Daily Business Report: August 20, 2026
Richard Bailey’s Budget Fix: Cut Cops, Fire Fighters and Other Critical City Employees
By Michael Zucchet |Voice of San Diego
City Council candidate Richard Bailey continues to promise budget fantasyland to San Diegans. He says the answer to San Diego’s persistent budget shortfalls includes no new fees, no increased taxes, and no service cuts whatsoever – in fact he claims that somehow service levels will magically improve – if we simply “return to 2015 staffing levels” in the city of San Diego.
Bailey moved to San Diego last year, changed his political party affiliation this February, and within days announced that he was running for City Council. Since then, and again last week in an interview with NBC’s “Politically Speaking,” he has repeatedly claimed that if we just “return to 2015 staffing levels,” the city’s general fund budget will swing from what he says is a $100 million annual deficit to more than a $300 million surplus with “no need to cut any services.”
Sounds too good to be true? Well of course it is. And yet it is the cornerstone talking point of his entire campaign platform.
San Diego sued for misinterpreting state housing law that allows for projects near transit
By Dorian Hargrove | Times of San Diego
Two California housing advocacy groups are suing the city of San Diego, alleging city planners illegally excluded properties from a state program meant to spur development near transit stations.
In a legal filing obtained by Times of San Diego, Californians for Homeownership and the California Housing Defense Fund say San Diego ran afoul of the state housing law by requiring that projects are connected to bus or rail stations by dedicated sidewalks to qualify.
Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2025, Senate Bill 79 allows developers to build more housing than allowed by local zoning restrictions for projects that are near major transit stops.
Fairgrounds Board Kills Affordable Housing Deal with Del Mar
by Tygist Lane | Voice of San Diego
A deal between the city of Del Mar and the board that runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds to potentially build affordable housing on Fairgrounds property is officially off.
On Tuesday, the 22nd District Agricultural Association (DAA), which is the governor-appointed board that runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds, voted 5-3 to terminate an exclusive negotiating agreement it first signed with the city of Del Mar in 2024.
The move to kill the deal now puts pressure on city of Del Mar officials to potentially move forward with a housing project they have repeatedly rejected.
