Billing Errors, a Missing Predator, and a Pennant Push: San Diego Heads Into a Packed Weekend
San Diego enters the weekend of September 26, 2026, with 87,000 homeowners still awaiting corrected property-tax bills, an active search for a missing sexually violent predator in Rancho Bernardo, and the Padres one win away from clinching home-field advantage in the Wild Card Series.
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A City Under Pressure: What's on Mayor Gloria's Desk This Saturday
San Diego's Saturday morning brings a convergence of civic pressure points — a billing crisis touching nearly 87,000 households, an active public-safety manhunt, a playoff race downtown, and one of the most event-heavy weekends the region has seen in months.
At the center of it all sits Mayor Todd Gloria, whose administration faces scrutiny over a property-tax billing error, a multi-city travel itinerary, and decisions at the Airport Authority about the future of autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, residents across the county are navigating everything from a Mexican fruit fly quarantine to an incoming El Niño season that officials are calling potentially historic.
This digest draws on public reporting from outlets including the San Diego Union-Tribune, KPBS, NBC 7, Times of San Diego, and Voice of San Diego — the newsrooms doing the original journalism that keeps the region's institutions accountable.
Tax Bills, Clean Power, and the Robot-Taxi Standoff at the Airport
The City of San Diego sent corrected data to the County Treasurer-Tax Collector on Friday, formally launching the process of fixing inflated property-tax bills for roughly 87,000 ratepayers. The error overstated the solid-waste charge on some county property-tax bills — in certain cases by hundreds of dollars — though the city maintains that balances in its own residential-waste portal were always accurate. The problem was confined to what the city transmitted to the county for the property-tax line item.
Practical guidance for homeowners remains cautious: do not pay an obviously inflated waste assessment without first comparing it against the city portal figure, and wait for the revised county information to arrive. The city has not specified when affected households should expect corrected bills, leaving open the question of whether homeowners will be caught in limbo as tax deadlines approach. Council members have been publicly challenging Mayor Gloria's administrative oversight in connection with the error, pressure that shows no sign of easing — particularly as the mayor prepares to leave town next month for the U.S. Conference of Mayors' National Affordability Tour, with stops in Albuquerque, Austin, Columbus, and Atlanta.
On a separate front, Coronado officially joined San Diego Community Power on Friday, September 25th, becoming the eighth jurisdiction in the regional community-choice electricity program. Membership gives Coronado access to an alternative electricity-procurement system and the ability to negotiate contracts for renewable energy outside of sole reliance on SDG&E. The specifics of when and how Coronado customers will see implementation changes were not detailed in available reporting.
Local officials also escalated their push against autonomous-vehicle passenger service at San Diego International Airport, formally urging the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to prohibit robotaxis from operating at the facility. The City Council had already passed a resolution asking the state to grant local governments broader control over autonomous-vehicle deployment. Friday's development adds a new layer by directing pressure at the Airport Authority — a separate governing body with its own political dynamics — in an effort to carve out local authority at one high-visibility location, even as state agencies retain primary licensing power over autonomous vehicles in California.
Missing Predator, a Fatal Crash, and a Heavy Night for Public Safety
San Diego County Sheriff's deputies are searching for a sexually violent predator who removed his GPS monitor and went missing, with the Union-Tribune identifying the search area as Rancho Bernardo. Authorities are asking anyone who believes they may have spotted the individual to call 911 or the Sheriff's Department directly — not to approach the person. The search was active as of Friday evening.
Also on Friday, a pedestrian was struck and killed by an SUV in the Golden Hill neighborhood. San Diego Police are investigating. As of the latest available reporting, the victim's identity, the precise time of the collision, and the status of the driver had not been publicly confirmed. Golden Hill is a dense, walkable neighborhood with significant foot traffic, and crash investigations of this type typically take time before full public accounts are released.
In San Marcos, a suspicious device found at a residence prompted a temporary evacuation. Available reporting did not confirm whether the device was ultimately determined to be hazardous or whether arrests were made. Separately, in North County, two people were arrested following an armed home burglary in which one suspect allegedly threatened residents with both a handgun and a machete while property was taken. The Sheriff's Department was expected to release further details. In the courts, a defendant in the Imperial Beach vandalism case — involving alleged property damage tied to civil rights violations — pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge, moving the matter into the formal trial-track phase.
Half a Billion in Sewage Losses, a Cannabis Milestone, and a Solar Approval in East County
A preliminary analysis presented to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on September 15th estimated that the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis could impose regional annual economic losses of as much as $503.5 million. The figure encompasses impacts on residents, tourism, and South Bay businesses — capturing the concrete commercial toll of beach closures, lost hotel bookings, shuttered restaurants in Imperial Beach, and economic activity that simply does not occur because the waterway is contaminated. Congress has been asked to act, but no committed federal remediation funding has been announced.
The Board of Supervisors also advanced two significant policy decisions earlier this month. By a three-to-two vote, the board approved a socially equitable commercial-cannabis policy for unincorporated San Diego County — covering cultivation, distribution, manufacturing, microbusinesses, retail, temporary events, and testing. Supervisors Paloma Aguirre, Terra Lawson-Remer, and Monica Montgomery Steppe voted in favor; Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond voted no. The policy takes effect thirty days after adoption, pointing to an early-to-mid October effective date for areas of unincorporated county that have largely been excluded from the legal cannabis market.
In a separate land-use decision, supervisors unanimously approved a major-use permit for a solar-and-battery-storage project in Boulevard, a rural East County community that has become a focal point for large-scale renewable development due to its geography and proximity to transmission corridors. The approval advances both county and state renewable-energy goals, though local opposition centered on community impact and land-use concerns was described as substantial.
The Board also voted four-to-one on September 16th to direct county attorneys to investigate and potentially sue companies accused of selling high-powered electric motorcycles as e-bikes. Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer framed the action around the danger of machines capable of forty to sixty miles per hour being operated by children. Supervisor Jim Desmond cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing legal action was premature. Elsewhere in the regional economy, San Diego International Airport's new Terminal 1 project received a National Award of Merit from the Design-Build Institute of America, recognized for its work with architecture firm Gensler — a marker of the scale of what is among the most significant public infrastructure investments in the region's recent history. And in Del Sur, The Cambridge School received approval for a 6.5-acre private-school campus featuring a three-story classroom building, a multipurpose facility, and a track, responding to growing demand in one of North County's fastest-expanding residential areas.
License Plates, Cleanup Day, and Fruit Flies: The East County Briefing
Santee residents have a timely opportunity Saturday morning: the city's Fall 2026 Community Cleanup, Shred and Donation Event runs from 8 a.m. to noon at Santee City Hall, 10601 Magnolia Avenue. WM is accepting appliances, mattresses, furniture, and tree limbs — not hazardous waste or construction materials. Proof of Santee residency is required, and the city has warned it may close the vehicle line before noon if capacity is reached, so early arrival is advised.
A more contentious conversation is unfolding over Santee's expanding network of automated license-plate-reader cameras. ABC 10News reporting this week clarified that traffic-signal sensors recently installed at Cuyamaca Street and Mission Gorge Road are not ALPR units. The actual ALPR cameras, which capture plate data along with time and location for law-enforcement use, are positioned near Target and Home Depot locations in the city. Mayor John Minto said in June that the city would install six ALPR cameras with more potentially to follow. How collected vehicle data is stored, who may access it, and for how long have not been answered publicly in any detail.
The debate sits in a broader regional context: San Diego Police Department disclosed earlier this month that it conducted nearly 115,000 searches of its Flock license-plate reader network in the first seven months of 2026, with nearly 4,000 of those searches categorized simply as 'other' with no further explanation. Santee's program is smaller in scale, but the data-use policy questions are identical — and as the camera count grows, public pressure for clear answers is expected to intensify.
El Cajon's German American Societies Oktoberfest opens Saturday at 1017 South Mollison Avenue, running noon to 10 p.m. through September 27th, then again October 2nd through 4th. Saturday admission is fifteen dollars for adults, with youth, military, and club members admitted free. And gardeners across Santee should note that the Mexican fruit fly quarantine centered on La Mesa remains active and includes Santee within its boundary. The California Department of Food and Drug posted updated treatment material on September 11th and a treatment-map update September 14th. The practical guidance: consume produce on-site rather than moving it off the property. Reports of suspected infestation can be made to the state pest hotline at 1-800-491-1899.
Padres on the Brink, $115K for Homeless Students, and Hard Questions About El Niño Readiness
The San Diego County education community raised more than $115,000 for students experiencing homelessness, with the San Diego County Office of Education posting the figure on Friday, September 25th. The available reporting did not detail how the funds will be distributed or how many students will be reached, but the fundraising effort spans a district community of more than 500,000 public school students. Separately, San Diego Unified's high school Choice enrollment window is open through November 3rd for the 2026-27 school year, having opened September 22nd. The Cuyamaca Outdoor School Open House is scheduled for Monday, September 28th, from 10 a.m. to noon.
On the field Friday night, the Padres dropped an 11-to-4 decision to Arizona at Petco Park, missing their first opportunity to clinch the NL's fourth seed. The Diamondbacks hit three home runs — Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Lawlar — while Geraldo Perdomo drove in four runs. San Diego falls to 89-71; Arizona improves to 86-74. The Padres have already clinched a playoff berth, meaning Friday's loss delayed rather than derailed their postseason. San Diego can still secure the four-seed — and home-field for the best-of-three Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday — with either one Padres win tonight or a Cubs or Phillies loss. First pitch against Arizona is at 5:40 p.m. at Petco Park. USD's Toreros, sitting at 1-2, travel to face St. Thomas (3-1) with an 11 a.m. Pacific kickoff.
The county launched an official El Niño preparedness hub Friday, directing residents to flooding resources, AlertSanDiego sign-up, sandbag information, and evacuation guidance. The hub follows Governor Newsom's statewide emergency declaration signed last month and outreach from the county Office of Emergency Services to roughly 7,000 vulnerable properties. Officials have characterized the coming season as potentially among the strongest El Niño events on record.
That confidence, however, carries its own risks. Officials and residents face two distinct failure modes: under-preparation if the forecast is accurate and infrastructure is not ready, and a subtler problem if the forecast proves overstated. The 2023-24 El Niño season was predicted to be one of the strongest on record; while meaningful rainfall arrived, the catastrophic coastal impacts that communities braced for did not fully materialize. Alert fatigue — reduced responsiveness to future warnings following preparations for a threat that did not arrive at scale — is a documented consequence of over-prediction. A concrete metric worth watching: AlertSanDiego activation rates in flood-prone areas, particularly in river-bottom communities like Santee, where sign-up rates have historically lagged official targets. If those rates remain below roughly forty percent as November approaches, the preparedness messaging will not have translated into the household action that saves lives when storms do arrive.
Weekend Forecast, a Festival Calendar, and the Week Ahead
Saturday arrives with genuinely beautiful weather: the National Weather Service calls for mostly sunny skies, a high near 87 degrees, and north winds of five to ten miles per hour shifting westerly through the day. Tonight, clouds increase and the low drops to around 71 degrees — warm for a late-September evening. Sunday brings partly sunny skies and a high near 84 degrees, with mostly cloudy conditions Sunday night and a twenty percent chance of showers after 11 p.m. Anyone planning outdoor Sunday evening activity along the coast should monitor that forecast closely. Inland valleys and mountains will see different conditions.
The events calendar is one of the fuller ones the region has seen in some time. CRSSD Festival fills Waterfront Park today and Sunday with electronic music — a 21-plus event that will create noticeable pedestrian and transit congestion downtown. The Pacific Islander Festival runs today and Sunday at Ski Beach in Mission Bay, free and open to all. VegFest occupies the Presidents Way lawn at Balboa Park today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., also free, with more than a hundred exhibitors and live music. The San Diego Spirits Festival — now in its 17th year — runs at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. today and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday; tickets are $88 for Saturday and $68 for Sunday, and attendees are urged to arrange non-driving transportation.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live brings shows to Pechanga Arena at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. today, with a 1:30 p.m. Sunday matinee. The San Diego Italian Film Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with a launch party tonight from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Brain Observatory, 725 West Broadway; the main film program runs September 30th through October 10th under the theme 'Legacy.' El Cajon's Oktoberfest continues at 1017 South Mollison through Sunday, noon to 10 p.m., fifteen dollars for adults.
Looking into the week ahead: the Santee City Council meets Wednesday, September 30th. A Bonsai Bar workshop runs noon to 2 p.m. today at Santee Lakes. Residents planning ahead for the October 17th Santee Brews and Bites Festival should note that discounted advance tickets are available only through September 30th — pricing increases October 1st. The top stories to follow into the coming days: whether the 87,000 affected households receive a clear corrected-bill timeline from the city; the outcome of the Sheriff's search in Rancho Bernardo; and tonight's Padres game, which could clinch home-field advantage for Tuesday's Wild Card opener.