OB Rag

By the SD Union-Tribune Editorial Board / June 27, 2025

As expected, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday [June 24] approved a plan to begin collecting its new monthly fee for trash collection — with a base rate of $43.60 a month — from 226,000-plus single-family homes in lump sums twice a year via property taxes. Approved on a 7-2 vote, it was billed as a cost-saving measure that would avoid $18 million in start-up costs and $10 million in annual operating expenses for an in-house city billing system.

But did the seven supporters take seriously the criticism the plan faced? As Steven Cordova, a North Park retiree who owns a small multi-unit building, wrote for U-T Opinion, “The fee becomes part of the secured tax obligation on your property. If unpaid, it’s treated like a delinquent tax — risking liens, penalties and collections.”

The idea that residents should trust a city coming off 30 years of grievous management errors to handle this task well is hard to believe. Nevertheless, that’s the expectation of Councilmember Joe LaCava, who dismissed the idea that this change could imperil any homeowners.

Raul Campillo, one of the council “no” votes along with Henry Foster, struck the proper note of caution: “I have significant concerns about the impact this method could have on low-income property owners, particularly seniors and homeowners on fixed incomes.”

by Alina Ajaz, Tessa Balc and Lisa Halverstadt / Voice of San Diego / June 30, 2025

In the initial six months after San Diego police started enforcing Proposition 36, Black San Diegans were disproportionately affected by the new state law.

Police data shows 32 percent of 374 people arrested for Proposition 36 related drug or theft charges in the city of San Diego from mid-December through May were Black, a community that makes up 6 percent of the city’s population. Disparities were consistent for both drug and theft charges.

Black San Diegans were also disproportionately arrested more than once on Proposition 36 charges, making up 40 percent of those with a second offense.

San Diego police say they work to minimize disparities but argue that those tied to Proposition 36 may be spurred in part by a concentration of enforcement downtown, which has a large homeless population that’s also disproportionately Black.

Community leaders and advocates who opposed Proposition 36 say the early data shows their concerns about the law, which increased penalties for repeat drug and theft offenses, were merited. They say the early numbers echo past disparities in policing and prosecution, particularly among communities already overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

“It is depressing. It’s extremely unfortunate but it’s not surprising,” County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said.

Local group “Protect Public Land” stages demonstration in downtown San Diego, emphasizing the importance of preserving environmental policies.

 By Elizabeth Sanchez / CBS8 / June 28 -29, 2025

UPDATE: Sen. Mike Lee pulled his proposal to sell public lands out of the spending bill late Saturday night before it was ultimately passed by the Senate on a 51-49 vote.

ORIGINAL STORY-
The Senate is set to hold an initial vote on President Trump’s budget bill, which includes a controversial provision for the sale of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In response, a local group in San Diego staged a protest to oppose the sale of all public lands.

More than a dozen demonstrators from the group “Protect Public Land” gathered Saturday, June 28, in downtown San Diego, carrying signs and distributing fliers to raise awareness about the issue. The protesters emphasized the importance of preserving environmental policies and maintaining public access to these lands.

“This is important because conservation is a key trait of American history,” protestor Michael Williamson said. “We are trailblazers in protecting public land and the nature that’s on it.”

From Neighbors for a Better California

Neighbors for a Better California Pushes for a Pause

San Diego’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Bonus Program, a key initiative to increase housing supply, is under scrutiny due to safety hazards, particularly fire risks, and community concerns about its impact on neighborhoods.

On June 16, 2025, the City Council voted 6-3 to revise the ADU Bonus Program, with changes including:

• Restricting large lots: The program will be repealed in single-family zones with lots of 10,000 square feet or greater to limit oversized projects.
• Unit caps: As of June 2025, ADU limits are set at 4 units for lots under 8,000 sq. ft., 5 units for 8,001–10,000 sq. ft., and 6 units for lots over 10,000 sq. ft.
• Safety and infrastructure: Reforms propose stricter fire code standards and new infrastructure fees for ADU projects.

The very some meeting,  Councilmember Joe La Cava addressed the City Council, highlighting public unease about the ADU Bonus Program’s effects.

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings July 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.

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

San Diego FixIt Clinics

Veterans, Allies Fast For Gaza: “We Cannot Normalize Genocide”  
San Diego Pride Month More info:  
July 2nd Wednesday 4 pm The Encampments Living Room Edition Webinar

July 5th Saturday 9 am – 12 pm Morning After Mess Event by Surfrider Foundation

July 5th Saturday  7:30 pm – 10 pm Movie night at the Park

by Marisa Kendall, Aaron Schrank and Lisa Halverstadt / Cal-Matters / June 27, 2025

It’s been 12 months since a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court decision rewrote the playbook on homelessness, allowing cities in California and beyond to make homeless encampments illegal, even when no shelter is available.

Before the justices ruled in Grants Pass v. Johnson, Los Angeles and other cities generally had to offer someone a shelter bed before punishing them for sleeping on the street. But that went out the window when the justices upheld an ordinance by the Oregon city of Grants Pass that banned camping on all public property.

Since the ruling, camping-related citations and arrests have soared in cities throughout California — everywhere from Sacramento to Los Angeles to San Diego and beyond.

In each of those three cities, police are citing many of the same people again and again. And while some have managed to move indoors, many others are still camping in the same places, racking up citations that ultimately make it more difficult to find housing.

We tracked down a few of those people. Here are their stories:  [For other California homeless stories, go here]

San Diego: Moving into a swamp 

Micah Huff for a time lost touch with a San Diego case manager who was trying to help him move to a city-backed homeless campsite as he sought to avoid police and encampment clean-ups.

By Arturo Castañares – Publisher / La Prensa / June 26, 2025

A New York judge last month ordered an appointed remediation manager to oversee the notorious jail on Rikers Island in New York after 40 inmates have died since 2022, yet more inmates have died in San Diego County jails without any substantial reform taking place.

46 inmates have died in San Diego County jails since 2022, including 19 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 8 last year, and 6 so far this year.

Those are more deaths per year than Rikers, a jail known as one of the worst -if not the worst- in the country, with stabbings, slashing, fights, assaults on staff, and high numbers of inmate deaths.

In comparison, Rikers has had 40 deaths since 2022, with 19 that year, 9 in 2023, 7 in 2024, and 5 so far this year.

And, before anyone complains about comparing apples to oranges, the jail population of Rikers is larger than the combined population of all seven of San Diego’s County jails, so the percentage of deaths per thousand is even higher for San Diego jails.

By Steve Rodriguez

Summer night event.
San Diego tradition.
Fireworks above

Sea World and the Bay.
Big blasts disrupt the silence,
erasing the calm

By Colleen O’Connor

A treat to behold. The annual Cabrillo Club #6 antique car show. With great live music and singers.

Organizers Sharon May and Ronni Madruga produced this year’s program.

Vintage cars lined the Portuguese Hall parking lot. A $5 dollar pancake breakfast with eggs and sausage greeted the onlookers. Free to look. $1 to vote the “best of show” winner. The proceeds of which go to the charity of that winner’s choice.

By Francine Maxwell / June 30, 2025

San Diego’s policing “restructure” under Chief Scott Wahl isn’t a revolution — it’s a remix of the same old playlist.

Wahl has created new departments for his friends, shuffled people up the chain, and called it reform. He has dropped four outreach officers with a badge and a badge number and then claimed the department is “listening.” But behind the scenes, nothing meaningful has shifted for the communities carrying the heaviest burden of policing in this city.

By Neighbors for a Better San Diego / June 27, 2025

On Tuesday morning, July 1, at 10:00 a.m., there will be a second reading of the amended ADU ordinance, adopted by the City Council on June 16, 2025.

While Neighbors For A Better San Diego (NFABSD) would have liked the Council to adopt our “Four is Fair” proposal, that motion was rejected on a narrow 5-4 vote, leading to the compromise that is before the Council for final approval.

NFABSD supports adoption of the amended regulations and will remain vigilant to ensure that the new regulations and other existing Municipal Codes are rigorously followed.

We have received inquiries regarding the difference between the adopted regulations and state law. Unfortunately, that target has changed since NFABSD started in 2021. As a result of state laws enacted after 2021, California requires cities to permit 2 ADUs and 1 JADU on every single-family lot: