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, CA
Gibraltar ushers in a new era as British territory’s border fence with Spain is removed
MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people who travel every day between the southern tip of Spain and the British territory of Gibraltar will no longer have to cross a physical border, beginning on Wednesday.
The official opening at midnight on Tuesday, after a border fence was removed, allows a new freedom of movement under a historic treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It came after years of post-Brexit wrangling.
The contested British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in a strategic location mere miles from Morocco where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Soon after midnight, crowds crossed freely between Spain’s La Línea de Concepción and Gibraltar in both directions. Many wore Spanish soccer jerseys after Spain’s victory against France in the World Cup semifinal on Tuesday, adding to the celebratory mood.
“What you feel here is the brotherhood between the two people,” Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Spanish broadcaster RTVE.
A deal that took years to realize
When Britain left the EU in 2020, the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc had been left unresolved.
Previous talks on a deal to ensure people and goods could keep flowing across the border had made halting progress. In 2025, the EU and U.K. announced an agreement on those issues, with the two sides and Gibraltar’s government signing a treaty Tuesday that eases border crossings.
The U.K.’s Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said Tuesday that the agreement secured Gibraltar’s long-term economic future and interests.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative, praised the agreement, too.
“It has taken four years of patient, complex negotiation, but the outcome speaks for itself,” Šefčovič said. “It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down.”
Without a deal, Gibraltar could have a faced a hard land border with full passport checks, posing economic risks for the territory deeply dependent on some 15,000 Spaniards — almost half Gibraltar’s workforce — who cross the frontier every day for work.
Mendez Segura, 51, crossed into Gibraltar from Spain on Wednesday for work, unused to the newfound freedom of movement.
“I’ve been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card,” the home care worker said. “I know you’ll be able to cross without it, but it’s just what I’m used to.”
Leisure visits by people crossing both sides of the border would have been affected, too.
“People who are visiting family in Spain, or whose Spanish family is visiting them in Gibraltar. Children who are going to football matches and extracurricular activities, either in Spain or in Gibraltar. They will be able to do that without having to worry about frontier queues,” Picardo told The Associated Press in an interview.
The deal in effect brings the territory into the EU’s Schengen free travel area. At Gibraltar’s airport and port, entry and exit checks will be conducted by both U.K. and Spanish border officials. The arrangement is similar to what’s in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris, where both British and French officials check passports.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations between the two countries on the issue of Gibraltar have had their ups and downs over the centuries. The treaty that removed the border fence does not resolve the territory’s contested status.
In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in the Rock, as the territory is popularly known in English, supported remaining in the EU.
Travelers to Gibraltar from countries outside the Schengen Area, including the U.K., will have to contend with the EU Entry-Exit System, or EES, which was rolled out in Europe in April and replaced passport stamps with biometric data collected through photographs and digital fingerprints.
Facial recognition cameras at the Rock
With the border fence gone, Gibraltar officials have set up live facial recognition cameras at entry points and throughout the territory.
Chief Minister Picardo said the territory will have many more CCTV cameras and that it has increased its police presence as well as resources for customs and Coast Guard agencies.
“The fortress has become a digital fortress now,” Picardo said.
The mariachi band broke into song as soon as the Tijuana Municipal Little League team stepped back onto its home field Monday afternoon. Cheers and applause erupted for the team, which over the weekend earned the coveted spot to represent Mexico in the Little League Baseball World Series.
The team of 11- and 12-year-olds won the Mexico region tournament title on Saturday by defeating the Matamoros Little League team 8-2 in Tamaulipas. They ended the tournament with a 7-1 record.
“We are very proud of what you have done and what you are about to embark on, because this is just the beginning,” said Darío Venegas, president of the Tijuana Municipal Children’s and Youth Baseball League, before handing out rings to commemorate the team’s regional crown.
This marks the third time that the Tijuana Municipal team has advanced to the tournament in Williamsport, Pa., following appearances in 2013 and 2023. Francisco Fimbres has been the manager for all three trips, and he hopes that the third time could be the charm.
“I feel blessed with these players,” he said. “(They) make me believe that we can get that championship.”
But the proud coach acknowledged that there’s still work to be done and that he has learned from the last two tournaments. In 2013, Mexico lost to Japan in the international championship and finished third. In 2023, they fell to Curaçao in the international semifinals.
During his speech at the Jorge Campillo baseball field in Tijuana on Monday, Fimbres urged players and parents to enjoy the moment, as he said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
He described this year’s group of players as “una generación campeona,” or a “winning generation,” whom he has followed since they were 8 years old. “These kids have too much baseball in them,” he said. “They’re growing up and learning a lot, which will be great for their development.”
In 2023, an interaction between Fimbres and one of his players went viral. During the second inning, with the bases loaded, he noticed that his pitcher was nervous. He went to the mound to encourage him and remind him to have fun and not be afraid of making mistakes. “What if he hits a home run? Exactly, nothing happens,” he told him. “You’re a good pitcher. You’re better.” For many, this moment captured the spirit of the Little League competition.
This time will be special for Fimbres. He shared that this might be his last stint with the Tijuana Municipal team.
Pitcher and outfielder Jean Paul Lavenant said that he felt happy for “Pancho,” as he fondly calls his coach, and hoped to get the title for him.
Lavenant named Major League players Jonathan Aranda of the Tampa Bay Rays and Alejandro Kirk of the Toronto Blue Jays as his inspirations. Both players came from the Tijuana Municipal league.
The players said they have their minds set on bringing home the championship. “Nothing is impossible,” said pitcher and infielder Emiliano Kerber.
Coach Marcelo Santamaría, who was part of the 2023 coaching team, said he hopes this opportunity leaves a lasting impression on the players. “It’s every young baseball player’s dream to participate in this tournament,” he noted.
That’s what they emphasized to the players throughout their journey to earn a spot in Williamsport. Tijuana Municipal will kick off its Little League World Series run on Aug. 20 against the Australian region.
“Would you rather experience it on TV or in person?” pitcher and outfielder Esteban Bautista recalled his coaches asking them before the Mexico region championship game.
In person, it will be.
The Killer Tomatoes are loose in San Diego, and they’re ready to get sauced.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is taking over Good Night John Boy (401 G Street) in the Gaslamp on Saturday, July 25 from 7pm-11pm for the official Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence after party, celebrating the wild new chapter in the cult classic franchise that first got its start in San Diego back in 1978.
Fans can party alongside cast and crew with meet and greets, “killer” cosplay, exclusive giveaways, DJs, and dancing. There will also be specialty themed cocktails and bites available for purchase, because fighting off killer produce apparently works up an appetite.
Tickets will be available here, though they’re not yet available. We’ll update once we know more.
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