{"id":489830,"date":"2026-10-09T01:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T01:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489830\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T01:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T01:10:08","slug":"did-gov-newsom-make-the-right-call-speeding-up-san-diego-megaproject-midway-rising-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489830\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Gov. Newsom make the right call speeding up San Diego megaproject Midway Rising? \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills<\/a> recently to speed up the Midway Rising project, despite some opposition.<\/p>\n

The state Senate bills both effectively remove legal obstacles that had dogged the multibillion-dollar development for years. They both lessen the impact of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.<\/p>\n

Critics of the project<\/a> to reshape the Midway District have argued such a large development will create more traffic and make accessing the coast more difficult.<\/p>\n

Question: Did Gov. Newsom make the right call speeding up Midway Rising?<\/p>\n

Economists<\/p>\n

Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research<\/p>\n

YES: Rather than allow repeated CEQA-based opposition to all changes or redevelopment planned near the coast, having already undergone extensive public planning and review, the legislation prevents continual litigation and additional unnecessary years of delay further hindering proposed development. Replacing deteriorating buildings with newer, better designed structures improves the site and will be better for the environment rather than left to further deteriorate. Already existing traffic congestion can be better redesigned to accommodate anticipated traffic increases.<\/p>\n

Caroline Freund, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy<\/p>\n

YES: If we really want to improve affordability, we need to allow more housing to rise. Regulations and high costs stifle construction in California, giving us the dubious distinction of being the most expensive state in the continental U.S. A Rand study found that it takes nearly two years longer to finish a housing project in California than in Texas, and costs more than twice as much. Speeding up Midway Rising is the right call.<\/p>\n

David Ely, San Diego State University<\/p>\n

YES: By signing the two Senate bills, the governor removed significant obstacles, allowing the San Diego City Council to proceed with deciding whether to grant final approval to the project. Rather than the site continuing to be underutilized, development can begin. The city will benefit from the project\u2019s planned housing units. Construction jobs will be created during the building of the arena and housing. Once operational, additional permanent jobs and tax revenues will be generated.<\/p>\n

Ray Major, economist<\/p>\n

NO: Mayor Todd Gloria\u2019s request of Gov. Newsom to override the existing laws governing the height limit in the Midway area undermines the will of the people. It undermines environmental protections and strips the residents of San Diego of their voice. By using state law to bypass CEQA, the administration is shielding a massive multibillion dollar development from critical oversight. Without vetting, Midway Rising will worsen traffic congestion in the area and severely restrict public access to beaches.<\/p>\n

Alan Gin, University of San Diego<\/p>\n

YES: The redevelopment of the Midway District would really benefit the economy of San Diego. Of particular importance is the thousands of housing units that will be built. Housing is desperately needed, and the proposed density provides a lot of it on the space that is available. This will help in terms of both the quantity of housing available and in terms of easing pressure on rents, which is straining the budgets of many San Diegans.<\/p>\n

James Hamilton, UC San Diego<\/p>\n

YES: Two key contributors to the high cost of housing in San Diego are a shortage of units and regulatory delays. The new legislation addresses both problems. It is appropriate to have a thorough review and debate of the issues. But that has been done, and it is time to move forward. I only wish we could do this more systematically instead of looking for a special regulatory carve-out for each separate case.<\/p>\n

Norm Miller, University of San Diego<\/p>\n

YES: Newsom was right to accelerate Midway Rising. CEQA has long been weaponized to stall housing, rather than protect the environment, and a 30\u2011foot height limit makes large\u2011scale market\u2011rate or affordable projects financially impossible. The delays to date have resulted in much higher interest rates and low-income housing tax credits generating less equity. Achieving anything economically feasible and affordable is a mega-challenge. This story is not over.<\/p>\n

Executives<\/p>\n

Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health<\/p>\n

YES: This is another example of the tension between environmental protection and process paralysis. Once a project has completed a rigorous CEQA review and adopted mitigation measures, CEQA should not become an unlimited tool for repeatedly delaying this project or any other project. Midway Rising will convert an aging area to one with approximately 4,250 homes, 2,000 affordable units, a new 16,000-seat arena, retail and 15 acres of parks and open space.<\/p>\n

Jamie Moraga, Franklin Revere<\/p>\n

NO: While we need more affordable housing and a revitalized Sports Arena, and CEQA can stall projects for years, fast-tracking SB 344 and 958 could have unintended consequences. Midway already faces severe traffic and infrastructure challenges, and its coastal plain location raises flood concerns. Bypassing the height limit would reshape the skyline with denser high-rises, while an accelerated timeline may limit resident and business input and transparency. The better path is cutting red tape while setting parameters aligned with the community, residents and local businesses.<\/p>\n

Phil Blair, Manpower<\/p>\n

YES: We consistently hear about how supportive everyone is of workforce and affordable housing being built. That is until NIMBY (not in my backyard) or malaise kicks in. The governor signing the bills lets projects move forward with less useless legislation and fewer CEQA distractions driven by self-serving interests.<\/p>\n

Gary London, London Group Realty Advisors<\/p>\n

YES: This project is the first step to a reinvented Midway District. Presently, there may be no worse place in all of San Diego than this area\u2019s hodgepodge of conflicting land uses, traffic and homelessness. I know of no better example of NIMBYism gone awry, overstepping CEQA intentions and engaging litigation to ruin good land use solutions. One must have a serious case of failure of imagination to suggest that traffic and access issues cannot be resolved.<\/p>\n

Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates<\/p>\n

YES: The project delivers unusually large public benefits and has been stalled for years by CEQA litigation and height\u2011limit battles. Affordable housing, the arena, parks, and retail will improve that neighborhood. Voters approved of it, and lawsuits and delays help nobody but the lawyers. I\u2019m going on record agreeing with the governor for the first time, and I do not believe this will undermine the public process or set a precedent for bypassing environmental protections.<\/p>\n

Not participating this week:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark Kersey, San Diego County Taxpayers Assoc.Austin Neudecker, Weave Growth<\/p>\n

Have an idea for an Econometer question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com<\/a>. Follow me on Threads: @phillip020<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills recently to speed up the Midway Rising project, despite some opposition. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,383,181,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-489830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489830","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=489830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}