OB Rag

By Jillian Butler

Ocean Beach has always been more than just a San Diego neighborhood. It’s a community with history, charm, and a deep sense of independence.

Few people embody that spirit more than Denny Knox, the longtime CEO of the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA). From helping her in-laws run the beloved Cabrillo Art Center on Newport Avenue to overseeing one of the city’s most active business districts, Knox’s life has been intertwined with Ocean Beach for decades.

In this conversation, she reflects on her early years, the evolution of OB’s business community, and the challenges and triumphs of keeping a small coastal district thriving in an increasingly digital world.

Q:  Please tell me a bit about your personal history–the high school that you went to, siblings, and what your parents did for a living. I am told that you helped your parents run a business in OB and I would love to hear about that.

A: Actually, I was born in New York, lived in Old Greenwich, Connecticut until I turned 13 years old. My folks decided to leave the New York madhouse and moved the family to Scottsdale, Arizona where I attended high school. After high school, I fled the heat and ended up going to Cal Western University [ed: today Point Loma Nazarene University] in 1966 as an English Major.

I absolutely loved the weather and the coastal access and Ocean Beach was my favorite place to go. I met Roberta and Gene Knox in 1968 who owned Cabrillo Art Center on Newport Ave.

City Still Pushing for Answers While NFABC Closely Monitors Situation

From Neighbors for a Better California Board

The proposed 23-story Turquoise Tower project in Pacific Beach remains under review as the city continues to press the developer for additional documentation. On September 24, the City Planning Department issued its second round of questions to the developer.

A project of this size and complexity typically goes through at least six full cycles of questions and responses between the city and the developer before any approvals are considered, so Turquoise Tower is still in the very early stages of review and remains far from final approval.

These cycle reports are one of the tools the city uses to clarify issues directly with the developer. They focus on technical and code-related questions about the project’s design and incentives and do not yet include reviews of public safety, traffic, or other community impacts.

The San Diego City Council will go into closed session next Monday, November 17 to discuss a possible appeal of the recent court ruling on the Midway District height limit.

In a memo from the office of council president Joe LeCava, dated Nov. 10, it announced that council would have a closed session on that date — a conference with legal counsel regarding current litigation, and the first case on the list is Save Our Access v. City of San Diego. The agenda item was described this way:

This item involves litigation related to Measure C, a November 2022 ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Area from the Costal [sic] Zone’s 30-foot height limit. Save Our Access seeks to invalidate Measure C due to an alleged failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City Attorney’s Office will update the Mayor and City Council on the status of litigation and seek direction.

by Beacon Staff and Wire Reports / Peninsula Beacon / Nov. 10, 2025

Ready to watch a rousing game of pickleball?

If so, you’re in luck: The 2025 USA Pickleball National Championships will take place at Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma from Nov. 15-23.

It will feature elite-level competition, with the most skilled players qualifying to participate in the prestigious tournament.

“Barnes Tennis Center will provide an exceptional backdrop, offering a dynamic atmosphere for both participants and spectators alike,” said USA Pickleball chief executive director Mike Nealy. “We are thrilled to honor the passion and talent within the pickleball community in San Diego.”

The national championships will build on the success of the 2024 tournament, which drew over 2,600 athletes from 47 states and 13 countries, along with more than 10,000 spectators.

Please see an update in a newer post here. 

Basically, faced with tremendous pushback, city staff now recommends $150 a year for residents. 

By David Walters

We have learned that Mayor Todd Gloria’s office has proposed setting annual rates for parking in Balboa Park at $300 for residents and $375 for non-residents. This is an outrageous increase and far above the $150 annual rate proposed by Councilmember Marni Von Wilbert and others as fair and reasonable.

I attended the Balboa Park Commission meeting this week. The Commission, which serves as an advisory body to the Mayor’s Office, voted to recommend annual passes be priced at $99, with discounts for seniors and low-income families.

The final decision on parking fees will be made by the City Council, which is expected to meet and vote on this issue on Monday, November 17, or Tuesday, November 18.

A recent survey of our Redwood Bridge Club members showed that most of them cannot afford parking permits at these prices — and the same holds true for most San Diegans. If the City intends to monetize parking in Balboa Park, it must do so in a way that keeps the park accessible and welcoming to all.

Editordude: The following report by David Garrick has been edited to focus mainly on entry fees for Mission Bay Park and the idea of paid parking at the beach.

By David Garrick / SD Union-Tribune / Nov.2–4, 2025

San Diego City Council members are proposing entry fees at Mission Bay Park, taxes on vacant storefronts, a rental-car tax and other new efforts to boost revenue as they continue an ongoing struggle with the city budget. …

The new ideas come just as debate begins on a new budget for the fiscal year that begins next July…. The council struggled to close a roughly $350 million deficit last spring for the ongoing fiscal year with a variety of cuts, including to library hours, and with new revenues from things like fees to park in Balboa Park and doubling parking-meter rates.

San Diego was also facing a potential deficit of about $10 million during the fiscal year that ended in June. That projected deficit — which could have eaten into the city’s $207 million reserve just when it’s become particularly crucial — was wiped out by a late spring surge in sales tax revenue and some lower-than-expected city expenses.

By Lori Weisberg / The San Diego Union-Tribune / November 6, 2025 

Paradise Point resort, a popular vacation destination on Mission Bay for decades, secured approval Wednesday, Nov.6  from the California Coastal Commission to move forward with a long-delayed renovation that is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.

The commission’s action comes more than two years after the resort ownership abruptly pulled its plans from commission consideration in the wake of strong opposition from local leaders and longstanding public access violations of the California Coastal Act.

Months of negotiations with the commission’s enforcement staff ensued, leading to a landmark settlement that not only called for removing multiple impediments to public access around the island resort and shoreline, but also extensive new signage and other improvements

by Brooke Clifford / Coronado Eagle & Journal / Nov 6, 2025

In a recent closed session meeting the Port of San Diego Board of Directors rejected Port Coronado Associates, LLC’s proposal to renew their lease of the Coronado Ferry Landing beyond June 30, 2026. The decision also impacts the potential plans to renovate the Ferry Landing that were included as a part of the renewal proposal which Port Coronado Associates (PCA) have spent several years developing design for with input from the community.

PCA has operated the Ferry Landing for nearly 40 years, having initially entered into an agreement with Port and taken on a development project for modernizing the complex in the 1980s.

According to the press release from the Port of San Diego on their decision, the Port is currently pursuing a possible short-term lease extension with PCA for transitional purposes. They have also said that the Ferry Landing will remain open and that businesses will have the opportunity to continue to operate beyond the June 30, 2026 lease expiration date, and that the Port will be communicating further with those subtenants about the situation.

A man and his dog suffered only minor injuries after sliding 20-feet down a cliff near the 900 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, according to San Diego Fire Department’s Battalion Chief James Diaz.

Sunday night the fire department responded to a call of a man and his dog getting stuck at the bottom of a cliff just after 7:30 p.m.

Battalion Chief Diaz said that witnesses say the dog ran down the cliff and his owner followed him, which led to both of them sliding down about 20-feet, where they found themselves trapped at the bottom.

The following is a published Letter to the Editor at the San Diego U-T by College area resident Danna Givot, printed in the U-T on November 8.

Community Planning Groups are official, elected bodies representing their planning areas.

When they speak to the Planning Commission, Land Use & Housing Committee or City Council regarding Community Plan Updates, they deserve time to present their community’s position on the plan.

These official representatives should not have to struggle to get the public to attend to cede time to them—usually 60 seconds apiece — for the privilege of presenting the official CPG position on their Plan Update— the job they were elected to do. This is wrong.

By JW August

Eric DuVall could be called the Bard of OB.  But it’s not just the locals who may think that.

A blue ribbon panel of professionals from press clubs across America awarded DuVall “Body of Work” award for a series of stories for his column, “A Page from History,” which he writes for The Point Loma – OB Monthly. The Monthly is owned by the MediaNews Group, which also owns the San Diego Union-Tribune.  His work is also published in the Beach & Bay Press, Point Loma Magazine and publications, including here at the Rag.

He is a prolific, careful, thoughtful, writer who paints pictures with his words and evokes humor in his storytelling about the historical and cultural identity of Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

He was honored along with some of the region’s best communicators at the 52nd annual San Diego Press Club Awards held in Kearny Mesa at The Encore Event Center, formerly the historic XETV 6 studios.  San Diego’s Press Club has one of the largest memberships in the country and receives entries from all across the San Diego media landscape.

By Kate Callen

San Diego Planning Commission Vice Chair Matthew Boomhower has a visceral dislike for people who don’t share his zeal for densification. At every meeting, whenever public speakers push back on development overreach, he looks like a powder keg. He glares and fumes. He rails against what he calls “the anti-housing crowd.”

But Boomhower has never resorted to threatening a speaker with retaliation – until last Thursday, November 6.

The agenda item was the City’s “Preservation and Progress” program, which would empower developers by weakening standards for protecting historic structures.

Bruce Coons of Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) warned that the measure could create new legal hurdles to projects because “anybody could appeal an historic designation.”

“Take the real-life example of 101 Ash Street,” said Coons. “If anybody had an ax to grind with the new proposal, they could appeal the designation, which would set the project back at least six months.”

101 Ash was an appropriate example to cite. It was also a shrewd choice. Its development team is headed by Boomhower’s colleague, Planning Commission Chair Kelly Moden.

Was Coons speculating that the Chair’s own project could be jeopardized by the new historical designation process? Yes. Was he threatening to block the development? No. In fact, SOHO supports Moden’s project.