Month: July 2013

Review by the Widder Curry

Country Waffles
2323 Midway Dr
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 223-2225

“Country Waffles” was a restaurant that my husband and I used to frequent often. I had not been back since he passed away, almost 4 years ago, so when Marilyn told me she would go grocery shopping with me and help me push the shopping cart – as I have a broken shoulder, I suggested breakfast also. I knew that she liked the “Country Waffles” and I figured I could go back there without any “pangs” as I frequently do when I go to a favorite place alone for the first time. It was interesting to see that nothing had changed; even the wait staff was the same.

They have a very extensive menu, which includes breakfast and lunch. They are not open for dinner. Besides the waffle selection, they have a skillet/scrambles section; a country breakfast; omelets; pancakes and crepes; Benedicts; hamburgers and sandwiches, etc. The prices range from $6.99 for their specials to $9.25 for a “Butcher Block Burger.”

Kevin Faulconer, councilmember for Ocean Beach, the rest of the Peninsula and District 2, has just declared war on Mayor Bob Filner. Faulconer is a Republican and Filner is a Democrat.

In an Op-Ed piece at the U-T San Diego published on July 5th, entitled “Leadership Must Put People Before Politics”, Faulconer takes Filner to task for ignoring the people’s business, putting politics in front of road repair, neighborhood services, government waste, blah blah blah, declaring that “Filner’s bizarre actions and combative personality now stand in the way of San Diegans getting the government they deserve.”

Claiming that “this isn’t about politics”, and he doesn’t “have a feud with Mayor Filner”, that he’s given Filner the benefit of the doubt,” Faulconer says he can’t stand by any longer and watch “Filner’s antics” breed “political dysfunction and disregard for common sense that ruined our city’s reputation a decade ago”….

Enough locals in Ocean Beach have been incensed at the horrible mess left after the July 4th marshmallow fights that some of them are now calling for an end to the summer holiday tradition.

Mike James – a former leader of the business community – has now began a facebook page, calling for “No More Marshmallow Wars“. As of this morning, it already had 214 “likes” – and they were increasing by the hour.

Here is what James says on his facebook page:

The now infamous Ocean Beach Marshmallow Wars has been taken over by idiots who could give a rat’s ass about our community. Take back our beaches.

This page was started by Mike James. Mike was instrumental in bringing back the fireworks to O.B. in 1980 after a long hiatus. His hope is to bring the community together to find a solution to what has become a destructive event in our community. He is joined by Tyler Brand, who has seen first hand the violence and the negative environmental impact the Marshmallow Wars have caused to Ocean Beach. …

There are a number of suggestions and observations on the page:

On the day after the Fourth of July, Surfrider organized a massive clean-up of four beaches: OB, Mission Beach, PB and Oceanside. Hundreds of volunteers fanned out over these beaches in their “Morning After Mess” annual clean-up, and collected a total of 2,372 pounds of trash from the 4 beach areas.

But most of the trash collected off the sand and beaches – over three-quarters of it – was picked up off Ocean Beach.

OB accounted for 1,802 pounds – 76% of the total. 168 volunteers began at 9am near the OB Pier. Over the next couple of hours, the cleaners picked up 2,395 cigarette butts, 407 plastic bags, 131 styrofoam pieces, and 32 pounds of recycling material. The most unusual items collected were a BBQ and marshmallow guns.

This was sent in by our friend, Jon Carr. Do you have a photo of the 4th in OB you’d…

Editor: The following rant and photos were sent to us by a local OB resident who witnessed an early morning clean-up today – July 5th – on the sidewalks of Newport Avenue that disturbed him. He was upset and made the following accusations, which are of concern if true, but they cannot be independently verified at this moment.

Of course, as we all know, the clean-up in OB after the fireworks and marshmallow fight is very staggering and any effort to wash up the mess is applauded. Yet if the Newport trash – including marshmallows, cigarette butts, cans and bottles – is indeed washing down the storm drain – then that is a concern.

By OBracer

The Ocean Beach Main Street Association ( OBMA ) pays for a power washer to clean the sidewalks along Newport Ave after the fireworks.

All night they clean the sidewalks pushing all the trash into our storm drains and gutters.

It’s the Fifth of July – The Day After – and as usual, there’s a clean-up job to do in…

Yes, it is the Fourth of July, that glorious day where we Americans celebrate our history – honoring the day in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed and passed by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

But, no, I don’t feel very proud today of being an American. Why not, you ask, as you bundle up your family, hot dogs, beach umbrellas and head out for your own family’s festivities.

It now turns out that our own Postal Service has been spying on our mail for years. About 160 billion postcards, packages – and yes, envelopes were photographed by the good ol’ US Postal Service last year.

City Council to Take Up Faulconer’s Ordinance on July 8th

By JEC

The City of San Diego is about to ban a host of vehicles from parking on city streets. This coming Monday, July 8th, the City Council will consider a new ordinance sponsored by 2nd District Council member Kevin Faulconer that prohibits city residents from parking oversized, non-motorized or recreational vehicles on any street within the city limits.

There are exceptions, of course. Vehicles performing service to the property or loading/unloading; government or public utility vehicles; buses used to transport youths or the disabled (party buses get no free pass); and, any vehicle displaying a valid permit.

To issue permits involves creating a new bureaucracy.

A permit will be good for only 24 hours

This is a continuation of my thoughts, concerns, and questions about the brand new Draft Ocean Beach Community Plan Update that the City has worked out for us. The OB Planning Board will be holding a public forum tonight – Wednesday, July 3rd – at the OB Rec Center to begin discussion of its proposals. All are encouraged to attend and lend them your ears and voice.

For the last several days, I have been reviewing the 166 page document prepared by the City’s staff, and have begun writing a critique. It is NOT a point by point, page by page analysis but more of a compilation of issues. Part 1 focused on an introduction and overview and on the Land Use element.

By Michelle Hope

I am a California Native and lived many years in Ocean Beach – my People’s card starts with a 1 4. My family owns property on West Point Loma and I still have family here.

For 7 years I traveled the country on my motorcycle working at Rallies to support myself and living in a tent. I dig the nomadic lifestyle and you could read some of my work on the internet of adventure stories of living gypsy. I came home last year and decided to stay to complete a dream of being a Holistic Health Practitioner at a school. So I enrolled and got myself an RV to live in while I am here in school. It is my pursuit of happiness. Everything I owned fit on my motorcycle for 7 years – always close, I am accustomed to it.

As we glide into the Fourth of July, we will soon be immersed in some ol’ American traditions: protests, fireworks and marshmallow fights. And in OB, all of these are truly accentuated – here, let me explain.

Take the fireworks for instance. Well, they were almost “taken” – remember the legal challenges to neighborhood and downtown fireworks by a local environmental group?

Almost Illegal Fireworks

July 4th fireworks in OB and in other coastal towns were threatened when the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundations sued La Jolla for its fireworks permits. The group believes that fireworks need to be reviewed under the stringent California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as they threaten the wildlife, marine environment and do other harm. One of the managers of the group is Marco Gonzalez – a well known San Diego County environmentalist – and brother of newly elected State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales.

But a potential compromise is in the works that would exempt such one-time a year events from CEQA. It’s a new bill that directs the governor to put together clear guidelines for temporary, minor-use special events being exempt from state law requiring often expensive, environmental assessments as a condition of some local permits.