Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

Get Out. Wherever You Are. Get Outside.

by Source on January 24, 2022 · 0 comments

in Ocean Beach, San Diego

By Colleen O’Connor

The best medicine for whatever ails us in politics, sports, business or any unsettling news, is to get outside.

Somehow, some way, either drive, walk, or stare outside. Let the air circulate and breathe.

Seriously, the maladies confronting the planet, from extreme weather; “cryptocurrency” collapse, possible war with Russia, to COVID inflations, school closures and non-stop violence, (that dominate the news) are omnipresent and devastating.

A Letter to Sister Fannie Lou Hamer (My Voting Rights Hero)

by Ernie McCray on January 24, 2022 · 0 comments

in Civil Rights, From the Soul

by Ernie McCray

Dear Fannie Lou.

You don’t know me.
But I know you.
You’ve been a hero of mine
for a mighty-long time.

I couldn’t help but think of you the other day, after a clown in the Senate tried to make it sound like voting was easy in the USA, that Blacks voted as much as “Americans.”

He laid that nonsense down, knowing full well, being from Kentucky, that voting in America for Black folks and other dark folks has been hell ever since the 15th Amendment gave us the right to vote.

ReWild Coalition Says Gloria’s De Anza Plan a Positive Step, But City Needs to Take Many More

by Source on January 21, 2022 · 0 comments

in Environment, Ocean Beach

Here is the ReWild Coalition’s statement:

The City of San Diego released an updated Notice Of Preparation for its ongoing De Anza Revitalization Planning process this morning. The information can be accessed at the City’s De Anza Cove Amendment website.

This comes 14 months after the ReWild Coalition supported the City’s proposal at the Regional Water Quality Control Board to access funds to create a new, wetland-rich land use plan for the northeast corner of Mission Bay that must deliver at least 80 acres of restored wetland in 2100 using sea level rise projections. Today’s plan shows that the ReWild Coalition advocacy has paid off, but is not over.

Over 25 years ago, the Mission Bay Park Master Plan called for restoring wetlands at the mouth of Rose Creek. Decades of dredging and filling the bay has left us with Kendall-Frost Marsh as the last of our Mission Bay marshes, the last 1% of the original habitats.

Will $8.4 Million in Repairs Open Up the West End of the Ocean Beach Pier for Good?

by Frank Gormlie on January 21, 2022 · 7 comments

in Ocean Beach

By Thursday, January 20, city contractors had begun to set up scaffolding near the end of the Ocean Beach Pier. The plan is to spend $8.4 million to repair two damaged piles.

A city spokesperson told media that the scaffolding might take upwards of two weeks to construct, and depending on the weather, repairs should take about eight weeks. He added the entire OB Pier should reopen once those repairs are completed. By the beginning of summer.

We’re all hoping that the city spokesguy is right, that this money will result in sufficient repairs that the end section can reopen.

Our concerns and fears are that this will be just a bandaid that will enable the pier to open the “T” section for just a limited period of time.

The city and the press keep repeating the mantra that the pier was badly damaged just last winter and these repairs will suffice. In the next breath, everyone says that, sure the Pier needs more but this is all funds that are available.

7 comments

San Francisco Public Schools Under Attack

by Source on January 21, 2022 · 0 comments

in California, Education

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is leading a recall effort to replace three of the city’s seven school board members. Her neoliberal supporters would prefer to replace all seven but the four board members elected in the last election cannot be recalled. If they are successful, Mayor Breed will appoint the replacements. Along with board member Jenny Lam who Breed appointed previously, these new appointments would make four of the seven school board members Breed appointments rather than elected representatives.

The excuse for the recall is that the board did not open schools for face to face instruction in the spring of 2021. An open schools now campaign was initiated by the former president in May 2020 and became a winning Republican issue.

Eat for a Good Cause: OB Elementary at Mad Munch

January 21, 2022 by Source

OB History: The In-Between – a Place Where Young People Could Hang Out

January 20, 2022 by Source

A look back at The In-Between in Ocean Beach, a place on Newport Avenue where young people could hang out or find support.

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma – OB Monthly / Jan. 19, 2022

The 1960s were a time of societal upheaval. Popular social and elected leaders were shot down in broad daylight. The only thing about the the U.S. involvement in another war in the Far East that could be deduced with any clarity was that we did not seem to be winning. (Feel free to insert your favorite Country Joe and the Fish lyric here.) An air-raid siren went off every Monday at noon as a not-so-subtle reminder that nuclear annihilation was a very real possibility that might well go down in the middle of any balmy San Diego afternoon.

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‘What to Do When You Catch Your Partner in the Act of … Um, You Know’

January 20, 2022 by Source

Dear Straight Up with a Twist,

What do you do when you find your partner masturbating? I caught my girl in the act, which wasn’t a big deal except for the fact that she gave me a hard time when she caught me a few weeks earlier. She claimed my masturbating meant that I wasn’t sexually satisfied by her but for some reason she doesn’t think the reverse is true. I said it was hypocritical. Any advice on how to approach this issue?

Sexually Deprived in SD

Dear SDSD, the first part of your query – what to do when you catch your partner fapping – is the easiest question I’ve had to answer since a Jehovah’s Witness knocked on my door and asked if he could come inside and talk about my salvation. My answer to him was, “Not right now. Beelzebub is about to give me a transfusion.”

Hugo’s Cocina in Ocean Beach to Close

January 20, 2022 by Judi Curry

A Sad Day in OB

By Judi Curry

Several years ago – December, 2016 to be exact, I wrote an article for the OB Rag about one of my favorite restaurants closing – but opening up with the same name and same menu as the original one. That restaurant was Rancho’s– and it would be reopening as Hugo’s Cocina.

Many of you remember Hugo – he had been a waiter at Rancho’s for many years, and he was delightful.

Read the full article → 7 comments

Two Pedestrians Killed by Speeding Driver in Point Loma

January 20, 2022 by Source

A man and woman who were walking across a street Wednesday evening near the San Diego Bay between Liberty Station and Point Loma were killed by a speeding driver, police said.

The unidentified couple, described as being between 55 and 65 years old, were trying to cross from north to south around 6:05 p.m. on North Harbor Drive west of Nimitz Boulevard, according to Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department spokesperson Sgt. T.D. De La Peña.

San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front – OB Historical Society Presents – Thurs., Jan.20

January 19, 2022 by Source

Jan. 20, 2022- San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front

On January 20, 2022 at 7 pm, Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society as they present: San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front presentation by Linda Canada.

Missing Woman from New York Found in OB

January 19, 2022 by Staff

Her face was on flyers wrapped around signs and palm trees in Ocean Beach yesterday, January 18.

Serena Stevens, a 19-year-old woman reportedly missing after traveling to San Diego from New York late last week has been located in Ocean Beach.

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Neighborhood Group Dissatisfied With Lack of Support from San Diego Council on ADU Reforms, Changes Strategy

January 19, 2022 by Source

Statement from Neighbors For A Better San Diego

Where the Road Leads…

First of all, our thanks to all of you who made your thoughts known to the city council’s Land Use and Housing Committee during last Thursday’s [January 13] hearing on proposed changes to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

Throughout this process, we have made a rational and compelling case for aligning San Diego’s ADU policies with state law. This would have little or no impact on San Diegans’ ability to build ADUs and minimize the adverse impacts that the city’s ADU density BONUS program has on our neighborhoods.

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A Short Writer’s Rant: ‘Where Are the Masks? And Where Is Everybody?’

January 19, 2022 by Source

By Paul Krueger

I recently spent a week in San Francisco, where every restaurant, coffee shop and bakery politely requested proof of my vaccinations before showing me to a table or preparing my take-out order. Some employees even politely asked for my ID, to make sure the names matched.

Everywhere I went, everyone was masked, and took pains to socially distance.

Back here in San Diego, not a single dining establishment has asked for my vaccine card.

I see too many people inside stores without masks.

Read the full article → 14 comments

Biden’s Reboot: ‘But, Wait for It.’

January 19, 2022 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

President Biden’s first year anniversary numbers look bleak.

According to the Morning Consult-Politico poll, 68 percent of respondents said that the country is going down the wrong path, while only 32 percent said the U.S. is heading in the right direction.

Once holding positive approval ratings in the 60 percent range, this collapse is significant.

Chief among the concerns are inflation (seen at the gas pump daily); and COVID (seen in the news and neighborhoods daily) and still climbing.

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Teacher Complaints, Burn-Out and Turn-Over Roil High Tech Charter School in Point Loma

January 18, 2022 by Source

We’d heard things weren’t going well at High Tech High charter school and network in Point Loma for the teachers or students. And today’s San Diego Union-Tribune article by Kristen Taketa confirmed it.

6th grade teacher Ryan Luz spoke with Taketa and explained the teachers’ view. Here, in brief, are those complaints and issues:

High Tech’s ideals have been overshadowed by chronic issues of under-staffing and teacher burnout that were only exacerbated by the pandemic.
Until last fall High Tech High did not provide substitutes for teachers who were absent, so teachers had to cover for them

Hey San Diego! Time to Recycle Your Organic Waste

January 18, 2022 by Source

Public Service Announcement: New Food Recycling Program Aims to Curb Waste, Help Environment

By Karen Austin / Peninsula Beacon / Jan. 16, 2022

The ringing in of 2022 has begun a new era of food waste recycling by residents and the increased sharing of edible food surpluses by certain food-related businesses.

California Senate Bill (SB) 1383 aims to reduce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions known to cause global warming and drastic weather conditions by reducing the amount of organic material going to landfills. To help curb the problem, we are now required to separate out food scraps and food-soiled paper products from regular trash and take them to the curb in green recycling containers.

According to CalRecycle,

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A Satirical Take on San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s ‘State of the City Address.’

January 17, 2022 by Source

The “Real” 2022 State of the City Address

By Mat Wahlstrom

Good evening.

Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and select members of the City Council, City Attorney Mara Elliott, Underboss Jay Goldstone, City of La Mesa Councilmember Colin Parent, and Don Jerry Sanders.

I’d also like to welcome our local and transnational representatives of global capital and our outstanding City of San Diego political appointees from the previous administration.

My fellow San Diegans of means…

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Living in Harmony Is But a Dream

January 17, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Living in harmony is but a dream.
A beautiful
life-affirming dream
that we’ve denied ourselves
because of the innerworkings
of how we treat each other
in the scheme of things.

Like here’s what I mean.

Read the full article → 4 comments

The Joy of Buying a New Mattress

January 17, 2022 by Judi Curry

The Widder Curry wonders whether a good night’s sleep in the offing?

By Judi Curry

Every now and then you go to a merchant in your neighborhood and you are treated like royalty. That doesn’t happen too often but when it does you almost would like to shout about it from the roof top of the closest building. I had one of those experiences today and want to share it with you.

For the past ten plus years I have been sleeping on a mattress that sags in the middle. As a single person sleeping on only one side of the bed accounts for some of the sag; being overweight does not help either, and when I bought the mattress I weighed well over 200 pounds (down considerably now I am happy to say). That extra weight also was a factor in the middle sag. So…I decided it was time to purchase a new one.

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Developers Exploit ‘Granny Flat’ Rules

January 17, 2022 by Source

By Paul Krueger / Times of San Diego / January 13, 2022

Eric Rosenzweig won’t ever know if good fences really do make good neighbors. That’s because the law won’t let Eric build a 23-foot tall fence to protect his family’s privacy from the three “accessory dwelling units” that will soon loom large over his backyard.

Eric recently learned that a local investment firm purchased the property that abuts his home on Manchester Street, near 70th Street, in the College East area. That neighborhood is zoned for single-family homes, but our city’s ill-conceived ADU ordinance allows the investors to fill their property with three two-story ADUs.

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Pandemic Lowers Deaths and Injuries at Sunset Cliffs for Second Year in 2021: 4 Injuries, 1 Death

January 17, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

It appears that the pandemic has lowered deaths and serious injuries at Sunset Cliffs for the second year. There was one death and 4 injuries due to human interaction with the beautifully stunning but treacherous cliffs during 2021, the second year of COVID-19.

The OB Rag has maintained a survey of deaths and serious injuries at the cliffs since 2005 and we have found an average of 5 deaths / serious injuries per year over that period of time. (Here is a link to last year’s report.)

Was ‘Suspicious’ Fire at Fletcher and Gonzalez Home an Act of Domestic Terrorism?

January 14, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, the front exterior of the City Heights home of San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez home was engulfed in flames. Fletcher and Gonzalez were awoken by their smoke alarms after 4 am, and were able to safely evacuate with their family. No one was injured.

San Diego police officials said investigators believe the fire was suspicious due in part to the early hours of the blaze and that it began on the outside of the home.

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How to Identify and Survive a Rip Current – Video

January 14, 2022 by Source

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OB’s Christmas Tree Has an ‘Afterlife’

January 14, 2022 by Source

By Tyler Faurot / Pt Loma-OB Monthly /Jan. 13, 2022

For 41 consecutive years, the shores of Ocean Beach have been the backdrop to a gargantuan pine tree, decorated and lighted to commemorate the holiday season. Historically, once the holidays came to an end, many of the trees were carried away to landfills for an unceremonious demise. In recent years, however, the holiday trees have been given new life as sought-after crafting material for local woodworkers.

The tree for the 2021 holiday season was a star pine donated from the yard of Ocean Beach resident Catrina Russel.

Key Sierra Club Committee Unanimously Endorses Greenery Revisions to City’s ADU Code

January 14, 2022 by Source

The Sierra Club’s Conservation Committee has unanimously endorsed sensible, environmentally-friendly revisions to the city’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) code and urges the city council to maintain shade trees and other greenery on properties slated for multi-unit ADU construction.

Committee chair Peter Anderson stated:

“The Sierra Club supports housing, especially affordable housing. But we must preserve the trees that provide shade, absorb greenhouse gas and cool our city.”

The local chapter’s endorsement adds to a long list of support for changes to the ADU code championed by Neighbors For A Better San Diego (NFABSD). The City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee debated the issue Thursday (no news from that debate is available).

‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ : The Last Speech of Martin Luther King – The Full Text

January 14, 2022 by Source

(Originally posted here on Jan 15, 2018)

The day before Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, he gave his final speech, known as ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech. Here’s the full text.

By The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., MEMPHIS, Tenn./ April 3, 1968

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.

Table Talk: OB’s Max Goransson of Golden Mushroom Co. In His Own Words

January 14, 2022 by Source

by Sal Mineo (@snackdiego)

Hello again, OB. As faithful readers of Table Talk, I’m sure you all remember what we are about here – getting personal with those in our community keeping us well-fed and quenched. Our local food celebrities but before they get huge and have a publicist. Sometimes it’s the restaurant owner; but sometimes it’s the guy, behind the guy, behind the guy.

This is my neighbor, Max. I first met him one average OB day as I rode up the alley to the back entrance of our place, and came upon Max and his friend Talia taking some glamour shots using our fence as a backdrop (it has a cool viney thing growing on it – influencers, come check it out).

The subjects of the photographs were these utterly stunning mushrooms, which even in OB you just don’t see every day. Naturally, I said something brilliant like “what’s that?”, we got to chitter chatter and that’s when I learned I have a neighbor that cultivates these absolute specimens in his grow room right across the alley.

Injured Wild Animal? Project Wildlife to the Rescue

January 13, 2022 by Staff

By Geoff Page

This post is a pitch for a really great organization called Project Wildlife. For those who don’t know about them, here is what they do, based on an actual experience I had Tuesday morning.

My wife and I were walking our dogs at Dog Beach. She noticed a bird at the waterline she called a coot. It’s a black bird, sort of medium size. This one was by itself, we didn’t see any others nearby. My wife remarked that she had seen these birds along the river but had never seen one in the surf at Dog Beach. I had to agree.

Just as we were looking at the bird, a dog went after it in the surf.