OB Community Bulletin Board (7/24-7/31/09)

by on July 28, 2009 · 23 comments

in Media, OB Flashes!, Ocean Beach, Organizing

Originally posted July 24, 2009.

This is an Ocean Beach Community Bulletin Board.  Please post any news or info that you’d like to share in the comments section.  We’ll start it off with the following:

Ocean Beach Veteran’s Memorial Clean Up

UPDATE:  OBMA CLEANS UP VETS’ MEMORIAL

Apparently, the OB Mainstreet Association has cleaned up the messy remnants of the marshmallow wars of July 4th that had continued to mar the Veteran’s Memorial area at the foot of Newport.

Because the area has been cleaned, the clean-up scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled.

Saturday July 25, 2009;10:00am -Foot of Newport Avenue

After this years 4th of July celebration and ensuing marshmallow battle, the veteran’s memorial was left a sticky gooey mess from all of the marshmallows left in the area and being stepped on and ground into the concrete. Now it resembles blotches of tar all over this important site. A few dedicated locals have begun the process of cleaning the site, but need your help to get the job done!

Please bring the following items if you can:

-5 gallon bucket of hot water

-Medium bristle brush on a pole

-Paint scraper

New Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary to Open on Newport

Local skinny has it that a new medical herbal dispensary is posed to open on Newport Avenue in the old OB Hardware store. The dispensary owners are reported to have signed a lease.

Ocean Beach Elementary to Celebrate Its Centennial

Amber Conley, the President of the OB Elem PTA – who also is a big fan of our blog – contacted us to say that they school will be throwing quite a shin dig the Spring of 2010.  The PTA in fact cannot figure out whether the centennial is this year 2009 or next.  This is classic OB.

Amber told us that they are looking to make contact with Alumni and dig up any stories, pictures or any other hidden treasures about our beloved school.  They are especially interested in getting assistance from the OB Historical Society.

If anyone has any thoughts, let us know here. You can go to www.OBElementary.com for more.

Beach Restrooms at Foot of Brighton Ave Under “Evaluation”

The beach restrooms at the foot of Brighton Avenue are being “evaluated” by the City. The facilities (the City calls them “the Brighton Street Comfort Station”) will be closed to the public to accomplish the assessment, Park and Recreation staff have ordered 10 porta-potties to be delivered to the location on Wednesday morning, 7/22/09.

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

lane tobias July 23, 2009 at 10:22 am

what does under evaluation mean? hopefully it means “cleaning up” and putting “doors on the stalls”.

I hope it doesnt mean “demolish”.

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jim grant July 23, 2009 at 10:27 am

Any and all help Saturday will be great. When we finish we hit South Beach for a couple pitchers of beer on Me.

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jim grant July 24, 2009 at 6:57 am

I think the weed being sold in the parking lot and seawall will drive the new buisness under in a short time.

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mr fresh July 24, 2009 at 8:03 am

weed? i thought those were spices! smelled like oregano to me.

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Pat July 24, 2009 at 8:26 am

I have heard of 2 other dispensaries opening in OB besides the one on Newport ave.
One on Voltaire and one on West Pt Loma.

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lane tobias July 24, 2009 at 9:41 am

I heard about the one on Voltaire as well…Not to say I disapprove at ALL, but how many people can each one really serve in such a small area?

I dont know much about the economics of dispensaries (I think they are mostly non-profit) but my guess is that they are all in OB because the atmosphere is welcoming, and definitely NOT because of demand – since generally it costs a whole lot more to purchase medicine at a dispensary over calling a “friend”.

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doug porter July 24, 2009 at 2:10 pm

hey gang! this seems like as good a place as any to remind you about OBRag Facebook. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wonder why all those whacky links get posted up there daily.
If you were there now you could read about the ballot initiative requiring drug testing for State Legislators, Bill Maher’s latest rant, a great wedding video & so much more. Won’t you “friend” us today?

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Gary Gilmore July 24, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Rumor has it that the Newport Avenue dispensary will be called “The OB Wellness Center” which will include massage and herbal remedies and be open to the public (except for the dispensary, I assume).

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Gary Gilmore July 24, 2009 at 2:42 pm

About the God Awful building that World Oil is hoping to build on Sunset at Voltaire. For Crying Out Loud! This is OB!! If you’re going to build something at least make it as green as possible. The local architect firm of Hanna Gabriel designed the OB Peoples Food Store and it’s a model of what a green building can be. Hey! World Oil!! Build something you can be proud of! Use local architects and maybe, you’ll get a little respect.

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Pat July 24, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Welcome back Gary

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editor July 24, 2009 at 4:26 pm

UPDATE: OBMA CLEANS UP VETS’ MEMORIAL

Apparently, the OB Mainstreet Association has cleaned up the messy remnants of the marshmallow wars of July 4th that had continued to mar the Veteran’s Memorial area at the foot of Newport.

Because the area has been cleaned, the clean-up scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled.

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jim grant July 24, 2009 at 9:06 pm

There are areas that need attention, I will be there in the AM…..

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jim grant July 25, 2009 at 7:02 pm

The Plaza is complete. There were severalk areas we re-cleaned today along with the sidewalk heading up Newport…we also swept down the area.

Sean Simpson showed up as well.

Thanks to all who helped out it is much nicer now with the goooo all gone.

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jim grant July 26, 2009 at 8:10 pm

KPBS is doing another show on Ocean Beach it will run July 27th. at 9 PM.

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I Love OB July 27, 2009 at 8:21 am

If there are three dispensaries here…. can we tax them? Or ask for a ten percent of profits donations? Think about this mathmatical doozie…

If one stoner buys an 1/8 a week, and say theyre cannibusuers, so they spend 60 on an 1/8 of really good OG or Kush, and they continue to spend that every week, for 52 weeks, an average stoner will spend 3,120 a year. If taxed that one stoner could contribute over 300 a year in taxes. If each store has a 500 patrons. Thats at least 150,000 a year in stoner taxes per building. Thats nearly half a MILLION dollars for OB alone…

I vote we suceed from the City, straighten out our town, and far succeed the dreams of any lil obeacian. We could have beautiful parks and community areas with that sort of money. We could have a beautiful shelter so as to get everyone off our streets, we could in the very least hire trained private police to watch and regulate the most ENORMOUS MARSHMELLOW FIGHT EVER!

maybe Im a dreamer,
But man what taxes are we loosing annually by making these places a secret….

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Catherine July 29, 2009 at 7:51 pm

The public safety and neighborhood services committee voted today to draft a resolution to create a citizens task force to study regulatory issues and permitting for medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives.

If passed by the full City Council this task force would spend a year studying the issue and then get back to the city with some recommendations. Then the city would still have to consider them, draft an ordinance and vote on it. meanwhile, how many more dispensaries will open with no local oversight or regulation?

That means we could have 10 in OB if people decide to open them. I support safe access to marijuana but how many dispensaries do we really need? We value community input into planning and, yet, when did the OB community get to weigh in on the dispensaries we have already? plenty of other cities have ordinances in place and experiences we can learn from regarding ideal hours of operation, security requirements and permits. we don’t need to spend a year studying them.

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Dave Gilbert July 29, 2009 at 8:14 pm

I agree with Cathrine in that we don’t need to spend a year on a study, heck I don’t think we need to spend anything. It’s America and if someone wants to open a business that’s their right, and the economy will either support it or not. Did anyone do a study as to how many Antique stores we could support on Newport? No.

Let’s keep the Government out of it!

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Gary Gilmore July 29, 2009 at 10:29 pm

Just an aside to the last three posts….. Today I heard from a very reliable source that a second dispensary has signed a lease in the 4900 block of Newport Avenue (in the mall across the street from the Rock, Paper Scissors building). About a week ago a dispensary signed a lease in the 4800 block at the location of the old OB Hardware. If they open, as I expect they will, that will make four dispensaries in OB. One in the 4800 block of Voltaire, one in the 5000 block of West Point Loma and two on Newport.

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mr fresh July 30, 2009 at 7:36 am

not that anybody commenting here falls into this category, but has anybody noticed how all the “free market” types have been supporting a host of new regulations/zoning/study groups when it comes to pot collectives?

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Brian July 30, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Well, I’m new here… but I’ll self-identify as a “free market type”. I’ve got no beef at all with medicinal marijuana dispensaries opening in OB. Course, for that matter, I’m a-ok with a regular storefront opening up that sells pot to any adult that wants it. The requirement for a prescription and government sanctioning of the sale is silly.

I am concerned for the folks opening up these dispensaries, though. I think they may be a bit higher on Obama’s hope for change than they should be. I believe that if four dispensaries open in OB, federal raids on dispensaries in OB will follow. Anyone who thinks federal raids on CA dispensaries are over is kidding themselves.

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Dave Gilbert July 30, 2009 at 6:12 pm

wtf is “free market type” Freshie, some sort of font? xD

I’m glad to see some of these empty storefronts on Newport and Voltaire start to fill up with new businesses, just as much as I’d be disgusted to see World Oil Corporation build an huge ugly building on Voltaire & Sunset Cliffs that I’d hope nobody would want to rent a space in or from.

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doug porter July 31, 2009 at 7:56 am

well, there DOES seem to be some interest in what’s going on here. I’m on the story now. Look for a posting about OB pot real soon. As to Mr. Fresh, I think he was referring to the governmental types who encourage developments by cutting red tape for their contributors and insist on regulation for anything that might benefit ordinary people.

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Catherine July 31, 2009 at 3:18 pm

I think land use and zoning review, and public/community input are fairly well established concepts in local business licensing. Why would collectives and cooperatives be exempt from that?

The thing is the city attorney says retail dispensaries are illegal under current state law, and the attorney general says basically the same. (see recent public safety & neighborhood services committee meetings for these docs) So if people want retail dispensaries they need to change state law. As it stands, the city is burying it’s head in the sand saying no moratorium on new dispensaries is necessary because they are illegal, meanwhile they are opening. Where’s the sense in that?

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