How to end City Hall’s neglect of Mission Beach

Mission Beach has been left to decay under a planning structure that no longer works. The city has ignored nearly every issue identified in the 1970s Precise Plan — crumbling seawalls, failing infrastructure, visual blight along Mission Boulevard. Meanwhile, nearly half of Mission Beach’s housing has been converted into whole‑home short‑term rentals, hollowing out the resident population and stripping the community of political influence.

The result is a neighborhood with all the burdens of a Community Planning Area and none of the benefits. Mission Beach is effectively voiceless, isolated and unable to secure basic improvements that other coastal communities take for granted. It’s time to acknowledge the obvious: Mission Beach cannot succeed alone. Reuniting with the Pacific Beach Community Planning Area would restore representation, strengthen advocacy and finally give Mission Beach the leverage it needs to protect its coastline and its future. Mission Beach deserves better — and reunification is the path forward.

— Gary Wonacott, Mission Beach