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Stories by Marty Graham

Sleepy Descanso

Roberts Ranch Opens its Gates to Hikers Thanks to the crusading efforts of Descanso cabinet-maker Duncan McFetridge, affectionately known by some as the "Robin Hood of Cleveland Forest," two inholdings (islands of private property inside …

Carmel Valley – the anxiety of a new suburb

Carmel Valley accidental pond to be drained More than 17 years ago, land owner Robert Barczewski had a grading crew push a pile of dirt into a dip in a dirt road on his private …

Ward-Faulconer parking plan to Adams Ave. and Mid City groups: drop dead

After several years of hard work developing bike lane plans, Normal Heights business groups and the city parking district were stunned when City Councilman Chris Ward – and then the mayor- launched their own plan …

First SEAL to complain about Gallagher first to get weapons permit

In spite of testimony that a half dozen Navy SEAL witnesses who agreed to testify against Navy Special Operations Chief Ed Gallagher were offered permits to carry concealed weapons, only one permit has been issued. …

July 12, 2019
Scripps Ranch – starter homes

Good intentions behind paving of Scripps Trail Claudia Walker's family bought a home on the 10400 block of the street, a quiet, neatly manicured tract in Scripps Ranch near where the northeastern edge of the …

Leucadia – funky no more

La Costa Ave. missing time capsule found In the 1970s, Encinitas sheriff’s deputies would make the Leucadia rest area one of their first stops in their morning patrols, to kick out squatting hippies and camping …

Bay Park – around long before Clairemont

Red balloon sent up in Bay Park "I am against high density,” says Johnson. “I think it’s wrong. I'm very unhappy with the way that this is going. We don't need more people [here]. That's …

Children’s pool ramp fight flares up

Pupping season at the Children’s Pool in La Jolla just ended and the pool area reopened to the public last week, just in time for the latest in the fight over human access to the …

Briggs pulls out of San Diego mayor race

Cory Briggs confirmed late Tuesday night that he is ending his campaign for mayor of San Diego. "Four months of campaigning reminds me how much better I am at practicing law than politics," he said …

May 15, 2019
The sewage that Imperial Beach wants to put near San Ysidro

San Ysidro residents were stunned and angry when they learned that neighboring Imperial Beach and the Surfrider Foundation are pushing a plan for an 80-acre capture basin for sewage, sediment and trash within a mile …

Moshe Krafchow's plan to prevent San Diego wildfires

When Moshe Krafchow talks about his novel approach to reducing the risk of fueling wildfires, he looks like a true believer. “The best thing we can do is work with the plants to get them …

Bankers Hill volunteer attempt to save Maple Canyon stymied by city

A Bankers Hill volunteer group – along with San Diego Canyonlands – has lined up a $2 million federal grant for work in Maple Canyon to stabilize and restore it – and to prevent tons …

San Elijo Lagoon temporary road headed for permanence

The North County Transit District and SANDAG, with the support of Encinitas's mayor, want to make a temporary construction road near the San Elijo Lagoon permanent, and they quietly took the request to the California …

San Diego city council members have distinct goals for city money

The devil is in the details and the details are in the documents — individual San Diego City Council offices’ funding priorities for the 2020 city budget. The big issues, on which most or all …

March 13, 2019
Linda Vista's Skate World, you're fine, now go away

Linda Vista residents were stunned to learn Monday night that Civic San Diego, a wing of city government, is quietly selling off the land beneath the historic building that is Skate World, where 15,000 people …

Sandag fined for pumping dirty water into street in Morena area

The State Regional Water Quality Control Board is crediting former Reader reporter Dorian Hargrove for a complaint against the San Diego Association of Governments and its contractor that resulted in a $36,371 fine for "actively …

February 25, 2019
The people who named Live Well center had a sense of humor

For the people in the community near the intersection of Euclid and Market streets, the 80,000-square-foot Live Well center that is expected to be home to consolidated probation offices, looks like a big box that …

February 8, 2019
Cory Briggs runs for mayor of San Diego

The white board in the conference room behind Cory Briggs tells the story: On one side, in green ink it says: Donor class v. voter class What does it mean to stand up for working …

January 29, 2019
Bankers Hill opens umbrellas to protest 'shady' project

Nearly 100 people opened black umbrellas in western Balboa Park on Sunday to demonstrate how far the shadow from a project will fall and darken the park. “This is the early afternoon shadow,” said organizer …

January 22, 2019
Guns aimed at Solana Beach cheap housing

10 units of affordable housing built on a parking lot in Solana Beach should not be built because “affordable housing does not belong at the coast,” according to the Arizona resident who invested in the …

January 18, 2019
Maybe a Coronado bayfront house is not what you want

When retired Colorado software company founder Ed McVaney bought a bayfront house in Coronado in 2010, he didn’t like the look of the front yard – a patch of green with a frontage road running …

January 15, 2019
New Linda Vista apartments welcomes present tenants

Lillibelle and Jimmy have lived in their Linda Vista apartment complex for more than twenty years. So when the 36-apartment complex was sold for $8.3 million last year, the couple began keeping track of the …

December 18, 2018
Crossroads' last gun show at Del Mar Fairgrounds?

A month after gun show opponents Ira and Rose Ann Sharp and their advocacy group helped convince the Del Mar Fairgrounds board that public land was no place for a gun show, Ms. Sharp received …

December 14, 2018
$100 for place to walk your dog? Not bad.

University Heights residents are divided on the highest, best use for the joint-use park that is the playground for Alice Birney Elementary School. Neighborhood dog lovers have been letting as many as 30 of their …

Carmel Valley accidental pond to be drained

More than 17 years ago, land owner Robert Barczewski had a grading crew push a pile of dirt into a dip in a dirt road on his private property in northern Carmel Valley. The dip …

December 12, 2018
IB tries to calm fears of eminent domain

Hundreds of Imperial Beach residents showed up to a land-use workshop Wednesday night to tell their city council they are opposed to the city using eminent domain to take ocean-affected property and give them to …

November 16, 2018
What Prop 6 is repealing in San Diego

In the last few months, city council members, state legislators, unions, and city officials have been schlepping around to community meetings to voice their support for the excise tax of 12 cents per gallon that …

November 2, 2018
Imperial Beach in the balance

You’d think elections in a town that covers about four square miles and is home to 27,400 people would be a pretty simple affair. But the races in Imperial Beach are anything but that. While …

Transit center enables wildcatters at border

Shifty shacks have been popping up around the Intermodal Transportation Center as the federal government opened the updated Ped East border crossing at the San Ysidro port of entry, and San Ysidrans aren’t happy about …

October 5, 2018
I-5 has the worst litter, 805 is second

The numbers are alarming: 30 percent of Caltrans’ $18.1 million local maintenance budget went for picking up after people last year. $6.2 million went toward picking up litter off the freeway and for cleaning out …

September 19, 2018
DMV building doesn't fit the neighborhood

The loudspeaker blasts go on all day, says Mary Alsop, who lives a half block from the Hillcrest Department of Motor Vehicles office. So when the DMV presented its proposed design for the replacement building …

September 7, 2018
Robert Venturi's columns tucked behind La Jolla bungalow

The columns of the colonnade behind the bungalow are strangely out of place, with the words ‘Contemporary Art’ in red letters jumping out from the white woodwork. Is it a Jeff Koons piece? Well no, …

August 28, 2018
Trapped in Scripps Ranch

Beata Piehl learned that mass transit won’t come to her neighborhood when her disabled son began going to Miramar Community College. For him to catch a bus to his 8:00 am class, she had to …

The irony of historic districts

Two planning groups that share Park Boulevard as a boundary formed a task force to look at the historic district on Park between Upas St. and Robinson street, one that the city’s historic resources board …

Deceptive calm in University City

As the San Diego water department plans to plant several dozen miles of pressurized 48-inch-diameter steel pipes to and from its pure water plant, residents of University City are worried. They are expressing those concerns …

How high can Bankers Hill go?

A project to build a 20-story residential tower next to the St. Paul’s cathedral on Sixth Avenue between Maple and Nutmeg won praise and criticism from the community Thursday night at a well-attended meeting. More …

Angry PB residents don’t like mayor’s plan

A meeting turned testy Wednesday night as leaders of three different groups vied for the support of the Pacific Beach Planning Group on their concerns with and opposition to the new plan for short term …

East San Ysidro loses the foot traffic

More than 20,000 pedestrians come across the border into the neighborhood each day; San Ysidro should be booming with commercial redevelopment. But it’s not. “SANDAG and SDMTS are spending millions to improve transportation for people …

Neighbors hire Aguirre to fight Jacobs Center

In a deal that helps the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation at Euclid and Market, San Diego County is buying some of the center’s excess acreage to the east, with plans to tear down the …

Jamul tribe denies casino imploding

The Jamul Tribe casino is advertising more than 30 job openings, which seems to dispel the notion that the casino is imploding. At the end of May, the Penn National Gaming Corp., which owns the …

June 20, 2018
Who cares about 40th and El Cajon?

When John O’Connor looks at the lot on the northwest corner of El Cajon Boulevard and 40th where the I-15 exit ramps end, he sees a great opportunity for a building with housing and shops …

City lowers the bar

In Jean Hoeger’s neighborhood, cars parked atop the front yard are becoming the norm. And with recent changes in code enforcement, residents have lost their chance to get the municipal code enforced. “In the College …

Video of Punta Bandera sewage explodes

A video of slightly treated sewage flowing like a waterfall from a southwestern Tijuana treatment plant as it arrives at the beach at Punta Bandera has gone viral, with more than a half million views …

May 25, 2018
One million dollar houses atop San Pasqual Valley

When Charlie Jancic thinks about wildfire in the San Pasqual Valley, it’s from real life. In 2007, the Witch Fire and Guejito Fire took his house. “The roads aren’t great — they’re mostly two lanes, …

Circulate San Diego: Planning groups kill needed housing

The affordable housing crisis has been tough on community planning groups. Developers, city officials, and housing advocates blame these volunteer groups for slowing or blocking construction of the homes that everyone seems to agree the …

May 2, 2018
Was Bilbray right?

Following a model created more than 30 years ago by former Imperial Beach mayor Brian Bilbray on top of a bulldozer, crews from the International Boundary and Water Commission pushed up an earthen berm at …

No-man's land in San Ysidro to get trees

Although the hoped-for park in San Ysidro has gotten smaller, the plan for a piece of land at the end of Beyer Boulevard is now sharpened to a fine point. Monday night, planning group members …

March 23, 2018
Don't tell them you are a reporter

San Diego city officials confirmed that the city has suspended the creation of Maintenance Assessment Districts — but couldn’t find any documentation of that policy shift during the more than four weeks they searched after …

March 22, 2018
Can't blame North Chapel plan on Corky

The Corky McMillin Company’s quiet plan to turn the historic North Chapel at the Naval Training Center into a “restaurant space” is meeting with growing community resistance ranging from the congregations that pray there to …

North Park’s crusade against shifty developers

The North Park Planning Committee has lost track of how often apartment developers apparently realize they’ve built condos at the end of construction and come to ask for a map that divides the apartment building …

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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