San Diego, CA

Native blue-eyed grass becomes San Diego's official flower

Published

9 months ago

April 22, 2025

Native blue-eyed grass becomes San Diego's official flower

SAN DIEGO (CNS) — San Diego has a new official flower, following the City Council’s unanimous vote Tuesday to replace the non-native carnation with the native western blue-eyed grass.

The campaign to change San Diego’s official flora came about through the San Diego Bird Alliance, which ventured away from its typical avian interest to launch the Your City, Your Flower campaign in March.

Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee thanked the bird alliance, who “truly put the petal to the metal” to make sure every ZIP code in the county had an opportunity to vote, he said.

Coinciding with the NCAA basketball tournaments, the SDBA created a bracket-style tournament to choose between eight native plants — black sage, bladderpod, blue elderberry, blue-eyed grass, bush sunflower, California buckwheat, California rose and Cleveland sage.

Those eight were selected based on environmental benefits, Kumeyaay cultural significance, drought resistance, native status, conservation concerns and artistic potential, according to an alliance statement.

“Native plants represent the backbone of our ecosystem,” City Council President Joe LaCava said.

The Barona Band of Mission Indians provided the Kumeyaay words for the flowers.

“This initiative aims to replace the current non-native carnation with a flower that truly represents our local ecosystems and supports our native wildlife,” said Savannah Stallings, conservation advocacy coordinator for the San Diego Bird Alliance.

The western blue-eyed grass, known as Sisyrinchium bellum in its scientific or Latin name, pasto des ojitos azules in Spanish and kuushaaw in the Kumeyaay language, grows in California and Oregon and west of the Sierra Nevada, with its range extending south into Baja California.

It is not a true grass, but instead a member of the iris family. Stems can extend up to 24 inches — but are usually shorter — and end in a small bluish-purplish bloom. It thrives in meadows, freshwater wetlands and along streams.

The plant bested Cleveland sage, California buckwheat and just edged out the bush sunflower by 34 votes — 1,204 to 1,170 — to take the floral crown. More than 7,700 people voted in the tournament in the Elite Inflorescence, Final Flora and Corolla Championship rounds.

“Blue-eyed grass works great at the edge of landscaped areas, is a fire-resistant plant, and uses a corm to store resources underground,” a city document said. “In 1908, an ethnographer recorded Luiseño Native Americans taking the roots of blue-eyed grass as a purgative. Delfina Cuero, a Kumeyaay ethnobotanist and author, wrote in her book that the plant was good for cramps.”

San Diego adopted its previous official flower, the carnation, on April 28, 1964, via a secret ballot.

“San Diego County is the most biodiverse county in the nation, and this initiative aligns with the city’s existing environmental commitments, including its designation as a Bee City and the mayor’s Monarch pledge,” SDBA Wildfire Resiliency Fellow Hailey Matthews said.

Source link

Click to comment

San Diego, CA

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout

Published

12 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout

San Diego will put off issuing citations for paid parking in Balboa Park for about one month while improvements are made, but Mayor Todd Gloria says the new system is functioning well and being “actively adopted.”

In a long and harshly worded memo released Thursday, Gloria said recent calls by City Council members to suspend the program were politically motivated and examples of bad governance and erratic decision-making.

Gloria also deflected blame for the chaotic way enforcement began Monday, when city officials raced to put stickers about resident discounts on parking kiosks and lobbied a vendor to deliver crucial missing signs.

The mayor said the council had “shaped, amended and approved” paid parking in Balboa Park and contended an accelerated timeline chosen by the council made it hard for his administration to implement it flawlessly.

The mayor’s memo came in response to a Tuesday memo from Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera in which they called implementation of paid parking “haphazard” and “not ready for prime time.”

Lee and Elo-Rivera said the process for city residents to get approved for discounts was so complex, cumbersome and confusing that Gloria should waive fees for residents until they have had time to adapt and learn.

While Gloria rejected that suggestion in part of his memo, he later said “enforcement remains focused on education, not punishment, during this early phase, to ensure park users are aware of the new parking fees.”

Dave Rolland, a spokesperson for Gloria, said Thursday that no specific date had been set for when the city would shift from education to enforcement. But he added that “about a month” would be an accurate timeline.

City officials have already corrected one key mistake: Signs that were missing Monday — alerting drivers that the 951-space lower Inspiration Point lot is free for three hours — have since been installed.

Lee and Elo-Rivera in their memo decried “an inadequate effort to educate the public on how to use this new system.”

They said San Diegans had not been clearly informed about when a portal for city resident discounts would go live or how to use it.

And they complained that residents weren’t told they couldn’t buy discounted parking passes in person, or when enforcement with citations would actually begin.

City residents must apply for discounts online, pay $5 to have their residency verified, then wait two days for that verification and choose the day they will visit in advance.

Lee and Elo-Rivera called the city’s efforts “a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to.”

Gloria said the city collected $23,000 in parking fees on Monday and Tuesday and another $106,000 in daily, monthly and quarterly passes — mostly from residents who get discounts on such passes.

“Early data shows that the program is functioning and being used,” he said. “These are not the metrics of a system that is failing to function. They are the metrics of a system that is new, actively being adopted, and continuing to improve as public familiarity increases.”

While Gloria conceded that some improvements are still necessary, he rejected calls from Lee and Elo-Rivera for a suspension, citing his concerns it would jeopardize city finances and confuse the public.

“Your proposal to suspend paid parking for residents two days into the new program would have immediate and serious fiscal consequences,” Gloria said. “This reversal could introduce confusion among park users and would disregard investments already made to establish the system, potentially compromising the program’s effectiveness.”

Paid parking in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $3.7 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30, but revenue is expected to rise substantially when the fees are in place for a full fiscal year.

Gloria said the money is a small part of the city’s overall solution to recurring deficits it faces of more than $100 million per year.

“What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable,” he said. “That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo said Thursday that paid parking there has continued to go smoothly since it began on Monday.

The zoo, which is using Ace Parking for enforcement, opted for immediate citations instead of an educational grace period.

Source link

San Diego, CA

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Police responded to a barricaded individual in the Mission Valley area Thursday afternoon, prompting a heavy law enforcement presence.

The Nexstar Media video above details resources for crime victims

The department confirmed around 1 p.m. that officers were on scene in the 1400 block of Hotel Circle North, and are working to safely resolve the situation. Authorities asked the public to avoid the area and allow officers the space needed to conduct their operations.

Police described the incident as a domestic violence restraining order violation. At this time, it’s unknown if the person is armed.

No injuries have been reported.

The suspect was taken into custody within an hour.

Further details about the barricaded person were not immediately released. Police say updates will be shared as more information becomes available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Source link

San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Luis Campusano

Published

2 days ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Padres roster review: Luis Campusano – San Diego Union-Tribune

LUIS CAMPUSANO

Position(s): Catcher
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
2026 opening day age: 27
Height / Weight: 5-foot-10 / 232 pounds
How acquired: Second round of the draft in 2017 (Cross Creek HS, Ga.)
Contract status: Will make $900,000 after agreeing to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration; Will not be a free agent until 2029.
fWAR in 2025: Minus-0.4
Key 2025 stats: .000 AVG, .222 OBP, .000 SLG, 0 HRs, 0 RBIs, 0 runs, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0 steals (10 games, 27 plate appearances)

STAT TO NOTE

1 — The number of plate appearances for Campusano while in the majors between June 1 and June 13 and the one at-bat resulted in a weak, pinch-hit groundout against a position player (Kike Hernandez) on the mound in mop-up duty. Campusano was recalled to the majors four times in 2025 but did not get a real opportunity get settled after he went 0-for-6 with four walks and a strikeout in three straight starts as a DH in early May. Of course, hitting .227/.281/.361 with eight homers over 299 plate appearances after getting the first real chance to start in 2024 likely informed how the Padres viewed his opportunity in 2025.

Down — Called up a final time on the last day of the regular season, Campusano balked at the idea that the season did not go the way he wanted. “I had a great season,” he said as he and his teammates packed for the NL Wild Card Series in Chicago. And he did … for Triple-A El Paso. He hit more home runs than ever (25), drove in more runs (95) and finished with a career-high 1.036 OPS, tops among all qualifying Triple-A hitters. The disappointment inferred in the question posed to Campusano was that he was not able to impact the big-league team in any way in 2025, which began with the team choosing to bring in a 40-year-old Yuli Gurriel a chance on the opening day roster over a homegrown product. Once billed as the catcher of the future, Campusno did not catch a single game in the majors, nor did he get any hits, although the opportunity to play was sporadic after getting three straight starts as a DH in early May (see stat to note). The Padres even lost back-up catcher Elias Díaz to an oblique injury over the final weekend of the regular season, but Campusano — who played out the string for a Triple-A El Paso team that did not make the playoffs rather than participate in the majors as a September call-up — was added to the postseason roster more as a right-handed bat than a third catcher (Martín Maldonado was also re-added to the team for the playoffs as the defensive back-up to Freddy Fermin). Campusano, of course, was not asked to help the team in either capacity before the Padres were eliminated in three games.

2026 OUTLOOK

Campusano is finally out of minor league options this year, so the Padres will either have to carry him on the roster, trade him or expose him to waivers. He has fans in the organization, but two big-league staffs headed by Bob Melvin and Mike Shildt seemingly lost faith in his ability to catch a game and all the responsibilities that come with that. It remains to be seen what impact the arrival of robo umps will have on how new manager Craig Stammen views Campusano’s ability behind the plate, but he’s been a potent minor league hitter who has yet to truly get on track in the majors beyond the second half of 2023 (.875 OPS, 6 HRs). Campusano has dabbled at first base in recent years in the minors (12 starts total), so perhaps he settles into a role as a second catcher/right-handed DH/first base option to start 2026.

Luis Campusano #15 of the San Diego Padres and Nick Pivetta #27 walk to the dugout during a practice before the Wildcard series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sept. 29, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)