OB Rag

City used $3.5 million from development fund on an emergency storm drain repair — Councilmember Raul Campillo said “it should be done transparently, with clear communication to the community – not buried deep in a budget appendix”

by Mariana Martínez Barba / Voice of San Diego / October 15, 2025

For eight years, David Smith constantly monitored the Navajo Community Planning Group’s development impact funds. The Navajo area includes the communities of Allied Gardens, Grantville, Del Cerro and San Carlos.

“We had over $3.5 million in the DIF account,” said Smith, a former board member of the community planning group. “Then all of a sudden I looked down to the fund balance and we were at 287 grand. And I’m like, ‘well wait a minute. What? What happened? Where did all our money go?’”

Development impact fees are one-time fees paid by developers to the city of San Diego when they build new housing. The money, often called DIF funds, is used for public infrastructure, and planning groups like Navajo issue yearly recommendations of how the money generated in their neighborhood should be spent.

The recommendations have historically given community groups a great deal of control in directing DIF money to specific projects.?But in this case, city officials used $3.5 million from Navajo’s development fund on an emergency storm drain pipe repair without informing the planning group.

From No Kings 

WASHINGTON, DC — In one of the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in U.S. history, nearly seven million Americans gathered today, 2 million more than June, in over 2,700 cities and towns for the No Kings Day of Peaceful Action, standing together in nonviolent defiance of authoritarianism and affirming that this nation belongs to its people, not to kings.

With more than 2,700 lawful and peaceful protests across all 50 states, today’s mobilization was 14 times larger than both of President Trump’s presidential inaugurations combined, marking a historic moment of unity and resistance. From rural communities to major metropolitan centers, the message was clear: America will not be ruled by fear, force, or one man’s power grab.

While the Republican-led government shutdown continues to wreak havoc, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to go without pay and cutting off critical services, the people they represent are stepping up to lead. Across districts, neighbors are organizing, marching, and demanding a government that serves the many, not the powerful few.

Editordude: Here’s two not-too-far-apart views of Friday, Oct. 17’s Appeals Court ruling that overturned a lower court decision regarding Midway District 30-foot height limits. The first is from Times of San Diego and the second is from Voice of San Diego. This new ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal concluded the City of San Diego did not comply with state requirements “to adequately inform the public of the potential environmental impacts of approving the second ballot measure to remove the height limit in the Midway-Pacific Highway area.” The panel then ordered the city to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

This does put the future of the redevelopment project of the Sports Arena area, Midway Rising, in doubt. Residents around the city are already popping champagne bottles in celebration. People who fought against that second ballot measure are breathing a sigh of relief. Yet Midway Rising developers claim they’re not worried and that they can still build their project. And just last month the $3.9 billion project Midway Rising got a thumbs up from the Planning Commission. Plus the knowledge that money talks in this town and that this decision itself can be appealed, should be a pause in those celebrations. 

by Jennifer Vigil / Times of San Diego / Oct. 17, 2025

… The three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal considered whether the city complied with state requirements “to adequately inform the public of the potential environmental impacts of approving the second ballot measure to remove the height limit in the Midway-Pacific Highway area.”

“We conclude it did not,” the panel said in its ruling and ordered the city to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Also in play were whether the city had identified mitigation measures or disclosed “the reasons for approving removal of the height limit even if there are significant environmental impacts.”

The saga dates back to 2020, when voters passed Measure E to remove the 30-foot height limit in the Midway. The district had been included in a zone of coastal communities that has been protected since 1972, but the height limits also barred replacing what is now known as Pechanga Arena and redevelopment of the aging streets around it.

By Unknown North County Poet / Escondido Grapevine / October 20, 2025

You can’t say America doesn’t know how to celebrate a birthday. For the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary down at Camp Pendleton, they decided to party the old-fashioned way — with artillery.

A 155-millimeter shell was fired in salute. It didn’t quite wait for the finale. Somewhere between ignition and impact, it skipped the schedule and dropped shrapnel on the California Highway Patrol detail guarding Vice President JD Vance.

No one was hurt, which already puts this in the “success” column for a government event. The fragments landed politely — a pebble here, a dent there — on vehicles parked along a closed stretch of Interstate 5.

That freeway had been shut down by Governor Gavin Newsom, who, in one of those rare moments when politicians prove useful, said maybe shooting live explosives over a freeway wasn’t the best use of a Saturday.

4:56 pm Latest march numbers – from No Kings 2.0
4:33 pm PDT Aerial footage from NBC7

4:07 pm Photos from downtown San Diego keep rolling in. Here’s a batch by Rag writer David Hutchinson.

There Are 17 ‘No King’ Events Across San Diego County on the 18th — All Listed Here

The No Kings rally and march in San Diego will be on Saturday, October 18, 10am – 12pm at Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Hwy in San Diego, CA 92101.

Besides the 3 combined events in downtown San Diego, there’s No King events in Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, San Diego State University, El Cajon, Mira Mesa, Chula Vista, Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Ramona, San Marcos, Carlsbad, even Borrego Springs and Vista — (see details for all below).

In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.

Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, carried by millions in chants and on posters, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.

The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Grow our movement and join us.

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

Other Events

There are several other events in San Diego on October 18.

While watching a trio of thirty-something progressive podcast pundits discussing protests of the upcoming “No Kings Day”, they mentioned how they really appreciated the boomers, those gray-haired people with chapsticks and NPB tote bags who continue to dominate in numbers all the anti-Trump protests over these last 9 months.

Wow! I said to myself, that’s it. Our democracy will be saved by the boomers, all those gray and bald headed folks who have been attending all those demonstrations since Donald Trump came back into power. Our country will be prevented from being ravaged by the policies and whims of the Trump White House, not by Senate Democrats, not by the thirty-somethings, not by college kids — but by those of us who have survived these past decades since the 60s and 70s.

We survived and ousted Richard Nixon, we protested Jimmie Carter’s draft, we resisted and survived Ronald Reagan’s “Counter-Revolution” and nuclear war mongering, we helped to bring the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan to a close, we helped to end apartheid in South Africa, we tried to get the US from supporting dictators in Central America.

Stop Sign on Evergreen, Run-Off Ponds at Slough, and 30-Foot Breach on Ingelow Street

By David Hutchinson

A small group gathered at the Point Loma Library for the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s October meeting on Thursday, Oct. 16.

Only seven board members attended—one short of the quorum necessary to vote on agenda items. Rather than postpone, the board opted to hear its agenda anyway, hoping at least one more member would show up before the meeting ended.

Treasurer Andrew Hollingworth began with a summary of the board’s finances. They have $1,160 in the bank— plenty to cover the three overhead line items discussed: a Zoom Pro account, a P.O. box, and website maintenance.

During non-agenda public comments, First Vice Chair Mandy Havlick announced her candidacy for City Council. Those interested in Havlick’s campaign (and free coffee) can attend a meet-and-greet at Kakawa Coffee on Sunday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon.

By Ron Donoho / San Diego Sun / October 6, 2025

With increased fees for parking meters and car-related violations making headlines this year, it would seem fair and prudent (if not legally mandated) for elected officials to follow the same laws as their constituents.

On a regular basis, however, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s official vehicle is parked near City Hall on Third Avenue near C Street in seeming violation of three parking laws.

The San Diego Sun photographed the mayor’s black Chevrolet SUV (with exempt license plate) parked in a red zone, too close to an intersection (per the city’s “daylighting” law) and partially blocking a driveway for the San Diego Civic Center Stage Door.

Speaking anonymously, a city employee with specific knowledge of the situation said, “The mayor parks there all day, every day. He’s the mayor. When are people going to realize poor people get ticketed and the rich people can do anything?”

Publicly detested parking meter fees, parking violation fines and many city services were increased this year as Mayor Gloria’s administration attempted to balance a city budget burdened with a quarter-billion-dollar deficit.

The daylighting law went into effect January 1, 2025, and the city began enforcing it on March 1. The law mandates that cars not be parked within 20 feet of a sidewalk

By Kate Callen

When the house next door went up for sale, the Hedgecocks were close to realizing their dream of buying a neighborhood home for their daughter and her family.

Instead, they will soon be living next to a nightmare.

The property at 1441 Woodrow Avenue in Jamacha is now slated for a 12-unit Bonus ADU building with only one on-site parking space on a street where curbs already fill up. The closest transit stop, the Massachusetts Avenue Station, is a half-mile walk that includes crossing busy Lemon Grove Avenue.

So far, this is like scores of other Bonus ADU neighborhood encroachments: A speculator parachutes into a quiet residential street, outbids individuals looking to purchase a family home, and crams in a gigantic complex that will reap huge profits.

But the 1441 Woodrow project involves a mystery: How and when did Godavari LLC swoop in to grab the probate property from another buyer with more modest building plans? And why can’t that buyer talk about the transaction?

Holly Hedgecock, who has lived next door for 28 years, recalled how her elderly neighbor let the property languish.

By Scott Nover / Washington Post / October 15, 2025

The nation’s military and defense journalists exited the Pentagon in unison Wednesday afternoon, having had their accreditation revoked after refusing to agree to the Defense Department’s new restrictions on their newsgathering activities.

The new rules, which among other things bar reporters from soliciting information that the government hasn’t authorized for them, prompted journalists from The Washington Post and dozens of other outlets to turn in their press credentials and decamp for possibly the last time during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure.

More than 30 members of the Pentagon press corps walked out of the building together before the 5 p.m. deadline, crossing a foot bridge and descending a long staircase that empties out on the northeast end of the five-sided building.

“This is a sad day for those who support a free press,” said Nancy A. Youssef, a staff writer for the Atlantic and a longtime Pentagon correspondent. “But I’m incredibly honored to be part of a press corps that stuck together and was committed to protecting our First Amendment rights.”