OB Rag

By Paul Krueger

More than 50 Middletown residents and their supporters waved signs, marched, and demonstrated their vehement opposition to a proposed high-rise in one of San Diego’s oldest residential districts.

The scene of Saturday, August 2nd’s demonstration was the 3600 block of Columbia Street, just up the hill from El Indio, the Shakespeare Pub, and other restaurants and businesses on India Street. It’s a quiet, densely populated neighborhood of single family homes and moderately-sized two- and three-story apartment buildings. The streets are narrow. Parking is scarce.

Scott Case, his Middletown neighbors, and business owners on India Street love their neighborhood, and are working tirelessly to stop a proposed 14-story, 161-unit apartment tower that would be crammed into two residential lots on Columbia Street.

Only 32% Approve of Israel military action in Gaza — Americans’ support for Israel in Gaza plummets to record low, new Gallup poll finds

Americans’ approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza has fallen 10 percentage points since the prior measurement in September, and it is now at 32%, the lowest reading since Gallup first asked the question in November 2023. Disapproval of the military action has now reached 60%.

These findings are from a July 7-21, 2025, Gallup poll, as Israel’s campaign against Hamas stretched into its 21st month. Americans supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in its initial reading in 2023, taken several weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Since then, disapproval has outpaced approval in each survey, peaking at 55% in March 2024 before dipping to 48% in two readings later in the year. Gallup Poll

Immigration — Support for Deporting All Undocumented Migrants Dropped to 38%

Americans’ views of immigration have swung drastically upward in the past year, with a new poll showing record-high support for immigration amid President Donald Trump’s controversial mass deportation campaign. A record 79 percent of American adults think immigration is good for the country,

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings August 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine:

The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach: Point Loma Native Plant Garden Club

August 2nd. Saturday  11:15 am – 2 pm Protest at Del Mar Racetrack #2  

August 2nd Saturday 8 pm – 9 pm Voice for Peace: A Call for Change film

August 3rd Sunday 4 pm Racial Justice Coalition General Body Meeting O

August 4th Monday 6 pm One Million Rising

August 4th Monday 12 pm – 1 pm Interfaith Vigil for Earth Justice

August 5th Tuesday 11am – 12:30 pm Environmental Justice, Extreme Heat, and the Future of Energy Assistance Programs

August 5th Tuesday and August 12th Tuesday 5 pm – 6 pm Solidarity & Rapid Response:

August 6th Wednesday 2pm – 4 pm  Copy of Rising Voices: Youth4Climate Fundraiser  Event by SanDiego350

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / August 1, 2025 

A county watchdog panel is raising new concerns about how San Diego spends and keeps track of the many millions of dollars that developers contribute to help the city pay for parks, libraries, fire stations and other infrastructure projects.

The grand jury says San Diego has chronically violated the California law that allows cities to collect those developer impact fees — including with its longstanding practice of keeping fees beyond a five-year state limit.

In a 43-page report, the grand jury says San Diego should quickly refund $179 million it has kept beyond five years and make it a practice of refunding such fees in the future when it can’t justify holding money beyond that limit.

The report also says the city should be more transparent about how much money it has collected, how much it spends, which projects money is assigned to and how close those projects are to being fully funded.

In a tone that borders on exasperated, the report says city officials have been made aware their practices violate state law several times but have repeatedly ignored those warnings.

Voice of San Diego reporter MacKenzie Elmer explains that when pressed as to why SeaWorld’s summer fireworks are still with us after saying they had to go a year ago, City Council President Joe LaCava answers, “It’s complicated.” Here is Elmer’s full report:

After some nesting birds nearby died last year following back-to-back pyrotechnics for the Fourth of July, the most powerful person on the San Diego City Council said SeaWorld’s nightly summertime fireworks have got to go.

Almost a year later and Mission Bay is still booming night after night.

When asked what San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava’s done so far to make good on his promise, his office told me it’s complicated.

By Kate Callen / August 1, 2025

A year ago, after hearing countless stories about monstrous accessory dwelling units (ADUs), OB Rag staff wanted to find out how bad things were. So we launched a “Worst ADU in San Diego” contest on August 9. And we sat back and waited for entries.

By the August 23 contest deadline, the Rag received over 50 submissions from 20 communities across the city. Our panel of five judges drove around town looking at one eyesore after another. It was depressing work.

The three top prizewinners were announced September 12: Gold at 4578 Jicarillo Avenue in Bay Ho, Silver at 4974 54th Street in College, and Bronze at 5732-36 Dorothy Drive, also in College.

The combined awfulness of the projects prompted us to add 12 “Dishonorable Mentions.”

The 15 contest “winners” fell into two categories of greed. In the first, predatory developers crammed multiple units onto a single lot for maximum profit. In the second, selfish property owners built gigantic structures onto small lots for maximum living space.

The second category included the Bronze recipient. The judges commented, “This demonstrates how a single ADU can have an overwhelming neighborhood impact. Our first thought was: Could this be any uglier? Our second thought was: Is this an architectural middle finger to the surrounding neighborhood?”

S.D. puts Mission Bay land use issue on hold – Review of step toward redevelopment pushed back to September

By Jeff McDonald / SD Union-Tribune / July 31, 2025

The San Diego City Council isn’t signing off yet on a plan by Mayor Todd Gloria that would declare dozens of acres of commercial property in Mission Bay Park surplus so it can be offered to developers.

On a 7-1 vote after an hour of debate and criticism of the plan from members of the public, the council agreed this week to revisit the proposal in September, after their August recess.

Council President Joe LaCava voted no on delaying the proposal; Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent.

San Diego’s decades-old long-term master plan for Mission Bay Park calls for a hotel in the area of the three proposed surplus sites.

A top aide to Gloria acknowledged the city had been approached about building a hotel on the largest of the three parcels — currently the 23-acre site of the Marina Village banquet and conference center. The other sites are home to the Dana Landing Marina on nearby Ingraham Street and the Sportsmen’s Seafood restaurant just down Quivira Way.

“The city did recently receive an unsolicited proposal for one of the three parcels,” said Christina Bibler, the city’s director of economic development.

From Point Loma-OB Monthly

ArtWalk Liberty Station returns for its 20th year this weekend with more than 175 artists from around the United States and Mexico showcasing their paintings, photography, glass, ceramics, jewelry and sculptures.

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, at Ingram Plaza in Liberty Station’s Arts District at 2751 Dewey Road, Point Loma. Admission is free.

A ticketed preview party where guests can get an early look at the artwork and mingle with the artists is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1. Tickets are $25 (free for children 12 and younger) and include live music by Fleetwood Max and James Taylor tribute act Never Die Young. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Live music also will be offered all weekend by performers including San Diego Music Awards nominees and winners.

Here’s the musical lineup:

A few days ago, KPBS ran a story entitled “San Diego is building a lot of new homes, but not always in places that need them most” by Jake Gotta, which was picked up by their media partners at Voice of San Diego. Gotta interviewed our good friend Bonnie Kutch, the head of UC Peeps who is also a steering committee member of the San Diego Community Coalition.

However, mainly Gotta quoted Colin Parent extensively, the head of Circulate San Diego, a group that masquerades as pro-envirionment and pro-mass transit advocates but who are mainly paid lobbyists and pro-development shrills. Gotta made Kutch out to be the “bad guy” in his totally uncritical “gotcha” YIMBY piece. Here below, Bonnie responds:

Hi Jake:

In case you’re doing more stories focusing on housing issues, I wanted to make a few points that weren’t covered in your story that aired today.  I wasn’t clear on what the focus of today’s story would be, thinking it was housing in general, so I failed to point out a few things:

• First, the City of San Diego spent $2.1 billion of taxpayer money building the Blue Line Trolley Expansion alone so it could supposedly bring people who work in UTC back and forth.  Yet, the City has failed to advocate for new affordable housing near all 62 trolley stops to serve that purpose.  Building all the housing in UTC or Sorrento Valley alone is a huge waste of the trolley expense and negates its intended purpose.

Come Inside to Order Your San Diego Community Coalition T-shirt

By Carl Yaeckel / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / July 31, 2025 

Climate change is coming.

This year climate seems to be the forgotten topic (there are a few other things going on!). But ignoring something doesn’t make it go away.

Have you heard that due to climate change impacts (fire, flood, storm) in “10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage,” quoting Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent testimony to Congress?

Did you know during the last year the United States spent 3% of its GDP on recovery from climate disasters? That’s a trillion dollars. Throw in increased insurance premiums and the figure goes higher. Oh, about insurance, particularly homeowners insurance: it’s required for a mortgage and the price is going up, particularly in areas more prone to fire, flood and storm. Premiums have doubled since 2017.

Got kids (or grandkids)? A recent study published in the journal Nature concludes that “children and young people born in the present decade face exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones, in a way that their parents and grandparents never did — and that this applies pretty much anywhere in the world.”

Climate change is coming, even if you believe, hope or pretend it isn’t.

Tuesday, the 29th of July, witnessed another vote by the San Diego City Council. This vote — a unanimous one — crystalized the city handing over, as Jennifer Van Grove at the UT, described as “its asbestos-plagued office tower at 101 Ash St.” for a 60-year lease to the development team headed by none other than Kelly Moden, the chair of the City’s Planning Commission. She heads MRK Partners and Create Dev LLC.

Moden gushed, “Today’s council approval gives us the green light to transform a city-owned liability into a legacy. We are honored to have the trust and confidence of the San Diego City Council as we turn our attention to meeting September’s state and federal affordable housing deadlines, which will keep our timeline and financing moving forward.”

As Van Grove reported:

The project presumably raises ethical concerns because of Moden’s involvement.

Michael Aguirre and Maria Severson, partners at Aguirre & Severson LLP who have sued the city over its past dealings with the building, threatened additional litigation. They alleged violations related to public noticing requirements and argued that Moden’s financial participation in the deal is illegal.