OB Rag

13 nonprofits control access to public sports land—without competition or review. It’s time for a more open and equitable approach.

by Stefan Boyland /  Voice of San Diego / September 10, 2025

As San Diego reflects on its past and imagines its future, there’s one small but powerful lever that could reshape how our parks serve the public: reforming the city’s outdated system of “special-use permits.”

Special-use permits are long-term agreements the city grants to select nonprofits, giving them exclusive control over public sports facilities for years at a time. Unlike day-use permits that anyone can request for a single event, these permits function more like private leases — the operator manages the site, collects revenue and sets the rules. But unlike leases, they’re rent-free and involve no public application or competition.

With demand for recreational space growing, the city has a responsibility to modernize how it manages long-term access. Right now, the system leaves huge potential untapped.

Today, just 13 sports organizations hold these permits: 12 are tennis clubs and one is a youth baseball league. All receive rent-free control of public land for years at a time, with no public application, virtually no performance review and no opportunity for others to compete.

By Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / Sept. 16, 2025

You can have your wish – a magically cleaned car – granted at the revitalized Genie Car Wash in Point Loma. Customers may not recognize the new and improved automatic car wash at 3949 W. Point Loma Boulevard, which recently reopened after extensive remodeling.

“This [car wash] was the first one [my family] bought, and they just expanded little by little. This was the last one to convert to this [high-tech] style,” said Genie Car Wash vice president Zaid “Z” Daymia, whose family has 40 years of experience in the industry.

“My dad and his partners bought [Genie] in 1983, and the car wash has been here since the 1960s,” he said.

What changed about his family’s operation of the car wash? “Attention to detail, focus on customer service,” said Daymia, pointing out that Genie has been closed for almost a year, since last October, to accommodate all the upgrades for its customers. “Now, we’re open and we’re happy,” he said. Discussing changes in Genie’s business model, Daymia noted: “Before, what we used to offer was a full-service wash where we would dry and clean it and do everything for you.”

By Kate Callen

At the September 15 hearing on parking fees in Balboa Park, weary San Diego City Councilmembers knew they would be hammered by volunteers, arts patrons, bridge players, lawn bowlers, square dancers, and other regular park users who skew elderly.

But they didn’t see the high school students coming.

Nearly 200 San Diego High students marched from their campus to City Hall with courtesy escorts from City and School District police. The Inspiration Point parking lot is walking distance from their classrooms. Under the new fee system, these students from mostly low-income families would now have to pay to park there.

The sight of gray-haired and teenage constituents teaming up to rebuke City officials made this one of the most enthralling Council hearings in recent memory.

After four hours of deliberation, the Council chose to delay the new fees until January 1. City residents will pay less; out-of-town visitors will pay more. An annual resident parking pass, which the mayor’s staff claimed was impossible, is on the table. The yearly fee will likely be $150.

Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 6:00 PM, for a Tour of Liberty Station by Lisa Johnson

We will meet on the back side of the NTC Command Center (see the photo inside).

Want to protest against the 2 biggest developers of huge ADU backyard apartment complexes in our City — Mr. Christian Spicer — “King of San Diego’s ADU Mega projects — and Mr. Daniel Skholnik?

Want to give Mr. Gary Geiler of the City’s Development Services Department or the San Diego Housing Commission a piece of your mind?

How about the state branch of the national group YIMBY’s or the Casita Coalition?

These are just a few of the speakers at one of the BIGGEST ADU CONVENTIONS in our City.

And here is your chance to do it in STYLE.

Pam has chartered what is called a LIMO BUS to take the first 50 people who sign up at this email: ADUBonus@gmail.com

Here are the details:

By Jan Hintzman / Special to the OB Rag

In our community’s relentless nine-year struggle to restore access to the College-Rolando Branch Library, we are no stranger to city two-facedness. Our case was strong. When opportunities arose, the City needed to recover necessary library parking. The opportunities arose, but the city did not rise to help us!

The City had built generous library parking on part of the church property next door. In the deal, the City made a formal commitment to our community to purchase that property for a park, should it come up for sale, given that our older communities were built without public amenities.

The library was our jewel, the only major city investment on the horizon. And it came with promises for more. But instead of more, we got less. The property was in fact offered for sale to the City, and the City refused to purchase it.

Thus, the library lost its main driveway and most of its parking….and an astute investor scooped up the opportunity.  His plan was to convert the property, having a land use potential of Low/Medium Residential and General Commercial with Residential, into a profitable student housing project.  And ultimately he did, with the cooperation of the city and at the expense of the library.

Editordude: as a long-time resident of OB I’ve watch countless businesses move in – and then move out — of the space at 4689 Voltaire; it’s one of the most difficult storefront spaces in all Ocean Beach. This happened for years and years … until Aaron Null moved in 5 years ago. 

by Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / Sept. 16, 2025

Little did Ocean Beach graphic artist Aaron Null realize that his search for office space during COVID would lead him to become a boutique owner celebrating local creativity, craftsmanship, and community.

Now, Vervor Shop at 4689 Voltaire St. is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a party on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. featuring a DJ, food, and drinks.

“Since we opened, we have grown from 40 to 365 local artists and makers,” said Null. “I found this space that was not really in the middle of the business district. But it was in a part of town I thought was pretty cool and walkable from my house.

“Then I thought, ‘Shouldn’t OB have an art store, a real art nexus that’s low barrier of entry?’ Weren’t there people here who were just doing their own creative thing? Of course there were, they’re in every nook and cranny.”

From SOHO (Save Our Heritage Org.)

SOME PEOPLE KEEP HISTORY ALIVE by retelling it, some by writing it, some by advocating for and protecting the places that hold it, and a rare few do all three. Eric DuVall is one of those rare few.

As president of the Ocean Beach Historical Society and a board member and past president of the La Playa Trail Association, Eric DuVall has become a leading steward of Ocean Beach and Point Loma’s historical and cultural identity and one of the community’s most engaging advocates for local history. Through his storytelling, lectures, community organizing, and advocacy, he has deepened public knowledge and affection for the architectural and cultural heritage of Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

Born and raised in San Diego, Eric has a deep personal connection to the peninsula, and it is evident in everything he does. His childhood spent roaming the cliffs and streets of Point Loma laid the foundation for a lifelong curiosity about the places, people, and stories that shape these coastal neighborhoods.

A gifted writer and editor by profession and training, Eric’s journalism roots run deep.

by Neal Putnam / Peninsula Beacon / Sept. 15, 2025

A judge has denied bail to an driver who allegedly struck a 5-year-old girl while driving recklessly onto a pedestrian path in the Liberty Station area, causing the girl to be rushed to a hospital for a traumatic head injury.

Savannah Monique Taylor, 21, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 10 to two felony drunk driving charges involving the Sept. 6 incident that injured the girl while she was riding a scooter.

The girl was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital for emergency brain surgery. One charge said she had become comatose due to a brain injury.

So Good
3960 West Point Loma Blvd., Suite F,
San Diego 92110

By LK Bruce

I’m not entirely sure why, but restaurants in strip malls always stir a sense of apprehension in me. I guess I’m afraid they’ll have the atmosphere of the parking lot. But most of the time that apprehension is easily dispelled once you close the door behind you, such is the effort these restaurant owners make to help you feel cocooned and apart from the busy-ness outside.

That was certainly my experience at So Good, a not so new Thai place that replaced the Thai place before that about seven months ago. You step in and immediately are absorbed into the serene setting of warm wood and coffee-colored leather. Small but not cramped it holds eight tables, three cushy booths, and a three-stool bar.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / September 16, 2025

The San Diego City Council voted 6-2 Monday to begin charging parking fees in Balboa Park for the first time, but council members delayed the start date by several months and granted many park users some major concessions.

The concessions and the delayed start — from Oct. 6 to sometime in early 2026 — will cost the city several million dollars that officials had been counting on to balance their budget and avoid emergency cuts.

The concessions include allowing San Diego High School students to park for free, and making quarterly and annual passes available for frequent park users who play bridge, lawn bowl or participate in other activities.

Monday’s compromise, which was approved after a contentious public hearing that lasted more than four hours, calls for significantly higher fees for people living outside the city of San Diego than previous proposals.

People living outside the city will pay $16 a day to park in lots closest to the park’s center and $10 a day to park in lots a bit farther out. Those are up from $12 a day and $6 a day proposed by Mayor Todd Gloria.