OB Rag

by Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / Oct. 6, 2025

For more than three decades, Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter has gathered in the fall for its annual Paddle for Clean Water event, celebrating and defending the oceans.

The annual event, a cornerstone of Surfrider, brought together surfers, paddlers, and ocean lovers to raise awareness about the urgent need to protect clean water and healthy coastlines.

However, Surfrider has decided not to hold the Paddle for Clean Water this year, pausing the event until further notice.

Times of San Diego contacted Tom Cook, Surfrider’s executive committee chair, for a Q&A about the rationale behind the organization’s canceling one of its signature events until further notice.

TOS: Why was the Paddle for Clean Water canceled?

COOK: It was a very tough decision that our staff and volunteer leadership had to make and was not taken lightly. There were a number of factors we considered, but mostly, it came down to the point that the level of effort required to put on an event of this size exceeded what we could provide.

By Kate Callen

A proposed ballot initiative to create a San Diego Vacation Home Operation Tax that would fund general services will be put before the City Council’s Rules Committee on October 22 by District 9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.

A fact sheet about the proposal says it “ensures that those who own a vacation home or a STVR [short-term vacation rental] pay their fair share for taking limited housing stock off the rental or for-sale market.”

Revenues from the tax would be earmarked for housing, homelessness prevention, and infrastructure services. The measure would not apply to homes lived in by San Diego residents. Renters or homeowners who use their home as their primary residence or rent to long-term renters also would not be affected.

The Rules Committee will consider Elo-Rivera’s measure at its October 22 meeting. A press conference on the proposal will take place that morning.

The leaders of the U.S. military may soon face a terrible decision.

By Tom Nichols / The Atlantic – Reader Supported News / October 8, 2025

To capture a democratic nation, authoritarians must control three sources of power: the intelligence agencies, the justice system, and the military. President Donald Trump and his circle of would-be autocrats have made rapid progress toward seizing these institutions and detaching them from the Constitution and rule of law. The intelligence community has effectively been muzzled, and the nation’s top lawyers and cops are being purged and replaced with loyalist hacks.

[Please go to original for important links.]

Only the military remains outside Trump’s grip. Despite the firing of several top officers—and Trump’s threat to fire more—the U.S. armed forces are still led by generals and admirals whose oath is to the Constitution, not the commander in chief. But for how long?

Trump and his valet at the Defense Department, Secretary of Physical Training Pete Hegseth, are now making a dedicated run at turning the men and women of the armed forces into Trump’s personal and partisan army. In his first term, Trump regularly violated the sacred American tradition of the military’s political neutrality, but people around him—including retired and active-duty generals such as James Mattis, John Kelly, and Mark Milley—restrained some of his worst impulses. Now no one is left to stop him:

By Brian White / CBS8 / October 7, 2025

San Diego’s residential trash system has hit a delay. The city’s long-anticipated rollout of new garbage bins was set to begin this week, but delivery of the new bins has been pushed back.

This delay comes as the city plans to replace the old black trash bins with new gray ones, as part of a citywide effort to modernize waste collection. Residents will also eventually see their current blue recycling bins replaced with a lighter blue version in the months to come.

The city’s Environmental Services Department confirmed the rollout has been pushed back. As of last Tuesday’s deadline, fewer than half of San Diego’s 225,000 trash customers had selected their preferred bin size.

Because of that, anyone who did not choose a size will automatically receive the largest available bin, a 95-gallon container, which comes with the highest monthly fee of $43.60.

By Jack Flemming and David Zahniser / Los Angeles Times / Oct. 3, 2025

• Senate Bill 79 would override local zoning, allowing developers to build up to nine-story residential buildings alongside transit stops.
• Homeowners, tenant advocates and others are scrambling to understand the sweeping legislation.
• Carve-outs and complex exemptions have made it difficult for residents to determine which properties would ultimately be affected.

When Brendon Gerisch and his wife searched for a new home, they knew they wanted something with a little privacy — a backyard, some fully grown trees, less crowded surroundings.The couple thought they found their “forever home” in L.A.’s Westchester neighborhood, buying a four-bedroom in 2018 on a quiet street with one-story houses.

Now, he’s not so sure. Landmark legislation now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would “upzone” his and scores of other neighborhoods across California, allowing the construction of residential buildings as tall as nine stories, depending on how close they are to a rail station.

State Senate Bill 79, one of the most significant pieces of housing legislation in decades, seeks to address California’s housing crisis by boosting production near public transit stops — mostly rail but also some buses — in Southern California, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. Newsom has not yet announced whether he will sign the bill.

Overview

What would Proposition 50 change about congressional districts in California?

Ballotpedia reports: California Proposition 50, 2025

[Please see Ballotpedia for any and all links]

Proposition 50 would authorize the state to use a new congressional district map from Assembly Bill 604 (AB 604).[1]

The new congressional district map would be used to elect members of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2026 through 2030. The proposed map would replace the existing maps, which the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission adopted on December 27, 2021, for elections from 2022 through 2030. Proposition 50 would provide that the Citizens Redistricting Commission will redraw congressional districts in 2031.[1]

By Csaba Petre

With summer officially over, OB is beginning preparations for its busy holiday season. First up is Oktoberfest.

First put on by Hoy Hoy Boys in Ocean Beach in 2002, Oktoberfest is returning for the 23rd year this Friday to Sunday.

Friday, October 10th

Headlining bands on Friday, October 10th on the main stage all hail from San Diego and include :

• Electric Waste Band, a Grateful Dead cover band known for playing at Winston’s every Monday, starting off the music at 4:20 PM, followed by
• Paging the 90s,
• Band of Gringos (a power trio originating in OB), and
• Spacehall Sound Machine.

CBS8

SAN DIEGO — As staffing issues continue to hit several major airports across the United States, the San Diego International Airport is advising travelers to arrive early to catch their flights.

While San Diego International Airport has not yet reported any immediate issues, in a post on Instagram, airport officials said travelers should arrive two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights as a precautionary measure.

The warning comes as a federal government shutdown enters its seventh day on Tuesday, impacting air traffic controllers and other federal employees.

On Monday night, the Hollywood Burbank Airport operated without air traffic controllers for several hours, creating a number of flight delays for travelers. The airport had no air traffic controllers in its tower from 4:15 p.m. until 10 p.m.

By Erwin Chemerinsky / The Sacramento Bee / September 30, 2025

If there is a path toward authoritarianism for the United States, this is it. The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is just the latest outrage and effort to use the power of the federal government for the sake of retribution.

As we enter just the ninth month of President Donald Trump’s second term, it is essential to recognize that what we have seen is unprecedented in American history.

Trump, by his words and actions, has governed as if there are no checks on his authority. He quoted French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on the social media platforms Truth Social and X, writing “He who saves the country violates no law.” At a televised press conference on August 26, the president discussed his use of troops for law enforcement, saying “(I have) the right to anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.”

Historic presidential overreach
Trump’s assertions of presidential power are broader than any other president has claimed. No president before has ever claimed that he can fire everyone in the executive branch of government or claimed the ability to eliminate agencies created by federal statute. No president has claimed the authority to massively cut off federal spending appropriated by Congress. (President Richard Nixon impounded funds, but not nearly on this scale).

Black Rages Against Planned Fort Stockton “Monstrosity” Across the Street from Her Property

By Kate Callen

A scorching Facebook post by Democratic powerbroker Laurie Black has been ricocheting around San Diego this past week. Community activists who oppose rampant upzoning have been reading Black’s missive with a sense of astonishment. Here is a transcript:

“I have no words!!! Or maybe I do!!!

“As the developer 2004-2007 of the property across the street from this eyesore, 1Mission, along with my late husband Bob Lawrence of R.S. Lawrence Development, we worked WITH the Mission Hills community to develop a project that received more than 5 awards for DESIGN, SMART GROWTH, HISTORICAL DESIGNATION, etc. 20 years later [it] is still a wonderful example of smart growth and design. Mark Steele designed a stunning project!

By Danna Givot

The City is planning to increase the College Area’s zoning to allow 34,150 (2050) versus 8200 housing units on the ground in 2024 – a 316% increase. That’s crazy when SANDAG estimates the entire city of San Diego will increase housing by 107,778 units between 2023 and 2050.

Why should the College Area be upzoned to provide almost one quarter of the City’s new housing between now and 2050? It shouldn’t!

In 2020, the College Area housed only 1.8% of the City’s people and accounted for less than 1% of San Diego’s acreage, so why would it be upzoned to accommodate 24% of the new housing in San Diego. It makes no sense.

Let’s look at what other recent community plan updates have upzoned their community planning areas for and compare them to what is being asked of the College Area.

Mira Mesa, University, Hillcrest/Uptown and Clairemont have three or more times the existing housing and their community plans are only increasing their housing density by 98% on average, while the College Area is being hammered with a 316% increase. What could justify this?