OB Rag

By Chuck Dunning

I’ve been to the meetings and read the articles declaring three parcels in Mission Bay Park as surplus. In the end, it sounds like there’s a real risk of this decision not ending well. The inescapable fact is that the sole intent of the state’s Surplus Land Act is to create land for affordable housing.

I don’t believe Mayor Gloria, Council President LaCava or the rest of the city council or staff ever envisioned Turquoise Tower or Chalcifica as an outcome of the Bonus ADU program. Yet, here they are. Shit happens. The Law of Unintended Consequences.

There is a way to redevelop the Marina Village site and avoid the entire surplus land process. I also attended many meetings and hearings when the De Anza Natural plan was being developed. Frequently there were dedicated and vocal groups decrying the potential loss of affordable camping on Mission Bay. At this point, 30 acres of camping facilities will be converted to wetlands. Coincidentally, the Marina Village site is 23 acres.

Why not convert that acreage to affordable camping? How many campsites for tents, yurts or small trailers could be accommodated with room for a playground and sports courts? There is already a deli and mini-mart adjacent to the property. Inexpensive cafes and fine dining are an easy walk.

SOHO Newsletter /  September 4, 2025

It’s true that historic preservation has, at times, and in different eras, played a role in gentrification. In certain neighborhoods, restoring older homes and buildings made these areas more desirable, which attracted investment, drove up property values, and contributed to the displacement of long-standing residents. That history needs to be acknowledged.

But it’s just one part of the story, and it’s not at all the story today. Today, the preservation movement stands as one of the few consistent barriers against displacement.

What we’re seeing now is a new wave of gentrification, one far more aggressive and less tethered to community values. It’s driven not by the careful restoration of old homes, but by the widespread demolition of existing neighborhoods with their naturally occurring affordable housing and their replacement with massive, market-rate developments. Executed under the banner of “housing solutions,” this new housing is often unaffordable to the very people the builders claim to serve.

by Ernie McCray

There’s a dear friend of mine,
Jacquenese A. Barnes Price,
Jacque for short,
who will soon be an inductee
in the Hall of Fame
at Tucson High,
an honor she comes by honestly
because she was prepared naturally
for such esteem
by a mother
who stands as an iconic
Black social and political activist
in Tucson’s history,
a woman we kids used to call
“Miss Freddie,”

Chef Jun
3309 Rosecrans St Ste B
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 782-9484

By LK Bruce

If you’re like me, there’s little more motivating to get out and try a new restaurant than a coupon in the mail. So when the coupon for Chef Jun made its way through the mailbox, I thought we’d get out there toot-sweet. Well that was in March.

Last night, the day arrived and of course, I forgot the coupon – no doubt long expired anyway. Undaunted, we parked easily in front of Chef Jun in Loma Square near Midway and Rosecrans. It’s just between Sprouts and Jamba.

An involuntary “oooh” escaped our lips as we entered the serene space filled with faux trees bursting with cherry blossoms. It wasn’t crowded at around 6pm but it became more so as the hour wore on, fortunately nothing chaotic. In fact, very Zen. And with slow jazz playing in the background, the world outside melted away.

We were told that weekday nights are pretty mellow but weekend evenings are packed. Lunches are fairly busy, we were told, especially because of the lunch specials which typically include poke bowls with soup.

With the San Diego City Council voting Sept. 9 on proposed improvements to Sunset Cliffs, the boulevard and the area, to save it from sea-level rise and ongoing erosion, you can bet that Peninsula residents are divided over the proposals coming out of the Coastal Resilience Master Plan. [Here’s the City’s Coastal Resiliency Masterplan]

One of the more controversial proposals is the one that wants to re-configure Sunset Cliffs Boulevard from a two-lane, north-south major collector road to a single southbound lane. One recent Rag reader rant felt it was premature to make Sunset Cliffs Blvd into one-way. There’s been other issues and questions. (See the many and diverse comments to Rag posts on the Cliffs.)

When the Plan was first rolled out, one Rag writer felt the ‘OB Presentation akin to Keystone Cops’ and another questioned, “Where is the Masterplan Board Hiding?”

Two of the more important community planning groups in the Peninsula are divided. The Ocean Beach Community Planning Group voted in favor of the plan, said Andrea Schlageter, who chairs that board. Schlageter said, in her own opinion, the plans for the one-way street add much needed room for recreation where there is no dedicated lane for pedestrians. “It’ll take the pressure off the cliff,” Schlageter said. “Whether we make it a one-way street now or let it erode into the ocean, it’ll be a one-way street eventually.”

The Peninsula Community Planning Board, on the other hand,

There’s a 36 foot giant agave plant towering over everything else along Point Loma Avenue in Ocean Beach these days. Right now it towers over other plants, trees, nearby homes, palm trees and power lines. But as agave observers know, it’s all temporary and in just months, the large stock will look much different.

It’s all happening in Bridget Seegers’ front yard. It was a six-foot agave plant when Bridget moved in around four years ago. Her neighbors say it had been about the same size for 30 or 40 years. That changed in April when the plant suddenly began sprouting, as CBS8 reported.

One-Way Sunset Cliffs Blvd, Removal of Parking and Creating Protected Walk-Way on Deck for Approval

The San Diego City Council will vote on Tuesday, Sept. 9 on a plan proposing to save Sunset Cliffs and the coastline from sea-level rise and ongoing erosion. The Council will be voting on its budget item.

The plan is the Coastal Resilience Master Plan which proposes turning a section of Sunset Cliffs Blvd into a single southbound lane and removing parking along Sunset Cliffs.

Besides re-configuring Sunset Cliffs Boulevard from a two-lane, north-south major collector road to a single southbound lane, it proposes creating a protected walkway for pedestrians and cyclists. The Rag has run numerous articles of late on the Master Plan including questions and issues about the functioning of its board and consequences of the plan itself. (For starters, go here.)

So, here’s another take. This one by Times of San Diego involves questions and answers between Peter Kelly, public information officer in the city’s Communications Department, and Times writer, Dave Schwab. (We’ve edited for brevity and focus.)

Times: What is the city’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan, and what does it propose doing?

by Neal Putnam / Times of San Diego – Peninsula Beacon / Aug. 29, 2025

A Jan. 20, 2026, trial date has been set for a woman who was ordered to stand trial on charges she stabbed two men in Ocean Beach following an angry incident.

Jana Nicole Halaska, 29, was ordered to stand trial for the attempted murder of Gabriel Millan and assault with a deadly weapon on Christopher Abrahamsen. Both men testified against her on Aug. 25.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh conducted the preliminary hearing on Aug. 25. Halaska pleaded not guilty at the end of the hearing, and she waived her right to have a speedy trial.

A GoFundMe request was set up for both men shortly after the April 12 incident, which took place at 1:06 a.m. at Bacon Street and Newport Avenue. Both men were strangers to Halaska, but Milan had a brief argument with one woman and kicked her, according to a court document.

by Zach Schonfeld / The Hill / September 2, 2025

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that National Guard troops ran afoul of the law in Los Angeles when President Trump deployed them in June after immigration protests that turned violent.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled their actions violated an 1878 law that generally bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement.

“This was intentional—Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law. Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” Breyer wrote.

Though most of the troops are no longer deployed in the city, the judge’s order blocks any remaining ones from making arrests and searches or conducting traffic patrols and riot control until the government meets a valid legal exception.

Breyer paused his order until next Friday, providing the administration with an avenue to appeal before it goes into effect.

Protests against the Trump regime took place Monday, Labor Day, across San Diego County with the largest and most significant event in downtown San Diego at Waterfront Park.

San Diego’s protests joined “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstrations throughout the country in cities that included Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York in a nationwide Labor Day effort organized by labor unions and other groups. Other demonstrations in the county included those in Chula Vista, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad, and Escondido. Local members and allies turned out to demand investment in schools, health care, housing, and climate action over corporate wealth. The Service Employees International Union and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council were among the local event organizers.

Organizers using a scientific approach to crowd counting, determined that close to 10,000 attended the rally and march at Waterfront Park. Event spokesman Mark Sauer said, “Considering it’s a holiday for working folks, (turnout) was encouraging,” said Sauer, who added the rally was peaceful as no counter-protesters materialized.

The downtown crowd was estimated to be 1,200 to 1,500 people according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. NBC7 reported the Waterfront event drew between 2,000-3,000 people, a San Diego police official told the station.

Along with promoting the importance of organized labor, Sauer said speakers focused on the November special election for Proposition 50 — an effort by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw California’s congressional districts to negate a similar move in Texas — Trump administration policies’ effect on working families, and how the 2026 midterm elections will be a way “to put some serious checks and balances” on them, organizers said.

By Donna Frye

After reading Jeff McDonald’s article in the Sunday, August 31 San Diego Union-Tribune (and in today’s Rag here), one of the first things that came to mind was why wasn’t the proposal (that includes building 900 residential units on dedicated public parkland) shared with the public or city council?

Does it bother or concern any of the city council members that this information was withheld from them and the public, and was only recently disclosed because of a Public Records Act request?

Have they considered what could happen in light of this new information?

Right now, the mayor and city do not have to enter into lease  negotiations with any developers who want to build housing in Mission Bay Park. There is no law requiring them to do so.

However, it the city council goes along with the mayor’s request and declares the three properties in Mission Bay Park “surplus land” that changes immediately.

Editordude: This issue of declaring a section of Mission Bay Park as “surplus land” so developers can build hundreds of homes finally hit the big time yesterday, August 31 with the following article being the lead on the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Rag has been touting this issue since early July — we even offered to hand it over to mainstream reporters over a month ago — but received no response. Former City Councilmember Donna Frye, who been has utilizing the Rag as her main platform on the issue of late, has a response to Jeff McDonald’s piece in today’s Rag. 

By Jeff McDonald / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 31, 2025

Two newly released documents promoting a wholesale makeover of the Marina Village banquet center on Mission Bay are roiling San Diego advocates and pushing city officials to defend plans to declare dozens of acres of bayfront parkland surplus property.

One is a brochure describing a “world-class marina and hotel destination” that would attract thousands of tourists and business travelers to the city.

The other is an 11-page letter detailing the redevelopment project, a sweeping master-planned community of up to 900 housing units — a land use that is not currently allowed on the publicly owned parkland.

Aides to Mayor Todd Gloria say the unsolicited Marina Village proposal is dead on arrival because housing is not permitted on public parkland. But critics worry that legally designating the property surplus risks opening a door to developers that the city may not be able to close.

“I will strongly oppose any efforts from developers that would undermine the park as a public resource,” said Jeff Johnson, who serves as chair of the Mission Bay Park Committee. “Mission Bay Park belongs to the citizens of San Diego and California.”