OB Rag

By Will Baker

Portuguese flags rippled in the wind this May as one of San Diego’s tightest-knit communities continued a long-standing annual tradition with the 116th Point Loma Portuguese Festa do Espírito Santo.

Centered around the U.P.S.E.S Portuguese Hall, the Festa opened Friday, May 22nd with a flag-raising ceremony and continued throughout the weekend. Those three days saw hundreds of community members come together to celebrate their heritage, creating a unique cultural space in the heart of Point Loma. Traditional food, folk dancing, and beautiful regalia all contributed to the rich atmosphere of this year’s Festa, the latest iteration of the oldest ethnic European religious celebration in San Diego.

Saturday night was marked by a procession from the chapel (or capela) adjacent to the Portuguese Hall to the nearby St. Agnes Catholic Church. Resplendent in their dresses and suits, the young people of this year’s Festa court followed the Festa 2025 Queen as she carried the crown up the Avenida de Portugal to St. Agnes, where they attended a recitation of the Holy Rosary before returning to the Portuguese Hall, where a nighttime bazaar was in full swing under a large canopy housing hundreds of guests. The bazaar, open both Friday and Saturday night as well as the majority of Sunday, featured traditional Portuguese food such as malassadas and linguiça alongside a fantastic dance performance by the Grupo Folclorico Mar Bravo Casa dos Acores de Himar.

By Lynne Miller

Ocean Beach Historical Society on May 21 hosted a celebration for Larry Zeiger’s 50-year anniversary of Musical Theater at Point Loma High School. “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” became a rite of passage for seniors.  Larry Zieger, often known as ‘Zeiger’, sometimes known as ‘Larmo’, moved to California and got his Masters in Film at San Diego State University.  He applied to the PhD program at USC, but luckily for us, the L.A. smog and the policies at USC changed Mr. Zeiger’s plans.

He decided to listen to the voices of professors and film experts who encouraged him to become a teacher. He stepped into the role of teacher at a time when Required Courses like English could be created, pitched and approved.  Larry offered credited English courses at PLHS  that taught film.  Students watched films, read screenplays and books about film production, wrote their own play, sometimes wrote songs, made the sets, learned to sing and dance and act, and then they rehearsed and rehearsed. Their marketing resulted in sell-out crowds and eventually to nationwide acclaim.

Zeiger’s presentation last week included a slide show that included each graduating class, from the first performance without a stage or auditorium to his 2007 swan song in a beautiful theater now labeled The Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center.

SeaWorld and San Diego Environmental Groups Settle Lawsuit Over Fireworks Pollution in Mission Bay

Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) have reached an agreement with SeaWorld Parks

Residents, Businesses and Workers Not Happy With New Parking Meters on Adams Ave.

Residents and workers in San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood are voicing frustration as parking meters along Adams Avenue officially went live last week

Point in Time Homeless Count ‘Not Accurate Reflection of Reality’

The unsheltered population is down in San Diego — but coastal areas are seeing an uptick in people seeking services. But that drop noted in San Diego’s annual Point-in-Time count isn’t necessarily reflected in the day-to-day reality of shelters and services

City Of San Diego Hit With $16.45 Million Jury Verdict Over Parking Citation Penalties

A San Diego jury has reportedly awarded more than $16.45 million against the City of San Diego in a class action lawsuit accusing the city of improperly assessing and collecting parking

 The Navajo Community Planning Group has reinstated the Mission Gorge Rock Quarry to Assist Neighborhood in Flying Debris

San Diego artist reaches $450K settlement over bubble show citation

What began as a dispute over bubbles in a city park ended three years later with a nearly half-million dollar settlement in favor of a San Diego-based artist. 
 

By Gary Wonacutt

Eight years ago, District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell campaigned against whole-home short-term rentals (STRs) in residential neighborhoods. Three months into her term, after extensive communications with Airbnb and Expedia, she shifted to a compromise that leaned heavily toward the platforms’ recommendations. Campbell asserted her plan would substantially cut the consultant-estimated 16,000 STRs citywide, but that number has since proven greatly exaggerated.

Early regulatory efforts faced stiff resistance. The Kevin Faulconer “anything goes” proposal failed at City Council, and the Bry/Zapf “primary only” ordinance was rescinded after threats of lawsuits from STR organizations.

City Attorney Mara Elliott’s letter confirmed that short-term rentals violated existing zoning and were illegal. Rather than amend the zoning code or land-use plan— which would have triggered complex procedures, potential Coastal Commission review in coastal zones, and greater difficulty for future tweaks— the City exercised its general police power.

The resulting Short-Term Residential Occupancy (STRO) ordinance (Ordinances O-21305 and O-21464) applies citywide to all dwelling units, regardless of base zoning. It overlays a licensing, permitting, tax, and enforcement regime— including a tiered lottery system and caps— without reclassifying properties in the zoning code. This approach allowed quicker implementation and easier future amendments by simple Council vote.

By Michael A. Hernandez

On Thursday, May 21, San Diego-based nonprofit organization ‘Serving Seniors’ and management firm Hyder Property Management, held a resident’s meeting in the campus’ Judith L. Seltz Wellness Center to provide an update on concerns and take questions from the public.

The last-minute resident’s meeting was held two days before a press conference the Senior Residents Council was slated to take place; and comes in the wake of a recent article titled “Clairemont’s Mt. Etna Project: The Affordable Housing Misnomer,” posted on the local community initiative and media platform Explore Clairemont.

In her article, Explore Clairemont writer and publisher Tanja Kropf compiles the growing number of concerns voiced by the senior residents including the lack of parking, a rent hike, and fear for their safety, even though they were promised affordability, ample parking, and safety prior to moving in. Kropf writes before seniors even completed their first year living at the residence, just one day before Thanksgiving of 2025, they were told their rent was going up by 8.8%. The increase would be more than three times the 2.8% they receive annually from the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment.

Another failed promise is the 465 parking spaces originally proposed for the Mt. Etna project during community planning and outreach stages in late 2018.

By Michael J. Stepner & Mary Lydon / San Diego Daily Transcript / May 21, 2026

A housing policy to build anything, anywhere doesn’t mean what’s being built is livable, lovable or even necessary. The city of San Diego proved this at a special meeting May 7 to discuss implementing Senate Bill 79 (SB 79), which becomes law on July 1. SB 79 allows for density as high as 8 stories, by right, at transit stops, both trolley and bus.

City planning staff recommended delaying SB 79 at transit-oriented development (TOD) sites that have low community resources like libraries and parks, historical buildings, areas threatened by sea-level rise, and areas that are fire prone without adequate evacuation routes. San Diego City Council agreed with this thoughtful approach and passed the ordinance. The number of qualified bus stops was a big part of the discussion as well.

Here’s three media reports on the candidates for District 2, including on the last candidate debate / forum, held May 14th at Paradise Point Resort & Spa. We have reports from Times of San Diego, the Union-Tribune and Axios San Diego.

Here’s Dave Schwab of Times of San Diego‘s account:

District 2 candidates Richard Bailey, Josh Coyne, Nicole Crosby, Mandy Havlik, Jacob Mitchell, Mike Rickey and Paul Suppa answered curated questions from a panel of community leaders on far-ranging issues from the city’s budget to people living out of their vehicles, homelessness, housing density, public safety and quality of life.

The Ocean Beach Community Foundation along with the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach town councils joined forces to host the event ahead of the June 2 primary election. It is the last public candidate forum before the primary, which will send the top two vote getters to a November runoff election to replace termed-out incumbent Jennifer Campbell.

A Conservancy Would Offset City’s Budget Cuts to Mission Bay; Prevent Closure of Public Restrooms

by Dave Schwab / Beach & Bay Press / May 19, 2026

Bradley Schnell has an idea for how to maintain city-owned structures and services around Mission Bay Park during these trying fiscal times: create a nonprofit conservancy.

The owner-CEO of Mission Bay Beach Club (formerly the Mission Bay Visitor Information Center) at 2688 E. Mission Bay Drive, Schnell has initiated a process to do exactly that.

Land conservancies are 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits operating exclusively for charitable purposes and cannot distribute profits to private individuals. Their tax-exempt status allows the conservancy to receive tax-deductible donations and hold conservation easements in perpetuity.

Schnell’s effort to establish a Mission Bay Park Conservancy seeks to offset deep cuts proposed in the city’s FY2027 proposed budget.

A conservancy would accomplish a number of purposes including preventing 13 Mission Bay restrooms from closing

Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 7:00 pm, at 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., OB Joyfull, the Ocean Beach Historical Society presents: Gotta Sing – Gotta Dance! with Larry Zeiger.

Coming up is the 50th Anniversary of the first Gotta Sing Gotta Dance production at Point Loma High. Over 3,000 PLHS alums participated in this program, and many have gone on to become actors in theater, film, on Broadway – and even won Academy Awards and Tony Awards. And many have become famous musicians as well as doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, and lots more – but they all still sing and dance!

By Kate Callen

Sometimes you can fight City Hall.

A citizens’ lawsuit that once seemed quixotic has compelled the city to scale back the money it collects for its hated trash fees.

The fees will now begin at $38.75 starting July 1, 2027 and will not be raised for two years. Unfortunately, fees will still be collected as an add-on to county property tax bills, so the risk of house foreclosure will remain in place.

For good measure, the city is also giving up its hated parking fees for Balboa Park. Starting January 1, 2027, parking will again be free for all Balboa Park visitors.

The tentative settlement was approved by the City Council in a 7-0 closed session on May 20. The decision was announced hours later in a news conference featuring the strangest political tableau in recent memory.

A radiant Councilmember Stephen Whitburn presided over the news conference. Whitburn said he and Michael Zucchet of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association hammered out the trash fee agreement. They tossed in the parking fees, he said, because “knowing that the same folks calling for repeal of the trash fees were calling for repeal of the Balboa Park parking fees, we saw synergy there.”

In a breaking news development, the San Diego trash fee law suit has been settled which will result in much lower monthly fees but also the settlement includes the repeal of paid parking in Balboa Park. In just minutes, Councilmember Stephen Whitburn will hold a press conference to announce the settlement of the city trash fees and Balboa Park paid parking.

4 Republicans — Including Bill Cassidy — Joined Democrats Led by Tim Kaine in Voting to Enforce War Powers Resolution

By Theodoric Meyer / Washington Post / May 19, 2026

The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a resolution to block President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, defying the White House nearly three months into an unpopular war.

Four Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul (Kentucky), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) — joined Democrats in voting to discharge a war powers resolution from committee, the first step toward forcing Trump to end a war that Congress never authorized. Sen. John Fetterman (Pennsylvania) was the lone Democrat to vote no.

The 50-47 procedural vote was a breakthrough for Democrats, but the measure still faces considerable hurdles before it could force Trump to end the war.