Campfire’s octopus, chorizo, and celery-root entrée.
Gage Forster
San Diego, CA
Will disastrous flooding force San Diego to finally fix its storm drains?
Hundreds of San Diegans are assessing the damage caused by Monday’s flash floods, which washed away cars, caused a sinkhole in Miramar and blanketed homes and streets in Southcrest with mud and debris.
The intense rainfall in the span of just a few hours laid bare the longstanding inadequacies of San Diego’s stormwater infrastructure. And it provided a glimpse into the future, when climate change is likely to hit low-income communities of color the hardest.
For decades, politicians and bureaucrats have swept the stormwater problem under the rug. Major storms are still relatively rare, and surface-level infrastructure needs like potholes tend to draw the most attention from constituents.
The result is a staggering $1.6 billion in unfunded needs for the stormwater system. That deficit has more than doubled in the past five years. It’s now larger than the unfunded needs of the city’s roads, sidewalks and streetlights combined.
But as San Diego tries to prepare itself for more extreme and unpredictable weather, the recent floods could force the city to finally make long-term fixes to its network of stormwater channels a top priority.
What are stormwater channels?
A stormwater channel is a fancy urban planning term for a river or stream. Some are lined in concrete while others are more natural looking and full of vegetation. They can be exposed to daylight or run underground in tunnels.
Many of San Diego’s underground channels were built more than 50 years ago and have reached the end of their useful life. The city’s Stormwater Department is trying to replace or repair them proactively and does regular inspections to see which ones have the most urgent needs.
But the stormwater system is so vast that officials don’t always know which parts are the closest to collapse. The Stormwater Department also doesn’t have enough staff or funding to inspect and fix all the channels in a timely manner.
That means often, underground channels fall apart unexpectedly and the city has to do emergency repairs — like they’re currently doing on Miramar Road. Those are more expensive, and they require diverting resources from proactive repair projects, which have to wait longer to get funding. This is why the backlog of repairs has gotten so much worse in recent years.
Why are stormwater channels so hard to fix?
Repairing underground stormwater channels requires digging with heavy machinery — and doing so carefully to avoid damaging water, sewer and electrical infrastructure. These projects require a high level of skill and expertise, so the city has to offer competitive wages to recruit the laborers and engineers who can get the job done safely.
The channels that are exposed to daylight are difficult to maintain for different reasons. These are often naturally occurring creeks and streams and provide habitat for native species. If the city wants to clear them out so water can flow through more quickly, it needs permits from outside agencies, such as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Securing those permits takes years. Sometimes permits require the city to purchase land elsewhere and relocate the vegetation they remove from the channel to ensure there is no net loss of native habitat.
Tom Snyder, director of the city’s Stormwater Department, told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday that San Diego has about 200 segments of flood control channels and the resources to do maintenance on about four of them each year.
“We prioritize those channels and maintain the ones that we can,” Snyder said. “But a lot of things have to align in order for that to happen.”
Why doesn’t the city spend more on stormwater infrastructure?
San Diego could increase funding for stormwater channel maintenance — but doing so would require taking money away from other infrastructure needs like parks, libraries, fire stations, homeless shelters or road repair. The decision on where and how to spend infrastructure dollars is part of the city’s annual budgeting process and involves negotiations between the mayor and City Council.
A report in 2018 from the Office of the City Auditor recommended the city explore ways to increase funding for stormwater infrastructure through a new tax or fee. In 2022, the Stormwater Department finalized its response to the audit, floating a tax of 4 to 5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface on a property. That would scale the tax to the amount of stormwater that runs off a property, while exempting areas where the water can be absorbed into the earth. The tax would cost the typical single-family home in San Diego between $128 and $160 per year.
The city commissioned a poll and found a majority of voters would approve such a tax. But these kinds of taxes require a two-thirds majority in California, and the poll found support was teetering on that threshold.
In 2022 the city received a sizable loan from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to fund stormwater infrastructure repairs. The loan could infuse the Stormwater Department with up to $359.2 million in new money.
But even with that extra funding, the city’s stormwater needs still dwarf the available resources. An infrastructure planning report this month found total stormwater needs over the next five years are at least $2.2 billion, and that it expects to take in only about $572 million in revenue. That leaves a funding gap of $1.6 billion, making stormwater the largest unfunded need in the whole city.
San Diego Padres (14-7) at Los Angeles Angels (11-11), April 19, 2026, 1:07 p.m. PST
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San Diego, CA
Solans, Luna, Guilavogui help RSL beat slumping San Diego, extend unbeaten streak to 6 games :: WRALSportsFan.com
SANDY, Utah — SANDY, Utah (AP) — Sergi Solans had two goals and an assist, Diego Luna added a goal and two assists, and Real Salt Lake beat San Diego FC 4-2 on Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to six games.
Morgan Guilavogui scored his first goal in MLS and had an assist for Real Salt Lake (5-1-1). The 28-year-old designated player has five goal contributions in his first six career games.
RSL hasn’t lost since a 1-0 defeat at Vancouver in the season opener.
San Diego (3-3-2) has lost three in a row and is winless in five straight.
Luna opened the scoring in the fifth minute when he re-directed a misplayed pass by Duran Ferree, San Diego’s 19-year-old goalkeeper, into the net.
Moments later, Solans headed home a perfectly-placed cross played by Luna from outside the right corner of the 18-yard box to the back post to make it 2-0. Solans, a 23-year-old forward, flicked a header from the center of the area inside the right post and past the outstretched arm of Ferree to make it 3-1 in the 37th minute.
Guilavogui slammed home a first-touch shot to give RSL a three-goal lead in the 45th.
Marcus Ingvartsen scored a goal in the 14th minute and Anders Dreyer converted from the penalty spot in the 66th for San Diego.
Ingvartsen has five goals and an assist this season and has 10 goal contributions (seven goals, three assists) in 16 career MLS appearances.
Rafael Cabral had three saves for RSL.
Ferree finished with five saves.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer
When John Resnick opened Campfire on a quaint little street in Carlsbad, Calif., in 2016, some locals weren’t sure what to think. The coastal enclave wasn’t exactly awash in innovative, chef-driven establishments, so it was a shock to see the dining room consistently full. Early on, one woman wondered aloud to Resnick, “Where did all these people come from?”
It’s a moment he remembers vividly. “I was struck by her statement, because I think she was surprised that so many other people in Carlsbad were there,” Resnick says.
The rest of the culinary world would take some time to catch up to what was happening. In 2019, when Michelin expanded to rate restaurants throughout all of California—not just the San Francisco area—Addison was the only one in San Diego to earn a star. But since emerging from the pandemic, the region’s food scene has grown dramatically. Driven by outstanding farms, ingredients, a bumper crop of talented chefs, and a G.D.P. approximately the size of New Zealand or Greece, San Diego County has become one of America’s most underrated dining destinations.
Perhaps no single restaurant is a better emblem for this shift than chef William Bradley’s Addison, which opened in 2006. After landing his first star, Bradley knew he wanted more. To get them, he transformed his French-leaning fare to serve what he calls California Gastronomy, which combines the cultures of SoCal with impeccable ingredients and wildly impressive techniques, prizing flavor over flair. Michelin responded, awarding Addison a second star in 2022, and making it the first Southern California three-star restaurant just a year later. The accolade has created a halo effect, attracting culinary tourists from around the world.
Berry beet tartlets at San Diego’s three-star stalwart Addison.
Eric Wolfinger
“Earning three stars forces the global dining community to pay attention to a place that may not have been on their radar before,” says chef Eric Bost, a partner in Resnick’s four Carlsbad establishments.
Resnick recruited Bost, who spent time at award-winning outposts of Restaurant Guy Savoy, to run Jeune et Jolie, which he led to a star in 2021. They’ve since taken over an old boogie-board factory down the street and converted it to an all-day restaurant and bakery, Wildland. The space also hosts an exquisite tasting-counter experience called Lilo, which was given a Michelin star mere months after opening in April 2025. And as Resnick and Bost grew their successful Carlsbad operation, chef Roberto Alcocer earned a Michelin star for his Mexican fine-dining spot Valle in nearby Oceanside.
The stylish tasting counter at Michelin one-star Lilo in Carlsbad.
Kimberly Motos
About 25 miles to the south, another affluent coastal community is going through its own culinary glow up. In La Jolla, chef Tara Monsod and the hospitality group Puffer Malarkey Collective opened the stylish French steakhouse Le Coq. Chef Erik Anderson, formerly of Michelin two-star Coi, is preparing to launch Roseacre. And last year, Per Se alums Elijah Arizmendi and Brian Hung left New York to open the elegant tasting-menu restaurant Lucien, lured by the ingredients they’d get to serve. “A major reason we chose San Diego is the quality and diversity of the produce,” Arizmendi explains. “San Diego County has more small farms than anywhere else in the U.S., and its many microclimates allow farmers to grow an incredible range of ingredients year-round.”
Wildland’s spicy Italian sandwich.
Gage Forster
Chef Travis Swikard has also been a tireless advocate for the region’s ingredients since he returned to San Diego, his hometown, and opened Mediterranean-influenced Callie in 2021. There’s no sophomore slump with his latest effort, the French Riviera–inspired Fleurette in La Jolla, where he’s serving his take on classics like leeks vinaigrette and his San Diego “Bouillabaisse” with local red sheepshead fish and spiny lobster. Its food is bright, produce-driven, and attentive in execution, while the dining room maintains a relaxed and unpretentious style of service. And Swikard sees that approach cohering into a regional style with a strong network of professionals behind it.
“It’s really nice that we are developing our own identity, not trying to be like L.A. or any other market, just highlighting what’s great about the San Diego lifestyle and ingredients,” he says. “Similar to New York, a chef community is starting to develop where chefs are supporting each other. There is a true sense of pride to be cooking here.”
Top: In La Jolla, Lucien serves ocean whitefish with tomatoes turned into concasse, sabayon, and other expressions.
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