OB Rag

By Erwin Chemerinsky / The Sacramento Bee / September 30, 2025

If there is a path toward authoritarianism for the United States, this is it. The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is just the latest outrage and effort to use the power of the federal government for the sake of retribution.

As we enter just the ninth month of President Donald Trump’s second term, it is essential to recognize that what we have seen is unprecedented in American history.

Trump, by his words and actions, has governed as if there are no checks on his authority. He quoted French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on the social media platforms Truth Social and X, writing “He who saves the country violates no law.” At a televised press conference on August 26, the president discussed his use of troops for law enforcement, saying “(I have) the right to anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.”

Historic presidential overreach
Trump’s assertions of presidential power are broader than any other president has claimed. No president before has ever claimed that he can fire everyone in the executive branch of government or claimed the ability to eliminate agencies created by federal statute. No president has claimed the authority to massively cut off federal spending appropriated by Congress. (President Richard Nixon impounded funds, but not nearly on this scale).

Black Rages Against Planned Fort Stockton “Monstrosity” Across the Street from Her Property

By Kate Callen

A scorching Facebook post by Democratic powerbroker Laurie Black has been ricocheting around San Diego this past week. Community activists who oppose rampant upzoning have been reading Black’s missive with a sense of astonishment. Here is a transcript:

“I have no words!!! Or maybe I do!!!

“As the developer 2004-2007 of the property across the street from this eyesore, 1Mission, along with my late husband Bob Lawrence of R.S. Lawrence Development, we worked WITH the Mission Hills community to develop a project that received more than 5 awards for DESIGN, SMART GROWTH, HISTORICAL DESIGNATION, etc. 20 years later [it] is still a wonderful example of smart growth and design. Mark Steele designed a stunning project!

By Danna Givot

The City is planning to increase the College Area’s zoning to allow 34,150 (2050) versus 8200 housing units on the ground in 2024 – a 316% increase. That’s crazy when SANDAG estimates the entire city of San Diego will increase housing by 107,778 units between 2023 and 2050.

Why should the College Area be upzoned to provide almost one quarter of the City’s new housing between now and 2050? It shouldn’t!

In 2020, the College Area housed only 1.8% of the City’s people and accounted for less than 1% of San Diego’s acreage, so why would it be upzoned to accommodate 24% of the new housing in San Diego. It makes no sense.

Let’s look at what other recent community plan updates have upzoned their community planning areas for and compare them to what is being asked of the College Area.

Mira Mesa, University, Hillcrest/Uptown and Clairemont have three or more times the existing housing and their community plans are only increasing their housing density by 98% on average, while the College Area is being hammered with a 316% increase. What could justify this?

By Kathryn Fletcher / SOHO Newsletter / September-October 2025

SOHO Editor’s note: This article includes excerpts from the book Warner Springs Ranch and Its Environs by Joseph J. Hill, and from the Temecula Valley Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 11, Issue 6, June 2011.

As long ago as 1869, Judge Benjamin Hayes wrote that no ranch in Southern California was better watered than the Valle de San José, also known as Warner’s Ranch. Well before that, early Spanish and American travelers wrote in their diaries of the rich verdure of this huge bowl in a semi-arid plain. By its very topography the region was destined to become a reservoir of water to irrigate thousands of acres lying between it and the Pacific.

In 1911, William G. Henshaw purchased the Warner Ranch land grant from the heirs of former Governor John Downey. Henshaw and his partner Col. Ed Fletcher set plans in motion to construct a dam at the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River.

From Mission Hills Heritage

Just recently, we learned that the City of San Diego has scheduled a “Preservation & Progress” Virtual Workshop for Wednesday, October 8 at 2pm.

We are uncertain whether this meeting will be a genuine “workshop,” given that staff has indicated it will be presenting pre-determined proposed changes. And they are not waiting for the independent consultants at PlaceEconomics to release their fact-based report with crucial information that would inform the City and the public.

The City’s proposed changes are as follows:

• Proposed changes to the Historic Preservation Element of the General Plan
• Updates to the Historic Designation Appeal Process
• Amendments to the Complete Communities Housing Solutions program
• Proposed changes to the use of the Historic Preservation Fund

By Ryan Adamczeski / The Advocate – Yahoo / October 6, 2025

The home of a judge in South Carolina burned down over the weekend shortly after she had reportedly received death threats in the wake of her ruling against the Trump administration.

Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein, 69, was walking her dogs on Saturday morning when her home in Edisto Beach caught fire. Her husband, former Democratic state lawmaker Arnold Goodstein, 81, and their son, Arnold Goodstein II, were still in the house with other guests when the blaze began and had to escape through the upper stories into the marshes below, where emergency responders rescued them via kayak. The two were hospitalized alongside a third, unidentified person.

South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge told FitsNews that it was an “apparent explosion … that resulted in a fire that destroyed the home.”

“Judge Goodstein was walking on the beach when the fire started,” he wrote. “Her husband, Arnie, was in the house with children and perhaps grandchildren. The family had to escape by jumping from a window or balcony. I’m told there were injuries from the fall, such as broken legs.”

On Saturday afternoon, October 4, a 58-year-old man riding an electric scooter was injured when he lost control of the vehicle and was ejected. He sustained an open fracture to his fibula, necessitating immediate transportation to a local hospital for treatment.

Both news stories on this incident reported it occurred in “Point Loma Heights.” But it wasn’t — it occurred in Mission Valley. The accident happened at approximately 3:22 PM along 2100 Hotel Circle South. Both reports mentioned this address.

The headline from 10News: “58-year-old man injured, ejected from electric scooter in Point Loma Heights”.

The headline from Hoodline San Diego: “Man Suffers Serious Leg Injury in E-Scooter Accident in Point Loma Heights, San Diego”.

Most observers can tell right away that the 2100 block of Hotel Circle South is not in Point Loma Heights.

By Sydney Brammer / LomaBeat  / Sep 12, 2025
 
Following the tragic accident of Point Loma Nazarene University student, Dakota Briley, an auction with over 300 items, including hotel stays to surfboards signed by professional surfers, went through Monday, Sept. 15, to raise money for his rehabilitation funds.

Nearly three months ago, Briley was hit by an 18-year-old driver while on the side of the road in Haleiwa, HI. Crushed between two cars, Briley’s spine, skull and lower body were critically injured.

After spending 58 days in the Queens Medical Center in downtown Honolulu, mostly in a coma, Briley was transferred to Craig Hospital in Colorado, where they believe his rehabilitation needs will be better met, said Erin Lau, his sister.

Since the accident, Briley has awakened from his coma, undergone 11 surgeries, can hold conversations,

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / October 3, 2025

A local drywall installation company that systematically underpaid its workers on two local affordable housing projects has agreed to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the US Department of Labor by paying $790,000 in back wages and fines.

Escondido-based Innovative Wall Systems, Inc., doing business as Alta Drywall, was sued in San Diego federal court for underpaying 580 employees who worked more than 40 hours a week, including weekends, without receiving the required overtime rate or minimum wage as mandated by federal law.

The Department of Labor and Alta Drywall entered into a Consent Judgment and Order on September 12, 2025, over 580 employees who were not paid overtime on two affordable housing projects; the 200-unit Columba project in Chula Vista’s Millenia development, and the 309-unit Mt. Etna St. complex in San Diego.

SD Union-Tribune Editorial Board / October 5, 2025

The City Council’s decision this week to put off a vote on a 62% water rate hike and a 31% sewer rate hike to be phased in over the next four years was welcomed by the many San Diegans who live paycheck to paycheck.

But there’s bad news ahead for anyone counting on genuine relief from Mayor Todd Gloria and council members. In coming weeks, final approval still looks inevitable for the massive rate increases beginning in January. The case that rates have to go up to sustaincurrent levels of service hasn’t been challenged, and there is no appetite for budget cuts elsewhere to cover the bills.

And nothing in the council’s recent history suggests that most members’ message-we-care rhetoric at Tuesday’s meeting is meaningful. These same politicians depicted their crusade against digital-only grocery store coupons as a bold defense of elderly constituents — even as they forced constituents of all ages to pay sharply increased trash fees — and approved first-ever parking fees at Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo — and imposed punitive “dynamic” parking rates that will hammer families visiting downtown.

Jamacha Neighborhood Council Flags Application Discrepancies in Controversial Jamacha Bonus ADU Project and urges the owner, Godavari LLC, and the City of San Diego to immediately halt the 1441 Woodrow Ave project.

This is on October 7, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at 1441 Woodrow Ave, San Diego, CA, 92114.

The Jamacha Neighborhood Council (JNC), representing residents of the Jamacha community, is calling on the City of San Diego to halt the proposed six two-story, 12-unit Bonus ADU project at 1441 Woodrow Ave and to revise city policy to exclude communities of concern in RS 1-7 single-family zones from the Bonus ADU program.