Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

Peninsula Planning Board Election Results

by Frank Gormlie on March 22, 2019 · 0 comments

in Ocean Beach

Here are the election results from Thursdays vote for the Peninsula Community Planning Board. Chair Robert Goldyn was re-elected with the most votes (227). And other top vote-netters were Margaret Virissimo (202), Korla Eaquinta (194) and Brad Herrin (194).

Due to ties, there’s a recount “underway” for the 5th, 6th and 7th places. Voters could select up to 7 candidates when voting.

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San Diego’s Future Mayors – Candidate Barbara Bry

by Source on March 22, 2019 · 1 comment

in Politics, San Diego

Editordude: Here’s the third installment of San Diego’s mayor: present, past, and future. The subject of this one is mayoral candidate Barbara Bry. One more to follow …The opinions expressed here are of the author’s and do not reflect those of the OB Rag.

Mayoral candidate Barbara Bry (BB)

By Norma Damashek/ NumbersRunner / March 21, 2019

Here’s a fact: San Diego is a big small town in which–at one time or another–most everyone gets into bed with most everyone else (figuratively speaking, of course, but literally sometimes).

So when we question who’s got easy access to whom, we’re not just being nosy. The in-and-outs of political bonding can tell us a lot about how political deals and decisions are made, or which way a vote will go.

That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on endorsements, business partners, personal associations, and so on. Didn’t you learn this as a kid? birds of a feather… peas in a pod… lie down with dogs….

In a less complacent city than ours, alarm bells would be ringing over conflict-of-interest pairings that, here in San Diego, don’t even raise an eyebrow.

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Good-Bye Electoral College? Popular Vote Movement Gaining Steam

by Source on March 21, 2019 · 4 comments

in California, Politics

It’s not just Democrats that see the virtue in reforming presidential elections.

By Steven Rosenfeld / Voting Booth /March 14, 2019

This article was produced by Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

There’s new momentum around the National Popular Vote movement, where states will award Electoral College votes to elect the president based on which candidate has won the most votes nationwide—instead of today’s state-by-state winner-take-all system.

“It does have new momentum, because there was a [recent] period starting with the second Obama election when Democrats bought into this blue-wall theory” that their political party had a lock on the White House, said John Koza, a former Stanford University scientist who co-founded the National Popular Vote project in 2006.

The reform is based on states joining an interstate compact, a legally binding vehicle where states make agreements among themselves despite a national federal government. In this case, states, which the U.S. Constitution empowers to oversee its Electoral College process, agree to award their presidential votes to the national popular vote winner. As of early 2019, the project was two-thirds of the way toward reaching the threshold needed for a 270-vote Electoral College majority, but more states are poised to join.

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The Spy Street Lights of Ocean Beach and Point Loma

by Frank Gormlie on March 21, 2019 · 4 comments

in Ocean Beach

Without much fanfare or public notice, the San Diego City Council in December 2016 approved a $30.3 million project to upgrade 14,000 street lights with sensors — and a portion of them with cameras.

Since then 3,200 have been installed to collect data that the City or developers can use for future infrastructure and sustainability projects. They’re called “City IQ nodes” and as Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Erik Caldwell said,

“The information will give us great insight into how people move through the urban environment.”

Matt Potter at the San Diego Reader calls it “a video and audio surveillance network.” On top of street lights or inside lamp posts, the cameras an sensors can count cars and people, and can also keep track of the climate while the cameras record public property. And more. And police have access as do corporations.

Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of smart sensors include Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Little Italy, Bankers Hill,

4 comments

Ralph Nader: Boeing Greed Led to Software Without Pilots

March 21, 2019 by Source

By Ralph Nader / Common Dreams / March 21, 2019

As internal and external pressures mount to hold Boeing responsible for its criminal negligence, the giant company is exerting its immense influence to limit both its past and future accountability.

Boeing whistleblowers and outside aviation safety experts are coming forward to reveal the serial, criminal negligence of Boeing’s handling of its dangerous Boeing 737 Max airplanes, grounded in the aftermath of two deadly crashes that took 346 lives. Boeing, is used to having its way in Washington, D.C. For decades, Boeing and some of its airline allies have greased the wheels for chronic inaction related to the additional protection and comfort of airline passengers and airline workers.

Most notoriously, the airlines, after the hijacks to Cuba in the late Sixties and early Seventies, made sure that Congress and the FAA did not require hardened cockpit doors and stronger latches on all aircraft,

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Development and Promotion of Candidate Slates Is Not Allowed in Peninsula Planners’ Election

March 21, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

It’s happening again in this most recent campaign for the Peninsula Community Planning Board. The promotion of “slates” of candidates for the Board. It’s not allowed.

It’s unclear how or if this will be resolved, as the annual election for the Board is Thursday, March 21, at the Point Loma Library, from 4 to 8pm.

This happened last year for the March 2018 Board election, where Board members helped draw up slates of candidates and promoted them.

According to Peninsula Board’s own bylaws, Article V “Elections,” Section 3 states:

Peninsula Planning Board Campaigns Heating Up – Election Thursday, March 21

March 20, 2019 by Source

Board Election : The Peninsula Community Planning Board election is Thursday, March 21, 2019 from 4 to 8pm and is held at the Point Loma Library.

The following post is by Geoff Page, who is a candidate for the Board

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board election is heating up as expected and is getting nasty. There is something of a Trumpian tone to the whole thing. People are flouting the election rules as if rules don’t apply to them and are resorting to tearing down election posters and putting up others. All this for a planning board election.

As related in last week’s Rag story about the PCPB Candidate Forum, there are a record number of candidates running for seven open seats and there is a concerted effort to take control of the PCPB.

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Local San Diego Dems Demand Kevin Beiser to Step Down From School Board

March 20, 2019 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / Words&Deeds / March 20, 2019

The Union-Tribune reported yesterday on a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and ongoing harassment filed by a political consultant against San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Kevin Beiser. Later in the day, Voice of San Diego dropped a story based on weeks of investigation concerning three more accusations of sexual harassment.

I believe Beiser’s fall from grace has a silver lining for San Diego Democrats. Last night, the party proved it’s moved past the era of providing cover for malfeasance on the part of elected officials who happen to have a “D” beside their name, calling on Beiser to step down from his elected office. …

Beiser, who last year was president of the SDUSD Board, was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in November. He was widely expected to run for City Council next year.

Pizza To Go From Leucadia Pizzeria in Point Loma

March 19, 2019 by Judi Curry

Leucadia Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant
4161 Voltaire St.
San Diego, CA 92107
619-295-2222

By Judi Curry

A friend of mine gave me a gift card for Leucadia Pizzeria for my birthday and I thought it would be fun to use it with a good friend from Leucadia. He was going to meet me there and so we had two cars. When we pulled into the parking lot we found there were no parking places, but three spaces were taken up with Leucadia Pizzeria delivery vans. There was no available parking on the street so we went somewhere else.

But this evening I only had one student home for dinner and I decided that I would use the gift card and order a pizza to be delivered to the house. (After all, I knew that they had delivery vans available!)

They have over 20 pizzas listed on their menu, ranging from $7.29 for a small cheese pizza to $25.99 for a large Lobster or Shrimp pizza. (For those of you that want a gluten-free pizza they are offered in all sizes and with all toppings.)

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The Jennings House on Rosecrans: Topic and Setting for OB Historical Society – Thurs., March 21

March 19, 2019 by Source

The Jennings Family… More than Meets the Eye!

Thursday, March 21, 7 PM- “Special Event-Program” at the Jennings House Café at 1018 Rosecrans, Point Loma. By Cathy Gallagher,

The historic Jennings House on Point Loma, built in 1886, will be the topic, and the setting, for the OBHS meeting on March 21.

Some History of the Dirt & Kids at the Famosa Pump Track – With Plenty of Questions Remaining

March 19, 2019 by Source

By Katie Mae B.

“It’s the dirt!” they both say in unison. “The unique mix of dirt, sand and organic materials – that is what makes it the perfect dirt.”

You can see the little boys shining through the eyes of the men across from me – Jesse and Darren. These two have been active in Famosa Open Space pump track at different points over a few decades and with the same core group. Now they are a part of the larger group working together to save the whole space.

What I am about to share is a small snapshot in the infinite time span over which Famosa Open Space has existed in its current state.

Who knows what was here before 1909! What we do know is that it’s all about the dirt.

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‘My 15 Minutes of Fame’ : The Old Broad’s On TV Today, Mon. March 18

March 18, 2019 by Judi Curry

As a teacher, I have always hoped that things I have said or written would have a positive influence on my students. As a journalist I know that some of the things I say will anger some; align myself with others; and not make any difference to still others.

Last week I wrote a story for the OB Rag re: the potential scam that I was involved in, namely a “Secret Shopping” experience that seemed that it could be legitimate, but deep down I knew wasn’t.

Our local NBC channel read the story and asked if they could do an interview with me re: the article. They came out today, Monday, March 18th, and the interview will be broadcast today at 4:30 pm and again at 6:00 pm.

Local Businesses Pay a Price One Year After Point Loma Recycling Center Forced to Close

March 18, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

We now have learned that there was a price to pay for the forced closure of the Prince Recycling Center next to Stump’s Market in Point Loma. It turns out a number of businesses are now paying a fee due to the closing of the Prince Recycling Center because of the state law requiring markets to provide recycling to their customers.

Per CalRecycle, those businesses are:

Thrifty Oil – 1902 Sunset Cliffs Blvd
Sunshine Liquor & Delicatessen – 3911 Voltaire St – SINCE CLOSED
Ralphs – 1666 Rosecrans St
OB Quik Stop Market – 4984 Voltaire St
Super Max – 4991 Newport Ave

The other impacted businesses are recycling within their stores so no fees are assessed.

Our readers may recall the controversy that raged around the recycling center just one year ago. It was just one year ago….

Hey, American Labor! Listen to the Next Generation on the Green New Deal

March 18, 2019 by Jim Miller

Labor Needs to Listen to the Next Generation and Help Craft a Green New Deal with Strong Labor Provisions

By Jim Miller

Young people across the world are making sure their voices are heard. I was proud of my son, his friends, and their classmates last week when they walked out of San Diego High School to participate in the Global Climate Strike during which over a million students worldwide in two thousand locations across one hundred and twenty-five countries stood up to call for urgent climate action .

Moments like these serve as lights in the greater darkness.

And that darkness has been brought to us not just by the current occupant of the White House, but by years of inaction by previous generations of adults in power who have failed to have the vision

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‘Standing With Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters’

March 18, 2019 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray – Posted on March 15, 2019 on Facebook

I had no idea
when I opened my eyes
on this beautiful day
that I would,
a bit later,
at midday,
be standing with a number
of loving peace seeking folks,
shaking our heads,
pledging, in our sadness,
to stay the course
against the madness
that brought us together
on this ill fated day:
our Muslim brothers and sisters
in New Zealand

10 Years Ago in Ocean Beach – Stories From March 2009

March 15, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

What was happening in Ocean Beach and around it 10 years ago? Back in March 2009?

For one …

**Abrupt Closure of Rock Paper Scissors Had Vendors Crying “Foul”**

The abrupt closure of OB’s popular arts and crafts store on Newport Avenue, Rock Paper Scissors, upset many of the vendors. They claimed the manager, Dr. Jefe (Jeff Fagan), knew business was bad, but the message he gave out to the vendors was that ‘everything was fine.’

Fagan decided to immediately close the business – a business that had grown to be one of the most popular storefronts on Newport Avenue – on February 2nd, 2009, after reading his financial statements. The vendors didn’t believe that. The storefront was in the former Bank of America building, what is now Apple Tree Market.

COME INSIDE FOR THIS AND MORE STORIES FROM MARCH 2009

Ketch on Shelter Island in Point Loma – Restaurant Review – Again

March 15, 2019 by Judi Curry

Ketch
2614 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106
619-814-8080

By Judi Curry

This is my 5th time having a meal at the “Ketch”. I’ve written two other reviews on it – one for the OB Rag in October 2018 which is available if you are interested in reading it.

This time members of my widow group got together to welcome one of our members back to San Diego, and it was up to me to decide where to go. I knew it was a cold and rainy day and we would eat inside, but decided to give the restaurant another try. I am happy to say that it was a nice experience.

We arrived on a Saturday at 11:45am. This presented a problem because we could only order off of the breakfast menu for the next 15 minutes. If any of us wanted lunch, we would have to wait until 12:00pm to place the order because the kitchen was not prepared to make both breakfast and lunch items. By the time we decided what we wanted to do it was lunch time and the decision was made for us.

Once again the menu has changed since I was there last. Things I would have liked to try were gone and new items were in their place.

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News and Notices from Ocean Beach and Point Loma: Mid- March 2019

March 14, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

OB Rag‘s Judi Curry to Be Interviewed by Local NBC for Her “Scam” Post

On Monday, March 18, OB Rag‘s own columnist, Judi Curry, will be interviewed by the local NBC television affiliate, Channel 7, for her recent post on scams on so-called market researchers. The interview is around 10:30 a.m. so we imagine it will play at noon and 6pm.

Woman to Go to Trial for Manslaughter in Wrong Way Crash that Killed OB Man

Trader Joe’s to Cut Back on Plastic Packaging Waste – After Greenpeace Petition Circulates

Young Woman Left for Dead at Sunset Cliffs Testifies

Celebrity chef Guy Fieri at Hodad’s

OB Elementary One of Top 10 Schools for Disadvantaged Kids

PL Nazarene Surfers Win 5th State Championship

Navy Man Will Go on Trail for Murder of Point Loma Wife – Elizabeth Sullivan

Fractured Leg From Scooter Being Broadsided in Midway

The Jennings Family… More than Meets the Eye! By Cathy Gallagher,

Rules on Streetlight Spy Cams Released by San Diego Police

March 14, 2019 by Source

Video cannot “harass, intimidate, or discriminate against any individual or group”

By Matt Potter / San Diego Reader / March 13, 2019

More than a year after San Diego launched a video and audio surveillance network incorporated into 3200 streetlights, the police department has finally released new rules spelling out how the system is used by law enforcement.

Since its inception in early 2017, officials have not been eager to acknowledge the eavesdropping potential of the multi-million-dollar surveillance set-up, dubbed the Intelligent Streetlight project.

Mayoral spokeswoman Jen LeBron went so far as to insist in a February 23, 2017, Reuters account that information gathered by the system’s cameras would consist of “anonymous data with no personal identifiers.” Video amassed by the system “is not as detailed as security camera footage,” she went on to assert, per the report.

But the facts were different,

Might Reparations Lead to Us Living in Harmony?

March 14, 2019 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Tried to wax eloquently recently
about reparations,
speaking of it as
a “The checks in the mail”
kind of operation
but now I’m thinking
Reparations?

In this nation?
as I take into consideration|
that Americans
have shown neither the skills
or the will,
by any stretch of the imagination,
to have anything near a genuine
social or political
conversation
focused on bettering human relations,
especially one
regarding compensation
or a people’s history
of pain and suffering
and humiliation.

San Diego’s Future Mayors – Part 2

March 14, 2019 by Source

Mayoral candidate Todd Gloria (TG)

Editordude: The opinions expressed in the following post are of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the OB Rag.

The second of a 4-part series (Part 1) Part One was on Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

By Norma Damashek/ NumbersRunner / March 14, 2019

Origin stories are the rage nowadays, but do they make one person intrinsically more worthy than another? Do they reliably predict the abilities, values, ethical yardstick, or qualifications a person develops over the years?

Take Todd Gloria, for example. You may already have a mental image of him as a likable, winsome, up-and-coming kind of guy. He self-identifies as a gay person of color: ½ Alaskan tribal- native American, 1/4 Filipino, a tad Dutch, and a touch Latino (Puerto Rican), nestled in a home-grown man from an economically disadvantaged background.

In other words, our man for all seasons.

San Diego’s Mayor: Present, Past, and Future

March 13, 2019 by Source

Editordude: The following opinion does not reflect that of the OB Rag.

Part 1 of 4: Mayor Kevin Faulconer

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / March 13, 2019

Kevin Faulconer, San Diego’s 36th mayor, is finishing up his last term in office. Recently, I was taken to task over my choice of adjectives when describing our mayor. I was criticized for being too negative.

It’s true that I’ve called him a lightweight. An embarrassment to his constituents. An elected official lacking independence, imagination, backbone, and the political moxie to do right by our city. I even referred to him as a chip off the old Jerry Sanders block.

Lately he’s been parading around the country as a moderate politician destined for greater things

Trump to Ground Boeing Jets While Smoke Delays Flight of One at San Diego Airport; Pilots Have Been Complaining

March 13, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Trump has announced he will be ordering all Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 grounded.

This news comes while some Point Loma residents have voiced their concerns about the potential for dangers as Boeing 737 jets fly over their neighborhoods, and as we now have learned the unsettling news that on Tuesday, March 12, a San Diego Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was delayed for hours after smoke billowed out of the plane parked at the San Diego International Airport.

From 7SanDiego:

A battery-type charger overheated inside a piece of luggage in the cargo bin of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 at around 11:30 a.m., according to Dan Landson with Southwest Airlines.

2 Wealthy San Diegans Charged in Elite College Admission Bribery Scandal

March 13, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Two wealthy San Diegans have been charged in the elite college admission bribery scandal that is rocking the country’s academia community.

One is Elisabeth Kimmel, former owner of KFMB-TV, San Diego’s CBS affiliate, who was arrested Tuesday at her La Jolla home. The other is Toby MacFarlane, a businessman from Del Mar and a former executive of a title insurance company.

From 7SanDiego:

Kimmel is accused of participating in an illegal conspiracy to get her daughter into Georgetown University and her son into USC.

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Plastic Straws and Socialism as 2020’s Straw Man

March 12, 2019 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / Words & Deeds

California Congressman Devin Nunes (Ru-CA 22) took to Twitter on Saturday complaining about a waitress asking his table if they wanted straws for their beverages, ending his comment with “Welcome to Socialism in California!”

Nunes, who spent much of 2018 running interference for President Trump to minimize the scope and impact of investigations by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was rehearsing the GOP’s main talking point in the 2020 elections, namely slinging the term “socialism” early and often.

His pitiful plea about having to request a straw stems from the Republican tenet holding dirty energy production as a benefit while ignoring the ongoing dangers of climate change. And, of course, the Congressman will get points from the Trumpanista camp for bashing California.

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San Diego’s Streetlight Surveillance Gets Its First Public Meeting

March 12, 2019 by Source

San Diego Reader Continues to Expose the Street Lights that Spy

By Matt Potter / San Diego Reader / March 11, 2019

Following months of uncertainty regarding the low-profile rollout of San Diego’s so-called smart streetlights, equipped with spy cams, shot-spotters, and related intelligence gathering gear, officials have called a community meeting in Southeastern San Diego to tell the public what they have wrought.

The session, to be held at 5:30 p.m. this Wednesday, March 13 at the Malcolm X Library

Mayor, Unanimous City Council Against City Attorney’s Efforts to Undermine State’s Public Records Law

March 12, 2019 by Source

Ry Rivard and Andrew Keatts / Voice of San Diego / March 11, 2019

Update: On Tuesday Sen. Ben Hueso announced he was pulling SB 615 from consideration by the Legislature.

City Attorney Mara Elliott went out on a limb to change the state’s Public Records Act, an effort Mayor Kevin Faulconer believes conflicts with his efforts to create a more transparent city government.

Now other elected leaders in the city are pushing back, too – aggressively. The City Council voted unanimously Monday to oppose what they said was an attempt to undermine the state’s public records law. Last week, Faulconer himself made clear to Voice of San Diego that he did not support Elliott’s effort.

‘Airbnb Vans Coming to a Curb Near You’

March 11, 2019 by Source

Airbnb vans invade San Diego streets

By Mike Madriaga / San Diego Reader

On the Airbnb app/website, Craig is referred to as a “Superhost” for his $70 per night unit that can sit five visitors.

Craig accommodates his guests in his green 1998 Ford E350 van; he’s based out of Clairemont. “[It’s] great for camping and the back seat folds down into a bed for two,” he states on his ad. …

Last week, an Ocean Beach resident posted …

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How Dave Rice Came to Write for the Reader

March 11, 2019 by Source

How Rice came to work at the Reader:

From SD Reader / March 3, 2019

Growing up around San Diego I’d always been aware of the Reader, and picked up copies semi-regularly beginning in high school in the mid-nineties, delighting in features like Jay Allen Sanford’s “Famous Former Neighbors” cartoon. By the late 2000s I was contributing to a local news blog called the OB Rag when my editor Frank Gormlie called me up, saying there was some guy that had questions about a piece I’d recently written about city plans to install surveillance cameras on the pier in Ocean Beach.