrans is not is a forgotten Hollywood backlot. Unlike larger, active Southern California military installations, there is no documented evidence that Fort Rosecrans served as a regular filming site during Hollywood’s Golden Age. From the 1930s through the 1950s, studios making war films typically relied on expansive Army and Navy bases that could support large-scale productions, complete with troops, equipment, and training grounds. Fort Rosecrans, originally developed as a coastal artillery post and formally designated a fort in 1899, never functioned as that kind of production hub.

By the end of World War II, advances in military technology had reduced the importance of fixed coastal defenses, and the site’s military role diminished. Portions of the reservation had already been set aside as a cemetery decades earlier, beginning in the 1880s. Over time, Fort Rosecrans’ identity shifted decisively from active defense to commemoration.

That context makes its on-screen appearance far more meaningful.

By Steve Rodriguez  

Part I

–Excerpt from the January 22 2026 edition of the New York Times

Headline: Trump Could Begin Flying on Jet Donated by Qatar by this Summer

President Trump could start flying later this year on the 747 Boeing jetliner donated by the government of Qatar after the Air Force said it expected to deliver the refurbished plane no later than this summer…Mr. Trump brushed off ethical concerns about the gift, saying that only someone “stupid” would reject it.

Part II

So I still recall the rapturous joy

of receiving that spectacular gift

when just eleven years old. Blue Schwinn bike

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / January 27, 2026

Three San Diego City Council members proposed Tuesday suspending paid parking in Balboa Park for city residents but continuing to charge nonresidents — and they said their proposal will be voted on Feb. 9.

The council’s Rules Committee is also scheduled to discuss at 9 a.m. Wednesday a ballot measure to make parking free in Balboa Park on Sundays — the first public hearing at City Hall about Balboa Park paid parking since it took effect Jan. 5.

While three votes on the nine-member council is not enough to make a policy change, it’s expected the proposal will get additional votes from three council members who’ve long opposed any parking fees in the park.

The City Council took a separate action Tuesday to essentially cancel a months-old plan to extend parking meter enforcement to Sundays across the city. That enforcement had been scheduled to start in April.

By Sue Taylor

There are people who tell those of us who don’t want to pay for parking in Balboa Park, “Just take transit!” I’m sure this works fine for people who live near the park. For the rest of us, it’s more of an adventure.

Today I had a public meeting downtown at 10:00 a.m. Having commuted downtown many times in the past, I know that if you want to arrive on time by transit, you need to leave very early and build in a generous margin for… surprises.

I left my house at 8:30 and walked to the bus stop for the 8:45 bus. I like to get there early because buses can be early, and there’s nothing quite like watching yours drive past as you’re jogging downhill waving at the driver to stop for you!

At 8:45, no bus. I checked the “One Bus Away” app. It said the bus was delayed by 12 minutes. Fine. That’s why I padded my schedule.

by Deborah Brennan / Cal-Matters / January 23, 2026

[Please see original for more photos and links]

For decades, parking lots at San Diego’s Balboa Park were packed, with lines of drivers snaking through lanes in search of a rare open spot.

Last Saturday there were plenty of open spaces, and on Wednesday several lots were half empty, while people lined up behind kiosks to pay newly imposed parking fees.

This month San Diego city imposed the first parking fees for the century-old cultural site, provoking confusion and contempt. Museums reported that visitation dropped 20% immediately, vandals defaced the meters and San Diego County mayors urged the city to reverse the unpopular policy.

“The negative impacts paid parking on Balboa Park have been immediate and they have been measurable,” Jessica Hanson York, executive director of the Mingei Museum and president of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, which represents the park’s museums, said at a press conference Wednesday. “Our visitors are feeling it and our cultural institutions and our museums are feeling it across the park.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has said the parking fees will provide stable revenue for the park and its museums, and help close a city budget gap of roughly $300 million this fiscal year and $110 million next year.

It’s amazing. Saturday morning, January 24 — the morning that ICE / border patrol agents shot and murdered Alex Pretti — was 3 days ago – and today we still don’t know who shot him. We still don’t know which agent or agents fired the 10 bullets into his body at point-blank range.

Is it because there were so many agents surrounding Alex and pummeling him that investigators can’t figure out the individual identities?

No, authorities know who it is – they’re just not saying. ICE agents operate with impunity, under masks and with loaded machine guns.

Okay, so Greg Bovino is leaving with a few other agents and ol’ Tom Horman is coming in to quiet everybody down. You know Horman, he’s the gruff-speaking, bulldog looking guy from central casting — he reminds me of actor Broderick Crawford of the TV show Highway Patrol — who allegedly accepted a bag of $50,000 cash from FBI agents during a crime investigation — and got to keep it and who of course was not charged.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are getting ready to shut the government down unless funding for ICE is removed from the spending packages.

Well what do we know? What have authorities said about the trigger happy agent? (What happened to the idea that multiple agents actually fired into Pretti?)

This past weekend, the Point Loma and Ocean Beach Democratic Club endorsed local candidate Mandy Havlik for the City Council race in District 2.

In their emailed announcement, the Club reported:

Both Nicole Crosby and Mandy Havlik attended and answered a wide arrange of questions moderated by Dave Fisher, President.

They also noted:

The morning of our endorsement consideration Josh Coyne’s campaign notified us that he would not be attending our meeting, they also failed to complete our candidate questionnaire that had been sent to all our Democratic candidates.

by Ernie McCray

The murder of Renee Michele Good

in her neighborhood

for reasons as unjustified

as a motive

could possibly be

has grabbed my attention dramatically

due to such action being extremely unlikely

considering

that law enforcement people

By SD Union-Tribune Editorial Board / January 25, 2026

After City Hall initiatives go awry, they often end up triggering relatively specific reactions.

When Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council rushed into a costly lease-to-own deal in 2016 for an Ash Street office tower only to find out that asbestos contamination and other issues made it unusable without extremely expensive renovations, public incredulity was universal.

Last year, after Mayor Todd Gloria and the council completed a long-term con job that imposed trash fees on 220,000-plus homes at rates that were far higher than promised in 2022, anger was common.

And after the imposition of first-ever parking fees at beloved Balboa Park on Jan. 5, anguish has been a frequent response. Brad Taylor’s essay on our pages about how the change had created a sense of “tremendous loss” resonated with many locals.

By Angelo Haynes

At approximately 10:00 a.m., on Friday, Jan.23,  about a dozen individuals claiming to be a coalition of community activist groups from across San Diego County converged at the front office of Mayor Todd Gloria to protest his current SDPD policies regarding cooperation with Federal ICE officers. The chief concern expressed in a demand letter brought to the scene was an immediate clarification of SDPD policy and operational directives, including the requiring of the removal of face coverings during ICE operations.

The protestors then conducted a sit-in, a classic form of non-violent civil rights protest to get the attention of Gloria after repeated attempts to schedule a meeting. Nine  protestors occupied the waiting room space and the elevator bay of the 11th floor. Multiple staffers ranging from IT contractors strode through the scrum, while arriving for work in the morning.

Protest leader Bleu Wong of SD Bike Brigade was leading the protest and had indicated that she had been in contact with Todd Gloria’s office since last summer and had yet to have an actual conversation with the mayor regarding this issue. In response to the mayor’s office’s lack of communication, this collection of activists mobilized and showed up at his office with a list of demands printed on plastic polymer board signage.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer Sunday ordered all County and U.S. flags to be lowered to half- staff on County property in recognition of the lives lost in Minnesota at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.