OB Rag

By Donna Frye / October 1, 2025

On July 9, the OB Rag published an article by Geoff Page that alerted us to a city staff report that linked surplus lands with Mission Bay Park.

My initial reaction is the same now as it was then- Mission Bay Park is not “surplus land”.

The June 23, 2025 city staff report summarized the steps the city council was being asked to take to declare three properties in Mission Bay Park as “surplus land” so the city could seek new long-term leases. However, if the city council declared the properties as “surplus land” it would trigger a requirement in the Surplus Land Act that would allow housing development on our public parkland.

According to information published on the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s website, “The purpose of the Surplus Land Act is to connect local agencies with developers who are interested in building more affordable homes on surplus local public land that is both available and suitable for housing development.”

Mission Bay Park is neither available nor suitable for building housing because it is a dedicated public park.

Unfortunately, the Land Use and Housing Committee heard the item on July 2 and supported the “surplus land” declaration. Thankfully, at the July 29 city council meeting, the city council majority voted to continue the item until September due in large part to the public opposition.

And because of the continuance, the Mission Bay Park Committee was able to hear the item on August 5 at their regular meeting

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / September 22, 2025

(Pictured at right: Jesus Cardenas)

A local nonprofit created by a political consultant convicted of felony grand theft last year and run by his former workers claims to be a community group but is actually connected directly to the owners of a controversial development project in North County the group publicly supports.

The “San Diego Housing Coalition” is the only community group supporting the proposed 453-home Harmony Grove Village South project in the unincorporated area west of Escondido, but state and federal documents show the group is connected to political consultant Jesús Cárdenas who has been paid by the developer behind the project since at least 2021.

Although the group’s website promotes it as “a collective of community voices and organizations, educators, experts, non-profits, lifelong advocates,” the group does not list the names of its staff, boardmembers, or collaborators, and lists no phone number, address, or contact information besides an Admin email address.

The group’s Facebook page has only 180 followers and shows just one post of a news article in October 2021 and an announcement of a forum held in Chula Vista in July 2021. There is no social media profile for the group on X.com.

OB Staff Report / September 30, 2025

Former San Diego state senator Toni Atkins has withdrawn from the crowded race for California governor, saying in a statement Monday that “there is simply no viable path forward to victory.”

The decision comes just one month after a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll ranked Atkins 11th out of 12 gubernatorial candidates, with 1 percent of respondents choosing her as their first-place choice, and 38 percent undecided.

The three top-ranked candidates were Democrat Katie Porter, chosen as first by 17 percent, Republican Chad Bianco, chosen by 10 percent, and Democrat Xavier Becerra, chosen by 9 percent.

OB Staff Report / September 29, 2025

Campaigning for San Diego’s June 2 primary election is already underway. Given the City’s deplorable state of affairs (101 Ash, predatory development, bait-and-switch trash fees, paid Balboa Park parking), voter interest in the four Council races on the 2026 ballot will be unusually intense.

To help voters make informed choices, the Rag will provide investigative coverage of the most important 2026 races. We will scout campaign finance reports and document where candidates get their support. We will study the fine print on campaign mailers and tell you which powerbrokers and special interest groups funded them.

The best indicators of a politician’s real agenda aren’t their promises or their platforms. It’s the money. When you know who is backing a candidate, you can pretty much predict what that person will do in office.

Let’s say we publish a list of the top 20 donors to Candidate X, and we identify many of them as players who have been close to Mayor Todd Gloria. Their support for X means they believe X will follow in Gloria’s political footsteps.

If you think Gloria has been a great mayor, you might want to give X your vote and even your money. If you think Gloria has been a disaster, you might want to back one of X’s opponents.

By Rachel Becker, Kristen Hwang, Alejandro Lazo, Cayla Mihalovich, and Jeanne Huang / CalMatters / September 29, 2025

John Lauretig remembers the filthy bathrooms, the overflowing trash cans and the community of people who rallied to clean up Joshua Tree National Park the last time the U.S. Government shut down.

For more than a month from December 2018 through January 2019, thousands of National Park Service employees were furloughed nationwide — but the Trump administration kept many national parks open.

Unsupervised, visitors drove through wilderness and historic sites, camped where they weren’t supposed to, and vandalized plants and buildings at parks across California. The trash — and the feces — piled up. In the days after the shutdown ended, park staff found at least 1,665 clumps of toilet paper littering Death Valley alone, where an estimated half-ton of human waste had been left outside the restrooms.

“It was insane to leave the gates open and tell the staff not to show up in the park — for our public lands, and all of our special places in this country, to be unprotected,” said Lauretig, a retired law enforcement park ranger and president of the Friends of Joshua Tree nonprofit.

Now, facing the prospect of another imminent shutdown, conservation groups and retired park service employees including Lauretig are calling to keep the gates locked at national parks and historic landmarks.

They’re among many Californians bracing for the shutdown, which is expected to begin Wednesday unless Democrats and Republicans can make a deal by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.

By Jeff McDonald / The San Diego Union-Tribune / September 27, 2025

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has withdrawn his effort to declare three commercial parcels in Mission Bay Park surplus property, a declaration that would have opened them to developers.

But city officials have not given up on redeveloping the Marina Village conference center, the Dana Landing marina and the nearby Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant.

Instead of employing the Surplus Land Act, which would require prioritizing affordable housing projects on the properties, San Diego officials are working with state housing officials, the Governor’s Office and at least one state lawmaker for exemptions to the law.

“We’re still waiting to hear back,” mayoral spokesperson Rachel Laing said by email.

The decision came two months after the City Council declined to approve a request to declare the Marina Village conference and banquet center, Dana Landing marina and Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant surplus land.

OB Staff Report / September 26, 2025

If you’re thinking of visiting Balboa Park any weekend this fall, you might want to make other plans.

The Natural History Museum parking lot is closed to the public through November 21. The Museum is replacing its roof, and the lot is occupied by construction equipment.

For weekend visitors, the closure will mean that driving to and from the park, and parking inside the park, will be even more nightmarish than usual.

Engardio’s Ouster Sends a Clear Message: Listen to Voters, Not Lobbyists

By Neighborhoods United SF / September 2025

Supervisor Joel Engardio’s recall wasn’t just about the Great Highway; it was about who our elected leaders represent.

The highway closure was the first salvo in a broader YIMBY lobbyist and tech billionaire agenda to force high-rises and redevelopment across San Francisco, starting with the Western and Northern portions of San Francisco.

Voters saw it for what it was: an utter disregard and betrayal by their elected officials in favor of the interests of big-money donors.

That same disregard now comes from Mayor Daniel Lurie. His reckless upzoning plan marches forward despite thousands of emails from residents and opposition from a broad coalition of organizations.

By Kate Callen / September 26, 2025

As expected, the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the Midway Rising proposal after in-person public comments were dominated by speakers who will directly benefit from the development.

But there were a few surprises. Five commissioners seemed dubious about transportation issues, especially plans to develop now and upgrade transit later. And an observation from one of the newest commissioners could be the most shockingly honest remark a San Diego public official has ever made.

Jeana Renger questioned future traffic projections for the notoriously congested Midway district and said this: “Transit-oriented development is only successful if there is a whole system of buses and trolleys and also ridership. Just because you build it doesn’t necessarily mean they will ride it.”

(If anyone wants to thank Ms. Renger, an executive vice president at Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, for having the courage to speak a truth too long denied, her email address is jrenger@fpbarch.com.)

By OB Rag Staff / September 25, 2025

It’s showtime.

The Office of the San Diego City Clerk has a “2026 Election Information” webpage which shows the candidates who have publicly declared their intention to run for a City Council District seat. Their names are listed here. Hyperlinks will take you to the active websites of those candidates.

Council District 2

Josh Coyne

Nicole Crosby

Mandy Havlik

The progressive voice of Point Loma, OB and Loma Portal since 1954

Sep 28 – Monthly Meeting, Immigration & Prop 50
Sunday, September 28, 4:00-5:30PM, Pt Loma Assembly
Point Loma & OB Dems

Immigration

Cheri Attix, practicing Immigration Attorney for nearly 30 year and past San Diego Chapter President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, will hold a Q&A session with no presentation, so members can drive the conversation.

Prop 50 — Learn more and volunteer

By Mike James / September 25, 2025
Tom Homan built his public image as America’s tough-talking “border enforcer.” But between government stints, he was something else entirely: a private consultant selling access to the very machinery he once commanded.

On its now-archived website, Homeland Strategic Consulting (HSC) spelled out its value proposition in blunt language unusual for Washington:

“Political connections are important, and no consultancy has a more solid and extensive network than Tom Homan… For qualified candidates, we open doors to the right people in the right departments… Without our insights and introductions—on every rung of the ladder—your best-laid plans will hit the wall.”

This wasn’t about policy advice. It was about access—about leveraging the revolving door between government and business to deliver results measured in contracts and dollars. The firm even bragged of helping clients win “tens of millions of dollars of federal contracts.”