OB Rag

By Mandy Havlik, Candidate for San Diego City Council District 2

I didn’t decide to run for City Council sitting behind a desk or at a political event. I decided to run after years of standing and advocating with neighbors asking, why is this still not fixed?

After watching people I care about feeling ignored by a system that’s supposed to serve them. And one of those moments that really stayed with me happened at my kids’ school. As a new parent and the elementary school garden coordinator at Ocean Beach Elementary, I started noticing traffic safety issues along Santa Monica and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Cars moving too fast. Lack of signage. No designated pick and drop off area. Kids walking and biking through an area that didn’t feel designed to protect them and keep them safe.

It wasn’t something difficult. It was about protecting my kids and other children in the neighborhood. So I did what I’ve always done, I spoke up. I went to the school administration, thinking this would be something we could work on together. Protecting children shouldn’t be complicated or controversial. But instead of support, I was met with hesitation. Questions about liability. Deflection. A sense that this wasn’t really the school’s responsibility, that it belonged somewhere else.

By Kate Callen

On April 14, 2025, activists from 14 San Diego communities gathered at a South Park pizzeria to explore how they might band together in their common fight against citywide saturation density.

A year later, the San Diego Community Coalition has doubled in size to represent 28 communities – from Encanto in the south to University City in the north and from the College Area in the east to Ocean Beach in the west.

Its mission has expanded as well. When Frank Gormlie, Paul Krueger, and I invited community leaders to gather last spring, the impetus was City Hall’s push for predatory development. We were all struggling with multi-story Bonus ADUs and mid-rise towers in neighborhoods where parking was scarce and fire risk was high.

That is still a problem, and it will continue so long as builder-supported YIMBY politicians run the city. But the political pendulum has begun swinging back because communities have demanded more responsive local government. Going forward, we must intensify that effort.

At the start, the Community Coalition was inspired by Neighbors For A Better San Diego (NFABSD), the most effective local grassroots organization in recent history.

The daily news can’t adequately convey the administration’s sabotaging of our government, economy, alliances and environment

By Rebecca Solnit / The Guardian / April 12, 2026

The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job. Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. All this is common knowledge, but because it dribbles out in news stories about this specific incident or department, the reports never adequately describe an administration sabotaging the functioning of the federal government and also trashing the global economy, international alliances and relationships, and the national and global environment in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries.

Across the branches of government, the services that are supposed to protect us – nuclear stockpile monitoring, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism – are being undermined, understaffed or trashed. A different kind of protection that consists of public health, vaccination programs, food safety, clean air and water, social services, civil rights and the rule of law is also under attack. The federal government that serves us is being starved while the federal government that serves the Trump agenda and the oligarchy is glutting itself on taxpayer money, including the grotesque sums dumped on the Department of Homeland Security and the US military now being warped into Pete Hegseth’s twisted vision of a ruthless mercenary force. Hegseth has reportedly stood in the way of promotions for more than a dozen Black and female officers.

From The Linda Vista Update / April 9, 2026

San Diegans are following news of the City’s desperate quest for more tax revenue. Various solutions have been either implemented or planned in order to come up with the cash necessary to balance our local government’s balance sheet.

Paying for parking at Balboa Park, and special event parking rates around the Petco Park area are already in the implementation phase, while the idea of taxing homeowners who own vacant second homes (vacant for more than 183 days) is still being debated, and will probably be placed on the June 2 ballot for a City-wide vote.

This “vacant second home” tax proposal, advocated by Councilmember Sean Elo Rivera (4th District) is based on the concept that threatened by more taxes, homeowners will be more likely to rent out these homes and thereby help alleviate the rental home shortage. This may seem like an unfair tax to pay, but as Councilmember Kent Lee (District 6) has said…”If someone can afford to own a second home and not use it for any purpose, they can absolutely afford to pay that tax, and they should.” (If you think that’s a wild concept, wait till you read our suggestions listed below)

We at the Linda Vista Update understand the importance of tax dollars. … Accordingly, we spent the past week hard at work in numerous brainstorming sessions, coming up with even better ways to reach into our San Diego citizens’ wallets and take their hard earned money.

We took the underlying idea of taxing homeowners with “vacant” homes, and the concept of penalizing citizens for leaving things empty or unused, and blended this into our own proposals, which are ready to be shown to our readers to get their opinions. While keeping an open mind, we invite all readers to take a look at these tax revenue proposals and imagine how effective they might be. Pick your favorite ones and then write your elected representatives and advocate for their adoption.

Tax Idea # 1: Vacant Space in Garage – Property owners who do not park their cars in the garage and leave vacant space, or who only have one car and a two-car garage will be taxed. It is hoped this tax will encourage property owners to stop using their garage space to store clutter, and free up parking space on the street.

Editordude: We offer this update on the billionaires bidding on the San Diego Padres as a way to introduce the crazy idea that perhaps the San Diego public ought to have some say in the future of the team. It’s not an unworldly idea; just look at the Green Bay Packers, a football team described this way:

a publicly owned, non-profit franchise in the NFL, owned by over 539,000 stockholders rather than a single individual or private group. Organized as Green Bay Packers, Inc. since 1923, the team is governed by a board of directors and a seven-member executive committee.  

National Today – San Diego / April 11, 2026

The sale of the San Diego Padres baseball team has turned into a high-stakes bidding war among billionaire investors, with four groups still in the running to acquire the franchise. The final bids are expected in April, and the winning bid could shatter the MLB record of $2.42 billion set by Steve Cohen’s purchase of the New York Mets in 2020.

Why it matters
The Padres sale reflects a broader trend of sports teams becoming prized assets for global investors looking to diversify their portfolios and build media and real estate empires. This raises questions about the future of sports ownership and whether local communities will have a meaningful stake as teams become global commodities.

By Gary Wonacott

A few years ago, the city’s contractor completed undergrounding work in South Mission Beach — originally planned in the 1970s.

The contractor tore up Mission Boulevard and the alleys.

More disruption is scheduled soon, so it would be wasteful to install expensive concrete paving now.

Yet the contractor left Mission Boulevard in terrible shape.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general San Diego public informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, April 13: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 200: Performance Audit of the Mission Bay and San Diego Regional Parks Improvement Funds, FY2024.

Why it matters: City audits should be performed in a timely manner. This item was heard at the Audit Committee meeting on November 12, 2025, and the City Auditor reported they “could not confirm that all Mission Bay Lease Revenue payments in FY2024 have been applied appropriately and the correct amount of funds were transferred…” There does not appear to be any updated information since then.

Item 251: Propositions for the November 3, 2026 Ballot Forwarded for 2nd Committee Review

Mission Bay Park is Not Surplus Land

By Donna Frye

A little over nine months ago, the issue of whether three properties in Mission Bay Park would be declared “surplus land” was being discussed at the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee. The committee voted to support that declaration and within a week, the public was informed about it by Geoff Page in the OB Rag.The three properties were Marina Village banquet and conference center, Dana Landing Marina and Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant.

The reason cited by the city for the surplus land declaration was the State Surplus Land Act which required the city council to declare the properties “surplus” in order to request proposals for leases for a period longer than 15 years.

By declaring the land as surplus, first priority would be given to housing developers who could force the city into negotiations to build housing in Mission Bay Park.

The problem is that Mission Bay Park is dedicated public park land and San Diego City Charter Section 55 prohibits housing development in Mission Bay Park.

The public opposition to declare Mission Bay Park “surplus land” was instantaneous and unanimous. When the proposal made its way to the full city council for a vote on July 29, the item was continued instead of being approved.

Here’s what’s happening baby around Point Loma this month of April. Thanks to our friends at Peninsula News for getting it all together

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society, Thursday, April 16, 2026, at 7:00 pm, for “What Ever Became of Dutch Flats“- an eye-opening excursion into the hidden history of the boggy estuary that once stretched between Old Town and Loma Portal – Dutch Flats.

The Log Staff / April 9, 2026

The Port of San Diego is continuing to advance its efforts to balance coastal protection with environmental restoration, announcing two new habitat-focused shoreline projects following the success of an earlier pilot program in San Diego Bay. The Board of Port Commissioners approved a $2.9 million construction contract on March 10, 2026, awarding the work to Power Engineering Construction Co. for improvements at Harbor Island Park and along the Chula Vista side of the Sweetwater Channel.

Much of San Diego Bay’s shoreline has long been reinforced with traditional infrastructure such as seawalls and riprap, which account for roughly three-quarters of the waterfront. While these methods are effective at preventing erosion, they offer little benefit to marine ecosystems. In response, the Port has been working to introduce nature-based alternatives that enhance habitat while maintaining the structural integrity needed to protect the coastline.