Daily Business Report: April 1, 2026
State senator looks to secure Midway Rising’s path forward, proposes CEQA exemption
by Tessa Balc | Times of San Diego
The next chapter in San Diego’s pursuit of Midway Rising will play out in Sacramento.
State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson introduced a bill last week to exempt the project from review under the state’s landmark environmental law and make way for the plan to redevelop the roughly 50-acre area around Pechanga Arena into an urban district with 4,000 homes, acres of parks, and a new arena.
Weber Pierson’s proposal follows a California Supreme Court decision not to review a previous court ruling that threw out a 2022 voter-approved initiative to raise the height limit in the Midway area. The lower court ruled that the city failed to consider the environmental impacts of allowing taller buildings there.
Politics Report: The Midway Rising Bill
by Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry | Voice of San Diego
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has entered the nothing-is-going-to-get-in-our-way phase of the plan to build a new arena and more than 4,000 new housing units on the city’s nearly 50 acres of land along Sports Arena Boulevard in Midway.
The city is officially sponsoring the legislation we reported on this week that would exempt the Midway Rising project from the sometimes onerous requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. Inadequately fulfilling the requirements of CEQA and getting sued has caused countless projects delay or failure.
The Midway Rising team still plans to comply with the law and mitigations their environmental impact report demands, but the new law would prevent people from suing them if they think it’s inadequate.
For César Chávez supporters, a painful question: What to do with his legacy now
By The Associated Press | Times of San Diego
Antonio Bustamante has kept a watercolor of labor leader César Chavez for more than 35 years, hanging it on the wall of his law office in Yuma, Arizona. As a young man, he was moved by Chavez and helped organize workers before joining his security team.
Like many others, Bustamante must now wrestle with reconciling the man he adored with the allegations Chavez groomed and sexually abused women and young girls.
“I’m trying to figure out how emotionally and intellectually I’ll be able to understand my perception of him as an extremely good man,” Bustamante said, his voice heavy with emotion, “compared to these things that are said he did.”
