Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

Regional Water Board Vote Forces City to Consider ReWild Wetland Restoration Plan for Northeast Mission Bay

by Source on October 23, 2020 · 1 comment

in Environment, Ocean Beach

Unanimous Vote by Regional Water Quality Control Board in Support of Proposal for “Wildest” Plan from ReWild Coalition; No Guarantee City Will Choose It

In a unanimous vote following two hours of public testimony, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board for the San Diego region voted 6-0 October 14 in support of a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) that will enable the ReWild Mission Bay “Wildest” plan for wetland restoration in northeast Mission Bay to be considered at the same level as the city’s own plan. Today’s decision marks the culmination of a two-year effort by the ReWild Coalition since the ReWild Mission Bay Wetlands Restoration Feasibility Study was released to the public in Sept. 2018.

The SEP is intended as mitigation for a Jan. 2016 sewage spill along Tecolote Creek that discharged 108,000 gallons of sewage into Mission Bay, after a landslide near Mt. Ashmun Drive in Clairemont damaged an underground sewer line during rainy weather.

Backed by an impressive coalition of community planning groups, businesses, labor unions, environmental outlets, and faith-based organizations, the adoption of the SEP earmarks funds for the City of San Diego to develop a new, wetland-rich planning alternative in the ReWild area of concern that will benefit the ecological health of Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve, Rose Creek, and De Anza Cove.

1 comment

October 23 – a Bittersweet Day for the Widder Curry

by Judi Curry on October 23, 2020 · 1 comment

in Ocean Beach, The Widder Curry

By Judi Curry

Before I get into this more fully, I would like to thank all of you that gave me advice, gave me books, cited professionals as to whether or not I should attend my grandson’s wedding today. I truly appreciate all of the comments that were made – both negative and positive!

The day is now upon me and the decision to attend – or not attend – has been agonizing. I have 18 grandchildren (including a few “greats” in that number.) I am very close to all of them and talk to them frequently. Landon, the groom, is a twin and I attended his brother’s wedding just two years ago. Landon’s “best friend” – Tiffany, whom he will marry today, has been like a member of our family for at least 5 years, when the two of them began dating. I attended her graduation when she received her Master’s Degree, and I count her in as one of the aforementioned 18.

I have done extensive reading and research into COVID 19. I have had relatives and friends that have survived the virus. I have read about small parties that escalated into dire consequences because one unsuspecting person had the virus and gave it to others. And of course I have read a great deal about large functions that enable others to spread COVID to many.

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Environmental Groups Sue to Block Fanita Ranch Project in Santee

by Source on October 23, 2020 · 0 comments

in Environment, San Diego

From Times of San Diego / October 22, 2020

Four conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against Santee and its city council for approving a 2,600-acre housing development in an area the groups say is prone to wildfires and home to several threatened and endangered species.

The council approved the Fanita Ranch project late last month with a 4-1 vote. The project would include 2,949 homes, more than 1,600 acres of open space, a 30-acre organic farm, and a town center with restaurants, shopping, offices, an elementary school and fire station, according to HomeFed Fanita Rancho LLC, the development group behind the project.

According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Center for Biological Diversity, Preserve Wild Santee, Endangered Habitats League and California Chaparral Institute, the project will “destroy or degrade about 989 acres of sensitive habitat” for a variety of species, and presents a fire risk to its residents, planned to number about 8,000.

The lawsuit also alleges that the city’s environmental impact report on the project violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to adequately analyze or mitigate the project’s impacts to biological, cultural, and tribal resources or its wildfire risks.

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The Sports Arena Redevelopment Proposal Mess

by Staff on October 23, 2020 · 1 comment

in Election, Ocean Beach

By Geoff Page

The City of San Diego told the public that it received four proposals for redevelopment of the Sports Arena properties. They said two of the four proposals were rejected as “non-responsive” leaving only two choices.

To begin with, that the city only received four proposals was an indication of a problem. This is a billion-dollar redevelopment project. This should have attracted more than four proposers. When results like this are seen, it can mean several things, but suffice to say, the Request For Proposals (RFP) may have been badly crafted, or worse, intentionally crafted to discourage proposers. The result was that the citizens of this city were only offered two choices, when the RFP probably should have been redone.

These kinds of proposals are expensive to put together and the process is also expensive. When the city received only four proposals and rejected two of those, the project should have been pulled back. The city should have asked the firms that did not submit proposals what their reasons were for not doing so.

The city did not explain why the two proposals were rejected, so a Public Records Request was submitted asking:

“There were four proposers for the Sports Arena development work. The city said two were judged to be non-responsive.

What were the names of the two proposers deemed non-responsive?

Why were the proposals deemed non-responsive.”

1 comment

Donna Frye: ‘Measure E Deserves a No Vote’

by Staff on October 22, 2020 · 4 comments

in Election, Ocean Beach

Donna Frye came out today opposed to Measure E, the San Diego ballot proposition that would destroy the 30-foot height limit in the Midway area.

In today’s Letters to the Editor in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Frye called it “just plain wrong” to promote the idea that the Midway area can only be “successful” if the height limit is rescinded.

Frye- former councilwoman for San Diego and the “woman who should have been mayor,” also took the measure to task for not including any public benefit nor requiring any affordable housing.

Plus the “half-baked measure” was placed on the ballot “with no environmental review,” she wrote, and added, “The public has a right to know the impacts associated with the new height limit before, not after, giving their approval.”

Frye hit on a number of facilities surrounding the myths about Measure E:

Measure E does not require affordable housing.

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Many San Diego County Pandemic Victims Go Uncounted

October 22, 2020 by Source

by Jill Castellano and Mary Plummer / inewsource / October 21, 2020

A 22-year-old died of an apparent overdose on his birthday after getting furloughed.

An 81-year-old with a chronic health condition couldn’t go to the gym and lost her life five months later.

A farmworker in a family of undocumented immigrants contracted COVID-19, but — too scared to share his personal information — was never tested.

None of them are captured in the county’s official list of coronavirus deaths, but their families say all of them died because of the pandemic.

A review of state and county public health data finds many more people have died as a result of the pandemic than the San Diego County public health office has acknowledged publicly.

Feeling Warm and Sunny

October 22, 2020 by Ernie McCray

Feeling Warm and Sunny

by Ernie McCray

It’s such a warm
and sunny feeling
to sense
human progress
in the air
like the other day
in a Zoom meeting
with a few athletes
at the U of A
about inclusion,
human beings being
valued for who they are,
me sharing
how, in my day,
there was little to no interest
in social
or political change,
how we athletes, in the main,
just played our games.

OB Public Service Announcement: Drop Off Your Ballot at the OB Library Lawn

October 13, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

Thank you Friends of the OB Library

OB Rag’s Progressive City, County and State Ballot Recommendations for November 2020

October 5, 2020 by Staff

Here are the OB Rag 2020 Election recommendations. Basically, we took Doug Porter’s recommendations – which we generally agree with – but reversed three of his recommendations. We recommend a “No” on Measure E which would erase the 30 foot height limit in the Midway District. We recommend Barbara Bry for Mayor and in the toss-up for City Attorney for San Diego, we recommend incumbent Mara Elliott. But thanks to Doug, who did a lot of research work, most of the other candidates and proposals we agree with are also outlined below.

San Diego Ballot Measures

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October 2020 Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

October 2, 2020 by Source

From the Ocean Beach Green Center,
4862 Voltaire Street,
Ocean Beach 92107
oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com
619-613 5616

Events – All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. October 3rd, 10th,17th 24th and 31st.

Mondays 9:30 pm – 12:30 pm Volunteering at Wild Willow Farm

COME INSIDE FOR ALL DETAILS

Internal Police Review Says Officers Justified in Using Force in Arrest of Black Woman in Ocean Beach Last May

October 21, 2020 by Source

Do you recall the May 1 rough arrest of a Black woman walking her dog at the water’s edge in Ocean Beach?

An internal police investigation just determined that officers were justified in using force during her arrest. Not everyone agrees with this result and it actually gives more cause to vote for Measure B which would establish a real police-oversight board. We raised the issue five and a half months ago in our report:

The arrest and rough treatment Friday, May 1, of an African-American woman for walking her dog at Ocean Beach without a leash raises troubling questions.

A video taken of the incident shows a Black woman in a white bathing suit being taken into custody by several San Diego police officers, accompanied by a couple of lifeguard on the shores of Ocean Beach. She apparently had been noticed by lifeguards walking her dog without a leash.

Measure B Gives San Diego Voters Chance to Finally Beef Up Police Oversight

October 21, 2020 by Source

By Claire Trageser / KPBS News / October 21, 2020

San Diego voters will have the opportunity in the November election to create more robust community oversight on the actions of police officers.

Activists wanted a stronger community review board for the police department back in 2016, but settled for Measure G, which made smaller changes.

Then they tried again in 2018, but the City Council did not act quickly enough to put the measure on the ballot.

Now, in 2020, Measure B is asking voters to create a Commission on Police Practices, which would have members appointed by the City Council, its own staff, an independent attorney and the power to subpoena and conduct investigations into police officer misconduct.

The commission would also review complaints against officers and investigate in-custody deaths, shootings by police and other allegations of misconduct. Finally, it would make recommendations on police officer discipline and police policies.

Viva La Resistance: For Fighting vs. ‘Done Deals’ in San Diego

October 21, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

How many times have you heard, “Don’t bother. The fix is in. It’s a done deal?”

Don’t fight City Hall. You can’t win. You don’t have the votes. It’s a done deal.

No longer true.

Look at the big win just achieved by those who fought against the Port’s land grab in Point Loma?

Portrayed by the “insiders” as just some rich people wanting to save two docks, when in reality it was hundreds of locals resisting a cement promenade (to replace the dirt path) that would stretch from Kellogg’s beach, wrap around the Yacht Club, down Shelter Island; all the way to the Friendship Bell and Harbor Police office.

All this to provide 1,600 new hotel rooms on the already crowded Shelter Island. After more than 3,000 comments and massive local resistance, the Port changed the “done deal.” The Port will no longer allow additional hotel rooms on Shelter Island.

A major victory for the resistance.

Ocean Plastic Converted to Oil

October 20, 2020 by Source

by SWR Staff/ Waste&Recycling Magazine / October 19, 2020

A non-profit in Hawaii has collected over 1.2 million plastic caps and lids and shipped them to Texas for conversion into oil.

Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (B.E.A.C.H.) co-founders Suzanne Frazer and Dean Otsuki spearheaded a campaign to educate people about the harmful impacts of plastic caps to Hawaii’s sea birds, which mistake small, colorful plastic litter as food sources. The community helped them collect more than 1.2 million plastic caps that were transported from Hawaii to California aboard a 40-foot intermodal container that shipping line Matson moved for free.

The plastic caps were delivered to New Hope Energy in Tyler, Texas, where they were first shredded into smaller pieces and then converted into oil using new technology. B.E.A.C.H. had two volunteers who live in Texas observe the process as B.E.A.C.H. co-founders Suzanne Frazer and Dean Otsuki were unable to travel to Texas from Hawaii as planned due to Covid-19.

Conversion to oil

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A Statue in Absentia

October 20, 2020 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Pete Wilson’s statue near Horton Plaza was removed and I feel a little more at ease with my world.

I mean, for a long time, I’ve been tired of looking at his likeness when I’d be out and about downtown to eat or catch a play, or to just stroll and enjoy a beautiful San Diego day.

Every time I came upon that image of him, standing bronzed, smiling, with his hands in his pockets, like he’s your friend, I’d think back on a day in the mid-70’s when he told me “Make yourself in absentia, Mr. McCray” – after I had laid something out I thought he and his City Council should and could do something about.

His response kind of cracked me up, at first, because I had never been dismissed in Latin, but I was deeply disturbed because the mayor asked me to leave just after I had copped a plea for human decency. I wanted our city to join a movement back then that involved taking a stand against South Africa’s institutionalized racist apartheid system of segregation by divesting from corporations doing business there.

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‘We Need Parks, Not High-Rise Housing — Vote ‘No’ on Measure E’

October 20, 2020 by Source

By John McNab / Times of San Diego / October 16, 2020

Record heat has punished San Diego over the last three months. Coastal beaches and parks have been overwhelmed. By 8:30 a.m. on weekends, beach parking lots are full and access roads clogged. The need for more, not less, coastal parks has never been more apparent. The one perfect spot for such a park is the Midway-Sports Arena-Marine Corps Recruit Depot-NAVWAR district.

This district, sitting in the coastal zone between two bays, is the historic outfall of the San Diego River. Even today, river water runs under the land into San Diego Bay. The year-round climate is as good as anywhere in the world for outdoor sports and recreation.

This is the opportunity to create a River Trail Park extending from San Diego Bay up to the Sports Arena, with a spur to the Old Town Transit Hub. This takes outdoor adventures on our coast to another level. The spur to Old Town does what no city plan has ever imagined — creating a small water craft channel flanked by bike, skating, and walking paths from a transit hub to the beach.

From there, a journey can lead downstream into San Diego Bay or upstream to a terminal at Sports Arena. A pedestrian bridge or tunnel can connect to Mission Bay.

Peninsula Planning Meeting: Bry Opposed to Campbell’s Proposal on Short-Term Rentals

October 20, 2020 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The regular monthly Peninsula Community Planning Board meeting October 15 had its highs and, as usual, its lows. The on-line meeting was held last Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

First, the highlights. The lowlight will be left to the end.

Barbara Bry

Councilmember Bry made an appearance as a council representative, not as the mayoral candidate. Bry was careful to make this distinction and declined to comment on any of the political races. She was there to give her opinion on short-term vacation rentals (STVRs) and Point Loma’s councilperson’s proposal. In a nutshell, Bry stated that the law needs to be enforced, STVRs are not legal.

Bry opposed what Jennifer Campbell is pushing, an agreement between a private travel industry giant and the local hotel workers union. Bry said the illegal vacation rental stock needs to be returned to regular housing, especially considering the current housing shortage. Bry said there were 16,000 STVRs in the city, the same figure that Campbell also used. Bry said those 16,000 units would go a long way toward relieving the housing shortage.

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Bry and Gloria on Sports Arena Development and Measure E

October 19, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

Mayoral candidates Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria were interviewed via email by the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, and their responses were published in today’s U-T, Monday, Oct. 19.

Here are Bry’s and Gloria’s responses to the question about the Sports Arena redevelopment and Measure E.

The question asked of both candidates was this:

Q: Will —and how will—you accept and evaluate Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s proposal to redevelop the sports arena site?

Are We Ready for a Biodegradable Water Bottle?

October 19, 2020 by Source

By Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times / Oct 6, 2020

Does the world really need another brand of bottled water?

Alex Totterman believes it does, if the packaging is completely odegradable.

And his Culver City, Calif., start-up has the backing of some environmentally woke celebrities and business leaders, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff and former News Corp. executive James Murdoch, who has invested a tiny but undisclosed portion of the approximately $2 billion he netted when his family sold most of 21st Century Fox to the Walt Disney Co.

Cove’s new water bottle, which is scheduled to get a small pilot launch in December and hit store shelves more broadly in January, is the first to be made entirely from biodegradable materials, the company contends, including the bottle cap, label and adhesive.

OB Resister Sisters Strike Again

October 19, 2020 by Source

Looks like the OB Resister Sisters have struck again.

So I Went to the Chump Protest in Orange County …

October 19, 2020 by Source

By Green Asteroid / Daily Kos / October 18, 2020

And we found a place on one side of the bridge that goes over Newport Harbor and takes you onto the Newport Peninsula.

Little did I know that it would be a major wildlife crossing for that most dangerous of animals — the Trump fanatic — for over two hours as they made their way toward Lido Isle.

So what kind of species behaviors did we see? I’ll tell you.

The toxic male — One guy for no reason starts spouting off expletives like they’re going out of style, yelling at us, while mothers with strollers walked behind him.

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Is the American Right Winning the Long War With Amy Coney Barrett?

October 19, 2020 by Jim Miller

Charles Koch’s Big Bet on Barrett Despite GOP’s Potential Big Loss in 2020 Electoral Battle

By Jim Miller

With all the ink spilled and word hoards unleashed on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, perhaps the only person who really clarified the big picture significance of her likely confirmation was Christopher Leonard, the author of Kochland, who put Barrett’s nomination in the context of the billionaire Right’s long war against democracy. In his New York Times column, “Charles Koch’s Big Bet on Barrett,” he explains how:

Since the early 1970s, Mr. Koch has sought to dismantle most federal regulatory institutions, and the federal courts have been central to that battle. In 1974, Mr. Koch gave a blistering speech to a libertarian think tank, called the Institute for Humane Studies, in which he outlined his vision of the American regulatory state, and the strategy he would employ over the ensuing decades to realize that vision.

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Ocean Beach News – Mid-October 2020

October 16, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

“Citizens Patrol” Formed to Control Homeless in Ocean Beach

A so-called “Citizens Patrol” has been formed in Ocean Beach to ostensibly control the homeless, who they contend are out of control. They say it’s worse than ever. …They did not deny they were vigilantes.

House Fire on Niagara

California research institute files application for yellowtail tuna fish farm

Positive COVID Cases Grow at Point Loma Nazarene

Bassist Benjamin Wanicur Revives San Diego’s Underground at Robb Field – With Masks, of Course

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The Over-Hype of Students’ Learning Loss Due to COVID

October 16, 2020 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / October 15, 2020

Warnings about learning losses due to the pandemic dominate education media; especially the media created and financed by billionaires. Based on a briefing by NWEA, McKinsey & Company claims “the average K–12 student in the United States could lose $61,000 to $82,000 in lifetime earnings (in constant 2020 dollars) … solely as a result of COVID-19–related learning losses.” The Hoover Institute’s CREDO warns “the findings are chilling.”

One of my favorite education bloggers, Nancy Flanagan, says it well,

“Test-data estimates, alarmist language and shady research do nothing to help us with the most critical problem we have right now: keeping kids connected to their schoolwork and their teachers. However that’s offered and as imperfect as it may be.”

A Dozen Cases of Coronavirus at Point Loma Nazarene University

October 15, 2020 by Source

Times of Media / October 15, 2020

A dozen Point Loma Nazarene University students tested positive for COVID-19 this week and 50 others were identified as “close contacts,” people who were within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes, school officials said Wednesday.

The surge raised the total number of active cases among students to 19 — five of whom are living off-campus. PLNU also says 66 students are in quarantine or isolation.

As of Wednesday, the university was awaiting test results on 98 students.

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How to Handle Customers Who Refuse to Wear a Mask

October 15, 2020 by Staff

Straight-up With a Twist

By Edwin Decker

Dear Ed,

As a manager of a [501(c)(3)] non-profit organization, I am frequently confronted about us enforcing our state’s mask mandate. We will refuse access to our building to anyone if they will not wear a mask. . . I have been called names, screamed at, and even threatened. My question is how as the manager can I politely tell them to fuck off?

Sincerely, Barbara Curry
Cherryville, NC

Thanks for the question Barbara. Even though I have never been in a position to enforce a mask mandate, I have seen many-a YouTube video featuring customers throwing anti-mask tantrums so I do have an idea about what you, and others, are going through.

Now, I’m not going to get into the controversy over mask-wearing itself – whether it is unconstitutional for the government to mandate them, or if the COVID risk has been exaggerated or even if the pandemic is a straight-up hoax concocted by our alien overlords – because none of this matters when it comes to private organizations such as yours. Every privately-owned business, including a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has the right to refuse service

41 States Where COVID-19 Cases Are Rising

October 14, 2020 by Source

Healthline

Reuters reports there are 41 states where new COVID-19 cases have increased the past week. That’s up from 33 the previous week. And by the looks of it, the country could be heading into a “third wave” or surge.

It’s the October surge of new COVID-19 cases – as businesses and colleges reopen and as people gather at political rallies and other events. The higher numbers are being driven by a surge in parts of the Upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain region.

The New York Times reports the daily average of new cases in the United States this past week topped 50,000, a 19 percent increase from the average 2 weeks ago.

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Meet the Newest Residents of Sunset Cliffs

October 14, 2020 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They heard it was a great place to vacation – food is plentiful; many different kinds available, although they might have to look for it under mounds of trash being deposited by other vacationers, residents, dog walkers, etc., but it a great place to raise their children, and their children’s children.

Sometimes it is pizza, sometimes it is hamburger, sometimes it is even dog food or food that has been left for the birds. Sometimes the bounty is so good that they can survive for days.

And how does all this wonderful food come to Sunset Cliffs? To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning – “let me count the ways.” There are tourists that come to the Cliffs to watch the sunset and leave their trash behind. There are locals

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Granny Flats Unhinged

October 14, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

On Tuesday, granny flats in San Diego became unhinged. They will no longer require any parking – none, zilch, nada, nunca.

Up to now, granny flats – or “accessory dwelling units” as San Diego calls them – were required to have one parking space per unit. Unless it is smaller than 500 square feet, in a historical area, within a residential parking district, or the granny flat is near a transit line or ride-sharing station.

The San Diego City Council Tuesday unanimously approved the new rules as part of a package of reforms to boost housing construction. Another new regulation allows property owners to construct extra – or “bonus” – granny flats if they agree to rent restrictions on at least one of them. For granny flats within a half-mile of an existing or planned transit line, the number of bonus units is unlimited. For granny flats not near transit lines, a maximum of one bonus unit is allowed.

Granny flats are popular these days. Over the last couple of years, many have been approved, for instance, by the Ocean Beach Planning Board.

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San Diego Deserves a Real Mayoral Debate: KPBS Should Make it Happen

October 14, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

The current Mayoral election will determine more than just a winner. It will determine the post-pandemic future of this City.

Having “remote” virtual forums is not enough. Having massive, expensive, often deceitful mailings is not enough. And Having no way to view the character of the two challengers (alongside each other) is definitely not enough.

Yes. Character.

That is the most important trait in any leader. And San Diego is about to choose a leader for the 68h largest city in the nation; with 1. 4 million residents.

How can we judge their character unless it is under pressure? Easy to be clever and even appear honest when not challenged. Easier still to hide behind anonymous political action committees who commit falsehoods on a candidate’s behalf.

Pray for Trump?

October 14, 2020 by Ernie McCray

Pray for Trump?

by Ernie McCray

There are folks praying
for the president
to get well
and I can only exclaim,
“What the hell?”
considering that
when I got word that
that he had covid
after he has recklessly
in line with his modus operandi
laughed at it
and scoffed at it
and lied about it,

Who Gets the Last Laugh? It’s Time to Decide on the San Diego Mayor

October 14, 2020 by Source

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / October 13, 2020

Well, what do. you know? The Union Tribune announced that Todd Gloria is their choice for mayor. No surprise here!

San Diego’s growth machine—the entrenched coalition of influential players who profit handsomely from urban growth and development (our banks, hotels, convention center, newspapers, shopping centers, sports stadiums, building trades unions, realtor associations, builders and developers)–continues to exercise outsized control over local political decisions.

The U-T acknowledges that Barbara Bry would be a superior mayor/manager of San Diego at a time when we are in desperate need of professional and ethical management.

But… Barbara Bry is not a member of San Diego’s old-boy network. And Todd Gloria is.

He’s a tried and true pinch hitter, adept at scoring the deals and policies that typically enrich our city’s lobbyists, campaign donors, unions, and business elites–usually at public expense.