OB Rag — Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

More Photos from San Diego’s No Kings — A Week Later

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:25:40 +0200

Here are samples of photos sent to us last weekend, too late for the live-blog (that shut down about 5:30...

Trump Moving Federal Agencies — Like the Forest Service — Out of D.C. to Locales that Voted for Him

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 04:43:34 +0200

From the Trenches

By JW August -- Special to the OB Rag When President Donald Trump’s calliope of confusion is at its noisiest, we’ve learned a game is afoot in numerous places. This particular game comes with a warning from a source who has a highly placed position in a large federal agency. The source is named “S” and says an end-of-March announcement about moving the U.S. Forest Service out of Washington, D.C. is a foreshadowing of a massive reorganization effort of the federal government. The suggested agency suspected of being the next ordered to move will be the Bureau of Land Management, according to my source. The overall goal, made in the name of efficiency, is to punish the cities and states that vote Democratic and reward Trump loyalists with jobs and money, says our source. By creating these new offices, away from D.C., there will be far less oversight, and far more access. The source says that “as long as it's a Republican town, they're going to get an infusion of cash and jobs because their plan is to go out to isolated areas of the country so that they can do whatever they want.”

OB Post Office for Sale!

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 04:07:03 +0200

The building at 4833 Santa Monica Avenue -- known as the OB Post Office -- is for sale! LoopNet advertises it. For $4,995.000. It's been there for decades -- back to the 1950s. Yet now it's on the chopping block. For nearly $5 million. Prime location. The ad above says "Trophy Coastal ... Property." Many questions abound. Are there plans to open another post office in Ocean Beach?

Trump Signs Executive Order to Have Feds Control the Only ‘Official’ Voter Lists

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 01:07:51 +0200

Postal Service Would Mail Ballots Only to Those on Official Voters List

By Jane C. Timm and Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News / March 31, 2026 President Donald Trump is again trying to exert control over American elections, signing an executive order Tuesday that aims to create federal lists of citizens and ask the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people. The executive order, his second related to elections since he retook office last year, is sure to be quickly challenged in court. The U.S. Constitution gives states the power to set voting rules and administer their own elections, though Congress has the ability to set some regulations, too. “That’s a big deal,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office, adding that he didn’t believe the courts could overturn it. "I think this will help a lot with elections. We’d like to have voter ID. We’d like to have proof of citizenship, and that’ll be another subject for another time. We’re working on that. You would think it’d be easy."

Fears of Aging in the Midst of Madness

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:42:17 +0200

by Ernie McCray I’m nearing 88 years and along with that there are, of course, a few fears, anxieties rising just from seeing all my meds set in front of me on the coffee table where I used to place a few knick-knacks, and there are the aches and pains suddenly appearing like hoodlums crashing a party, and the loss of the ability to do things I once did very well like getting up and sitting down without making a sound, and I am constantly using my cane

North County Tribe Demands Halt to Poway Housing Development After 3 Burial Sites Found

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:35:38 +0200

Tribe Never Consulted During Planning for Hidden Valley Ranch Housing Project

by Katie Futterman / inewsource / March 29, 2026 Tribal leaders have found human remains and evidence of a burial site – first in October and twice this March – at the construction site of a housing development first approved in Poway over 20 years ago. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians is calling on the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop work on a portion of a 420-acre site on the east side of Old Coach Road immediately. In October, Johnny Bear Contreras, the chair of the cultural committee for the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, got a call from fellow cultural monitors telling him to come take a look at the Hidden Valley Ranch project. When he arrived at the site of what’s slated to be 41 single-family homes, he found just what the tribe had expected: human remains.

Some San Diego Leaders Looking to City Golf Courses to Help Fill Budget Shortfall

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:08:25 +0200

by JW August / Times of San Diego / April 2, 2026 A San Diego council member suggested at a recent committee meeting that the city look into ways to take revenue from golf division leases to help fund all parks and recreation needs. The Golf Enterprise Fund provides for the care and maintenance of the city’s three public courses. At the end of last year it held an impressive $55 million. With a city facing a $120 million budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year, this tempting target is fodder for those tasked with filling the gap. Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera, at a Land Use and Housing Committee meeting last month, asked that city staff study the possibility of shifting more money away from the golf fund to cover other expenses. In 2025, the gross revenue for San Diego’s municipal courses was $41.4 million, 9.9% of which was paid to the general fund.

Midway Rising’s Path Goes Through Sacramento

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:50:51 +0200

by Tessa Balc / Times of San Diego / March 31, 2026 The next chapter in San Diego’s pursuit of Midway Rising will play out in Sacramento. State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson introduced a bill last week to exempt the project from review under the state’s landmark environmental law and make way for the plan to redevelop the roughly 50-acre area around Pechanga Arena into an urban district with 4,000 homes, acres of parks, and a new arena.

[Please see original for any and all links.]

Weber Pierson’s proposal follows a California Supreme Court decision not to review a previous court ruling that threw out a 2022 voter-approved initiative to raise the height limit in the Midway area. The lower court ruled that the city failed to consider the environmental impacts of allowing taller buildings there. Midway Rising’s developers quickly said the court’s ruling would not halt their project, because other state housing laws allowed them to exceed the height limit regardless.

Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill that Could Keep the Padres in San Diego

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:41:04 +0200

The Home Team Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate which would if pass keep the Padres in San Diego -- at least for another year. Here's Phillip Molnar at the San Diego U-T: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is behind a bill that would prevent the Padres from leaving in the future — and would have kept the Chargers in San Diego. Some say the government has no place in dictating where private businesses operate. Sanders, I-Vermont, and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, recently introduced the Home Team Act, which would require team ownership to provide one year of notice before moving a team to a new location if the team would move across state lines or to a new metropolitan area. During that year prior to the proposed relocation, the franchise in question would be available for other prospective owners to purchase “at a fair and reasonable price.” San Diego is especially sensitive about teams leaving after the Chargers went to Los Angeles in 2017. Recently, the Padres have entertained several offers to sell, igniting fears someone may take the baseball club somewhere else.

A Response to ‘Open Letter to Demonstrators’ at OB Corner

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:20:23 +0200

Editordude: The following is an unsolicited response to a recent Rag post entitled, "Open Letter to the Demonstrators at the Corner of Sunset Cliffs & West Point Loma," which has garnered quite a bit of attention but not a lot of actual dialog, which was our intent in publishing it. Until this ... from Code Pink activists. Dear Clandestina Urbanista, We appreciate you taking the time to write. We also want to be straightforward in response. We are members of the San Diego chapter of CODEPINK, and we speak for our chapter only. Together with members of Veterans For Peace, Jewish Voice For Peace, and several other organizations throughout San Diego, we gather each week because what is happening in Gaza is not an abstract “complexity” - it is mass killing, carried out with the full support and funding of the United States government. As U.S. taxpayers, we refuse to be silent in the face of it. We reject the framing that asking the public to hold “all sides” equally, in this moment, is a neutral act. It risks obscuring the scale, power, and ongoing nature of the violence being inflicted on Palestinians, as well as Iranians and Lebanese.

Large Snag Hits San Diego’s Efforts to Control Liberty Station in Point Loma

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:02:16 +0200

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 1, 2026 San Diego’s efforts to cement its long-term control over Liberty Station have hit a snag that could force the city to sell the leafy complex of public parks, artist studios, restaurants and shops just east of Point Loma. The city must get several local school districts, community college districts and health districts to agree to payouts as part of a complicated process required to retain control of former redevelopment agency properties. Eight of those 14 agencies have recently agreed to Liberty Station payout offers from the city — but the San Diego Unified School District board is raising questions and voted unanimously last Tuesday to delay any decision indefinitely. That vote came after the board was lobbied by the private company that manages much of Liberty Station to reject the city’s $1.4 million payout offer, contending the payout should be closer to $10 million. City officials say the management company, Seligman Properties, is disingenuously trying to scuttle the deals so the city will be forced to sell it Liberty Station at a substantially deflated purchase price. Because Seligman already controls 330 acres of Liberty Station’s commercial areas under no-rent leases that run through 2070, city officials contend it wouldn’t make sense for any other company to bid against Seligman — limiting how much the city can get.

Riverside Sheriff’s Seizure of Ballots Is Cynical, Dangerous and an Act of Voter Suppression

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:41:35 +0200

By Dave Myers / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / April 2, 2026 California voters deserve to understand exactly what is happening. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican now running for governor, has launched an unprecedented law enforcement investigation into the November 2025 special election and seized roughly 650,000 ballots. The stated basis is alleged voter fraud — claims that have not been supported by verified data. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, citing Bianco’s own sworn statements, has argued the sheriff failed to establish probable cause to justify this action. Although a California court recently denied Bonta’s request to halt the ballot review, the underlying legal and constitutional concerns remain unresolved. This should concern every voter, regardless of party. A sheriff sworn to uphold the law has stepped into the election process, pursuing claims that do not withstand basic scrutiny. More troubling is the use of law enforcement authority to reach into the handling of ballots themselves. That is not routine policing. It is a direct intrusion into a system designed to be insulated from political pressure and protected by strict legal safeguards. Ballots are not criminal evidence to be collected at will.

San Diego Begins to Replace the Old Mission Beach Lifeguard Station But Ignores the Even Older Ocean Beach Lifeguard Station.

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:31:09 +0200

The City of San Diego has begun the process of replacing the 44-year old Mission Beach lifeguard station. On March 14, the city began fencing off the existing lifeguard tower from the public and started installing a temporary lifeguard tower and trailer just north of the current dilapidated station.

“These temporary facilities will allow lifeguards to operate safely and efficiently while plans are developed to upgrade the existing station,” the city of San Diego said in a released statement at the time work began.

This is all well and good -- a lifeguard station that old deserves to be replaced. And the surrounding community deserves it also. Yet -- what about the Ocean Beach lifeguard station? It's even older than the Mission Beach one. It was built in 1980-1981. (See comments to that post.) Sure, the city can argue that the Mission Beach station serves a larger community and there's more beachgoers there than in Ocean Beach. Okay, replace them both. This also fits a pattern all too familiar with observant OBceans who've seen city resources go to other communities over the years -- no, over the decades. South Mission Beach got a new lifeguard station; Pacific Beach got a new station; La Jolla got a new one. But not OB. Perhaps due to the marginal size of the neighborhood -- not that many voters or property owners -- Ocean Beach has been repeatedly passed over on infrastructure projects that have been needed.

An Open Letter to the Demonstrators at the Corner of Sunset Cliffs & West Point Loma

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:06:54 +0200

Editordude: The following was sent to us unsolicited and requested we publish it as an effort to open some dialogue. Hello, I’ve passed your gathering many Saturdays at Sunset Cliffs and West Point Loma. Almost every time, I feel the impulse to pull over and speak with you - but my throat tightens, my stomach knots, and I keep driving. I’m writing instead because I don’t want to keep avoiding it. When I moved to San Diego from the Bay Area, I knew I was leaving behind a certain kind of political energy that shaped my 20s. I lived a block from the Occupy Oakland encampment and spent time there almost daily. I marched in early Black Lives Matter demonstrations, long before 2020. I was engaged in activism around global issues, including Israel/Palestine, for many years. So I don’t see you as apathetic. I recognize what it means to care enough to show up. At the same time, I want to be honest that I experience what you’re doing very differently than you likely do.

April 2026 Events for San Diego from the Ocean Beach Green Center

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:52:51 +0200

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings April 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine: The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach: Every Sunday 1:30 pm – 4 pm Otay Mesa Vigil League of Women Voters EMPOWERING VOTERS & DEFENDING DEMOCRACY Information on upcoming forums for City Council Primary Races: April 1st, 8th and 15th Wednesdays 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm Resist Trump Flash Banner Action - April 2nd Thursday 6 pm – 7:30 pm Surfrider Open House April 4th Saturday 4pm -7 pm Jewish Voice for Peace San Diego Passover Seder April 4th Saturday 4 pm - 6 pm Spring GBM with Green New Deal April 5th Sunday 11 am – 2 pm EASTER SUNDAY OUTREACH — Factory Farms Awareness Action April 6th Monday 6 pm - 8 pm Friends of Famosa Slough 40th Anniversary

It’s Not Historic Neighborhoods that Are Causing San Diego’s Housing Limitations

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:26:19 +0200

By Bruce D Coons, Barry Hager and Geoffrey Hueter / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / April 1, 2026 San Diegans face housing affordability challenges. But if policy solutions are going to work, they must be based on evidence rather than assumptions. San Diego’s biggest affordable housing program isn’t on paper — it’s already built. Our older and historic homes are doing more for affordability than any subsidy program in the city. A new independent analysis released recently by PlaceEconomics, “The Urban Vitality Blueprint: A Data-Driven Analysis of Equity, Affordability, and Vitality in San Diego’s Historic Districts,” examines the role that historic districts and older neighborhoods play in housing, affordability and sustainability across San Diego. The findings challenge several widely repeated claims in the city’s current policy debate. Historic districts are often portrayed as low-density neighborhoods that limit housing growth. In reality, the opposite is true. Here are a few key facts from the report:

Supreme Court Justices Sound Like They’ll Rule Against Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Ploy

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:06:03 +0200

By Mark Joseph Stern / Slate / April 01, 2026 On Wednesday, April 1, Donald Trump became the first sitting president to attend Supreme Court arguments in person. It must have been a brutal morning for him. The justices heard Trump v. Barbara, a challenge to the executive order purporting to strip birthright citizenship from the children of many immigrants—and it quickly shaped up to be a blowout against the administration. Seven justices expressed profound skepticism toward the government’s revisionist history of the 14th Amendment, with most sounding downright hostile toward the pseudo-originalist theory cooked up to legitimize the policy. Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito asked questions friendly to the administration, and none of their colleagues sounded persuaded by their strained defenses. It appears that Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship—in some ways, the centerpiece of his nativist immigration agenda—is about to go down in flames. From the outset, the justices gave Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, a frosty reception. He pressed an ahistorical, atextual theory of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The clause’s central purpose was to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children. When ratifying the amendment in 1868, however, Congress explicitly recognized that it would also apply to the American-born offspring of immigrants. The Supreme Court affirmed that principle in 1898’s Wong Kim Ark, and ever since, these children have received U.S. citizenship at birth regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Nonetheless, Trump issued an executive order on his first day back in office ordering the government to deny citizenship to the children of immigrants who lack permanent legal status and temporary visa-holders.

Community Consensus: Governance Change for Balboa Park Is Top Priority

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:32:30 +0200

By Kate Callen and Paul Krueger After decades of neglect and a controversial parking fee that has endangered its attractions, Balboa Park could be rescued as early as next fiscal year through the determined efforts of its rightful owners, the people of San Diego. More than 80 community advocates for Balboa Park gathered at a March 28 public forum to map out steps for saving San Diego’s embattled crown jewel. The first step: a change of the current park governance, which must happen immediately. A new governance model would be an engine for addressing two Park priorities: raising the necessary funds to keep Balboa Park healthy and intact, and balancing the fragmented needs of numerous park constituencies.

“It is important to recognize that every blade of grass in this park has a constituency,” said former City Architect Michael Stepner, “and when you want to mow the lawn, you need to talk to everybody.”

Stepner and landscape architect Vicki Estrada led the discussion at “The Future of Balboa Park: A Community Conversation,” co-hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego at the Mission Valley Library.

What Happens in San Diego When Immigration Takes a Nosedive?

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:17:39 +0200

By Lori Weisberg and Alexandra Mendoza / The San Diego Union-Tribune / March 29, 2026 For much of the last decade, a steady, often robust flow of immigrants into the county has been critical to bolstering San Diego’s sometimes sluggish population growth as more and more locals packed their bags and moved to other parts of the country. Not so anymore. Newly released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal the dramatic demographic impacts of the current administration’s crackdown on immigration and deportations, which are now contributing to overall population declines and slowdowns across California and throughout the country.

[Please see original for any and all links.]

Where a year earlier, San Diego County’s population grew by nearly 8,000 from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024 — thanks to a healthy influx of immigrants — it fell by nearly 5,300, to 3.28 million in 2025, reversing a post-pandemic rebound. The change is due almost entirely to the monumental shift in immigration policies last year that contributed to a stunning 65% drop in San Diego’s foreign arrivals — the single largest decline in 15 years.

Bedazzled by White Rainbows

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:05:44 +0200