OB Rag

Backlash Against Trash Fee and Paid Parking in Balboa Park “Uniformly and Powerfully Non-Partisan”

Editordude: Below, Rag contributor Paul Krueger responds to a Politics Report from Voice of San Diego (see end) which stated:

“The anti-tax-and-fees crowd is having a moment. Conservative politicians past and present are pushing ballot measures to repeal the city’s trash fee and paid parking in Balboa Park.”

By Paul Krueger

Just a few thoughts on the intro to your Politics Report, from a perspective that you might not hear, day-to-day. (And of course, no response is expected.)

I sense that the backlash against the trash fee and paid parking in Balboa Park is uniformly and powerfully non-partisan, and in no way exclusively supported by the so-called  “anti-tax-and-fees-crowd.”

The Lincoln Club and Richard Bailey may have filed the paperwork, but did so only because polling showed huge, bipartisan/non-partisan opposition to both fees: 81 percent of those polled oppose paid parking in the Park, and 60+ percent oppose the trash fees. Those numbers far exceed Democrat Party registration in the city.

Thousands of San Diegans who never have and never will identify as “anti-tax-and-fees” support the rollbacks because they’re angry that the trash fee was a “bait and switch,” and feel the  Balboa Park parking fees are unwarranted, unfair, and very poorly planned from the get-go (and opposition solidified and expanded after the botched roll-out of kiosks and the parking permit application process).

By Robert Campbell

In early 2025, the Housing Authority (the San Diego City Council) voted to “right-size” the compensation of the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) CEO Lisa Jones, pushing her total compensation package toward $400,000 annually – credit to Council members von Wilpert and Campillo who were the only members to see the hypocrisy of the motion and voted no.

Meanwhile, in 2026, the city’s poorest residents are being forced to “right-size” their survival as the Section 8 waiting list which has grown to over 76,000 people has been officially closed.

The inequity is staggering. Under the Baker v. San Diego settlement, the city committed to stronger oversight and greater fairness in its housing programs because the SDHC has been concentrating poverty in Low Resource, Environmentally Burdened areas of the City.

Yet today, to bridge a massive multi-million-dollar funding deficit, the SDHC requires “work-able” families to contribute 40% of their income toward rent. If we applied this same standard of “shared sacrifice” to Jones, her personal housing budget would be $13,333 of her $33,300 salary per month, enough to finance a multimillion-dollar home in an exclusive enclave of San Diego.  The person in charge of affordable housing in San Diego, a public employee, makes more than the mayor.

NBC7 / March 16, 2026

A woman who wounded two men by stabbing them behind an Ocean Beach restaurant was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison.

Jana Halaska, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon for the April 13, 2025, stabbings, which occurred around 1 a.m. behind Hodad’s on Newport Avenue.

The two victims, both of whom suffered punctured lungs in the attack, were strangers to Halaska. Halaska initially faced an attempted murder charge in the case.

Prosecution sentencing papers state that just before the stabbings, one of the victims got into a physical altercation with a different woman, which culminated in that victim kicking the woman.

The victim then walked away, but witnesses heard Halaska say, “That’s not how you treat a lady,” prosecutors allege.

The Big Picture: Preservation Overreach? The Data Says Otherwise

From SOHO / March-April Newsletter

With the release of the comprehensive report by PlaceEconomics, The Urban Vitality Blueprint: A Data-Driven Analysis of Equity, Affordability, and Vitality in San Diego’s Historic Districts, San Diego now has the clearest, most comprehensive data ever produced on the real economic and social impacts of historic preservation and the evidence shows that our most important affordable housing is not what we plan to build, it is the older homes and historic neighborhoods we already have.

Read the full report online.

Protecting San Diego’s older and historic housing is the most immediate, scalable, and cost?effective affordable housing strategy we have. Keeping these homes standing is how we keep San Diego livable.

Why This Matters Now
This report arrives as San Diego’s preservation ordinance is under intense political pressure and misinformation is spreading about its impacts. The new data makes several things clear:

• Preservation protects and extends existing affordable housing.
• Historic districts are more economically mixed and diverse than many newer areas.

By Michael Smolens / The San Diego Union-Tribune / March 15, 2026 

The outrage over the city’s new parking fees at Balboa Park seemed ripe for harnessing into an effort to repeal them.

Now there is an initiative drive aimed at doing just that spearheaded by former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, a relatively new resident of Point Loma running for San Diego City Council.

Backers of the initiative quietly filed the paperwork on March 6, though Bailey said a higher-profile unveiling is likely when they start collecting signatures in a couple of weeks.

That move follows a more public launch for a petition drive to at least temporarily do away with new city trash collection fees, which also triggered an uproar from those who have to pay them — single-family homeowners. That effort is being led by the Lincoln Club Business League and its CEO Kevin Faulconer, the former San Diego mayor.

There’s a lot more here than two former Republican mayors (Bailey has since changed his voter registration to NPP, or No Party Preference) potentially giving a bigger budget headache to the current Democratic mayor, Todd Gloria, and the members of the all-Democratic City Council, who already face a budget shortfall of at least $100 million.

By Michael J. Stepner & Mary Lydon / The Daily Transcript / March 13, 2026

In a famous World War II speech about the bombing of the House of Commons, Winston Churchill reminded the British public, “We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us.” This also applies to the neighborhoods where we live.

Today, for a variety of reasons, our municipal governments cannot always provide for all the things we need and desire. This is most often due to financial constraints, but also the inability of large bureaucracies to work at the hyper-local level. And at the same time, there is growing concern about how the COVID-19 and loneliness epidemics catalyzed a lack of community engagement with our neighbors. At first glance, these may not be connected, but we believe they are – and addressing both together offers benefits.

Neighbors working together can add small things that improve the greater community – like adding a bench to a sidewalk, play equipment to a neighborhood park, clearing brush from a canyon, or even sweeping the sidewalks. This kind of community action not only improves the physical environment, but it brings people together for a common purpose, which very often expands. This social interaction is a critical component of creating a neighborhood.

Tactical urbanism and do-it-yourself (D.I.Y.) urban design projects are a way for the community to take matters into their own hands. The focus is on simple, actionable steps that spur change and increase community connections and collaboration. The former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, Jaime Lerner, called these small actions, which can have a big impact, “urban acupuncture.”

As police officers attempted to handcuff and arrest a man inside his sedan parked in the OB Pier parking lot around 3 a.m. early Monday, he drew a handgun and fatally shot himself.

The unidentified man while sitting in his sedan had been contacted by two officers while “conducting Over-night Vehicle Enforcement.” After the cops approached him, the man “became combative,” sheriff’s Lt. Juan Marquez said.

“As officers attempted to handcuff him, he produced a handgun and shot himself one time,” Marquez said.

Officers immediately rendered medical aid and called for paramedics, but to no avail as he died before he could be taken to a hospital. Marquez also stated:

San Diego’s Community Planning Groups (CPGs) hold annual elections every March. Here are dates, times, and locations for in-person voting at some of this week’s elections. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or another form of ID showing your home address.

Tuesday, March 17

Greater Golden Hill will accept ballots in advance of its regular monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Conference Room in front of the Golden Hill Gym, 2600 Golf Course Drive.

Here is a quick overview on this 17th day of Trump’s war with Iran.

• Cost of war — it was estimated that in the first 6 days of the war, it cost the U.S. nearly $2 Billion a day. The Pentagon reported that the first week cost us $11.3 Billions, not counting the expenses of the build-up. Tomahawk cruise missiles, like the one the U.S. military used in that deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ primary school, cost $2.2 million each. It may be worth keeping these figures in mind as the Trump administration argues it doesn’t have enough money to make health care more affordable.
• Cost of gas — since the war started on Feb. 28, the average cost of gas has risen 25%; the cost of oil 40%.
• The war is unpopular with Americans; only 1 in 4 support it. A good portion of the MAGA base is seething over the war, since their guy ran against “endless wars.”

By Kate Callen and Paul Krueger / OpEd San Diego Union-Tribune / March 15, 2026

In 1926, the city of San Diego embraced a farsighted plan by landscape architect John Nolen to preserve Balboa Park as what he called “one of the most strikingly beautiful parks in the world.”

Exactly 100 years later, the mayor and six City Council Members looked at Balboa Park and saw a source of ready cash to help fill a budget deficit.

The decision to monetize San Diego’s “crown jewel” by charging visitors to park there was arguably the City’s biggest political blunder in recent history. The mayor and the council didn’t anticipate how fiercely San Diegans would fight to protect their jewel.

That miscalculation could secure Balboa Park’s future if it galvanizes citizens to demand a new public-private governance structure. And a commissioned 2020 report that was never publicly circulated offers encouragement for doing just that.

The dire effects of paid parking – fewer visitors, declining revenues, staff layoffs – have worsened a problem with deep roots.

For decades, City Hall has put the Park on a starvation diet. San Diegans kept hearing about master plan updates that would make the Park more vibrant. But then we kept seeing the Park decline as those plans were relegated to file cabinets. The result has been filthy restrooms, rundown buildings, and wilting greenery.

This Week at City Hall

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego public informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings and other city public meetings.

Wednesday, March 18: Rules Committee, 9:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item 2: Amendments to the Rules of Council Governing Public Comment During Council Meetings

Why it matters: This is intended to comply with Senate Bill 707 to modernize the Brown Act in an age of growing telecom sophistication. To include equal time for in-person and virtual speakers, the proposal includes:

• A notice will indicate whether public comment will be allotted 1 minute of 2 minutes per speaker
• Organized presentations will be taken before individual comment and must be 15 minutes or less, Presenters must give 24-hour notice to the City Clerk. Electronic presentation materials must be provided 2 hours in advance.
• Finally, “proposed amendments will provide for recording closed sessions [to] eliminate the requirement of costly transcriptions.” Audiotapes are less accessible than written transcripts, which can be searchable and excerpted. This keeps the public at a greater remove from Council deliberations.

Item 3: Review of Ballot Measure Proposals for the November 2026 Election

Why it matters: A measure proposed by Councilmember Raul Campillo would establish free parking at beaches and bays in the City of San Diego. The measure states, “Ensuring equitable public access to these coastal resources remains an important component of the City’s commitment to maintaining a high quality of life for San Diegans.”

Wednesday, March 18:  Community and Neighborhood Community Services Committee, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 4: Resolution in Support of AB 2525 Surplus Lands, Mission Bay

Why it matters: The City Charter prohibits housing development in Mission Bay Park. But the State Surplus Land Act requires the city to prioritize affordable housing in Mission Bay Park to lease certain park properties for a period that exceeds 15 years. To ensure that housing is not allowed, Assemblymember Chris Ward has introduced this legislation to exempt Mission Bay Park from the Surplus Land Act.

Here’s the Long List of Groups That Opposed Package A

By South OB Girl

This was truly a remarkable accomplishment for so many people to come together in our efforts to defeat “Package A” of the so-called Preservation Reforms. The warped San Diego political scene pulled the decision making in favor of Package A, despite dozens of inconsistencies in the handling of the policy (no Package B for certain, then a Package B under way), legal violations specified by multiple organizations, and constituent opposition.

As a comment in The OB Rag recently suggested, are some of our City Council members paid a salary beyond their capabilities?  Are City Council representatives exercising the same precision, thoroughness, moral excellence, and skills of logic and deduction when analyzing and evaluating policies and municipal code that judges exercise when presiding over their court rooms?

Additionally, perhaps some of our City Council representatives are pulled in too many directions.  City Council members have an extensive gamut of responsibilities — from fiscal decisions pertaining to every aspect of the city to policy decisions pertaining to every aspect of the city.  It is clear that some facts and details are getting lost along the way with such extensive agendas for City Council week after week.