OB Rag

by Alexei Koseff / Cal-Matters / August 11, 2025

If former state Senate leader Toni Atkins is elected governor next year, she would oversee a state contract that puts money in her own pocket.

Following a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom to develop state-owned properties for affordable housing, the California Department of General Services in 2020 hired a consulting firm to help prioritize sites, conduct market research and evaluate applications from contractors.

That firm, LeSar Development Consultants, is owned by Atkins’ spouse, Jennifer LeSar. And because of California’s community property law that gives couples equal ownership of assets in their marriage, the $1 million contract — which was reupped in February through 2028 — has been worth tens of thousands of dollars to Atkins, according to financial disclosures.

It’s just one of the potential conflicts of interest with her spouse’s business dealings that Atkins faces as she seeks the most powerful office in California. Nearly half of the major clients last year at LeSar’s companies employed lobbyists to influence government policy.

Disclosure forms filed by Atkins and LeSar list 51 different entities, including the Department of General Services, from which they received more than $10,000 in income last year through LeSar Development Consultants, LeSar Support Services, LeSar Holdings, Inc. or Global Policy Leadership Academy — all firms for which LeSar serves as president or CEO.

A CalMatters analysis found that 24 of those clients are registered lobbyist employers. They include the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange, the cities of San Jose, Oakland, and Palm Springs, the insurance provider Elevance Health, the Bay Area homelessness advocacy group All Home and the homebuilder Brookfield Residential.

From Peninsula News by Point Loma Association

As Lone Star State Republicans prepare to do Trump’s bidding, expect the GOP’s gerrymandering war to expand.

By Ana Marie Cox / The New Republic RSN / August 11, 2025

As Texas Democrats fled the state to protest a redistricting map drawn at Donald Trump’s request—a map designed to all but shut Democrats out of conessional power—I spent the day at a public hearing where the only people left to debate it were the Republicans who drew it and the everyday Texans begging them not to.

One of them was a familiar face in the Capitol building. Dan Chandler—“Pastor Dan” to some Capitol employees—is a fixture in the marble halls. On Thursday, he parked himself behind a walker draped with U.S., Texas, and Confederate flags, surrounded by placards declaring global warming a lie and “tranny madness” a threat. He wears a white T-shirt covered in Bible verses and a red hat that reads, in gold embroidery, Ultra MAGA.

I noticed him when I first walked into the redistricting hearing because of the Confederate flag adorning his ad hoc set up. I wondered if he was there to observe or participate. It turned out to be both.

When he was called to testify, Chandler gave a folksy shrug—retired, didn’t need to be there, could be out fishing. Turning to the matter at hand, he dismissed the earlier pleas to address the deadly July 4 floods. “They talk about the flood,” he said. “You’re doing something about the flood right here.”

Then he revved up: “The best thing you can do for us is turn every district red. The best thing you can do for black people, the white people, the brown people, all of them—turn the districts red and take it away from these people.”

By Eric Law

I have written the following document that consolidates citable quotes countering the YIMBY discussion points with sourced reference material. I’ve assembled them into themes that can be used to emphasize specific points. (I have most of the reference materials soft copy as well.)

While most YIMBY shills can’t be persuaded to read and would likely melt down when confronted with a 50-page academic economic treatise, there is a slice of influential people who might be persuaded to consider a different policy track when confronted with actual data and analysis.

I hope that includes our legislators/ city council members. I continue to add to this information repository as I read and analyze more information.

By Donna Frye

I am still trying to make sense of the mayor’s proposal to declare three properties in Mission Bay Park “surplus land”.

I still think it is a terrible idea because it allows developers to propose building housing in our dedicated public parks.

Worse, I don’t even know if what we are being told is accurate information.

Why would the State of California convey tidelands trust property to the City of San Diego through a series of grants which restrict developing housing and then turn around and say, but if you want to use the property for the purposes agreed to in the trust, you must first declare your intention to offer up the property to housing developers for uses that are restricted by the trust?

It’s going to take some bigger brains than mine to explain that because I sure can’t do it. It’s not for the lack of trying, however. My former dining room table is now known as the document repository.

By Mona Gable / AAA Magazine / Illustration by Alexia Lozano / July 10, 2025

A couple of years ago, the city of San Diego permanently closed the Ocean Beach Muni­cipal Pier. A study deemed the battered landmark “beyond its useful life.” With sea levels rising, the city judged it too impractical to spend millions of dollars to repair the structure. The final blow came in December 2023 when a storm knocked out a support pile, which promptly sank. My heart sank, too. If it were any other pier, I might not have cared so much. But this was my pier.

Christened in 1966, the 1,971-foot pier was—and for the moment, remains—the longest concrete pier on the West Coast. At its end, the pier split into a T, making it seem to reach forever. I was 13 the year it opened. Already a die-hard bodysurfer, I longed to join my brothers as they surfed next to the pier. But back then, girls were not particularly welcome in the male-dominated surfing world.

So the top of the pier became my refuge. I could walk out to where the waves were cresting—past the fishermen waiting for their lines to tug, past the tourists snapping photos—to watch the guys ride to shore. I could lean over the rail, gaze down into the water, follow the tides and riptides, and sometimes spot dolphins.

By Jeff McDonald / SD Union-Tribune / August 8, 2025

A Superior Court judge on Thursday, August 7, ordered attorneys for San Diego homeowners challenging the city’s recently imposed trash pickup fee to meet and confer with lawyers defending the city before he considers whether to expedite a trial.

Judge James A. Mangione issued the order after a 30-minute hearing at which the plaintiffs asked for their trial to begin in September, before the upcoming tax rolls are finalized. The parties will meet to discuss their differences and potential remedies over the next several days and present their positions to the judge at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The plaintiffs argue that the trash fee adopted by the City Council in June violates the state constitution by exceeding the city’s costs of trash pickup and say officials plan to divert some of the new revenue to pay for other projects. They sued in May, weeks before the council voted 7-2 to impose the trash fee. Now they want a trial before the 2025-26 property tax rolls are finalized with the county treasurer-tax collector.

“The indirect evidence supports the reasonable inference that the city is doing this to plug financial holes,” said Michael Aguirre, the former elected San Diego city attorney who represents the 15 homeowner plaintiffs.

By Steven Mihailovich / Monthly San Diego U-T / August 6, 2025 

About 20 local activists from Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach attended their first Pacific Beach Town Council meeting after recently becoming members.

They led the discussion on housing policy and proposed developments by questioning representatives for City Council President Joe LaCava and state Assemblymember Tasha Boerner on where their bosses stand on accessory dwelling units during the July 16 meeting. LaCava and Boerner’s districts include Pacific Beach.

Cambria Head, LaCava’s representative, was asked about the City Council’s repeated delays on a ceremonial second reading to pass an ordinance that would reform the city’s ADU Bonus Program. It was approved on June 16.

Ross Tritt, Boerner’s representative, was asked about Boerner’s position on Senate Bill 79, which, if passed, would annul the city’s 30-foot height limit for buildings within a half-mile of public transit.

By Patty Ducey-Brooks

Elda Developments CEO, Ahmed Eldahmy, has made several recent statements to the press that community members “refuse to participate in the solution” for his proposed 14-story high-rise, located in the heart of a Middletown residential neighborhood. He has also characterized the opposition as “wealthy neighbors living up the hill” who “do not care about the housing crisis and instead appear only to care about protecting their net worth.” Furthermore, he recently paid for a KUSI informercial with Roy Roberts that aired on August 4th where he claims to be trying to work with residents.

The Stop Columbia High Rise effort is supported by over 1,000 residents, including renters, homeowners and local businesses. They are opposed to this high rise for the many harmful issues it creates, documented here  (www.StopColumbiaHighRise.org).  Eldahmy’s attempt to mischaracterize the opposition as wealthy landowners reveals the company’s disregard for the neighborhood and its tone-deafness to the growing resistance.

By Kate Callen 

In 2018, the last election year when San Diego City Council District 2 had an open seat, the winner, Jen Campbell, was best known for being David Axelrod’s cousin. Before her first term was up, Campbell faced a recall effort, and she was replaced as Council President amid charges her staff illegally influenced the redistricting process.

In 2022, Campbell ran for re-election as a tarnished incumbent. Then a funny thing happened. A dark money group linked to Mayor Todd Gloria blanketed District 2 with hit pieces smearing Lori Saldana, Campbell’s formidable Democratic challenger. Saldana finished third behind obscure Republican Linda Lukacs, and Campbell kept her seat.

The 2026 open seat election will be consequential for a district hard hit by City Hall’s subservience to developers. From a 10-unit complex on a small Clairemont cul-de-sac to a 56-unit mid-rise at a major Point Loma intersection, giant housing projects are hammering D2 neighborhoods.

By Lynne Miller

First: These were my thoughts  after attending the Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting Tuesday, August 5, at the OB Rec Center. The meeting was one hour, and a big thank you to the OBPB for taking the time to research, conduct meetings, and for being available to OBceans. Without your willingness to serve we would have no lifeline to the City Leadership!

The ‘what’? The CRMP, the Coastal Resilience Master Plan Board! Remember about a year ago we stuffed ourselves into a very hot, overcrowded room at the OB REC! The chair of the Resiliency Advisory Board, Julie Chase, that day, was faced by a kind of mutiny. Neighbors insisted that the structure of the meeting change from a cooperative learning activity to a larger meeting where all questions and ideas were heard.

Remember? So the committee took a whole bunch of information that was written on big poster papers. We thought that would result in ‘back to the drawing board’ for CRMP. We think that might have happened, but we don’t know? Next, there was a follow-up ZOOM meeting, and many people online asked questions, and like the first meeting, the committee went away with a lot of things to consider. What happened?