OB Flashes – News, Calendar, and Discussion Board – November 30 – December 6, 2009

Sunset at Peace Rock, Nov. 28, 2009, by Jim Grant. Click on this amazing photo for a much larger and more detailed image.

OB Elementary Selected as Grand Marshall of Holiday Parade –  Convertible Wanted

Our local elementary school, celebrating its 100th year anniversary, has been selected as the highly-touted Grand Marshall for the OB Holiday Parade.  The annual parade is December 5th.  PTA president Amber Conley is organizing the school’s ride down Newport Avenue the night of the parade and is looking for a convertible automobile to hold school staff and notable alumni.  If you have a convertible that the school and PTA can use, contact Amber at AConley@OBElementary.com or at www.OBElementary.com or call her cell 619.606.2593.

One would think that the current principal of OB Elementary would be in the front car, but Margaret Johnson, who has held the administrative reins these past 6 to 7 years, will be missing.  For the last 3 months or so, she has been out of action taking care of personal matters.  The current substitute principal Allen Richmond – a retired principal – will be on hand, however.

Point Loma school cluster wants in on District budget discussions

Speaking of schools, OB Elementary is part of the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation.  Lately, Cluster reps have been pressuring the Unified School District that they want to be part of budget discussions, but are meeting resistance. Here’s a recent Anthony Gentile piece from the Peninsula Beacon / SDNN:

As the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) grapples with a deficit of up to $100 million, the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation (PLCSF) is asking to be a part of the school district budget discussion.  As a result of the district’s ballooning deficit since cuts were first considered in June, district spokesman Jack Brandais said everything is on the table.

Money-saving ideas mentioned in June included class size increases, mandatory districtwide four-day furloughs, reductions in salaries and a number of staff positions being eliminated. With all those things under consideration, PLSCF — a cluster of 10 schools — wants to have a voice as budget decisions are made for the 2010-11 school year.

Go here for the remainder of the article.

Library hours, beach clean-ups, 200 workers and cop horses to be cut in Mayor’s budget

The OB Library would be open fewer hours, as other branches will be also,  the beaches of the community would be messier and about 200 city workers would get pink slips under budget cuts  proposed by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in order to close the city’s $179 million deficit.  SignOnSanDiego reports:

Under Sanders’ plan, the city wouldn’t target police officers or firefighters for dismissal but their departments would see deep program cuts, such as the elimination of equestrian patrols in Balboa Park and a rotating schedule under which certain fire stations would have one fire engine instead of two. …

The most visible cuts would be in the library system. None of the 35 branches would close but nearly every one would be open fewer days and fewer hours. Sanders wants to combine the staff at nearby libraries, such as the Mission Hills and Ocean Beach locations, and then open them on alternating days. He plans to identify eight pairs of libraries for such a system.  For more of this article, go here.

Food and Toy Drive for local families gears up – Volunteers welcomed

On December 15, 17, and 18, the OB Christmas Tree Festival stages a Food & Toy Drive for local families, seniors and  distributes the boxes of Cheer on December 19 at 9am.   The group will meet at PL Masonic Center, at 5pm to 7:30 pm to sort food & wrap toys…This is a very rewarding event….. Last year they adopted many people in OB.  They receive alot of donations and also have 10 boxes out in the community. They are partners with OB VFW, Women’s Club, OB School , SD Food Bank Loafes & Fishes , Union Bank, US Bank, OB Merchants & many community players.  The OB Christmas Tree Festival is a subcommittee of the Ocean Beach Town Council, chaired by Claudia & Gerry.

Photo by Jim Innis, The Log.

Jetty Project manager claims boulder placement key to jetty repair

The Log – a newspaper on California fishing and boating – has a recent lengthy article about the current jetty project and what its manager claims. Here is a section:

Mission Bay Channel south jetty specifications call for an estimated 800 boulders, weighing between 8 and 24 tons each, to be piled in a specific sequence to repair the seaward 200 feet of Mission Bay Channel’s south jetty, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Approximately 10,000 tons of small boulders form the backbone or interior of the jetty.

“(Stacking new boulders on) existing stones from the jetty that was wiped out, there’s a pretty good footprint for the base to sit on,” said Ron Allard, Connolly-Pacific Co. project manager. “These boulders will stay in place.”

Construction crews from the Long Beach-based firm completed the backbone phase Nov. 13. The second phase involves the precise stacking of large boulders to create what is called an armor layer, which involves precise placement of boulders up to 24 metric tons.  For the complete article, go here (link no longer available).

Anna Daniels nominated to have room named after her in new Central Library

Commenters have nominated our blogger Anna Daniels to have a room at the new Central San Diego Library – once it opens – named after her – for all the work she does around the issue of libraries.  Here is an example, as reported in the Voice of San Diego, of Anna’s role in this current issue.