OB Rag

Engardio’s Ouster Sends a Clear Message: Listen to Voters, Not Lobbyists

By Neighborhoods United SF / September 2025

Supervisor Joel Engardio’s recall wasn’t just about the Great Highway; it was about who our elected leaders represent.

The highway closure was the first salvo in a broader YIMBY lobbyist and tech billionaire agenda to force high-rises and redevelopment across San Francisco, starting with the Western and Northern portions of San Francisco.

Voters saw it for what it was: an utter disregard and betrayal by their elected officials in favor of the interests of big-money donors.

That same disregard now comes from Mayor Daniel Lurie. His reckless upzoning plan marches forward despite thousands of emails from residents and opposition from a broad coalition of organizations.

By Kate Callen / September 26, 2025

As expected, the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the Midway Rising proposal after in-person public comments were dominated by speakers who will directly benefit from the development.

But there were a few surprises. Five commissioners seemed dubious about transportation issues, especially plans to develop now and upgrade transit later. And an observation from one of the newest commissioners could be the most shockingly honest remark a San Diego public official has ever made.

Jeana Renger questioned future traffic projections for the notoriously congested Midway district and said this: “Transit-oriented development is only successful if there is a whole system of buses and trolleys and also ridership. Just because you build it doesn’t necessarily mean they will ride it.”

(If anyone wants to thank Ms. Renger, an executive vice president at Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, for having the courage to speak a truth too long denied, her email address is jrenger@fpbarch.com.)

By OB Rag Staff / September 25, 2025

It’s showtime.

The Office of the San Diego City Clerk has a “2026 Election Information” webpage which shows the candidates who have publicly declared their intention to run for a City Council District seat. Their names are listed here. Hyperlinks will take you to the active websites of those candidates.

Council District 2

Josh Coyne

Nicole Crosby

Mandy Havlik

The progressive voice of Point Loma, OB and Loma Portal since 1954

Sep 28 – Monthly Meeting, Immigration & Prop 50
Sunday, September 28, 4:00-5:30PM, Pt Loma Assembly
Point Loma & OB Dems

Immigration

Cheri Attix, practicing Immigration Attorney for nearly 30 year and past San Diego Chapter President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, will hold a Q&A session with no presentation, so members can drive the conversation.

Prop 50 — Learn more and volunteer

By Mike James / September 25, 2025
Tom Homan built his public image as America’s tough-talking “border enforcer.” But between government stints, he was something else entirely: a private consultant selling access to the very machinery he once commanded.

On its now-archived website, Homeland Strategic Consulting (HSC) spelled out its value proposition in blunt language unusual for Washington:

“Political connections are important, and no consultancy has a more solid and extensive network than Tom Homan… For qualified candidates, we open doors to the right people in the right departments… Without our insights and introductions—on every rung of the ladder—your best-laid plans will hit the wall.”

This wasn’t about policy advice. It was about access—about leveraging the revolving door between government and business to deliver results measured in contracts and dollars. The firm even bragged of helping clients win “tens of millions of dollars of federal contracts.”

By Jeff Zevely / CBS8 / August 28, 2025

A San Diego man has completed a coast-to-coast journey on in-line roller skates, breaking a Guinness World Record in the process. Eric Balwin, a 32-year-old semi-professional roller hockey player, finished his 3,200-mile trip from the Atlantic Ocean to Ocean Beach, San Diego, on July 24th.

“It was a crazy idea, something that had never been accomplished in this fashion before, which is exactly why Eric Baldwin laced them up,” said CBS 8’s Jeff Zevely, a reporter covering the story.

Baldwin set off on his nationwide journey on May 24, accompanied by his girlfriend Clementine, who followed him on an e-bike. The pair encountered various challenges along the way, including a close encounter with black bears in the Appalachian Mountains.

OB Staff Report / September 24, 2025

With fewer than 24 hours before the San Diego Planning Commission considers the bait-and-switch Midway Rising proposal, only a handful of comments have been posted via the Commission’s web-based Public Comment Form. A Public Comment Spreadsheet revised yesterday shows five comments, and four of them support the project.

So let’s get to work! The link to the Public Comment Form is:

https://www.sandiego.gov/planning-commission/agenda-comment-form

Fill in the Contact Info blanks — red asterisks indicate required fields — the Meeting Date is 09/25/2025, the Comment type is Agenda Comment, Agenda Item Number is 2, and Position is Opposition.

By Michael Smolens / SD U-T / Sept. 21, 2025

The California Legislature recently passed another major bill to spur development in an effort to tame the cost of housing by boosting supply.

The concept behind Senate Bill 79, building high-rises around transit centers, is one that many people support, though the inclusion of nearby single-family home neighborhoods in the targeted areas has drawn unsurprising opposition. The bill, now on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, was also hotly disputed because it can override local zoning ordinances.

Another approach, however, should start getting the kind of attention these types of pro-development efforts have garnered for years: preserving existing lower-cost housing.

The city of San Diego is moving toward launching an innovative program to create a fund to purchase affordable apartments before they are turned into market-rate housing (and potentially out of reach for existing residents) or torn down to build more luxurious abodes.

This isn’t an either/or argument. Construction of new homes is needed across California in the appropriate places — an important point — and along transit corridors is one of them. The controversy tends to be over what constitutes a transit corridor.

By Eric Law / September 23, 2025

Everyone needs a place to live. We are bombarded with the idea that there are far too few houses, the available housing is very expensive, and we need to build a great deal more to drive prices down and availability up. Everyone agrees that housing affordability is a problem, even if they don’t agree on why.

But how much is enough? How many new dwellings do we need to build to get the housing market stable, where supply and demand reach an equilibrium?

The answer is surprisingly achievable and likely far less than the city, county and state assert.

Using data from the US Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey and housing market measures from the economic analysis firm Moody’s, San Diego has a current shortfall of about 25,200 housing units. Using expected population growth figure from the state, San Diego needs to build about 42,600 units over the next decade to reach a housing market equilibrium on par with that across the remainder of the country.

While that may seem like a great deal of required building, it’s very achievable at a normal building pace. To place this requirement in context, San Diego issued over 9,000 residential building permits in 2023, many for multifamily dwellings with multiple units. This means that the city will reach a balanced housing market in 5 years at this building pace.

By JW August / Times of San Diego / September 22, 2025

If you play the Torrey Pines or Balboa Park golf courses, you’re probably aware of how difficult it is to get a good tee time, especially for slots on Thursday through Sunday from the early morning to noon.

It’s a common problem across municipal courses in Southern California, and a new federal indictment provides insight into the disappearance of weekend morning tee times within seconds of being released.

The possible reveal to the mystery of the vanishing tee times can be found in a grand jury document filed this month in Los Angeles, alleging that two men started a brokering business using digital devices to reserve thousands of tee times for resale at numerous golf courses nationwide.

In doing so, they allegedly created “a monopoly of Los Angeles and Orange County area golf course tee times by securing the most sought-after early morning slots, often within seconds of their release to the public.”

By Jennifer Van Grove / The San Diego Union-Tribune / September 22, 2025 

The comprehensive land-use plan behind the $3.9-billion Midway Rising project proposing to remake San Diego’s 49.2-acre sports arena site with thousands of apartments, a replacement arena and new shops is slated for its penultimate review.

Thursday, Sept. 25, the city of San Diego’s Planning Commission will weigh whether to recommend to City Council adoption of the Midway Rising Specific Plan, certification of the associated environment impact report and approval of a development agreement. City staff are recommending approval of the proposed actions, which also include a general plan amendment, community plan amendment and rezone to residential mixed-use.

The proposed changes would allow building heights that max out at 250 feet for a portion of the site and support a total of 4,254 residential units, or 2,088 more units than what is allowed under the existing community plan, according to agenda materials prepared for the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission’s decision is expected to tee up final consideration of the land-use documents by City Council later this year.

Kelly Hessedal / CBS8 / September 19, 2025

Darwin, a python involved in the “Read to a Reptile” program at the Ocean Beach Library was found on Friday after disappearing two days ago.

“I was really getting very worried. I wasn’t sure we would get him back. I’m so happy to have him back!” said Librarian Camille Hyatt, Darwin’s owner.
The four foot long snake has been a popular draw to the library for the past two years. People stop in just to say hello to him.

Darwin disappeared Wednesday afternoon while Camille was on her lunch break. She returned to find his glass enclosure empty, It was locked, just the way she had left it, but Darwin was not inside. Camille had left the key on top. She admits she had been too trusting.

“At first I thought maybe he had got out, I panicked for sure,” she said. “He’s never even tried to get out before. I figured out pretty quickly he wouldn’t have gotten out. I rushed off to my co-workers who also love him. We were looking everywhere, all over the library, just in case. But we figured somebody must have taken him.”