OB Rag

There’s a 36 foot giant agave plant towering over everything else along Point Loma Avenue in Ocean Beach these days. Right now it towers over other plants, trees, nearby homes, palm trees and power lines. But as agave observers know, it’s all temporary and in just months, the large stock will look much different.

It’s all happening in Bridget Seegers’ front yard. It was a six-foot agave plant when Bridget moved in around four years ago. Her neighbors say it had been about the same size for 30 or 40 years. That changed in April when the plant suddenly began sprouting, as CBS8 reported.

One-Way Sunset Cliffs Blvd, Removal of Parking and Creating Protected Walk-Way on Deck for Approval

The San Diego City Council will vote on Tuesday, Sept. 9 on a plan proposing to save Sunset Cliffs and the coastline from sea-level rise and ongoing erosion. The Council will be voting on its budget item.

The plan is the Coastal Resilience Master Plan which proposes turning a section of Sunset Cliffs Blvd into a single southbound lane and removing parking along Sunset Cliffs.

Besides re-configuring Sunset Cliffs Boulevard from a two-lane, north-south major collector road to a single southbound lane, it proposes creating a protected walkway for pedestrians and cyclists. The Rag has run numerous articles of late on the Master Plan including questions and issues about the functioning of its board and consequences of the plan itself. (For starters, go here.)

So, here’s another take. This one by Times of San Diego involves questions and answers between Peter Kelly, public information officer in the city’s Communications Department, and Times writer, Dave Schwab. (We’ve edited for brevity and focus.)

Times: What is the city’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan, and what does it propose doing?

by Neal Putnam / Times of San Diego – Peninsula Beacon / Aug. 29, 2025

A Jan. 20, 2026, trial date has been set for a woman who was ordered to stand trial on charges she stabbed two men in Ocean Beach following an angry incident.

Jana Nicole Halaska, 29, was ordered to stand trial for the attempted murder of Gabriel Millan and assault with a deadly weapon on Christopher Abrahamsen. Both men testified against her on Aug. 25.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh conducted the preliminary hearing on Aug. 25. Halaska pleaded not guilty at the end of the hearing, and she waived her right to have a speedy trial.

A GoFundMe request was set up for both men shortly after the April 12 incident, which took place at 1:06 a.m. at Bacon Street and Newport Avenue. Both men were strangers to Halaska, but Milan had a brief argument with one woman and kicked her, according to a court document.

by Zach Schonfeld / The Hill / September 2, 2025

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that National Guard troops ran afoul of the law in Los Angeles when President Trump deployed them in June after immigration protests that turned violent.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled their actions violated an 1878 law that generally bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement.

“This was intentional—Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law. Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” Breyer wrote.

Though most of the troops are no longer deployed in the city, the judge’s order blocks any remaining ones from making arrests and searches or conducting traffic patrols and riot control until the government meets a valid legal exception.

Breyer paused his order until next Friday, providing the administration with an avenue to appeal before it goes into effect.

Protests against the Trump regime took place Monday, Labor Day, across San Diego County with the largest and most significant event in downtown San Diego at Waterfront Park.

San Diego’s protests joined “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstrations throughout the country in cities that included Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York in a nationwide Labor Day effort organized by labor unions and other groups. Other demonstrations in the county included those in Chula Vista, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad, and Escondido. Local members and allies turned out to demand investment in schools, health care, housing, and climate action over corporate wealth. The Service Employees International Union and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council were among the local event organizers.

Organizers using a scientific approach to crowd counting, determined that close to 10,000 attended the rally and march at Waterfront Park. Event spokesman Mark Sauer said, “Considering it’s a holiday for working folks, (turnout) was encouraging,” said Sauer, who added the rally was peaceful as no counter-protesters materialized.

The downtown crowd was estimated to be 1,200 to 1,500 people according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. NBC7 reported the Waterfront event drew between 2,000-3,000 people, a San Diego police official told the station.

Along with promoting the importance of organized labor, Sauer said speakers focused on the November special election for Proposition 50 — an effort by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw California’s congressional districts to negate a similar move in Texas — Trump administration policies’ effect on working families, and how the 2026 midterm elections will be a way “to put some serious checks and balances” on them, organizers said.

By Donna Frye

After reading Jeff McDonald’s article in the Sunday, August 31 San Diego Union-Tribune (and in today’s Rag here), one of the first things that came to mind was why wasn’t the proposal (that includes building 900 residential units on dedicated public parkland) shared with the public or city council?

Does it bother or concern any of the city council members that this information was withheld from them and the public, and was only recently disclosed because of a Public Records Act request?

Have they considered what could happen in light of this new information?

Right now, the mayor and city do not have to enter into lease  negotiations with any developers who want to build housing in Mission Bay Park. There is no law requiring them to do so.

However, it the city council goes along with the mayor’s request and declares the three properties in Mission Bay Park “surplus land” that changes immediately.

Editordude: This issue of declaring a section of Mission Bay Park as “surplus land” so developers can build hundreds of homes finally hit the big time yesterday, August 31 with the following article being the lead on the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Rag has been touting this issue since early July — we even offered to hand it over to mainstream reporters over a month ago — but received no response. Former City Councilmember Donna Frye, who been has utilizing the Rag as her main platform on the issue of late, has a response to Jeff McDonald’s piece in today’s Rag. 

By Jeff McDonald / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 31, 2025

Two newly released documents promoting a wholesale makeover of the Marina Village banquet center on Mission Bay are roiling San Diego advocates and pushing city officials to defend plans to declare dozens of acres of bayfront parkland surplus property.

One is a brochure describing a “world-class marina and hotel destination” that would attract thousands of tourists and business travelers to the city.

The other is an 11-page letter detailing the redevelopment project, a sweeping master-planned community of up to 900 housing units — a land use that is not currently allowed on the publicly owned parkland.

Aides to Mayor Todd Gloria say the unsolicited Marina Village proposal is dead on arrival because housing is not permitted on public parkland. But critics worry that legally designating the property surplus risks opening a door to developers that the city may not be able to close.

“I will strongly oppose any efforts from developers that would undermine the park as a public resource,” said Jeff Johnson, who serves as chair of the Mission Bay Park Committee. “Mission Bay Park belongs to the citizens of San Diego and California.”

By J.S. Whaldo

Every Labor Day, I see cookouts and long weekends. This year, I found myself thinking about something else entirely: the people whose work built the world we enjoy, and one man who reminded me why that matters.

The Origins of Labor Day: From 1882 to a National Holiday

Labor Day began in 1882, when workers in New York City set aside a day to march together and demand fairer hours and safer working conditions. The idea spread, and by 1894, it became a national holiday. Most of us now see it as the unofficial end of summer, but at its core, it is a day to honor the people whose labor built the railroads, bridges, farms, and cities that shape this country.

Meeting George Jackson: A Story of Hard Work and Dedication

As I thought about that, I remembered a man I met on a Mediterranean cruise the previous year. His name is George Jackson. We met at the rock and roll music venue. My husband and I were listening to the band, and during the intermission, we struck up a conversation with George. George is an easy-going, likable man. He is soft-spoken, but quick to join the conversation. I’ve thought about him many times since that cruise, about his life and how different it was from mine.

By Samantha Mason

Today, I journeyed down to Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. It was rainy and muggy out, and I felt like I was in Florida rather than Ocean Beach. I wanted to take advantage of the rain and go back out to explore some of the businesses on OB’s main north-south avenue.

I arrived at noon on Thursday afternoon, and scored a street parking spot. (I’ll consider this a redemption from my “Ocean Beach Has The Character I’ve Been Missing” story, where I embarrassingly admitted to paying over $20 for parking in –what am I, a tourist?)

Blendies (1830 Sunset Cliffs Blvd)

My first stop was Blendies, a small smoothie and acai bowl spot on the corner of Sunset Cliffs and Niagara Ave. I met a woman behind the counter named Jessie, who is one of the business partners. She told me Blendies has only been open for a month, and they also own Social Thai Kitchen next door. It’s a family business, and the inspiration to open the location came from their love of cafe culture.

By Paul Grimes / August 29, 2025 

Like other collapses along Route 1, the collapse in Big Sur had nothing to do with sea level rise, rather winter storms, which have existed for centuries. Same for the collapse at Sunset Cliffs at Guizot. Sea level rise continues to be a straight line of under an inch per decade. Scares from people like Al Gore have never materialized.

The cliffs will continue to erode at a slow rate as they have for years. It’s premature to take Sunset Cliffs Blvd to a one-way street. Part of a real solution would be to clean debris and sand from the curb, then add an asphalt curb to replace portions that are missing. Without a curb, water can go over the cliff and erode the bluff.

It looks like the City of San Diego has re-striped a portion of the roadway south of Monaco to add plastic pipes to demarcate the walkway. This is a good start, but I think the walkway can be expanded with an 8 foot parking lane, two 10 foot travel lanes (with bike sharrows added), which should look to leave a minimum of 6 feet for pedestrians (marked with no parking signs and possibly tinted paint) by the guardrail. Note that the city is limiting parking lanes to 7 feet in some areas to squeeze in bike lanes while 10 foot travel lanes are known to reduce speed.

By Kate Callen / August 28, 2025

When Mayor Kevin Faulconer challenged San Diegans in 2019 to ditch their cars and take public transit, I invited him to join me on my weekday MTS #2 bus ride from North Park to downtown.

In an op-ed published in the San Diego Union-Tribune, I began by assuming that because Faulconer promoted mass transit vigorously, he must be a regular transit user. But in case I was wrong, I gave the mayor a tutorial on the challenges of commuting by bus. And I offered to pay his fare if he rode with me. He never responded.

I’m extending that same invitation to Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign after reading her August 28 U-T commentary, “Housing Policies Sabotage Families, Climate Goals,” an argument for pro-density Senate Bill 79.

As Capretz tells it, the passage of SB 79 will stack more housing “near transit,” and then commuters will switch from cars to buses and trolleys, traffic will diminish, greenhouse gases will dissipate, and our lives will be happier and healthier.

That’s a tidy scenario. But the reality of mass transit in San Diego is tangled. The only way to learn that is to navigate the cat’s cradle of buses and trolleys to go from Point A to Point B – or, if you must transfer to reach your destination, from Point A to Point B to Point C.