Month: January 2012

Some of you may remember me being a wet blanket to Doug Porter’s request for ideas on how to get arrested for free speech. I very school marm-ily suggested it constituted conspiracy, a felony in California. Be careful and don’t run with scissors.

Then about a week later, several members of Occupy San Diego disrupted the Mayor’s State of the City Address. They did so with the now familiar “Sound Check!” and their follow-up chorus until they were arrested for an anti-free speech law at council meetings and…..conspiracy. And along with the misdemeanor disruption charges, they were charged with felony conspiracy charges as well. Chicken shit, yes…but arrested and charged with a felony nonetheless. [Editor: DA Dumanis has decided not to charge them with felonies and has kicked their case back to the City Attorney.]

Well today, groggily over coffee I read about a Deputy DA and a Cop who conspired to destroy a traffic ticket. A Court Summons! A Court Document! A complete circumvention of the judicial process by those very people who are tasked with “protecting” us. A nose thumbing at those of us who are preyed upon daily at their discretion. Those who have sworn to uphold the constitution and wield authority in an even handed way….deep breath….

The regular monthly meeting of the OB Planning Board is this Wednesday, February 1st. The Board begins its meetings sharply at 6pm at the Ocean Beach Rec Center, located at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

The big ticket item on their agenda this month is whether the OB Board should approach the city-wide organization of recognized community planners, called the Community Planners Committee of (CPC), about the fight the Board is having with the City of San Diego over the City’s granting of improper variances.

The fight centers over the 5100 block of West Point Loma Boulevard and how the City is allowing property owners to circumvent the Ocean Beach Precise Plan with these multiple variances.

In a nutshell, the City has of late been granting multiple variances to property owners on that block which allow them to bypass the requirements of the Precise Plan – which since the mid-Seventies has governed building and construction in Ocean Beach. The Board maintains that these variances are improper – even illegal some say – because the City is using them to get around the zoning in that area, a zoning that was established years ago.

Editor: While repairs are going on, Ragster Anna Daniels looks into the funding for the new roof on the OB Library. About two weeks behind schedule, the re-opening of the Ocean Beach branch will now be around the first of March.

It all started with a forwarded email which expressed shock that the OB Library’s Spanish barrel tile roof had recently been replaced with crappy looking shingles. I sat here in City Heights and conjured up the image of the Ocean Beach library where supporters have protested potential budgets far too many times in the past four years. What a crime to sacrifice the architectural integrity of the building to a badly needed new roof done on the cheap!

I immediately called library administration to get the story on this. According to the spokesperson, the old wood shake roof has been replaced by custom composite tile. I had “mis-remembered” a Spanish barrel tile roof and so did others! This custom tile maintains the same “look” but provides fire retardant capabilities that the shake roof didn’t.

End of story? Not quite. I asked about the funding source for the new roof and was surprised to learn that there were multiple sources, which included building maintenance funds, a donation from the OB Friends of the Library and a

In a clear sign that grassroot activists on the left and on the right are joining together to fight the National Defense Act that President Obama signed into law on the last day of 2011, San Diego progressives and tea party groups are mobilizing starting this week in joint actions against local Congressional representatives.

Activists and organizers at both of the ideological ends of the political spectrum are extremely upset and concerned with provisions of the NDAA that will allow the government to pick up and detain American citizens indefinitely without charges and without trials.

A group in San Diego has formed the Save the Bill of Rights; they meet weekly, have a website and facebook, and are planning at least two actions in the upcoming weeks.

On Friday, February 3rd, protesters will simultaneously mobilize at both Duncan Hunter, Jr’s office in El Cajon and at Susan Davis’ office in Normal Heights. Hunter is a Republican and Davis is a Democrat. Both voted for the bill when it was before the House of Representatives. Not too long after that vote late last year, local San Diegans staged a brief sit-in at Davis’ office on Adams Avenue.

Hormuz-Mania

By Michael T. Klare / TomDispatch.com / January 31, 2012

Ever since December 27th, war clouds have been gathering over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow body of water connecting the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean and the seas beyond. On that day, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi warned that Tehran would block the strait and create havoc in international oil markets if the West placed new economic sanctions on his country.

“If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports,” Rahimi declared, “then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” Claiming that such a move would constitute an assault on America’s vital interests, President Obama reportedly informed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Washington would use force to keep the strait open. To back up their threats, both sides have been bolstering their forces in the area and each has conducted a series of provocative military exercises.

In my last article, I discussed my experience of getting back into the dating world. I ended by saying that I would do some more research, purely in the interest of helping other widows find lasting happiness in an otherwise lonely situation.

I only signed up with one dating service, initially. If you remember it was a site for seniors, yet my first date with my “boy toy” was with a man younger than my youngest daughter – 27 years younger than me. He was sexy, well toned, and either after my money (sic) or my bed. Maybe both. That relationship ended with him hanging up on me.

As a good researcher, I decided that I really needed to be signed up with more than one dating site, so I signed up with three more. I used the same profile; the same pictures, and the same physical description. I thought about reducing my age – but wanted to be honest. Why? Who knows?

About 100 Residents Protest Violence and Drunkenness in Their Community

Last Friday, January 27th, approximately one hundred residents of Pacific Beach rallied on the boardwalk next to the Crystal Pier. They were there because they had complaints of too much drunkenness and violence caused by all the bars and restaurants in their neighborhood serving booze to young people. They want more local control over alcohol licensing.

The group held a silent march from the Pier to Fanuel Street with lots of signs (one sign stood out – it read: “drunk people are un-cool”.

Online Ambitions, and a Dash of Real Estate, Drive Newspaper Deals

By Tanzina Vega / New York Times / January 29, 2012

IF the future of media is digital, who would want to buy a newspaper? Many people, it turns out.

Investors acquired the newspapers in several major American cities in the second half of 2011, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Omaha World-Herald, The San Francisco Examiner and the 16 newspapers that made up The New York Times Company’s Regional Media Group.

Seventy-one daily newspapers were sold in the United States last year, for a total “just under $800 million,” said Owen Van Essen, president of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a company that specializes in newspaper mergers and acquisitions.

By Gail Powell / Special to the OB Rag

Hallelujah! The time is upon us; the poor, put upon and forgotten citizens of Ocean Beach. We have lived for many years without a decent toilet to relieve ourselves in while visiting North Ocean Beach. However, the city gods of plumbing have descended on the dead end of Brighton Street and fencing and signage have gone up.

This terrible situation has been well-documented by the OB Rag previously. In fact, in September 2009, the Union/Tribune, in a story written by Helen Gao, cited:

“Restrooms near Dog Beach need to be demolished and it will take 18 months to replace – meanwhile 10 portable toilets set up. The city is leasing them for $1,341 per month.”

Actually, it is only now that work has begun on a public toilet for North OB and Dog Beach.

Governor Jerry Brown has been getting a lot of media coverage lately for his efforts to promote his ballot measure which he is selling as a way to stop further cuts to education in the coming years and help solve California’s seemingly eternal budget crisis. While the mainstream media has showered much attention on Brown, whose initiative would temporarily raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and raise the sales tax on all Californians, very little notice has gone to the Millionaires Tax, which is vastly superior to the governor’s measure for many reasons.

While I have written about the Millionaires Tax in a previous column for the OB Rag and for Labor Notes , it is worth reviewing the central arguments why California voters should support the Millionaires Tax rather than the Governor’s initiative. What are the top ten reasons to support the Millionaires Tax?

1. The Millionaires Tax is a permanent tax increase on millionaires while the Governor’s initiative is a temporary 4-year measure that will not bring in enough revenue to restore the cuts that have been made to education, infrastructure, and vital public services—not here in San Diego or anywhere else in the state.

(Note from Ernie: This was written in memory of Diana Gail Shipley, a dear friend and educator who was an inspiration to many people throughout San Diego. She lost a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer on January 5, 2012. I submit it here so that readers could just get an inkling of what a remarkable human being she was.)

When Diana arrived in heaven,
I can imagine the Almighty looking at her going:
“Diana.
Hm, hm, hm.
My Sister, my Sister, my Sister.
I know how you battled what ailed you
so I forgive you for arriving CP time
but I just want to tell you
that I’m so glad to greet you
because you were just what I had in mind
when I came up with this whole idea of Humankind.”
I mean wasn’t someone like Diana what a Creator must have wished for among His creations, someone:

By Gavin Aronsen / Mother Jones / January 29, 2012

On Saturday, Occupy Oakland re-entered the national spotlight during a day-long effort to take over an empty building and transform it into a social center. Oakland police thwarted the efforts, arresting more than 400 people in the process, primarily during a mass nighttime arrest outside a downtown YMCA. That number included at least six journalists, myself included, in direct violation of OPD media relations policy that states “media shall never be targeted for dispersal or enforcement action because of their status.”

After an unsuccessful afternoon effort to occupy a former convention center, the more than 1,000 protesters elected to return to the site of their former encampment outside city hall. On the way, they clashed with officers, advancing down a street with makeshift shields of corrogated metal and throwing objects at a police line. Officers responded with smoke grenades, tear gas, and bean bag projectiles. After protesters regrouped, they marched through downtown as police pursued and eventually contained a few hundred of them in an enclosed space outside a YMCA. Some entered the gym and were arrested inside.