OB Rag

Enjoy this short video of the Ocean Beach annual Street Fair of 2025 by Charles Landon.

Come inside.

By Kate Callen / June 27, 2025

In 2022, when San Diego Councilmembers Joe La Cava and Sean Elo-Rivera pushed for Measure B to levy trash fees on single-family homes, they sought to assure the public that all would be well.

They said the new fees would be an affordable $23 to $29 a month. They said this wasn’t a scheme to raise money for a cash-strapped city because the real aims were “responsible governance, local innovation, and world-class service.” They promised that the public would be fully engaged in every step of the process.

That was all false. Fees will be nearly twice the estimates, and they will get higher. The public was shut out of the process – and no, ushering people into conference rooms to look at table-top exhibits of tiny trash bins doesn’t count as “community engagement.”

And when they voted in the fees June 9 at a meeting packed with angry constituents, weary councilmembers finally spoke the truth: They felt they had to do this because they were desperate for money.

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 27, 2025

Earlier this month, San Diego Catholic Bishop-Designate Michael Pham and Auxiliary Bishops Ramón Bejarano and Felipe Pulido reflected on the past and accurately predicted the future.

“. . . it has been experienced that the presence of faith leaders makes a difference in how the migrants are treated,” they wrote in a June 11 letter to fellow priests, deacons and parish leaders.

A little more than a week later, Pham led a delegation of faith leaders to accompany immigrants attending court hearings at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego.

The proceedings and scene in and around the courthouse on June 20 were calm compared with chaos and controversy in San Diego and elsewhere at other times when agents snatched immigrants on the way to and from appointed court hearings.

Too bad that sense of dignity, humility and, frankly, adult behavior brought by Pham and his colleagues couldn’t be cast upon other aspects of the immigration enforcement crisis, created by recent militaristic raids and aggressive government response to protests that sometimes have devolved into violence.

From Surfrider San Diego County

SAVE DEL MAR’S BEACHES FROM ANNIHILATION

Don’t allow SANDAG to derail our shoreline! This is serious. SANDAG recently backpedaled from their previous commitment to relocate the train off of Del Mar’s eroding bluffs. They’re now considering keeping the train in place indefinitely, despite over 20 years of costly, continuous, beach-killing bluff stabilization work to prevent the railroad from collapsing onto the beach.

Keeping the train in place would continue this unending struggle against Mother Nature, requiring deep trenching into the bluffs and building seawalls across almost 1.7 miles of beach. In addition to forever destroying the bluffs’ natural beauty, the seawalls would subject the beach to accelerated erosion and eventually, permanent beach loss, as sea levels continue to rise.

The current seawalls will be removed if the train is relocated, but leaving it in place means more will be added… permanently.

By Lisa Mortensen

While I encourage research on housing policies in order to find solutions for the chronic need for affordable housing, going to Austria to find out about government subsidized housing programs that work in that country appears a bit untimely. 

At a time when the County of San Diego, the City of San Diego, and our State all have deficits, this junket seems to be a pipe dream.  In addition, the urgency of this announcement made now is perplexing since next week is the County Supervisor election which would bring all 5 members into the discussion on this further.

However, what is really saying the quiet part out loud that calls this trip into question is the fact there is a $15,600 payment to Jennifer LeSar’s academy which is sponsoring this junket.

By Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / June 25, 2025

Community members in Point Loma recently offered an update on the battle against a controversial project at 1004 Rosecrans St. at a town hall.

At the June 11 meeting at Liberty Station Conference Center, Protect Point Loma — a nonprofit whose members say they wish to protect and preserve the historic neighborhood — detailed why the city’s Complete Communities plan justifying the affordable housing project doesn’t fit and won’t work.

Rosecrans 1004 developer Michael Contreras of Northstar Homes LP has proposed a three-story, mixed commercial and residential building with basement parking for up to 45 vehicles.

The 56-unit project is planned for 1004 Rosecrans St. in the heart of Point Loma, on the site of the former San Diego County Credit Union now used for car rentals.

The project is in a busy intersection, adjacent to Cabrillo Elementary School and the Jennings House restaurant across from Point Loma Assembly Hall. The site was once an Exxon gas station.

by Marti Emerald / Times of San Diego / June 26, 2025

As a former investigative journalist and now a Sweetwater school board trustee, I’ve spent decades calling out public officials who mislead voters. And let me tell you — Republican John McCann’s campaign for supervisor is engaged in some of the most desperate and dishonest tactics I’ve seen in a long time.

Here’s the truth: McCann has one substantive policy, and that’s bringing DOGE-style cuts to programs South County families rely on, like Medicaid, CalFresh, and CalWorks. That’s the same old Republican playbook that’s left South County behind for decades.

I know Paloma Aguirre. She’s honest. She’s tireless. And she shows up. While most politicians are about photo ops, Aguirre is about getting stuff done — like securing $600 million from Congress to solve the Tijuana River sewage crisis, lowering electricity bills for ratepayers, and cutting homelessness in half here in Imperial Beach where I live.

That’s why teachers, firefighters, trade unions, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, the Democratic Party, and the Union-Tribune are endorsing Aguirre in the July 1 special election for the open seat on the Board of Supervisors.

“ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT” WILL HURT US ALL, Parts 2 – 4

By Joni Halpern

PART 2: WHOM SHOULD WE GO AFTER?

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) derives the biggest budget cuts from two massive public health programs — Medicaid and Medicare. It also makes changes that will reduce enrollment in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Today, more than seven million seniors and 10 million people with disabilities rely on Medicaid. Data show that about 15 million more older adults and people with disabilities and chronic conditions are insured through Medicaid though they do not qualify for it based on age or disability. Almost 70 million people are enrolled in Medicare.3 Almost eight million people will lose Medicaid eligibility because of OBBBA’s changes to the program, 3.1 million will lose other health coverage from OBBBA’s changes affecting ACA Marketplaces, almost one million more will lose coverage from OBBBA’s incorporation of Trump’s proposed ACA rule, and about 4.2 million additional people will lose coverage due to OBBBA’s expiration of ACA premium tax credits.4

Three Big Targets For OBBBA Strategists

Medicaid is a jointly funded state and federal program that helps cover healthcare costs for people with limited income who meet other eligibility requirements. (Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid.). Medicaid is the largest public health insurance program for low-income Americans and the primary payer for long-term services and supports. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that OBBBA will cut federal Medicaid spending by almost $800 billion over 10 years and Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million.

by Hector Trujillo / Times of San Diego / June 24, 2025

Point Loma Nazarene student Dakota Briley is in a coma and fighting for his life after being hit by a car while he was on the side of a road on June 14 in Hawaii.

Dakota Briley, the 20-year-old son of surfing icon Shawn Briley, is a passionate surfer and member of the Point Loma Nazarene surf team.

He was reportedly unloading surfboards on the North Shore of Oahu near Chun’s Beach when the collision occurred. He is now in an intensive care unit in Honolulu.

“He’s still going through multiple surgeries after being brought to the hospital in critical condition,” said his sister Erin Lau. “Dakota has had several surgeries to stabilize his lower body and repair his lungs.”

Residents of Golden Hill are outraged over the response — or non-response — they’ve received from elected officials and the developer of a 180-unit mega project planned for “A” Street. This outrage has been translated into organizing a community meeting set for Monday, June 30th.

Organized by the Golden Hill Neighborhood Association, the meeting will be held at Pathfinders – 2980 Cedar street for 6 pm. The group has requested all of their elected representatives to attend in person. And the developer is scheduled to hold a presentation for 6 pm.

Residents have accused the developer and their elected officials have gone in hiding as community concerns over the mega project at street have mounted.

Finally, some good news from the City of San Diego. The City reached an agreement with SeaWorld over its unpaid lease payments last December 2024 and now will invest nearly $8 million in projects at local parks — including Robb Field. Council approval supposedly happened Tuesday, June 24.

The following is from a city press release:

Following approval by the San Diego City Council on Tuesday, June 24, the City of San Diego will invest nearly $8 million in projects at park facilities across the City, including major upgrades to Robb Field in Ocean Beach. The allocation of funds comes from a legal settlement with SeaWorld over lease payments owed to the City by the theme park dating back to 2020.

In total, 11 locations across the City have been identified to receive funding for a range of projects, with more than $3.6 million allocated for the long-overdue replacement of the restrooms and playground equipment at Robb Field.

By Joni Halpern

First of 4 Parts 

PART 1: IF PIGS COULD FLY

The sales pitch for H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and now under consideration by
the Senate, promises, among other things, that health care will be strengthened across the nation if the bill becomes law. That would be true, if pigs could fly.

What is true is that all of us will feel OBBBA’s pain, either directly or indirectly.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-4 th Dist., Louisiana) want to pass the bill and have it on President Trump’s desk by July 4, 2025. Even if OBBBA does not pass by then, the reconciliation process will end Sept. 30. That’s why it is important for Americans to understand what will happen to our health care under the bill.

OBBBA is expected to kill health insurance coverage for 16 million low-income people, including older adults, caregivers, people with disabilities, children and lawfully present immigrants and families. Of those 16 million, over 90% are U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants. 1

OBBBA accomplishes this massive reduction in various ways, but some of the biggest cuts come from restricting Medicare eligibility, rescinding premium assistance
under the Affordable Care Act, and rolling back provisions that make Medicare affordable to low-income enrollees. It makes many other changes designed to reduce
access to these programs, but OBBBA eats away at so many aspects of health care coverage that it is impossible to explain them all in this article.