Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

“I am endorsing Dr. Jen for City Council District 2. One of the main reasons is because of her determination to do what she knows to do and not what others tell her to do.

She has spent most of her life caring for other people and will be able to bring that experience to the community she hopes to serve.

It’s important to me that people in public office understand the basic concept of the job and Dr. Jen gets it.

Justin Brooks is an attorney who lives in Ocean Beach. He teaches at Cal Western School of Law in downtown San Diego and is also director of the California Innocence Project. The project works to free wrongly convicted and imprisoned people in state prisons. It receives requests for assistance from about 2,500 inmates each year.

And just earlier this month, the Innocence Project helped to free Horace Roberts, who had been incarcerated for 20 years. He is the 29th prisoner freed by the group since its inception in 1999. It was 15 years ago when the California Innocence Project, based at the California Western School, took on Roberts’ case.

From CiclOBias Website:
Here is everything you need to know about CiclOBias in Ocean Beach this Sunday, October 21.

Want to participate in CiclOBias? Below you’ll find everything you’ll need to know to jump in and enjoy the event!

What is CiclOBias?

The coastal neighborhood of Ocean Beach will host this year’s open streets celebration, CiclOBias, an annual event held in various neighborhoods around the city. San Diego Bike Coalition invites families to bike, skate, scooter, walk — anything outside a car — while experiencing OB’s the most popular streets while not in a car. Participants can cruise along the three-mile route, stopping to check out any of the dozens of local restaurants and shops that make up the vibrant community of Ocean Beach.

The Ocean Beach Resister Sisters were out Tuesday morning, Oct. 16 with three new signs over the 163 and the Interstate 5.

It took Eater San Diego to break the big news: Pop Pie from University Heights is moving into the former Nati’s in Ocean Beach.

It reports Pop Pie co-founder Steven Torres has confirmed – after months of denials – they’re moving into the space at Bacon and Niagara that previously was the home of one of OB’s original eateries.

Construction of the new Pop Pie could be over by the end of this year or early 2019. They’ll have space for a 130 patrons. They report:

San Diego Police are turning to the public in the hopes someone can identify the woman shot to death in the Baron’s parking lot last Tuesday night, October 9.

She was described as black, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 156 pounds and in her late 20s or early 30s. The victim may have given birth “in the past few months,” San Diego police homicide Lt. Anthony Dupree said.

It was hoping down at the beach this Friday morning in Ocean Beach. Lots going on. The surf was jumping. Palm fronds were being cut down. The Oktoberfest stage was going up. Streets were being repaired. It was a beautiful morning with the sun hitting the surf right next to the OB Pier.
When the weatherperson says “high surf – be careful” – the surfers converge looking for large surf. And they found it this morning. Lots of folk out to see it.

A new store review

by Bob Edwards

For many years it has been the conventional wisdom that independent bookstores are dying out – some say murdered – by the growth of Amazon and megastores like Costco. Walmart, and Target all of whom offer bestsellers at steeply discounted prices. According to a report on NPR, the number of independent booksellers in the United States fell 40 percent in the five years after Amazon opened in 1995. With the introduction of Kindle and other e-readers in 2007, more brick and mortar bookstores closed.

Ocean Beach suffered the loss of bookstores, new and used, during those years. In fact, other than limited selections of best sellers at local drug store chains and the small but intriguing book section at the Black on Newport (which specializes in counter-cultural, music, and graphic books), there has been no place to buy new books in OB.

Remember the North Chapel at Liberty Station? There was a fight to save it because McMillin & Company wanted to remodel the interior and find a long-term commercial tenant to come in – like a possible restaurant. In response, a group formed – Save the North Chapel – a petition was launched and a community galvanized.

Then back at the beginning of the summer near the end of June, Councilwoman Zapf – in the midst of a re-election battle – appeared to negotiate “a reprieve” and the original announced closure date of June 30 was dropped and the chapel was given 6-months.

Well, as that 6 month deadline approacheth,

A woman was shot to death in the Baron’s Market parking lot late Tuesday night in Point Loma. Reportedly a woman and a man were seen by witnesses inside Domino’s Pizza, which is near Baron’s, and they then went outside. Witnesses heard them arguing and then a single gunshot.

Witnesses said the woman was on the ground and the guy took off in a black sedan driving away on West Point Loma Blvd. The shooting occurred around 11:45 pm.

The woman has yet to be identified. She suffered a gunshot wound to her upper body and died after she had been taken to UC San Diego Medical Center. She was 30 years old and African-American.