{"id":254142,"date":"2026-04-06T14:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/254142\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:45:06","slug":"car-thefts-empty-homes-tax-housing-density-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/254142\/","title":{"rendered":"Car thefts, \u2019empty homes tax,\u2019 housing density \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

The news on car thefts in La Jolla isn\u2019t great<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s great that crime dropped overall for the fourth consecutive year in San Diego, is it just me or isn\u2019t it a bit shocking that little La Jolla had 78 cars stolen in 2025? (\u201cThefts are No. 1 crime in La Jolla in 2025, San Diego police report,\u201d<\/a> March 19, La Jolla Light)<\/p>\n

The police blotter reports in 2026 show no abatement. In fact, in one week, five cars were stolen!<\/p>\n

Why does this situation not draw more attention?<\/p>\n

Tig Krekel\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Empty homes tax\u2019 idea is unfair and unequal<\/p>\n

Sadly, more and more of our personal freedoms are being eroded, or in this case, taxed away.<\/p>\n

It is hard to believe that now, because someone is choosing not to be in a home they own long enough each year in the eyes of \u201cBig Brother,\u201d they are facing a possible special real estate tax<\/a> being levied on them, as opposed to one being equally levied on folks who just happen to live in their home more of the time each year.<\/p>\n

Many of the people getting hit with this unfair, unequal real estate tax worked very hard to get their second home here.<\/p>\n

It sounds like the person who wrote the letter \u201c\u2018Empty homes tax\u2019 could bring fewer empty homes\u201d<\/a> (Our Readers Write, March 26, La Jolla Light) is just plain jealous!<\/p>\n

Harper Allan<\/p>\n

Is this the future of La Jolla neighborhoods?<\/p>\n

This letter also was sent to San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla.<\/p>\n

I am a constituent in District 1. I live in La Jolla.<\/p>\n

There was a lovely, slightly hidden house on Via del Norte in La Jolla. In looking online, the house sold in 2024 for $5.4 million. Somehow the purchaser and builder have gotten away with building one huge structure and there are also foundations for three more on this lot.<\/p>\n

If they paid over $5 million for the lot, they must be trying to squeeze as much as they can out of it, especially if it\u2019s only a 0.42-acre lot.<\/p>\n

How is it possible to do this? The one house that is being framed is of excessive height. There also seems to be a lack of setbacks \u2014 it butts up right to the neighbor\u2019s property on the west side and with that same excessive height.<\/p>\n

There is a huge density concern here! This is a nice residential neighborhood with single houses to each lot, and most houses are set back from the front\/sidewalk 15 to 30 feet. This first framed house seems to almost be sitting on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

A few years ago we were renovating our house and I remember being severely restricted by the FARs [floor area ratios]. We could not add on to our property much because it had to stay within a certain percentage of the lot. We live in an older house and there are large setbacks all around our house.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s odd how this owner\/builder were allowed a permit to build several structures and this much density in this area.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to see a review of the planning approval process on this project. This is really a sad state of what the residential neighborhoods of La Jolla will be in the future. It\u2019s no wonder La Jolla wants to become its own city. This is really a shame.<\/p>\n

Corinne Bancroft<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on YOUR mind?<\/p>\n

Letters published in the La Jolla Light express views from readers about community matters. Submissions of related photos also are welcome. Letters reflect the writers\u2019 opinions and not necessarily those of the newspaper staff or publisher. Letters are subject to editing. To share your thoughts in this public forum, email them with your first and last names and city or neighborhood of residence to robert.vardon@lajollalight.com. The deadline is 5 p.m. Friday for publication in the following Thursday\u2019s paper. Letters without the writer\u2019s name cannot be published. Letters from the same person are limited to one in a 30-day period. \u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The news on car thefts in La Jolla isn\u2019t great While it\u2019s great that crime dropped overall for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[5184,5185,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-254142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-la-jolla-light","9":"tag-la-jolla-light-opinion","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}