GLP-1 Treatments, Semaglutide or Tirzepatide Medical Weight Loss in San Diego, CA

The sixth wave of rain in the past week will drench parts of San Diego County on Wednesday and will be followed Thursday by winds powerful enough to make driving difficult on Interstate 8 east of Alpine and cause widespread power outages, the National Weather Service says.

The new system is emblematic of a rainy season that has turned out to be far wetter than expected. Since the season began on Oct. 1, San Diego International Airport has recorded 7.80 inches of precipitation, which is 4.49 inches above average. Just over 3 inches have fallen since New Year’s Day.

Many forecasters expected drier conditions because the West Coast has been experiencing a weak La Niña.

Forecasters say a weather system off Baja California will funnel rain into the region starting Wednesday morning. Most of the moisture is expected to fall between the border and San Diego and as far east as Mount Laguna. Some areas will get about a quarter-inch of rain, and embedded cells could push totals higher.

Thursday will bring meteorological whiplash.

Cold, onshore winds will begin blowing by mid-morning and will hit 50 mph to 60 mph along eastern Interstate 8, with possibly higher gusts. A high wind watch will be in effect for the San Diego mountains until late Thursday afternoon, when the winds will change direction, arriving from the opposite direction. That’s when the Santa Anas kick in.

The winds “could blow down trees and power lines,” the weather service says. Widespread power outages are possible. Travel could be difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles.

The Santa Anas usually produce warmer temperatures. But not this time around. Forecasters say the pre-dawn temperatures on Friday will mostly be in the 30s east of Interstate 15. The western half of the county also will be cold, especially Oceanside, which will dip to 39, and Mira Mesa, which will fall to 42.

The California Supreme Court has declined to hear the city of San Diego’s appeal to exempt the Midway Rising project from the area’s 30-foot height limit on buildings, dealing a blow to the yearslong redevelopment project around Pechanga Arena that has been at the center of multiple ballot measures and faced subsequent lawsuits.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal on Dec. 30, leaving in place the 30-foot limit, after an October ruling from the appellate court that the city did not adequately assess in its environmental review how taller buildings could affect air flow, construction noise and Peregrine falcons’ ability to nest, among other issues.

“While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear the City’s appeal, this procedural decision does not change our commitment or our momentum to redevelop the Sports Arena site. We continue to disagree with the lower court’s ruling, but we are not standing still,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert said in a joint statement.

“The City is actively pursuing options that will provide a clear and durable path forward for this transformational project — one that will deliver thousands of new homes, including affordable housing, permanent jobs, a modern entertainment venue, and significant economic benefits for San Diego,” the statement continued.

For the better part of a decade, the city has been looking to redevelop the publicly owned land in the Midway District with a new 16,000-seat entertainment venue, 4,250 homes, retail space, parks and other amenities.

In 2020, voters approved a ballot measure allowing construction to be built higher than 30 feet, which is a restriction passed by San Diego voters in 1972 to preserve beach access and the character of coastal communities.

After the 2020 ballot measure, a group called Save Our Access sued the city under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, arguing the city failed to properly study the project’s impacts in its environmental review.

The group won, and San Diego did another environmental review, returning to voters with a second ballot measure to lift the height limit. The ballot measure passed in 2022, and Save Our Access sued again.

“It's a city within a city. It's a second downtown. It is such a dense amount of people that you have immense impact,” said John McNab of Save Our Access. “Basically, you create a tipping point on all the freeways. It's a traffic Armageddon.”

“That’s a whole neighborhood being lifted up vertically,” said Mandy Havlik of the Peninsula Community Planning Board. “If we continue to densify our neighborhoods and not invest in those neighborhoods and invest in the future that we're selling our communities, we're going to continue to have issues with the infrastructure, with traffic, with environmental issues.”

Late last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a letter to the Supreme Court asking them to hear the city’s appeal in part because it has broader implications, asking the court to help clarify what can and should be evaluated under CEQA, to help address California’s housing crisis more quickly.

“The lack of clarity in judicial precedent as to what CEQA requires when land-use and zoning plans are amended subjects governmental entities to the threat of multiple rounds of approvals and litigation, and perhaps to multiple rounds of voter referenda. Given the urgency of the housing crisis, clarity on the subject is urgently needed, and should be provided by this Court,” their letter reads.

“It kind of creates an impossible situation for cities if every time they do an environmental study, an individual who is dissatisfied with the project can go to court and get the court to second guess something that maybe could have been studied, but the city didn't think to study it initially,” said Chris Elmendorf, a law professor and land use expert at University of California, Davis.

The city has not specified what its options for next steps on Midway Rising may be after the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal. Elmendorf said possibilities include new state legislation, or using California’s density bonus law to exempt the project with a waiver based on its affordable housing units.

“There's some legal risk that if you request a waiver. Someone might sue and say, ‘Oh, that waiver can't be provided,’” Elmendorf said. “I think that lawsuit would fail. But obviously a developer who's thinking about a project would prefer to have a path to getting the project approved that doesn't present any risk of litigation at all.”

Save Our Access said Tuesday it would challenge any such attempt to use the density bonus law.

“They can't use it,” McNab said. “We’d also probably end up having to bring legal action.”

“The thing is, the height limit, they can look to get around it,” he continued. “But they’re going to have a lot of trip wires along the way.”

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.

Officials evacuated about 325 men and women from Bridge shelter on New Year’s Day after heavy rains

For the third time in seven years, hundreds of people had to flee a homeless shelter in downtown San Diego this week after a heavy storm dropped a month’s worth of rain, causing floods.

The area received 2in of rain on New Year’s Day, which broke local records and forced multiple water rescues, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Officials evacuated the Bridge shelter, a massive gray tent, on New Year’s Day, and about 325 men and women moved to a gym in a local park, the newspaper reported.

Southern California has seen heavy storms in recent weeks – causing the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, to declare a state of emergency – and the rainfall was expected to continue through the weekend.

The winter storms come less than a year after wildfires devastated much of the area. The Los Angeles fire department issued an evacuation warning in a burn-scarred area because of potential debris flow due to the rainfall, and the National Weather Service issued a flood watch and stated that areas near burn scars are prone to flash flooding.

Such extreme weather events are expected to increase because of climate change and the people most affected by such disasters are often those experiencing homelessness, according to recent research.

“Not a great start to the new year,” Bob McElroy, the CEO of Alpha Project, the non-profit that runs the shelter, told the Union-Tribune.

Hundreds staying at the shelter also had to evacuate in 2018 and 2024.

“We’re definitely seeing more homelessness, more housing disruption, as a result of these disasters,” Steve Berg, of the Washington-based National Alliance to End Homelessness, told NBC News in 2023.

Such events often reduce the housing supply and make it more difficult for people who lose their homes to find affordable housing. In 2024, 11 million people in the United States were displaced from their homes by natural disasters, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an international nongovernmental organization, reported.

After wildfires broke out in 2023 in Maui, Hawaii, the state saw an 83% increase in homelessness, according to a US Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

“Disasters like wildfires and hurricanes cause the displacement of housed and unhoused people alike,” a Georgetown Environmental Law Review report stated. “In short-term events, like evacuations, stop-gap measures like temporary housing and camping may be sufficient to meet needs. But when disasters damage or destroy housing, survivors may seek permanent solutions, like new housing, only to find such additional housing unavailable because it was also destroyed and other scarcity at play in the real estate market broadly.”

In 2024, flooding forced Bridge shelter residents to flee through waist-deep water, the Union-Tribune reported. About five years earlier, a flash flood hit the same shelter.

“It takes a lot to scare me, and that scared me,” one person staying at the shelter told the Union-Tribune.

This week’s storm again ravaged the property, at a time when the city already did not have enough beds for people needing shelter.

Michael Coats, 68, who had been staying under the tent with his wife, remained optimistic despite being homeless and having to flee the shelter.

“I call him God,” Coats told a local NBC affiliate. “It gives me my inspiration to keep trudging through this, from being on the street to where I am today and where I will end up one day” with “my wife and I back into another apartment”.

What started out as a necessity to allow construction on an aging building has become an unexpected boon for the Escondido Public Library.

The public has embraced the temporary library site in storefronts at the North County Mall. Foot traffic has remained similar to what it was at the downtown location, and the number of library card registrations has jumped from about 550 to about 650 a month, Library Director Rino Landa said.

“We’re getting patrons and users that might not have been at the library in a while,” he said. “It’s reminding them of the value that the library brings to the community.”

The city’s permanent 45,000-square foot library was built in 1980. It was closed in April with operations moving to the mall at 272 E. Via Rancho Parkway in late May.

The move will allow for modernization of the 45,000-square-foot building at 239 S. Kalmia St. in downtown Escondido. The work includes some necessary repairs to roofing and windows as well as the creation of flexible public spaces, including a food vending area, maker’s spaces, study pods and collaboration areas.

“The library is an incredible resource for our community that ties our present to our past,” Councilmember Christian Garcia said. “The team there provides so much knowledge and information to our community, and this is providing them what they need to be their best.

When the library was designed, the expectation was to create as much space as possible for the physical collection with little concern about useable space, Landa explained. Now, public libraries serve more of a community function and need spots designed for a wider variety of needs.

These needs include adapting to the increase in remote work and virtual schooling by providing spaces that can be used for those online needs, said Robert Rhoades, assistant director of community services.

“The library is going to provide space to meet with clients or study groups,” he said. “All of these things are in concert with the trends that we’re starting to see in society, and that’s what we’re trying to keep up with.”

The work at the library building is being paid for with $10 million the city secured from the California State Library through the Building Forward Library Infrastructure Program Grant. An additional $311,445 in Library Trust Funds will be used for items excluded from the grant, such as furniture, fixtures and equipment. The Escondido Library Foundation also donated up to $105,000 to buy furniture and equipment for the children’s library.

The library is expected to return to its downtown building next summer. It will be an inviting space that encourages people to hang out, Landa said.

“I think people will be really shocked and surprised by how much brighter and open it’s going to be,” he said.

Work at the site also includes solar panels that will be installed in the parking lot and a mural on the building honoring the creation story of the Kumeyaay Nation.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, there were dozens of people enjoying the library space in the mall, including families reading to children, book club members adding to their to-be-read lists, residents looking for their next show to watch and students working on their homework.

The mall space has been such a hit that some say they hope the city will consider keeping a library presence there even after the move.

“I hope they keep a branch here in the mall,” Escondido resident Jennifer Wilcoxson said. “It just seems like a brilliant idea, and I think it’s convenient for a lot of people.”

When the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center opened in May, Mayor John McCann saw more than just Marriott’s largest property cutting ribbons on the city’s bayfront. He saw validation.

“The Gaylord Project is a 22-year overnight success story,” McCann said, describing the decades-long journey from the 2003 Bayfront Master Plan to the 1,600-room resort that now anchors the city’s waterfront. “It took 22 years to get through the process of the California Coastal Commission, all the processing, financing, and then actually to get it built.”

Now, city and state officials are betting that success will catalyze an ambitious slate of development projects aimed at transforming the second-largest city in San Diego County into what McCann calls “the economic engine for the region.” The vision includes a bayfront sports complex, luxury housing, an entertainment district with film studios, and the crown jewel: a four-year university for a city of nearly 300,000 people.

But Chula Vista’s development track record carries cautionary notes. Major companies including Amazon have considered locating in the city, only to go elsewhere. And the university concept has circulated in different iterations since the 1990s, such as the proposed Cal State Chula Vista that failed in 2020.

City officials acknowledge the challenges, but point to recent momentum as evidence this time is different.

“The Gaylord Pacific has certainly put us on the map as it’s the biggest resort on the West Coast,” said Councilmember Michael Inzunza. “But what it’s done is it’s opened up the floodgates for tourism, athletic opportunities, sports opportunities, and becoming a destination point for jobs.”

The Gaylord’s impact extends beyond tourism. According to Port Commissioner Ann Moore, who presented to the City Council on Dec. 16, the resort generated more than 7,000 construction jobs and now employs over 1,200 people. The hotel had “the largest opening in Marriott’s history,” with the sales team selling more than one million group room nights before opening day, Moore told the council.

The resort has already generated $88 million in revenue for the city, McCann said.

That success undergirds the city’s pitch to developers: Chula Vista can deliver on large-scale projects, and there’s market demand to support them.

The most immediate bayfront project is Amara Bay, which has cleared the California Coastal Commission and completed groundbreaking. The development will feature seven towers with 1,500 luxury condos, a high-end hotel and retail, with construction on three initial buildings expected in the coming years.

Farther south on the bayfront, the Pangea project envisions a massive sports and recreation complex.

The Port of San Diego entered an exclusive negotiating agreement with developers that runs from January through July, Moore said. The proposal includes a tennis center with multi-surface courts, hotels, water polo facilities, retail, a wellness center and stadium to host soccer matches.

“This project would bring unique recreational opportunities that do not exist in Chula Vista today,” Moore told the council. “It would create new local union construction and permanent jobs.”

But Moore emphasized the agreement is “not a development agreement. It’s not a lease of port land. It’s not a financing agreement, nor is it a formal CEQA review. It’s also not a funding commitment by the port, and it’s certainly not a deal.”

Although the Port has not made any final commitments or decisions about the Pangea project, the negotiating agreement gives the developers exclusive rights to negotiate with the Port for six months, which gives the developers a window to work out planning details.

Away from the waterfront, the city is pursuing what Inzunza calls the “innovation district” in eastern Chula Vista. The Millenia Library, funded by a $40 million state grant secured by Assemblyman David Alvarez, will house the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex — a film production facility focused on special effects, documentaries and virtual production.

Plans call for two additional studios on eight acres across the street and potentially a 30-to-40-acre full film lot.

McCann said the city is working with the county to create a layered tax incentive program to make filming in their complex far cheaper than Los Angeles. Combined with a new state tax credit, the structure would allow film productions to stack city, county and state credits, he said.

The university project remains the most ambitious and uncertain. Chula Vista is one of five California cities with over 200,000 people without a four-year university — Santa Ana, Fontana, Moreno Valley and Oxnard are the other four.

Alvarez said six bachelor’s degree programs will be offered at Southwestern College, a community college in Chula Vista, starting fall 2026 — the first ever in the city. UCSD will offer public health, SDSU will provide nursing and industrial organizational psychology, and CSU San Marcos will teach cybersecurity.

“That is a major step,” Alvarez said. “And so those are all components that needed to happen in order for that bigger vision to really come through.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Alvarez’s Assembly Bill 662 this year, creating the Chula Vista University Task Force to determine how the proposed institution would operate and be funded. The university would be “a new type of institution that does not exist in California,” Alvarez said, similar to Denver’s Aurora campus, which houses multiple university systems.

The task force must complete its work by 2027, but Alvarez cautioned the full university would require “a very, very large investment” in “the nine figures in terms of dollars.”

The biggest obstacle to all development, McCann said, is “government red tape.” He used the Gaylord as an example.

“It is so funny because for years we’d been pitching it, working on it, working on it, working on it, and then finally we got it approved,” he said. “And then when they started building it, then it took about approximately two years to get built.”

Inzunza identified another challenge: federal budget cuts that affect state funding for the city’s university plans.

“If the federal government is withholding allocations or money to the state of California, well then the state of California is going to be that much more apprehensive of budgeting for any new universities or education institutions,” he said.

For Alvarez, the challenge is overcoming decades of skepticism.

“Because this has been talked about for so long, I believe there was fatigue and a sense of people who maybe stopped believing in it,” he said. “But I don’t hear that sentiment much anymore. In fact, quite the opposite. I genuinely just hear, wow, this university thing is happening.”

McCann projects Chula Vista’s population will exceed 300,000 within five to 10 years. Whether the city’s development vision keeps pace with that growth may depend on whether the Gaylord’s success proves replicable — or remains a 22-year exception.