OB Rag

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.

Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man who was found shot at the Ocean Beach Pier shortly after midnight, authorities said Saturday.

Officers responded to a 911 call about gunshots in the 5000 block of Niagra Avenue at 12:23 a.m. Saturday, where they found the victim shot, according to the San Diego Police Department.

Officers and paramedics tried to save the unidentified Latino man, estimated to be in his 30s, but he died at the scene, according to detectives.

Investigators learned there was a group of at least two men and two women, all aged 25-30 years old, who were hanging out in the area of the pier parking lot for a period of time before walking south to 5100 Narragansett Ave. near the shoreline, according to police.

By Csaba Petre

Living in a coastal community such as Ocean Beach raises questions about environmental conservation, sustainable use of resources, and equity of coastal access in San Diego. Given the scope of these issues, one may question the efficacy of individual contributions toward the conservation of threatened habitats and other environmental endeavors. These questions have been sharpened in the present Trumpian era of pro-industry sentiment wrapped in climate change denialism at the national level.

Clear answers are hard to formulate alone; it takes a community to tackle pressing environmental concerns. Recently, Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas facilitated this global yet local conversation, featuring two environmental documentaries as part of their Farm Film and Music Series: Faka’apa’apa & Out of Mined, as well as an informative panel discussion. The event took place on a recent, chilly late October night on the farm’s property. It had the feel of a summer family movie night in the park, but with a message of pressing urgency.

The panel was made up of: Mayela Manasjan (moderator), executive director of the Association of Women in Water, Energy & Environment; Dr. Greg Rouse – Marine Biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography; Coach Jackson – Founder and executive director of Coastal Defenders; and Amber Sparks – Marine Biologist and Co-founder of the Blue Latitudes Foundation.

One last book sale!  Can you help on Sunday set up or take down? Give Laura a call/text/or email and let her know if you can help.

Laura says:

Set up time is from 11 to 12 on Sunday, Nov. 9th.  Meet at the Annex (4817 Santa Monica) and we will schlepp the trolleys and tables over to Vignettes.

The Federal Aviation Administration is forcing airlines to cut 10% of their flights at 40 of the busiest airports across the nation to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers during the ongoing government shutdown and ensure that flying remains safe. The airports have been ordered to cut 4% starting Friday, Nov.7 with the remaining cuts to come next week.

Travelers should check with their airlines to see if their flight has been cut. Here is a partial list of airports affected, mostly local West Coast ones — :

West Coast Airports

California

• San Diego International
• Los Angeles International
• Oakland International
• Ontario International in California
• San Francisco International

Other West Coast

By City News Service – CBS8 / Nov. 6, 2025

More than a dozen people connected to the San Diego County chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang have been sentenced for their roles in a hate-related stabbing and attack on three young Black men in Ocean Beach, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday, Nov. 6.

The prosecution centered around the June 6, 2023, attack on three men – – ages 19, 20 and 21 — who were chased by the defendants on Newport Avenue after one of them apparently spoke to a Hells Angels member’s girlfriend.

One of the victims fled, but the other two were severely beaten by numerous defendants, who hurled racial slurs and told the victims they didn’t belong in that neighborhood.
While one of the beaten victims was on the ground, Troy Andrew Scholder — the lead defendant in the case who was described by prosecutors as a longtime Hells Angels leader — pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

A memorial is being planned by friends for Tracy Condon, killed in a hit-and-run incident this week in Ocean Beach.

She was reportedly sitting on the curb near the front of the OB Library or Post Office when she was struck by a truck and fatally injured. The driver initially ran away but upon his return 3 hours later, was arrested by police. Tracy was known for year as someone who handed out food to homeless folks in OB — only to then become one herself.

A memorial has been scheduled for Tracy, next week, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, down at the Wall at the end of Newport Avenue, at 4:55 p.m.

San Diego Planning Commission Nov. 6th Meeting: Progress and Preservation Package A

By South OB Girl

San Diegans from throughout San Diego gathered in the meeting room for the Thursday November 6th meeting of the San Diego Planning Commission. The meeting began at 9 am and after approximately 2 and half hours of staff report, public comments and questions and deliberation by the Commissioners, the Planning Commission voted unanimously in support of Progress and Preservation Package A.

As the opposition to Package A gathered outside the meeting room afterwards, Rag editor Frank Gormlie tried to boost morale when he said, “Two more rounds to go!”  This was just the first round.  San Diegans had seven days including Saturday and Sunday to prepare for public comment at this meeting amending existing municipal code.

Attention shifted to the City Planning Department.  The City Planning Department stated that it concluded its public hearings on the annual report on homes with an “informational presentation” to the City Council this past Tuesday 11/4.  The City Planning Department then gave a presentation about Package A which would be voted on by the Commission.  The goals of Preservation and Progress Package A are:

Those in support of Package A gave public comment first.  Speaking time was reduced from 3 minutes to 1 minute by the Chair so all parties were adjusting the ceding of minutes. This included a speaker from the Historical Resources Board, Rami Cortez, who gave a report about what had occurred at the recent meeting that focused on this Package A.  Her comments indicated that to some degree the board ran out of time to address everything at their recent meeting.  She stated that they were indecisive in October.

By Grace Chaves / The Point – PLNU /  Nov 5, 2025

In an email to Point Loma Nazarene University’s student body from President Kerry Fulcher, it was announced that the Associated Student Body (ASB) rejected a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) student club at PLNU. According to the email, a motion to establish the club was brought to a vote within the ASB Board of Directors, but it failed to pass.

Fulcher said that the primary reason for its rejection was ASB’s concern regarding TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist,” a list sourced by news stories that detail instances of “radical behavior” among college professors, as described by ProfessorWatchlist.org.

By Shelby Huffaker, MPH / San Diego Americans for Safe Access / November 2025

California Assembly Bills

AB-8 Industrial hemp.

Expands the definition of cannabis to include all products containing natural and synthetic cannabinoids (excluding CBD isolate and FDA-approved cannabinoid products), subjecting such products to the same regulatory requirements as cannabis (including — but not limited to — laboratory testing, taxes, track-and-trace requirements, etc.). Inhalable hemp products, including hemp pre-rolls and hemp flower intended for consumption, are prohibited. While cannabis retailers are permitted to sell manufactured cannabinoid products that meet state requirements, tobacco/cigarette retailers are prohibited from selling any form of cannabis or cannabinoid product, except for CBD isolate.

By SOHO / November-December 2025 Newsletter

The City of San Diego claims that changes to the Historical Resources Board (HRB) are needed because it “struggles to fill vacancies” on this all-volunteer body. But what the city doesn’t say is that the shortage is entirely of its own making.

Over the years, city officials have quietly rewritten and manipulated the rules governing the HRB—rules that do not seem to apply to other city boards or commissions. Each change has chipped away at the board’s expertise and authority, leaving it less effective as the guardian of San Diego’s historic resources and more susceptible and malleable to development interest.

One of the most damaging policies prohibits local historic preservation architects and landscape architects from serving on the HRB as they might one day have a project come before the board. For every other city board, a simple recusal from discussion or voting is sufficient to manage potential conflicts of interest. But not for the HRB. Here, some of the most qualified professionals are simply barred from service altogether. And yet, they do have other architects serving.

The 30-foot height limit is one of San Diego’s most successful examples of community-driven planning

By Mandy Havlik

San Diegans know that our city’s coastline isn’t just a postcard view, it’s our identity, our economy, and our shared responsibility to future generations. The recent Court of Appeal ruling striking down the City’s attempt to bypass the voter-approved 30-foot coastal height limit wasn’t a setback, it was a reaffirmation that the people’s voice and environmental law still matter in San Diego.

When voters passed the Proposition D height limit in 1972, they weren’t trapped in the past, they were protecting the coastline from the same forces of overdevelopment that have erased the character of so many other coastal cities. They knew that the ocean belongs to everyone, not just to developers or investors who see dollar signs instead of waves and wetlands.

The 30-foot height limit is one of San Diego’s most successful examples of community-driven planning. It preserves our coastal beauty, sustains property values, protects public access to beaches, and prevents the shadowing of our natural open spaces. That’s not arbitrary geography, that’s thoughtful stewardship.