On February 7, SANDAG released a 269-page Value Analysis Study Report (“VA Report”) for the LOSSAN Rail Realignment Project that contains a wealth of details about 16 identified “alternative concepts,” including discussion of construction impacts, ecological and community effects, maintainability, resilience and reliability. Representatives from eight entities, including the cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach, San Diego, Encinitas and Carlsbad, the 22nd District Agricultural Association (Fairgrounds), NCTD,
MoreSummer News Updates
Pipe Up! Letter to the Editor: Dan Quirk’s Rumination on Homelessness by Anne Farrell
Dear Editors,
Dan Quirk’s “rumination” on homelessness, widely distributed by email last Friday, is pretty enraging and stupid. A commentary in the LA Times on Saturday tells a compelling story of how deeply complex homelessness is, all the failures of government, and the many layers of humanity it takes to get someone off the streets…
July 2022 Print Issue
If you care about your health and those of your family and friends, pay attention to what is happening in Washington, DC right now, where Presidential orders are threatening to decimate the medical research critical to our health and well-being. San
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In just a single month, 2025 has become the second most destructive fire year in California history. It’s been almost two months since the devastating wildfires broke out in and around Los Angeles. In that time, we have experienced devastating outcomes including
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Independent journalist Gardiner Harris takes a serious look at the stark dark underbelly of our healthcare system in his book No More Tears, the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson to be published in April. Johnson & Johnson, recently paid $8.9 billion
MoreThe good news this winter is that COVID cases are well below the expected number. The bad news is that cases of the flu are much higher than expected. The most recent data for San Diego County had 82 weekly hospitalizations for
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Meet Rami, short for Ramen Noodle, an 11-year old ShihPoo whose family includes Henry Wong, Barbara Aufiero, and their son, Harrison, who occasionally visits from Ann Arbor. We recently moved to Del Mar from Little Rock when Henry, a dermatologist/scientist specializing in
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Living on this nature preserve that is Crest Canyon since 2004, my husband Lee and I have been greeted by quail, red fox, coyotes, rabbits, rats, squirrels, skunks, rattlesnakes, and beautiful birds including a hawk sitting on our bench and looking in
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“Many of the contemporary social issues that most vex and engage us can be addressed through arts experiences. Interaction through music, dance, food, theater can give ‘voice’ to distinctive traditions and imaginations, building respect and affection for our diversity. “I recently retired
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Raised in Syracuse NY, Jeff Midland has been a local for over 20 years. In the restaurant business since 1999, Jeff heard that Sbicca might be for sale and met with founder Dan Sbicca. Jeff, his wife Josephine and Executive Chef Craig
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2025 is off to a great start for DMF. We’ve already hosted a DMF Talk with Sudeepto Roy who shared an update on the rapidly changing innovation and consequences of AI, a Valentine’s Meet & Greet at Shore’s Park for Del Mar’s
MoreCongratulations Veda! In partnership with the Del Mar Historical Society, DMCC honored recent SDSU student Veda Browning-Schmigel with the Gordon Clanton Memorial Award. The $1,000 scholarship was established in 2021 with the proceeds of the Clanton Memorial Fund, established by the DMCC
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Del Mar Beaches Make Honor Roll
Heal The Bay’s annual report grades 500 beaches throughout California, giving Del Mar a perfect water score along with fourteen other San Diego County beaches. The nonprofit bases its scoring on the levels of fecal-indicator bacterial pollution in the ocean measured by county health agencies. Our county trailed only Orange County in the number of beaches on the Honor Roll.
Grannies Growth
Del Mar has received 93 applications for Accessory Development Units (ADU), sometimes known as “granny flats.” So far 49 building permits have been approved. By state law, ADUs are not subject to local review or zoning limits. The city cannot track whether these units are actually used for rentals, but the state does count them as new units.
Collectors Covered
When the City was in the process of awarding the new contract for collection of trash, recycling, and organics, many residents provided comments to the City Council offering high praise for Waste Management’s trash collectors. EDCO offered to hire all WM trash collectors assigned to Del Mar, including full credit for the seniority accruing from their WM employment. Of the three WM drivers/collectors who worked in Del Mar, one, who worked in commercial collection, decided to retire, but has a short-term contract with EDCO to train the new driver. The two who worked in residential collection are expected to accept EDCO’s offer. So Del Mar residents can expect to see the same friendly and professional drivers/collectors after July 1, when EDCO’s Del Mar service begins. EDCO’s service will use two-axle trucks for Del Mar, though one of those is not expected to arrive until the end of July.
Fencing Match on the Bluffs
Those interested in the North County Transit District’s (NCTD’s) plan to install fencing its right-of-way on the Del Mar bluffs may need a law degree to follow the convoluted legal proceedings seeking to uphold or challenge NCTD’s right to install the fence. Originally, NCTD filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) seeking a ruling that state law obligations asserted by the City of Del Mar and the California Coastal Commission (CCC), such as State law-based environmental requirements, are preempted by federal law, with respect to NCTD’s fencing plan. More recently, two separate additional legal actions were filed in state court against NCTD: one by Friends of Del Mar Bluffs and Laura DeMarco, and another by CCC. Both cases were removed by NCTD to federal court. On June 2, 2022, the federal judge issued a stay in both of those cases, noting that “the orderly course of justice measured in terms of simplifying issues is served by allowing the STB to determine the preemption issues.” CCC has moved to set aside that stay. Meanwhile, there is no indication when the STB is likely to decide the case pending before it. NCTD’s Matt Tucker stated in a recent STB filing that NCTD will not act to install the fence until after STB rules on the petition pending there.
March 2025
July Print Edition
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Quotable Del Mar
ROSE ANN SHARP
“The Second Amendment is not a license to kill. Gun violence is predictable and preventable. A proven way is to regulate access to military-style assault weapons that have been used in almost every mass murder in America. The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban reduced gun violence by 43%, and its expiration in 2004 increased the number of deaths by 239%.”
— Sandpiper Commentary, “Gun Violence is Predictable and Preventable: You Can Help Stop the Violence”
Del Mar resident Rose Ann Sharp, founder of NeverAgainCA, has been at the forefront of political activism to support gun safety measures, calling on public officials at all levels “to stop playing politics with peoples’ lives and address our epidemic of gun violence.” She is “fearless” in her work to make “our community a safer place for all of us,” according to San Diego Mayor and former 78th District Assemblymember Todd Gloria.