OB Rag

Senate Bill 79 is the latest legislation aimed at spurring housing construction that so far have had little or no impact on bringing down prices

By Michael Smolens / The San Diego Union-Tribune / October 17, 2025 

It’s been happening for years.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed another “historic” bill aimed at making it easier and faster to build high-density housing in an effort to bring down the high cost of homes in California. The reaction to the success of Senate Bill 79 was also familiar.

Supporters lauded the new law, which allows tall buildings along transit corridors, as a breakthrough in the state’s protracted housing crisis. Community groups and some municipal officials condemned the measure, maintaining it will force too much housing in some areas that can’t handle it, change the character of neighborhoods and ride roughshod over local governments by usurping their land-use authority.

As with other pro-housing bills, the hopes on one side and fears on the other likely won’t be realized, at least not for a good while.

The city of San Diego for years has paralleled the state’s approach on housing, allowing more density, streamlining development regulations and pushing high-rise projects near transit lines. So the city may be less affected by SB 79 than other municipalities in the county.

Yet despite its gung-ho attitude, San Diego’s record on housing has been spotty.

“I’m not 14 years old anymore, and her music will be a lot better when she realizes she isn’t either.”

By Milla Kuiper / The Point – PL Nazarene University / Oct 21, 2025

Taylor Swift, to me, used to represent the idea that womanhood could be both glamorous and innocent. Her lyrics were whimsical and clever, the music was fun and my juvenile voice could keep up with hers.

But I’m not 14 years old anymore, and her music will be a lot better when she realizes she isn’t either.

Listening to “The Life of a Showgirl” feels like watching a teenager stand in front of her parents with her arms crossed and a hip popped, saying, “What’re you gonna do about it?”

This would be entertaining if it were Swift’s first stunt like this, if the music was good, and if she weren’t 35 years old.

She already did the “This is who I am now, mom,” thing with “reputation,” and back then, it mostly worked. But “reputation” was feisty, and every song was unique enough to be memorable. Not so with “The Life of a Showgirl.”

My first complaint is that I think the songs are boring, unmemorable, sad-girl pop. The album is called “The Life of a Showgirl,” but there is no hint of the loud, brassy burlesque music characteristic of the New York City showgirl scene in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s.

By City News Press – Times of San Diego / October 20, 2025

Despite a Court of Appeals ruling once again denying the city of San Diego the ability to lift a 30-foot height limit in the Midway District, Mayor Todd Gloria said Monday the fight wasn’t over.

In a ruling issued Friday, the 4th District Court of Appeal determined the city hadn’t done its due diligence in completing an environmental study on the plan to raise the height limit in the neighborhood — part of an effort to greenlight the nearly $4 billion Midway Rising project.

This is the second time a court has overturned a voter-approved ballot measure to lift the coastal 30-foot limit for new construction in the area on a procedural technicality. San Diego’s voters approved “Measure E” to raise the limit in 2020 by a 13-point margin, 56.6% to 43.4%. [Editordude: In an even closer vote, the second effort to raise the limit, Measure C in 2022 barely passed with only 51%; it was opposed by a group called “Keep the Coast 30” which virtually had no money.]

By Lawrynce Cecio

San Diego, and specifically Mission Bay, has become a second home to many reggae, ska, and punk acts across the country. The sunshine, beaches, and general energy have attracted acts looking to capture the essence of the music they make in a singular location.

The increase in popularity has created a situation where once local bar bands now go on national tours with packed rooms of fans. This surge led to the perfect moment for Mission Bayfest: A local festival meant to capture all of the reasons that the area has always attracted musicians and talent

While attending the festival, one thing was clear: Mission Bayfest and its organizers did an exceptional job at combining national acts who got their start here in SoCal with emerging home-grown talent that encapsulates the spirit of the space they all inhabit.

The first day of Bayfest functioned as an ode to Ocean Beach and Mission Bay.

Save Our Access Urges San Diegans to Fight for Sustainable Development with Parks along San Diego River

By Paul Krueger

Expanding on their precedent-setting legal victory that at least temporarily halts high-density, high-rise development on more than 1,000 acres in the Sports Area/ Midway/MCRD/ NAVWAR area, members of Save Our Access are urging San Diegans to fight for smart, sustainable development with jogging and bike paths, pedestrian bridges spanning the San Diego River, and open space.

“The elected officials say this land (near) the coast is where we can get the most campaign contributions, so ‘let’s give it all away’,” said John McNab of Save Our Access at a press conference at the Penchanga Sports Arena, Monday, Oct. 20.

“What they didn’t tell (the public) is they’re going to cram 100,000 to 200,000 people in this area. And they don’t care if you have spend an extra hour — or two hours, which it will be — in your car, commuting (on Interstate 8 and 5).”

“They think, ‘development first, public last,'” McNab told reporters.

Community Dialogue
Hosted by Mira Mesa Community Champions
 Thursday, October 23, 2025 @6:00pm-7:30pm
Mira Mesa Senior Center
Join us

Agenda

1. Welcome & Introduction

Introduction of Mira Mesa Community Champions (MMCC) as a newly incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation
2. Purpose & Vision Overview of MMCC’s specific purpose and long-term vision
3. Meet the Leadership Presentation of MMCC Board Members and Officers
4. Community Project for 2026 Mira Mesa 2026 4th of July Parade & Celebration

By Sheila Pell / San Diego Reader / Oct. 14, 2025

Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay is facing more scrutiny of its latest proposed remodel, which includes over 100 modifications.

In a letter to the coastal commission, which postponed a vote on a coastal development permit for the project last week, the city called out a number of “discrepancies” between the application it received and the one submitted to the commission for review.

The 52-acre resort is situated on city-owned land and lies within the coastal zone, so the work has to be approved by both the commission and the city.

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.