OB Rag

by Calista Stocker / Times of San Diego / Dec. 16, 2025

In 2017, the Metropolitan Transit System spent $1.4 million upgrading bus stop benches throughout the county. In addition to improved water drainage and material updates, the new benches came with dividers, which their contractor refers to as “vagrant bars.”

That was a year after the city of San Diego raced to install jagged rocks downtown under Interstate 5 in time for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Petco Park, and five years before the Downtown Partnership built a controversial bike rack/bench designed to deter lying down.

These are all examples of what urban designers call “hostile architecture.” Commonly referred to as “anti-homeless architecture” or “defensive design,” the concept is used to describe public infrastructure design intended to subtly (or not so subtly) change behavior.

San Diego-based urban designer Howard Blackson argues that hostile architecture reflects the hostility of human nature.

From SanDiegoVille / Dec. 17, 2025

San Diego’s Ocean Beach community is mourning the sudden loss of Chef Dalton Parr, the head chef at The Joint Sushi & Tapas and its sister restaurant The Bowl, who passed away this past Saturday. Parr, just 23 years old, was widely known not only for his talent in the kitchen but for his warmth, humor, and deep connection to the OB hospitality scene.

The Joint announced Parr’s passing in a heartfelt message shared on Instagram, describing him as a “brother, leader, and head chef” whose impact extended far beyond the restaurant

On Tuesday, Dec. 16, the San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health and Quality closed sections of Mission Bay due to a sewage release.  Tecolote Playground, Tecolote Shores and Fiesta Island North Entrance were closed — and the closures remain in effect Wednesday.

According to 7SanDiego:

About one-fifth of a 25,000-gallon sewage leak reached the waters near Fiesta Island amid construction work on the Tecolote Canyon sewer line near Snead Avenue, according to the city of San Diego. The work is part of a larger sewer improvement project.

The leak prompted a water contact closure for the shoreline at the locations in Mission Bay.

By Paul Krueger

If you’re motivated enough to share a concern with our elected city officials be prepared for some disrespect.

As a rule, only two council members — Steve Whitburn and Joe LaCava — will even acknowledge your presence during non-agenda public comment. They’ll make eye contact with you, and at least give the appearance of listening.

The other seven council members might be listening but they don’t show it. They usually won’t even glance up from their phones or laptops when you start speaking, and rarely give the slightest indication of any interest in what you’re saying.

There have been some recent displays of more blatant disrespect by council members.

On November 19, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera abruptly walked out of a council Rules Committee meeting — with no explanation — depriving the Committee of a quorum and ending discussion of a citizen-proposed ballot measure to reinstate free parking on Sundays in Balboa Parking.

But on December 8th, Sean Elo-Rivera raised the bar for discourtesy.

By Jennifer Van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 16, 2025

The local agency that controls the land around San Diego Bay has finalized the governing document that will expand its authority to 7,900 more acres in the bay and another 100 acres on land.

Last week, the Board of Port Commissioners for the San Diego Unified Port District unanimously approved what’s known as the Trust Lands Use Plan, or TLUP, a land-use framework for the mostly submerged lands transferred to the agency in 2020. The commissioners also approved the plan’s associated environmental impact report, or its Mitigated Negative Declaration, which determined that there will be no significant effects once mitigation measures are implemented.

The actions advance the plan for consideration by the California Coastal Commission.

The TLUP is an amendment to the Port Master Plan that, once certified by the Coastal Commission and approved by the California State Lands Commission, will give the port permitting authority over what has colloquially been referred to as “the doughnut hole.” The moniker describes how the port’s jurisdiction has historically wrapped around the coastline of the entire bay, from Shelter Island to the South Bay and Coronado, but excluded the more central water areas.

The mostly submerged lands, previously held in trust by the State Lands Commission, were transferred to the port on Jan. 1, 2020, through California Senate Bill 507. The water and land area, which includes the deep-water federal navigation channel, is said to have been granted to the port for more streamlined management.

A sandy, muddy salt marsh is the reason San Diego is the West Coast home of the Marine Corps

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma– OB Monthly SDU-T / December 15, 2025

I liked the old main post office on Midway Drive. Perhaps I should have spoken up sooner. The place was intentionally, brutalistically, functional. Plus, it was close.

Remember the Old Town Philatelic Center in there? No? I don’t know if stamp collectors made much use of that desk or not, but somewhere in that big airplane hangar of a room I once noticed a plaque on the wall, maybe 16 inches square, that proclaimed “DUTCH FLATS — On this site on April 28, 1927, the Spirit of St. Louis was flight-tested by Charles A. Lindbergh.” How cool is that?

I had heard of Dutch Flats, but it is certainly not a place name that folks use these days.

The area referred to as Dutch Flats is simply the alluvial flood plain and former arroyo created by the watercourse of the San Diego River as it flowed past Old Town at the base of Presidio Hill, hung a hard left and was seemingly drawn directly toward San Diego Bay. A substantial portion of what is now arbitrarily referred to as the Midway District, all of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and parts of Liberty Station and San Diego International Airport were once known as Dutch Flats.

Town Hall Hosted by San Diego Community Coalition on Dec. 13

Rag Staff Report

At the December 13 San Diego Community Coalition Town Hall, Union-Tribune City Hall Reporter David Garrick spoke candidly, listened carefully, and laid out the challenges facing journalists who cover local government.

As the City Hall reporter for the city’s major metropolitan daily, Garrick is the unofficial dean of the San Diego press corps. When he started covering City Hall in 2014, Kevin Faulconer was the new Mayor, Todd Gloria was City Council President, and Sempra Energy occupied the tower at 101 Ash Street.

In an hour-long exchange at the Logan Heights Library with community activists from across the city, Garrick was straightforward and thoughtful.

He explained that while journalists rarely report things perfectly, they always try to report things accurately. Throughout the discussion, he was open to hearing views that had not occurred to him.

By Alyssa Ray / Yahoo News / December 8, 2025

Jon Stewart accused the Trump administration of giving him Iraq War déjà vu over their reasoning for the looming conflict with Venezuela.

The comedian addressed the “eerie” similarities between the two separate conflicts during Monday’s monologue for “The Daily Show,” where he slammed the president and his administration for recycling old Iraq War-era justifications amid the growing conflict in South America.

“So the two dictators [Nicolás Maduro and Saddam Hussein] share a remarkably similar taste in facial hair, body shape, ceremonial sabers and headgear. It doesn’t mean that the pretext for the wars will be the same,” Stewart joked before airing news footage of MAGA supporters accusing narco-terrorists of being in possession of fentanyl, which they called “weapons of mass destruction.”

“Are you f–king kidding me right now?” Stewart sounded off. “You guys have the balls to tell us that the pretext for Iraq was bulls–t, and that war was a mistake, and we’re not like that, and also, Venezuela has weapons of mass destruction, and we have to stop them. Or is WMD just the new slang, like, ‘Yo, bro.Venezuela’s total WMD, 6-7.’”

He also fact checked the fentanyl claim, sharing “almost none of it [in the U.S.]” comes from Venezuela.

By William Menard / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / December 12, 2025

Immigration officers have ignited a global outcry recently as masked ICE agents have patrolled communities across the country, arresting people at their homes, work and schools. While this is extremely distressing, ICE is now taking actions that have received much less attention but are just as concerning: arresting immigrants lawfully applying for green cards.

A few weeks ago, I was preparing my client and her husband for their green card interview at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service field office in San Diego. My client was from Australia, lawfully entered the United States, and had no criminal record whatsoever.  While she was here, she fell in love with her husband, a U.S. citizen and veteran of the U.S. Navy who received numerous commendations during his service. They lived together with their dog in a San Diego suburb.

My client’s only issue was minor — she had overstayed her visa in the United States for a few months. This was extremely typical. Federal statute explicitly permits spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residence even if they had previously overstayed a visa. I had submitted hundreds of nearly identical applications in the past without any issue.

Friends and family of popular fisherman and YouTuber, Mikey Rijavec, came together Saturday, Dec. 13, to honor his memory after his body was found off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, in November this year.

The paddle out took place in Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, where those who attended laid a wreath in the ocean to honor the life of Rijavec.

“The happiest guy in the water. It doesn’t matter if you meet him at his house, out on the water, at the restaurant, he’s the exact same guy- he’s thrilled to meet you, he’s thrilled for the experience, and what you’re about to do together, there’s just no people like him,” said Glenn Udvarhely who was a close fishing friend to Rijavec.

By Jillian Butler

As wallets tighten under economic uncertainty and SDG&E  prices soar to astronomical highs, a beloved Ocean Beach gathering place is fighting to keep its doors open.

Owned by Kyle Schubert, Long Story Irish Pub has been a community hub for people hailing from all walks of life -– from aspiring musicians playing at their Tuesday open mic nights to Little League teams celebrating a win over lunch, to sports fans catching a Padres game.

A seasoned restaurateur, Schubert moved from Sacramento to San Diego to both open Long Story Irish Pub with his friends and to be with his long time partner, Azure. The namesake of his pub is a tribute to the “long story” of his love for Azure. Schubert met his partner when he was only 13 years old, and followed her down to San Diego decades later, laying down roots here.