OB Rag

By Kate Callen

The first time I saw Richard Nixon, I was five years old, and I thought he was creepy.

We were watching the first 1960 Presidential debate. Nixon looked cold-blooded. My parents didn’t trust him. Over the next 13 years, the more I saw of him, the more he creeped me out.

Then, on August 9, 1973, when he tearfully bid farewell to his staff before flying into the void, my heart ached for him. Yes, he was atrocious. But I didn’t want to see him publicly disgraced.

Nixon’s fall came back to me when I heard reports that Mayor Todd Gloria was loudly booed at public holiday festivities last weekend.

These included tree lightings in La Jolla and at December Nights in Balboa Park (where Gloria has instituted paid parking). When Council President Joe La Cava introduced Gloria at the La Jolla ceremony by praising his work ethic, the crowd erupted in jeers.

This would not be unusual in East Coast cities like New York and my hometown of Philadelphia, where Eagles fans once booed a man dressed as Santa Claus. In San Diego, this is unheard of.

By Teri Figueroa / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 9, 2025 

A split San Diego City Council voted Tuesday to approve policies regarding several police technology tools, including its controversial network of automated license plate readers.

The vote came as the council reviewed 54 surveillance technologies that police use, which also include cameras officers wear on their uniforms, SWAT robots and other tactical equipment, and cameras on streetlight poles.

By City News Service – 7SanDiego / Dec. 10, 2025

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution Tuesday opposing oil drilling off the coast of Southern California, following the Trump administration’s plans to expand the practice.

Put forward in a board letter by Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, the resolution states that the board “opposes any new or expanded offshore oil and gas drilling, and deep seabed mining, and urges federal and state decision-makers to permanently prohibit offshore drilling and deep seabed mining in all U.S. waters, including the Pacific Ocean off California.”

The proposal also calls for Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton “to express the county’s support for (United States) House of Representatives Bill 2862, the Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act,” according to a board letter.

Shelton would coordinate with Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and Southern California counties on a “unified, regional response needed to keep new oil drilling out of our coastal waters and protect our San Diego communities and local economy.”

The board voted 4-1 in favor of the resolution, with Supervisor Joel Anderson opposing.

Clairemont and College Area Community Plan Updates to Be Considered by City Council Dec. 16

By Donna Frye

Significant, unmitigated, unavoidable but acceptable may soon become the city’s new mantra for describing and addressing environmental impacts when it comes to updating community plans.

And Hillcrest and University may soon be the last two communities to have had an environmental impact report prepared for their community plan updates.

That’s because the city has decided that the July 2024 Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Blueprint SD, Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment and University Community Plan Update (2024 PEIR) is the appropriate environmental document for analyzing the Clairemont and College Area Community plan updates and most likely any future community plan updates.

Instead of each community having an environmental analysis of its own, the city has issued an addendum to the 2024 PEIR for Clairemont and the College Area community plan updates.

Some of the impacts identified as being “significant and unavoidable” in the 2024 PEIR include air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, public services such as fire protection, police protection, schools and libraries, deterioration of parks and recreational facilities, and construction or expansion of recreational facilities.

By Teri Figueroa / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 8, 2025

Two years after a split San Diego City Council agreed to install 500 automated license plate recognition cameras throughout town, the technology is up for review — and it’s still controversial.

On Tuesday, the council is slated to look at the plate readers as part of a review of 54 surveillance technologies that police use, which also includes cameras officers wear on their uniforms and SWAT robots and tactical equipment.

San Diego police hail the readers as a force multiplier that helps solve crimes. In 2024, San Diego had 36 homicides in San Diego. Information gleaned from the license plate readers aided in nearly a third of the investigations and helped lead to six apprehensions, police said. Without the technology, a spokesperson said, four of those cases would not have been solved.

Police also note that since the system was launched, they have recovered $6 million in stolen property, including more than 400 vehicles.

Critics argue that the automated license plate readers create a mass surveillance network and intrude on civil rights. And as communities reel from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns, many fear the federal government could muscle access to local surveillance systems despite laws barring such. An Associated Press investigation published last month said the U.S. Border Patrol is using a license plate reader program that flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on travel routes and locations.

by Roberto Camacho / Times of San Diego / Dec. 3, 2025

Arturo González started his morning on Nov. 18 the same way he has most days since the beginning of last summer — patrolling the neighborhood looking for potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity — when he came across an unmarked vehicle similar to models commonly used by federal agents.

González, a San Diego-based social justice activist, first began documenting events during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest when he was 17.

González is unlike many others who started community patrols as federal law agencies increased immigration enforcement. He is unaffiliated with any formal organization, a one-man shop who is well known locally for broadcasting his patrols to more than 422,000 followers on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Over the summer, González began covering protests in Los Angeles during the Trump administration’s massive surge of ICE raids there, which sparked days of protest and Trump deploying Marines and National Guard troops in response.

The preliminary hearing for Evan M. Anderson, 24, accused of striking and killing Tracy Condon while she sat on a curb in Ocean Beach has been scheduled for March 25, 2026.

Anderson pleaded not guilty to hit and run to the Nov. 4 traffic fatality at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Santa Monica Avenue.

Condon suffered from homelessness, was 59 years old, and was sitting on a curb next to her wheelchair around 5 p.m. when she was struck by a Toyota Tundra, allegedly being driven by Anderson.

By M.G. Perez / 7SanDiego / December 7-8, 2025 

The most recent round of King tides off San Diego’s coast dissipated over the weekend.

While the rising water provided a beautiful show, it also served as a reminder in Ocean Beach of the battered, badly damaged pier that has been closed since October 2023.

“My favorite memories (on the pier) are definitely the cold winter and the hot chocolate I got from the cafe,” said Chelsea Banales. She grew up in San Diego and visited OB frequently with her dad when he went fishing on the pier. As an adult, she brings out-of-town friends to her favorite beach and doesn’t understand why the pier hasn’t reopened.

“I really hope that they don’t just abandon the project because of money and it loses its infrastructure, coming down and then is just completely forgotten about,” Banales said.

The structure officially opened on July 2, 1966, as the San Diego Fishing Pier. The 1,971-foot concrete pier is the longest of its kind on the West Coast.

Decades of storms and the churning ocean made the pier unsafe as pilings sank and pieces of the structure fell off. After closing it for good more than 2 years ago, the City of San Diego planned to replace it rather than repair it.

By OB Rag Staff Report

Much like Cabinet meetings at the White House, the San Diego City Council on Monday re-elected Council President Joe La Cava unanimously and with tributes that were downright worshipful.

The casting of ballots took mere minutes and seemed to follow a script where each Councilmember recited a different set of La Cava’s awesome leadership skills. Only Councilmember Henry Foster III declined to join the performance. Councilmember Jen Campbell was absent.

Excerpts:

Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee (made the nomination): “President La Cava has approached this role with thoughtfulness, integrity and transparency and has shown a willingness to work thoughtfully and collaboratively with the community.”

By Colin Sekerka / The Point PLNU / Dec 9, 2025

Human trafficking in San Diego is prevalent, profitable, horrific and about as American as apple pie.

Over the past year and a half, I researched, interviewed, wrote and presented on the topic of human trafficking in San Diego, statewide and international sociopolitical spheres. As a fourth-year political science major minoring in economics, I owe an incredible deal of research and topic-relevant guidance to Point Loma Nazarene University’s History and Political Science Department professors, especially in helping me pinpoint where this wicked sociopolitical economic issue ought to be addressed.

I’ve dedicated my time, discipline and skillset this semester to conducting an honors research project on the nature of human trafficking in America’s Finest City.

The conversation around human trafficking is drenched in anger, disappointment, sympathy for the victims and frustration. In the time I’ve spent researching, interviewing high-caliber personnel involved in regional anti-human trafficking efforts and mapping trends in previous political science courses, I’ve grown familiar with its origin. To tackle the issue and attempt to assess the root causes for its presence in San Diego, there are a couple of realities to keep in mind.

By Paul Krueger

Mayor Gloria and his minions routinely claim credit for accomplishments they didn’t make happen. In their latest PR contrivance, the “Todd Squad” is crowing about a national survey that shows 76 percent of San Diego residents are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their city.

According to Gensler Research, San Diego ranks second in “satisfaction with their city as a place to live,” trailing only San Antonio, TX, with a 78-percent score. (Axios, which published the results, cautioned that “satisfaction” is a “broad” term, defined as “a general vibe check on how people are feeling about job opportunities, housing costs, safety, and other key urban issues.”)

Our ever-smiling Mayor immediately plastered his social media accounts with the upbeat poll results. Remember, this is the man who rammed through lax multi-unit ADU development, agreed to revise them in the face of neighborhood outrage, and then had the temerity to take credit for the reforms.

Still, did anyone in the Land of Todd even read the Gensler report? A glance at the survey methodology reveals a very significant — even disqualifying — limitation: The poll was conducted more than a year ago, from July 18 to November 24, 2024.

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