OB Rag

By Paul Krueger

The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee voted Wednesday, Oct. 22, to advance discussions on a proposed ballot measure that would impose a new tax on short-term vacation rentals (STR) and unoccupied second homes.

The committee voted 3–1 to continue studying the proposal — which would charge STR owners $5,000 per bedroom annually — and to consider placing it before voters on the June or November 2026 ballot.

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who introduced the measure, won support from Council President Joe LaCava and Councilmember Kent Lee. Councilmember Raul Campillo cast the sole vote against advancing the proposal, arguing that it would hurt local property owners and the city’s tourism economy. Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent.

Elo-Rivera said the tax would help make housing more affordable, protect renters from displacement, and preserve neighborhood character.

“This is not about punishment — it’s about priorities,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of San Diegans will not pay this tax. If you live in your home, rent out rooms, or have a long-term tenant, you won’t be affected.”

He told vacation rental owners that they were “being used as pawns in a game played by Airbnb,” arguing that corporate interests were profiting at the expense of local housing availability.

Under the proposal, whole-home vacation rentals and unoccupied second homes would be subject to the tax. Elo-Rivera estimated that more than 10,000 properties, mostly in beach communities and downtown, could be affected.

By Blake Nelson / The San Diego Union-Tribune / October 21, 2025 

Hundreds of affordable housing units opened this month throughout the city of San Diego, a crucial addition in a region where the number of people losing a place to stay continues to outpace how many homeless residents are able to leave the streets.

The 560 apartments are spread across multiple buildings in downtown San Diego, the Clairemont Mesa neighborhood and the Midway District. Some are set aside for homeless people, veterans or young adults.

“When we support affordable housing in our communities, we are creating a safe and stable living environment for all residents,” Kimberly Giardina, a leader at the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, said in a statement.

Midway District

Pacific Village in the Midway District is for veterans, young adults and those who’ve experienced homelessness. The building is a converted hotel and holds 62 studio apartments. Fifteen are for homeless veterans.

Multiple levels of government similarly chipped in to support the renovations, and millions of dollars from the county will cover behavioral health services, which can treat both mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

[Editordude: this new Pacific Village used to be the Ramada Inn, pictured above. See more on Pacific Village here.]

The fall-out (pun indented) from the weekend’s live fire by Marine howitzers over I-5 into Camp Pendleton during Vance’s visit is still falling.

Yesterday’s (Tuesday, Oct. 21) main headline at the LA Times spoke out: “How military’s live fire over I-5 went awry”.

Here’s a few points the article made:

• At first when Federal officials first announced the live fire last week they insisted it would be done with “all safety precautions in place” and said no public highways would be closed.
• Then California officials expressed fears about the live rounds being fired over I- 5.
• On Friday, Oct. 17 – the day before the No Kings Day — the Marines did a test run, and fired live rounds over I-5 while motorists drove on the freeway.
• Early Saturday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the closure that day of a 17-mile stretch of the interstate — from just south of San Clemente to just north of Oceanside — during the event.
• During the live fire, a CHP cruiser parked on an onramp of Interstate 5 was hit by falling shrapnel after an artillery round exploded midair. Obviously, way before it was supposed to. A CHP officer heard what sounded like falling pebbles hit his bike and the ground.
• This incident forced “an early end to the artillery demonstration. Upon learning of the midair explosion, the Marines canceled the remaining 55 rounds they’d planned to fire.

By Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego / Oct. 20, 2025

Wednesday [morning, today, Oct. 22], the Rules Committee for the San Diego City Council will consider Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s push for a tax on empty second homes and vacation rentals. He and his supporters have polled the issue and asked whether voters supported an up-to $5,000 per bedroom annual tax on vacation rentals.

The business community and AirBnB seem to see it as an existential threat.

First, the argument for: As announced at Politifest, Elo-Rivera wants the city to start seeing tourism differently: not as a precious industry that needs to be coddled and nurtured but instead like oil in Norway: An incredibly valuable resource that the city should extract more social benefits from.

“The city needs resources to provide residents the things they want and need,” he said. “That conversation should begin with those with most means who do not live here.”

By Kat Schuster / Patch San Diego / Tue, Oct 21, 2025 

Californians who rely on food assistance are being urged to prepare for possible delays, as the ongoing federal shutdown could halt benefits starting Nov. 1 if it isn’t resolved by Thursday, Oct 23.

On Monday, the California Department of Social Services directed counties statewide to brace for disruptions, noting that benefits — which are fully federally funded — cannot be distributed until the shutdown ends. CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program, currently serves about 5.5 million residents.

Some state-funded food assistance programs could also be affected, the agency said.

What to Do if you suspect your dog has ingested meth.

By Steffi Roche / CBS8 / Oct. 21, 2025

Some San Diego dog owners reported that their dogs became ill and, in one case, died after being exposed to methamphetamine at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach early October.

One owner, Mark Smith, brought his one-and-a-half-year-old dog Trouble to Dog Beach on Oct. 8. After “Trouble” ran around and played, Smith said he noticed she was behaving abnormally. Smith told CBS 8 he took her to a veterinarian at ABC Veterinary Hospital in Pacific Beach.

“There’s certain head movements they might do. They might act restless. They might be pacing… There’s a lot just based on those symptoms where we’re like, ‘Ok I have a feeling like what’s going on,'” Liz Noppinger, an associate veterinarian at ABC Veterinary Hospital, said.

By Kate Callen

The Golden Hill community scored an astonishing win Friday, October 17, in its battle against an eight-story apartment project when a Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt further development on the site.

The decision is believed to be the first successful legal salvo against Mayor Todd Gloria’s Complete Communities densification program. It was the second victory on the same day for land use attorney Everett Delano, whose client Save Our Access won a state appeals decision Friday that reinstates the 30-foot-height limit in the Midway district.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil also undermined a key component of Complete Communities: “transit-oriented development” near bus stops, some of which don’t exist and might never exist.

Preserve Greater Golden Hill went to court to stop CEDARst from speed-building “The Lawson,” a 186-unit complex at 2935-2961 A Street that would be the largest high-rise building directly under the final approach into San Diego Airport.

“We knew we had a strong case,” said Richard Santini, President of Preserve Golden Hill. “This decision makes it clear that Complete Communities isn’t about affordable housing. This building is more of a luxury tower.”

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.]