All the Midway Rising You Can Handle

California’s state lawmakers are getting down to the wire with 10 days left in the session. A ninth-inning push to help a billionaire-backed sports arena and housing project in San Diego is rounding third base, writes Nadia Lathan. 

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was in Sacramento this week lobbying for a bill by state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson that would prevent litigious opponents from stalling the project, called Midway Rising. 

Also, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s bill that would allow judges to order mental health evaluations of people with serious psychiatric disorders and floundering in the state’s CARE Court program didn’t make it through this session. 

Read more in the Sacramento Report here. 

The Politics Report goes in for more: What exactly is happening now and what could be coming with Midway Rising? It’s the biggest land deal on public land in San Diego since the transfer of Mission Valley to SDSU. They want to get it done by Dec. 4 and they have the timeline to do it. 

Members can get more from the Politics Report here.

VOSD Podcast: Joe LaCava Wants to Evict Us

In the latest episode, the crew sits down with San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava to dig deeper into the controversial Sacramento maneuver that could help the Midway Rising development … rise. (See above.)

They also talk to him about the Mission Bay bathroom closures and try to get to the bottom of who is really to blame for the city’s budget fallout.

Also on the show: LaCava dishes on SeaWorld’s fireworks-to-drone-show transition, the escalating conflict between beachgoers and La Jolla’s growing sea lion colony and La Jolla’s secession effort.

Hot take alert: It’s no secret that City Hall is falling apart. Groups are investing a lot of time, money and energy looking for ways to revitalize the city’s civic core. 

Just let 401 B St. become the new city hall, LaCava said, and then the groups can focus on revitalizing the area without worrying about City Hall. (Our offices are at 401 B St. We’re guessing some elected officials won’t want us as neighbors. Should we start packing our bags?) 

Listen to the full show here. 

Bye, Bye Big Bay Boom? 

Not too long ago, Joe LaCava led the fight to end Sea World’s fireworks show. 

We asked him how things were going on the VOSD Podcast. LaCava said no one is happier than dog owners, but visitors and Sea World’s leaders are also happy. 

“They are fully invested in drones,” LaCava said on the podcast about Seaworld. “They are very happy with the public’s reception to the drone shows.” 

Others are also making the switch and the public is embracing it, he said. 

What does this mean for the Big Bay Boom? Is it going to survive? 

“I think its days are numbered,” he said. 

In Other News 

• Driverless robotaxi company Waymo got the greenlight from the California Public Utilities Commission to begin working in San Diego. The company has been testing their vehicles here since 2025. (KPBS)
• The San Diego Seals professional indoor lacrosse team announced it would no longer play at Pechanga Arena in the Midway sports arena district. They’re moving to Oceanside’s Frontwave Arena. (Times of San Diego)
• The U.S. Department of Energy selected a lab at the University of California-San Diego to build an “AI scientist” that can deploy AI models onto specialized chips to fuel fundamental physics and quantum computing. (UCSD)
• San Diego County is going to build 12 affordable housing projects and a health clinic in Logan Heights on surplus land. (Union-Tribune)
• The Padres play the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight at Petco Park but before that, they will formally introduce the new ownership group and its leaders, Kwanza Jones and Jose E. Feliciano. They are not yet subscribers to the Morning Report.

The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer.