San Diego, like much of Southern California, is a car city. Always has been. And there are good reasons for that. The city’s public transportation options are neither quicker nor easier to access.
For our series on what’s at stake for San Diego over the next 20 years, Bella Ross writes that as climate change (driven in part by, well, driving) barrels down on us, the average citizen’s behavior needs to change – and fast.
San Diego’s leaders have a plan. It’s one that prioritizes public transportation, safer infrastructure and increased walkability. But it would also require the average San Diegan to drive a whole lot less.
That’s part of the problem. Because when the rubber has hit the road, San Diegans, and the politicians who represent them have been entirely unwilling to commit to many of the big changes that would entail. Chiefly, getting out from behind the wheel.
But as the date gets later, and the plans get tighter, we’ll all have to come to grips with just how much carrot and how much stick we’re willing to accept to achieve the goals we say matter over the next 20 years. Or, you know, we can just not.
This story is part of our new series celebrating Voice of San Diego’s 20th anniversary: What’s at stake for the region over the next two decades? Read more stories in the series here.
Dems Pick a New Chair
Will Rodriguez-Kennedy will once again lead the San Diego Democratic Party after a vote of the Central Committee. He defeated Sara Ochoa by a vote 37-27. He needed 34 votes to reach the necessary threshold.
Three years ago, Rodriguez-Kennedy resigned from the same job amid accusations of sexual assault he was able to move past. He said his biggest priority is to reach voters who supported former President Joe Biden in San Diego in 2020 but either did not vote or didn’t vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
“We have to acknowledge the reality that our party is demanding a fighter — they’re demanding a party that fights for them, listens to them, and talks about the issues that address their everyday life: how to get better jobs, how to put food on the table, how to have a better quality of life, how to address the housing crisis,” he said in a Q&A with us this weekend.
San Diegans Kinda Suck at Composting
Armando Alferez, left, separates trash and other items from a pile of compost at Miramar Greenery on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. / Zoë Meyers for Voice of San Diego
Yesterday, our environment reporter spent the morning at the dump.
Well, the city of San Diego’s Miramar Greenery to be exact, to watch as a group of people handpicked trash bags, pizza boxes and other garbage from compost piles.
Turns out, San Diegans have been dumping garbage in their green bins, which are only meant for yard clippings and food waste. The city recently ran a pilot program that involved formerly homeless individuals digging through compost piles to pick out trash.
Now, they will have to consider whether they need to hire people to pick trash on a regular basis.
Newly Homeless Once Again Outnumber Newly Housed
The number of newly homeless San Diegans outpaced those exiting homelessness last month.
In July, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness reported that 1,176 people became homeless for the first time and 1,079 moved into housing.
Your monthly reminder: For most of the last few years, local efforts to house homeless residents haven’t kept up with the flood of people losing their homes. That equation must change to dramatically reduce homelessness.
Song of the Week
The Sorcerer Family, “Hell In Mirrors”: Betcha’ never thought a ukulele could sound ominous before, huh? Well, just give The Sorcerer Family a listen. Sam Lopez, formerly of the pitch-black noise project Zsa Zsa Gabor, crafts meditative, discordant and tantalizingly mysterious tunes on a slightly fuzzy electric ukulele. His technical and unorthodox playing recalls traditional folk styles lost to the ages. And at times, it really does feel like he’s prying open a secret door shrouded in mist, behind which lies some spirit whose return was long foretold, but whose power has been forgotten.
Best enjoyed by candlelight. Heck, light a dozen.
Like what you hear? Check out The Sorcerer Family at The Comet Theatre on Friday, Aug. 22.
Do you have a “Song of the Week” suggestion? Shoot us an email and a sentence or two about why you’ve been bumping this song lately. Friendly reminder: all songs should be by local artists.
In Other News
- The developer that purchased the Horton Plaza mall has officially lost the property after defaulting on its loan. The company’s lender has now taken control of the historic mall, where construction to turn it into a mixed-use office campus remains unfinished. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in July, driven by job losses in the construction and professional services sectors. That’s the highest rate of unemployment since September 2021, when the region was still slowly recovering from the pandemic. (Union-Tribune)
- The city of Oceanside has launched a pilot program that will dispatch drones as first responders to incident reports. Though the programs are growing in popularity, they’ve been hit with pushback in places like Chula Vista, where residents have raised concerns about their invasiveness. (City News Service)
- Opinion: A data researcher for a nonprofit advocating for public transportation argues that San Diego needs trains to run more frequently rather than a new dedicated express route.
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.