Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

‘A Nice Break from the Mueller Report’

by Staff on July 16, 2019 · 0 comments

in Ocean Beach, Politics

Since 1896, Ohio voters have picked the winning candidate in all but two presidential elections – 1944 and 1960 – giving rise to the state’s renown as a “bellwether” to which candidates cannot afford to turn a deaf ear. If Ohioans are going to be so influential, maybe we could help inform their future choices by sharing some concerns from the Golden State.

By Joni Halpern

Dear Ohio,

The politicians and media commentators all have assured us that Americans will never read the Mueller Report, especially since, at this point, the report is considered ancient history. But I like to discourage the idea that Americans are too lazy, short-sighted or just plain obtuse to try to understand what a whole slew of smart guys took more than two years to produce with taxpayer dollars.

So I am still slogging my way through the report. If Ohioans are doing the same thing, they, like me, will need an occasional break. I recommend the draft Comprehensive Plan for the City of Canton as a source of pleasure reading.

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The Widder Curry: ‘Here We Go Again’ With More SeaWorld Fireworks

by Judi Curry on July 16, 2019 · 5 comments

in Ocean Beach

By Judi Curry

For some unknown reason, SeaWorld has announced that they are going to resume fireworks every Saturday evening at 9:50 pm until the end of August. They are also talking about a September 1st display.

Several years ago a petition was circulated that garnered over 11,000 signatures asking SeaWorld to stop the fireworks. Cited was the noise pollution that was detrimental to the environment, humans, and animals. The Humane Society talked about how many stray animals were rescued during the displays; about how many animals suffered severe angst from the noise; about how fireworks were not a necessary part of the SeaWorld Shows. And, thankfully, SeaWorld stopped the daily shows.

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Homeless Numbers Increase in Major California Counties – Except Somehow Not in San Diego

by Frank Gormlie on July 15, 2019 · 3 comments

in Homelessness, San Diego

All across California, the numbers of people who are homeless are increasing dramatically – especially in the populated counties – except for San Diego, for some reason.

In the latest count of San Diego County homeless people, conducted on January 25, it was found the homeless population had actually dropped – from about 6 percent to 11 percent (depending on who’s counting) and totaled 8,102 humans.

In late April, the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless released their report, and found 3,626 were in shelters and 4,476 were living on the streets, vehicles, canyons or other open places.

Reportedly, a 5.5 percent drop from last year, the Point-In-Time Count survey states this year’s numbers are down from both last year’s observed total of 8,576 and the 2017 total of 9,116.

As usual, the City of San Diego had the largest number of homeless people in the county: 5,073 humans – 62.7 percent of the area’s homeless population. 2,600 people were unsheltered and 2,473 were in shelters. Compare these numbers with the official numbers from last year; San Diego had 4,912 homeless people, including 2,630 who were unsheltered and 2,282 sheltered, about 57 percent of the county’s total.

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City of San Diego Is Illegally Providing Free Trash Collection for 16,000 Short-Term Vacation Rentals

by Source on July 15, 2019 · 7 comments

in Ocean Beach, San Diego

In an explosive admission that the City of San Diego is illegally providing free trash collection services to up to 16,000 short-term vacation rental units, the interim City Auditor has notified the City’s Chief Operating Officer of this fact.

In a memo dated July 10, 2019, Kyle Elser, Interim City Auditor notified COO Kris Michell, that his office had received a “Fraud Hotline report” that the City was improperly providing free trash pick-up services to thousands of short-term vacation rentals.

Generally, a vacation rental is a property that is leased out for less than a month at a time. Elser and the city use the terms “short-term residential occupancy (STRO)”; and it’s the City’s Environmental Services Department (ESD) that is responsible for trash collection.

In the memo, Elser dropped this bomb:

Our investigation determined that up to 16,000 STRO units receive free trash collection service from the City.

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OB Resister Sisters Remember Bastille Day

July 15, 2019 by Staff

Sunday, July 14 was Bastille Day, the national holiday in France commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille, the fortress-like prison in Paris.

The Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach hung this sign Sunday over the I-5 in downtown San Diego.

Vive La Resistance!

Oh, you don’t recall what happened on Bastille Day?

See this:

July 14th: Viva Bastille Day! Viva la France! Viva Revolution! Viva the modern world!

San Diego’s New Mayor Must Save Our Threatened Neighborhoods

July 15, 2019 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego / July 12, 2019

What makes a city strong?

Is it a large police force? Multiple hospitals? Numerous colleges and universities?

Or a concentrated high-tech center of wealth and innovation, plus public libraries?

One might argue all of these make a city strong. Certainly, they are important.

But, I would argue that resilience—amid looming, super-wicked problems—is now the number one ingredient for any city’s survival.

OB Historical Society: Lifeguards of San Diego County – Thurs., July 18

July 15, 2019 by Source

The Ocean Beach Historical Society this Thursday is presenting: HELP! Lifeguards of San Diego County by Michael Martino at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B. This is on Thursday, July 18, at 7 PM – a free event.

Join Michael Martino, former chief lifeguard with the California State Parks, as he discusses the life and death stories behind the formation of San Diego’s lifeguard service.

This lecture, based on Martino’s book HELP! San Diego Lifeguards to the Rescue, begins with the early pre-lifeguard years when citizens helped with rescues and bathhouses along the coast hired their own private lifeguards.

Summer Chronicles 2019 #4: The Body Electric on the Beach

July 15, 2019 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

A stroll down the beach on a hot summer day is a prayer to the human body. To be in and of your body, just as it is, loving and unashamed, is everyone’s birthright. Feeling the sun on your skin, the sand underfoot, and the cool embrace of the sea is a divine pleasure, and surely if there was no one else on the shore, it would be sublime.

But at the height of summer, the crowd too is a delight.

As I lumber along in my now middle aged body, with its surplus flesh, scars, and gray hairs beginning to mix with the rest, I lose myself in the throng of other bodies—young and old, fat and thin, oddly and elegantly shaped, homely and beautiful—all the arms, legs, backs, stomachs, breasts, backsides, and faces sun-kissed and sprinkled with fine grains of sand—a collective expression of the embodied self.

San Ysidro: Nearly 2,000 Rally and March in Protest Against Trump’s Detention Camps

July 13, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Between 1,500 and 2,000 demonstrators rallied at Larsen Field in San Ysidro on Friday, July 12, against Trump border policies which have resulted in migrants and children being kept in camps and centers under inhumane conditions.

About 7pm the demonstrators formed up and marched out of the park and along Camino de la Plaza down to the bridge over I-5 at the entrance to Mexico.

The protest was organized by Lights for Liberty and the Coalition to Close the Concentration Camps and was supported and endorsed by a wide arrange of community organizations.

Why Would the City Allow Round Up Dabbers at OB’s Dog Beach Area the Day Before July 4?

July 12, 2019 by Staff

A Pictorial Essay of the Poisoning of the Sensitive Coastal Habitat Next to OB’s Dog Beach

On Wednesday, July 3 – the day before the big 4th holiday – Scott Mac Laggan, a local concerned citizen and photographer, visited the sensitive coastal habitat area right next to OB’s Dog Park.

What he found – and photographed – was very disturbing. He found a crew from contractor, Diversified Landscape, using Round Up dabbers on plants in an area frequented by families, dogs and wildlife. Obviously, the crew had been hired by the City of San Diego.

Why would the City of San Diego allow Round Up dabbers to be used prior to July 4, when the park was going to be packed with tourists, dogs and our families?

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OB Has 4 New Fire Rings for Total of 8

July 12, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Just before the July 4th holiday, this reporter counted only four fire rings on the beaches of OB.

Over the years fire rings have been an issue – as the City has tried to remove them in those lean years back a decade ago.

But today, we can announce: Ocean Beach is blessed with four brand, new fire rings – which now makes eight – the number OB is “supposed” to have.

Share Your Good Times With Jim Bell Party – Saturday, July 13

July 12, 2019 by Staff

Jim Bell, a well – known local ecologist, is at home receiving hospice care.

His friends would like you to come join them for one of Jim’s great parties at his home at 4862 Voltaire St in OB this Saturday, July 13th at 5 pm.

Come and share your memories and good times with Jim.

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Scooter Corrals Being Marked in Ocean Beach by City Crews

July 12, 2019 by Staff

There is a report on Social OB facebook that just was posted around 11am that states the City of San Diego has crews out there “right now” marking locations for scooter/ bikeshare corrals throughout Ocean Beach. These are on the street by existing red curbs.

If you see a spot near you that you have a serious beef about (other than just hating scooters)

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Lights for Liberty – Close the Camps Protest at San Ysidro – July 12

July 12, 2019 by Source

Lights for Liberty and the Coalition to Close the Concentration Camps – San Diego are collaborating to unify our communities with one event at Cesar Chavez Park at Larsen Field in San Ysidro this Friday, July 12!

This is a peaceful vigil that is being led by a coalition of parents, children, families, and community groups. Bring your signs and join us! Together in unity and solidarity we will shine a light on the horrific abuses of the Trump administration in human detention camps.

Schedule of Events – July 12, 2019

Americans Are Pressuring EPA to Ban Round-Up While City of San Diego Still Uses It on Beaches, Playgrounds and Parks

July 11, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Pressure is building on the Environmental Protection Agency to ban Monsanto and Bayer’s RoundUp, which is linked to cancer, with its glyphosate. For the last couple of months groups and companies have been petitioning the EPA to get rid of the dangerous herbicide.

Up until July 5, the EPA was collecting public comments for glyphosate’s proposed interim registration review, which could allow glyphosate to be used in the U.S. for another 15 years.

In late June environmental and consumer groups delivered more than 149,000 public comments to the EPA advocating for a ban on RoundUp. In early June, more than 100,000 Americans and 20 companies called on the EPA to significantly restrict the use of Monsanto’s weedkiller glyphosate ….

Meanwhile, pressure locally in Ocean Beach and Point Loma is growing as demands to the City of San Diego increase to halt its use of Roundup on parks, playgrounds and beaches.

The Weirdest Building In Ocean Beach History? An Egyptian Revival Trolley Station Once Stood at Bacon and West Point Loma

July 11, 2019 by Staff

by Bob Edwards

Imagine you are a resident of inland San Diego in the Summer of 1926. Seeking relief from the 90 degree heat, you and some friends pile into a buddy’s Model A Ford and head down to Ocean Beach to spend the weekend at a cottage another friend has rented at the Camp Holiday Auto Court, adjacent to the Silver Spray apartments.

The cute white cottages on the cliffs are a bit small for your group but you’re spending most of the time on the beach anyway, so it really doesn’t matter. The rental cost, $10 a month, is a little steep, but what the heck, it’s a vacation. Each morning you head down to Benbough’s Ocean Beach Bath House and rent a scratchy, saggy, woolen “bathing costume” for 10 cents and spend your day swimming in the ocean or in the saltwater pool next to the Silver Spray.

Throughout the day you pig out on hot dogs and cotton candy and in the evening you toss back a few brews at one of the bars on Newport. After dinner, you walk down to the New Ocean Beach Dance Pavilion at the foot of Newport where you and a thousand other patrons flirt and foxtrot the night away to the sounds of a live band.

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Restaurant Review: Cesarina Ristorante in Point Loma

July 11, 2019 by Judi Curry

Restaurant Review

Cesarina Ristorante
4161 Voltaire St.
Point Loma, CA 92107
619-226-6222

By Judi Curry

I don’t usually go back to a restaurant with a two month period of time, but I had to make an exception for Cesarina. The first time that I ate there they had only been in business a month or so. That experience was delightful, from the china flown in from Italy, to the foods offered on the menu.

The second time I went back there I went with different people and our experience was the same. The service was impeccable; the food was tasty and authentic.

The pasta was made there – you can watch it being made – and the tiramisu was to die for. It was made for us right at our table.

Navy and SANDAG Agree on ‘Grand Central Station’ for Point Loma’s Former SPAWAR Site

July 10, 2019 by Source

Federal and local government agencies formalize talks around using base for airport transit hub.

By Jennifer Van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / July 10, 2019

The Navy is making room for the possibility of a much-talked-about transit center, one that local leaders have dubbed “San Diego Grand Central Station,” at the 70-acre base that overlooks Interstate 5 in Point Loma.

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Five Easy Questions About the San Diego City Auditor

July 10, 2019 by Source

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / July 9, 2019

Question #1: Ever wonder what an auditor does?

I was introduced to the term auditor at an early age. “If anyone asks you what your father does for a living,” my mother instructed, “just say he’s an auditor.” Many years would pass before I figured out that auditor was more than a code word for daddies who ran numbers and booked bets.

Auditors could also be professionals in public and private institutions who assessed financial documents and business transactions for accuracy and legal compliance. Numbers runners, yes, but respectable.

A decade ago, Eduardo Luna was hired as San Diego’s City Auditor. He had the training, experience, and commitment to public service to withstand political pressure while running the office of City Auditor. Luna’s prescribed ten-year term in office recently expired. This summer, a new City Auditor will be appointed. Under City Charter provisions the mayor selects the City Auditor for a ten-year term, subject to City Council approval.

The Widder Curry Warns: Poisonous Round-Up Used in Coastal Habitat at Dog Beach Where Restoration Event Planned

July 10, 2019 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

I say, Ocean Beach and Point Loma – you have choices: either start complaining – or die because you didn’t.

Harsh? Yes. But do you know that as you sit and admire the green grass, the disappearing birds and bees, the city is slowly killing off every living thing near you? And it isn’t just the “birds and bees,” – it’s people. It is you too!

“Round-Up” is being spread everywhere in San Diego even as these words come out of my computer. Round-Up that is prohibited in almost every other country but sprayed here regularly. Here is a note I received today from Ann Jackson just minutes ago:

San Diego City has been using Round Up, a known carcinogenic, Dabbers in this very area all month. In fact they are using them there again today, July 9, 2019.

San Diego is inviting the community to come on down and help save the very area they are poisoning.

Yes! Come on down and walk through the area we spent the last month covering with Round Up. Bring the family, bring the dog, help San Diego save it.

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Book review: ‘Goosestep’ by Harold Jaffe

July 9, 2019 by Source

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing

While a tide of new political activists is frothing across the nation, one seasoned revolutionary is quietly practicing his decades-long resistance in Mission Hills. Harold Jaffe, author and SDSU professor, continues his quest to challenge popular perception in his 24th book, Goosestep: Fictions and Docufictions (Journal of Experimental Fiction Books, November 2016).

Jaffe has taught at SDSU for about 30 years, and traveled the world longer. He lives and writes in “what remains of nature” along a Mission Hills canyon.

“There are fewer birds now,” he said. “I think global warming is the prime suspect there. Wilderness being real-estated; land being contaminated; the weather being completely out of sorts; birds, when they migrate here in the winter, find the weather too warm. Without wildness, we’re damned. We must integrate with wild creatures, otherwise this earth is going to be quickly damned.”

Gone Are the Golden Months of the Fetus

July 9, 2019 by Source

By Joni Halpern

Dear Ohio,

It has occurred to me to ask you to take a second look at the abortion controversy. It seems to be splitting us apart as a nation. Apparently, it is not enough for some groups of Christians to refrain from abortion in their own lives. They seem to believe they can save their souls only if they ban abortion for every woman of every belief, under every circumstance. They contend that a full-fledged human life with all rights to maximum protection begins at the moment sperm and egg join. They believe government must protect the fetus.

In the old days, long before modern techniques of abortion were available, women of every culture and religion knew how to encourage miscarriage. Mothers and grandmothers taught daughters and granddaughters. There were potions and teas before there were coat hangers and curettes.

Robert Mueller’s July 17 Congressional Appearance: Broadcast Coverage Is What Counts

July 9, 2019 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / Words&Deeds

President Trump called into Fox Business for a softball interview on Wednesday, June 26. Host Maria Bartiromo, a one-time journalist who’s sold her soul in return for White House access, never got a question in.

Grumpy Grampy Don-Don wanted to rant that day, and rant he did, hoping to refute the Mueller investigation by saying what was really going on was really just a spying operation by Democrats. This might have something to do with the news about the former Special Council’s testimony before two House Committees on July 17th.

We learned about tariffs. We learned about China.

Goodbye to the Village Kitchen in Ocean Beach

July 9, 2019 by Judi Curry

Farewell to a Staple

Editordude: On Tuesday, July 9th, 2019 Judi Curry visited OB’s Village Kitchen, probably for her last time – under the current management – as it is up for lease.

By Judi Curry

Thirty-two years ago my husband Bob and my three daughters and I had our first meal at the Village Kitchen. Lopez was the owner cook; Esther was the cashier – she later became my beautician – and Liz and Eleana were waiting tables. It turned out that they were the children of Lopez and Esther.

We had so many delightful times there. We had our first taste of “menudo”; our first taste of “albondigas”; some of the best Machaca we have ever had. Bob loved their breakfasts – so much for so little money. The recipes were extraordinary and I even asked Lopez for several of them.

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News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Early July 2019

July 8, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

No More Speeding on OB Pier

The City of San Diego is trying to stop people from driving onto the Ocean Beach Pier, recently installing plastic pylons. The city recently installed the pylons at the foot of the pier after a car sped onto the structure, hitting two people and a police cruiser in June. The pylons are the first step, but the city says it’s still considering additional options to discourage people from driving onto the pier.

The Plunge in Mission Beach Finally Re-Opens

The Plunge at Fit marked the official return of the iconic beachfront pool in Belmont Park on July 4. The completion of its $12 million restoration and construction of the 400,000 gallon swimming pool and building, include:

Social Syndicate Signs $2.4 Million Lease for Former Nati’s Site

Location Matters has arranged a $2.4 million, 10-year lease for Social Syndicate, a

BB Gun Used to Shoot Out Windows in Midway District and Lyft Car in OB

THERE’S MUCH MORE INSIDE

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Scott Peters and Juan Vargas Support Impeachment While Susan Davis Wants to Wait

July 8, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Scanning where San Diego County Congressional Representatives stand on impeachment, Congressmen Scott Peters and Juan Vargas both support the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Back in April, Rep. Juan Vargas was addressing the Mueller Report at a meeting of the San Diego County Chamber of Commerce when he stated:

“We should impeach him”

Vargas was the first San Diego Congressperson to join the growing list of more than 80 House members on board the impeach train. He told The Hill:

“We should start the impeachment process. I think it gets us to a place where we can get this information, and then frankly be able to make a determination.”

“By the time the courts decide, I think I’ll have grandchildren and my daughters aren’t married.”

Then in late June, Rep. Scott Peters, called for Trump’s impeachment, saying the current president has committed “more significant wrongdoing than even the Watergate break-in.”

Study by San Diego Housing Commission Finds Famosa Property Suitable for 78 Rental Units

July 8, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

The San Diego Housing Commission has just sent a memo to Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council informing them that the study of the Famosa property at the center of much recent dispute has determined that the land at the corner of Famosa and Nimitz Boulevards is suitable for 78 affordable rental units.

The memo from Richard Gentry, CEO of the SDHC, dated July 2, 2019, stated his agency hired a consultant “to perform a study to evaluate whether or not the potential development of affordable housing is feasible on this property,…” which has determined “affordable housing development at Site 428 is feasible.” Site 428 is another name for the property.

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Summer Chronicles 2019 #3: Thoughts About Kerouac from San Diego to Big Sur

July 8, 2019 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

Summer is here and for many that means it’s time to hit the road and see the country. Perhaps no other American writer is as synonymous with the road trip as Jack Kerouac, for whom San Diego was little more than a dull place to ride through.

Kerouac wrote in his journal in 1950:

“San Diego rich, dull, full of old men, traffic, the sea smell — Up the bus goes thru gorgeous seaside wealthy homes of all colors of the rainbow on the blue sea — cream clouds —red flower — dry sweet atmosphere—very rich, new cars, 50 miles of it incredibly, an American Monte Carlo.”

More impressive to Kerouac, cultural critic David Reid notes, was Jacumba, of which the king of the Beats wrote: “birds at misty and a man walking out of the trees of Mexico into the American sleepy border street of shacks and trees and backyard dumps–(Future place for me).”