OB Rag

by Will Huntsberry / Voice of San Diego / November 5, 2025 

Midway Rising is an ambitious plan to build 4,254 new apartments, 14 acres of public space and a new Sports Arena on 49 acres of city-owned land in the center of the Midway District. That won’t entirely transform the whole area overnight, or maybe ever, but it is currently the city’s only hope for bringing housing and vitality to one of San Diego’s most soul-crushing neighborhoods.

Recently, an appeals court seemed to deal a death blow to the project when it overturned a decision by city voters to remove Midway’s height limit of 30 feet. But surprisingly, the developers behind Midway Rising say that isn’t the case at all. They say state law provides all the legal ground they need to go forth with the massive multi-billion-dollar project.

Now that Midway’s 30-foot height limit is back on the table, Midway Rising promises to be – both literally and in principle – the largest test of the state’s density bonus laws in all of California.

“This recent court ruling does not affect mixed-use housing development projects, such as Midway Rising, which proceed under state density bonus law,” wrote Jeff Meyer, a spokesperson for the Midway Rising team. “State law controls local height restrictions, and applies to all aspects of Midway Rising, including the new arena.”

By Bruce Wolpe / The AlterNet -The Conversation / November 05, 2025 

One year and a day after Donald Trump won a second term as president – and on the 35th day of the US government shutdown, which has tied a record for the longest in history – the Democrats swept to victory in key races across the county.

Democratic candidates won the governorships in the states of Virginia and New Jersey, while Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s next mayor.

The Democrats may have just become the winners of the fight to reopen the government, too.

Trump’s ratings dropping sharply
Sixteen years ago, then-President Barack Obama was staggered by Republicans winning the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey in the 2009 elections.

The message was indelible: voters wanted to put a check on Obama and his wide-ranging agenda, from health care to global warming. Many Americans wanted him to cool his jets, including on what would become his signature achievement, Obamacare.

The following year, in the 2010 midterm elections, the Democrats lost more than 60 seats and their majority in the House. For the next six years, Republicans had a veto over whatever bills Obama wanted Congress to enact.

With Democrats now winning the governorships in those two states, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have just been sent the same message: you need to be checked, too.

by Jeanne Kuang and Maya C. Miller / Cal-Matters /  November 5, 2025

California voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s measure that allowed the state to redraw its congressional map in favor of Democrats, pushing back against President Donald Trump’s effort to hold onto a Republican-controlled Congress by urging redistricting in Texas.

Tuesday capped off a whirlwind, hyper-partisan two-and-a-half-month campaign for one of the most expensive ballot measures in state history. Supporters poured more than $120 million into Newsom’s committee supporting the measure. Opponents raised just $44 million. Outside groups spent $27 million to try to sway the vote.

Here’s what you missed.

Newsom declares victory
In a triumphant speech, Newsom proclaimed that Prop. 50’s victory was not just a win for California, but a win for the entire country. He called on leaders in other Democratic-held states — Illinois, Virginia, Maryland and New York — to “meet the moment” and redraw their congressional districts, too.

“Instead of agonizing over the state of our nation, we organized in an unprecedented way,” Newsom said. “Tonight, I’m proud. But I’m very mindful and sober of the moment we are living in. Donald Trump does not believe in fair and free elections, period and full stop.”

Prop. 50’s passage marked a significant victory for the governor, who took a political risk on the measure, calculating that it would give the state’s Democratic voters who are frustrated with the Trump administration a way to “fight back.”

By Paul Krueger

On Sunday, November 2, I asked Rag readers to join me at City Hall the next day in asking the City Council why an item about a reckless legal appeal had been abruptly pulled from that day’s closed-session agenda.

It was a fair and legitimate question. But I wasn’t allowed to even ask it.

Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert are determined to fight a ruling by California’s 4th District Court of Appeal against the voter-approved 30-foot height limit west of Interstate 5. The judges unanimously decided that the city failed to produce an adequate environmental study of the negative impacts of high-density, high-rise development throughout the Midway District.

An item was put on Monday’s agenda to discuss Gloria and Ferbert’s determination to mount a truculent appeal to the State Supreme Court. A day later, the item was removed.

One Planner Says — ‘OB Is Already a Complete Community’ in Discussion on Historic District

By Lawrynce Cecio

On November 4th at 6 p.m., the Ocean Beach planning committee began with one agenda item looming larger than the rest: the board’s recommendation on whether or not Complete Communities would be permitted in the Emerging Cottage Historic District.

The meeting opened first to public comment from community members in attendance. During this phase, comments were exclusively in favor of either ensuring proper surveys are conducted before any further action is taken or preserving Ocean Beach as a historical district in its entirety.

Cody Machado of the Ocean Beach Community Foundation, for instance, spoke in favor of petitioning for a complete and detailed study to determine the number of historical cottages and their locations, especially before any further action is taken.

On Halloween day, the City of San Diego announced that the Development Services Department was proposing to permanently remove 8 concrete fire rings from South Mission Beach —  six seasonal and two year-round — and relocate two of them to the East and West side of Bonita Cove, a nearby section of Mission Bay Park. The remaining six will be placed around Fiesta Island.

These removals and relocations are proposals where the Development Services Department Staff will have final say.

Local property owners were notified of this step. The city announced that “a consolidated Coastal Development Permit application is to be filed with the California Coastal Commission. This Site Development Permit application was filed on October 25, 2025.”

Food banks located in and around San Diego County:

City of San Diego

San Diego Food Bank, 9850 Distribution Avenue, San Diego.
Feeding San Diego, 9477 Waples Street, #100, San Diego.

Bayside Community Center – Food Distribution Center, 2202 Comstock Street, San Diego.
Serra Mesa Food Pantry, 2650 Melbourne Drive, San Diego.

Mama’s Kitchen, 3960 Home Avenue, San Diego, CA – 92105 (619) 233-6262 mama@mamaskitchen.org

Concerns Also Expressed About Threats to OB’s Cottage Emerging Historical District

By San Diego Monitor News Staff / San Diego Monitor / November 4, 2025

The Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) has voiced strong opposition to elements of the City of San Diego’s proposed Preservation and Progress Initiative, urging the Planning Commission to delay approval of “Package A” until further public review and documentation are provided.

In a formal letter addressed to Planning Commission Chair Kelly Modén and the commissioners, SOHO commended the City’s stated intent to make the preservation process “clearer, more equitable, and more accessible.” However, the nonprofit argued that several of the proposed revisions would instead “introduce new procedural obstacles, restrict public participation, and reinforce existing inequities.”

One of SOHO’s key objections centers on new appeal procedures outlined in Sections 123.0203(a) and (b) of the Municipal Code. The organization contends that the amendments create unequal appeal rights, allowing property owners to challenge non-designations of historic resources, but limiting others—such as community members or preservation advocates—from doing so. “…

The group also expressed concern over a proposed amendment applying the Complete Communities Housing Solutions Regulations to the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District. SOHO argues that the area’s historic cottages serve as a form of “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH) and that the City should instead designate the neighborhood as a traditional historic district.

By Joey Reams / What Now San Diego / Oct. 31, 2025

Sourdough & Moore, a locally founded bakery specializing in naturally leavened breads and pastries, is getting ready to officially open in Ocean Beach at 4853 Newport Avenue.

The company’s first brick-and-mortar is set to move into the former home of Ocean Beach Meat Company, with doors officially opening on Friday, November 14, according to San Diego Magazine.

Before the grand opening, Sourdough & Moore hosted a one-day pop-up pre-order event on Sunday, November 2, in collaboration with An’s Electronics Repair. …

Founded by longtime Ocean Beach resident David Moore and co-owner Emma Gibb, Sourdough & Moore began as a farmers market vendor about five years ago. Moore, who has lived in Ocean Beach for 25 years, previously worked for two decades at the Omni San Diego Hotel before pursuing baking as a full-time career. Gibb transitioned from the corporate world to pastry production after meeting Moore at the Mission Valley Farmers Market, where they began collaborating on the bakery concept.

Chin’s Szechwan
Point Loma
3373 Rosecrans St.
San Diego, CA 92110
www.govisitchin.com

By LK Bruce

Healthy, tasty, affordable and close by. These are the criteria against which all dining or take-out decisions were made in our busy family of four. Even long after the birds left the nest, these figure prominently in meals not made at home.

We got around to Chin’s Szechwan a little later than hoped after their opening in Point Loma but they hit on all cylinders of the old fam criteria. And oh my, do we need good Chinese on the Peninsula.

To start, they’re very popular. If you show up without a reservation, prepare to wait a while on the sidewalk. If you make a reservation, prepare to guarantee it with a credit card for $10/per person in your reservation. Of course, many restaurants do this but you don’t expect it from a Chinese place in a strip mall. That tells you something. And, if you’re like many in and around the ‘hood, you’ll grab some take-out, a booming side of the business.

The OB Planning Board meets tonight, Tuesday, November 4, and their Action Item #1 is to review San Diego City Staff’s efforts to change the code around the OB Historic District. They will evaluate the language proposed by staff and make their recommendation(s). This issue has been percolating around OB of late because of the city’s machinations to undercut the district’s impact.

Here is what the Rag reported on Monday:

Formerly entitled the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District — which has been around since 1999 — it was on the chopping block as a city staff recommendation because a little over a year ago, the San Diego Planning Commission voted to spare OB from a horrendous development project of 24 ADUs on Point Loma Avenue precisely because of the existence of OB’s historic district. And at the end of the hearing on August 29, 2024, one of the commissioners turned to staff and urged them to change the city’s Municipal Code to get rid of the district as a basis for exempting OB from some of the worse housing policies of Todd Gloria’s administration, called “Complete Communities.”

President Donald Trump hosted a “Great Gatsby”-themed Halloween party just hours before millions of Americans lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

This party was hosted by the president in the midst of and during the longest shutdown of the federal government.

The Friday night fête at Mar-a-Lago was themed “A little party never killed nobody,” according to the White House, referencing the song from the 2013 film adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.