San Diego, CA
More apartments, less segregation, fewer cars: San Diego OKs sweeping changes to growth blueprint
San Diego made ambitious changes Tuesday to the city’s blueprint for future growth that prepare the city for climate change, speed up revisions to neighborhood zoning plans and try to reverse racial segregation.
“This is a major step forward in terms of how we are not just planning for but shaping the future that San Diego needs,” Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said after the council unanimously approved the moves.
Council members praised the changes, called Blueprint SD, for combining an array of city goals into one document to create the first new big-picture vision for San Diego since the anti-sprawl City of Villages plan in 2008.
“We are in an era where it’s not simply enough to say we need more housing or that we need more transit or that we need more infrastructure,” Councilmember Kent Lee said. “They are all interconnected, and if we’re not able to accomplish them together, then we’re not going to be able to build the city we envision.”
The amended general plan aims to fight climate change by steering new housing into transit-friendly areas so more people can get to work without a car.
It also will allow San Diego to complete updates much more quickly to growth blueprints, called community plan updates, for individual neighborhoods — roughly three years per plan, instead of the usual five or six.
And it seeks to reverse decades of racial and ethnic segregation that began with deed restrictions and discriminatory lending practices beginning nearly a century ago that excluded people of color from some neighborhoods, and then were reinforced by single-family zoning policies that remain mostly in place today.
It would do that by encouraging more apartments and multi-family housing in predominantly White areas of the city deemed “high-resource” because they have high-paying jobs, quality schools and neighborhood amenities, such as parks.
A pro-growth group called Yes in My Backyard San Diego singled out the anti-segregation efforts for praise during a two-hour public hearing Tuesday.
“This plan dares to challenge our segregated housing patterns,” said Saad Asad, the advocacy and communications chair for YIMBY San Diego. “Integration and opportunity are more important than maintaining exclusive enclaves.”
But the plan was criticized by many groups that consistently oppose city efforts to boost housing production. Some said it would destroy the city’s single-family neighborhoods, and some critics said San Diego should be less aggressive about encouraging dense housing, since regional planners have reduced future population projections.
Heidi Vonblum, the city’s planning director, said lower population projections don’t mean the city’s housing crisis has been solved.
“Population growth does not equal housing need,” she said. “There is a current undersupply of housing production that has occurred over the past several decades.”
While San Diego officials tout Blueprint SD as something that will help the city meet its climate action plan goals, environmental groups criticized the plan Tuesday.
The local chapter of the Sierra Club said it’s flawed because it targets growth in areas where buses, trolleys and other transit options don’t yet exist, rather than focusing on areas with transit already in place.
The group wants the city to amend a programmatic environmental impact report that analyzed Blueprint SD and pending changes to neighborhood growth blueprints for Hillcrest and University City.
“A glaring deficiency is that much of this transit does not currently exist,” said club leader Charles Rilli. “The PEIR must be revised to describe how, when and where this transit infrastructure will be implemented.”
Councilmember Henry Foster, whose district includes ethnically diverse and low-income neighborhoods in southeastern San Diego, said part of the city’s anti-segregation efforts should include monitoring where poverty is concentrated.
Business groups, including the Building Industry Association and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, support Blueprint SD.
They raised questions Tuesday about a late change to Blueprint SD that requires new buildings to be powered by electricity instead of gas. But Councilmember Joe LaCava noted that requirement is already part of the city’s climate action plan.
LaCava praised Blueprint SD for making the city’s big-picture general plan mirror many policies approved since the general plan was last updated 16 years ago.
In addition to the 2015 climate action plan, those policies include a 2021 parks master plan that tries to boost social equity by funneling developer money from wealthy areas into lower-income areas.
Mayor Todd Gloria, whose planning staff spearheaded Blueprint SD, said after the vote: “Blueprint SD is a bold step forward in creating an equitable and sustainable future for all San Diegans. The plan will help us address our housing needs, support economic growth and make significant progress toward our climate goals. This updated framework ensures that our city grows in a way that benefits everyone, now and in the future.”
Originally Published:
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A local mother is raising awareness about holiday theft after her children’s Christmas presents were stolen from their family home.
Meanwhile, San Diego police are warning people to be wary of scammers and thieves this time of year when the department sees a rise in these types of crimes.
“All the gifts that were hidden from my children were all gone,” said Kristin Lyons.
Plans for a Christmas surprise are now a loss for her two boys. Just before 3 a.m. Friday, a holiday grinch was caught on camera walking up the family’s University Heights driveway.
“It was a male. Jeans, gray sweatshirt, black backpack, a brown Padres hat and he came in on a bike,” said Lyons.
The alleged thief used a flashlight to search their carport before leaving with arms full.
“It was a big bin full of like 30 or 40 gifts wrapped,” according to Lyons. She explained the gifts included a scooter, shoes, clothes, and toys for her 3 and 4-year-old sons.
“They may not be very expensive items, they were very sentimental and personalized for the kids,” said Lyons.
Her neighborhood is located off Park Blvd. and Adams Ave. “We’ve had a lot of foot traffic, which has increased a lot of the crime as well.”
She said she and her neighbors rely on security cameras for safety, but hope police increase patrols after filing a report.
“There’s crimes of opportunity,” said SDPS Lt. Cesar Jimenez. He added that typically thieves look for easy targets.
“They’re looking for homes that are empty. They’re also looking into windows, and if people have all their presents, they have their Christmas tree by a window with all the presents underneath, then that’s a big temptation,” said Lt. Jimenez.
He advised residents to avoid placing their Christmas tree right by a window and to make sure packages are secured and out of sight.
Meanwhile, Lyons said she wants others to learn from her experience and isn’t letting this bring her and her family down.
She added that a neighbor found a partially wrapped gift dumped in the area and returned it to her after they saw her Nextdoor post. She’d like others who may stumble upon more gifts to also post about it on the Nextdoor app in the University Heights area, and she will keep an eye out.
The Husker football program announced its second hire to the coaching staff on the morning of Dec. 19.
Though it was first reported on Dec. 11, the university took to social media Friday morning to make it official that former San Diego State edges coach Roy Manning would be following defensive coordinator Rob Aurich to Lincoln. Per his coaching bio on the Huskers.com website, Manning will be in the same assistant role at Nebraska for the 2026 season.
The news marks the first defensive assistant hire for Aurich as a Husker and comes roughly a week and a half after the dismissal of Terry Bradden as defensive line coach. While Manning is not a 1:1 replacement for Bradden, he is expected to oversee a smaller position group as the Huskers look to overhaul their defensive scheme under its new leader.
With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Nebraska football’s newest defensive hire.
Manning arrives in Lincoln with a dozen years of defensive coaching experience at the Division I level, spanning multiple power conferences included the Big Ten and Big 12. He has coached at three of the 10 winningest programs in college football history, including Michigan, USC, and now, Nebraska. Most recently, Manning worked under Aurich at San Diego State, where the two were instrumental in engineering one of the nation’s most dramatic defensive turnarounds in 2025.
At San Diego State, Manning coached the Aztecs’ defensive edge players as SDSU produced one of the best defensive seasons in program history. The Aztecs led the nation with three shutouts and ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 12.6 points per game. San Diego State also finished seventh nationally in total defense and first in the country in red zone defense, something the Huskers finished 2025 second-to-last in. He helped oversee a unit that made a 17-point improvement in scoring defense from the previous season.
Prior to his time at San Diego State, Manning spent two seasons at USC as the Trojans’ assistant head coach for defense and outside linebackers coach. Before USC, Manning coached cornerbacks at Oklahoma from 2019 to 2021, helping the Sooners win two Big 12 titles and reach the College Football Playoff. His defensive backs were a major factor in Oklahoma’s ability to generate turnovers and limit explosive passing plays, with multiple All-Big 12 selections and an NFL Draft pick emerging from his position group.
Manning’s coaching career also includes stops at UCLA, Washington State, Michigan, and Cincinnati, giving him experience coaching nearly every defensive position group, along with special teams and even offensive roles early in his career. A former Michigan linebacker and NFL veteran, Manning has been part of championship programs as both a player and a coach, contributing to conference titles in the Big Ten and Big 12 and appearances in multiple conference championship games. His winning pedigree now carries over to Nebraska as he joins Rhule’s staff, tasked with returning the Huskers to a top defensive unit in the country.
Rhule emphasized that Manning’s addition to the staff is about adding a coach who understands defense holistically. “Roy has experience coaching defense from front to back,” Rhule said. The versatility was a key factor in the hire, allowing Nebraska to add a coach who can connect the front seven with the back end of the defense with more seamlessness as Aurich invokes his new scheme.
Continuity was another major theme in Rhule’s comments, as Manning joins Aurich after the two brough whole sale improvements to the Aztecs this fall. “Along with Coach Aurich, he was a key part of the defensive transformation at San Diego State this past season,” Rhule said. Nebraska’s head coach highlighted the trust built between the two coaches and the value of bringing in staff members who have already proven they can work together at a high level, particularly when installing a new system and expectations from day one.
For Manning, the move to Nebraska represents both an opportunity and a responsibility tied to the program’s history. “Nebraska Football is one of the most storied and respected programs in the entire country,” Manning said, expressing gratitude to Rhule and excitement about joining the Huskers staff. Manning added that he’s eager to begin building relationships within the program and help spark the same improvements the Aztecs did in 2025 in his new defensive room.
With Manning’s hire now official, Nebraska appears to be adding a coach with a proven track record of defensive success. In 2025 alone, the duo of Manning and Aurich helped San Diego State record 32 sacks in 12 regular-season games. For context, Nebraska finished the 2025 season with just 19 of its own.
No matter how it’s framed, Manning arrives in Lincoln with the pedigree and experience to match. With 15 of Nebraska’s 18 listed defensive linemen currently underclassmen, Manning will have the opportunity to develop a young corps with the same traits that defined his most recent defensive stops.
While Nebraska is still expected to continue its search for a true defensive line coach, Manning’s addition gives the Huskers another proven developer with lengthy Power Four experience. The reunion of former San Diego State coaches Aurich and Manning brings immediate credibility to Nebraska’s defensive rebuild. For Manning, it represents a return to Power Four football. For Nebraska, it’s a hire that appears positioned to accelerate the program’s defensive progress up front.
More From Nebraska On SI
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
A member of the San Diego Unified School Board says someone poisoned her dog in her Sorrento Valley backyard last week.
Sabrina Bazzo says she found her golden retriever Bruno chewing on meat laced with poison and metal hooks on Dec. 12. Two handfuls of it were thrown into her backyard.
There are plenty of playthings in Bruno’s backyard, but nothing as dangerous as what the 2-and-a-half-year-old dog found that afternoon.
“When I first saw it, I was just so shocked, I couldn’t believe it,” Bazzo said.
She keeps what is left of two fistfuls of shredded meat tied up with string in her refrigerator.
“It had these blue-like crystals in there and these metal pieces, like metal hooks. That’s when I like freaked out,” Bazzo said.
Within 20 minutes of swallowing that poisonous bait, she brought Bruno to the animal hospital, where they induced vomiting. No further medical treatment was necessary, but timing was everything. Bazzo says had it taken longer, the outcome could have been much worse.
“The vet said if animals take in enough, a decent amount, there is nothing they can do,” Bazzo said.
Like all pets, Bruno is special, but for more reasons than the obvious. Bruno was just a puppy when he became part of the Bazzo family. It happened when her husband David was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. Her husband died last June.
“Now that he’s actually gone, I have Bruno here with me. He has been very comforting for the family,” Bazzo said.
Three months after her husband’s death, Bazzo received a letter in the mail. It was typed in bold red letters. It read, “Please shut your (expletive) dog up with all the barking day and night.”
“It was during a difficult time for us that makes this that much more sad. We never leave him unsupervised, just being outside on his own,“ Bazzo said.
She suspects the author of the letter is also behind the poison food thrown in her backyard.
In part of an email, San Diego Humane Society spokesperson Nina Thompson wrote: “San Diego Humane Society’s Humane Law Enforcement is currently investigating a recent incident of suspected animal cruelty. We are working diligently to investigate all leads.”
What was once a safe retreat designed and maintained by her late husband while still alive, now, seems more like a trap.
“To now feel like someone is watching me or knows my dog is in the backyard and wants to do him harm, it’s scary,” Bazzo said.
Bazzo says until she finds out who did this, she can’t be sure whether this has anything to do with her position on the school board or her dog.
Crunch Fitness, Petland could get a new neighbor at Pensacola Square
‘You only need 2 sessions a week to get stronger’ – expert PT reveals the benefits of the 2-2-2 workout for busy women
Dave Chappelle Announces Surprise Netflix Special Releasing After Jake Paul Fight
It was called the Kennedy Center, but 3 different presidents shaped it
You can buy your Xbox Ally an official pair of anti-drift joysticks
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies
Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case
U.S. launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters after American deaths
Trump administration touts ‘most secure border in history’ as 2.5 million migrants exit US
How the reparations loan for Ukraine fell apart at the eleventh hour
-
Iowa5 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Iowa7 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Maine4 days agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland5 days agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
Technology1 week agoThe Game Awards are losing their luster
-
South Dakota6 days agoNature: Snow in South Dakota
-
New Mexico3 days agoFamily clarifies why they believe missing New Mexico man is dead
-
Nebraska1 week agoNebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class