Month: December 2013

OB Town Council Meets in Secret and Plots How to Spend Its Money … on OB’s Needy

 Frank Gormlie  December 12, 2013  3 Comments on OB Town Council Meets in Secret and Plots How to Spend Its Money … on OB’s Needy

A picture says a thousand words, they say. And so it does.

We caught the Ocean Beach Town Council holding a secret meeting at the OB Rec Center the other night – Wed., Dec. 11th.

There they all were – plotting and conspiring – in the innocent looking “crafts room” at the center.

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OB Man – Missing for 1 Year – May Have Been Murdered in Humboldt County

 Source  December 12, 2013  15 Comments on OB Man – Missing for 1 Year – May Have Been Murdered in Humboldt County

UPDATE from Dec 17: The Humboldt County Coroner has identified the human remains located in a gravesite off of Jewitt Ranch Road, Harris area of Humboldt County as that of missing person Garret Rodriguez, 29 years old from San Diego, California.

Editor: Last July we published an article about an Ocean Beach man – Garrett Rodriquez – and that he had been missing for 6 months. Now it’s been a year – and the following article from the Lost Coast Outpost in Humboldt County sheds some light on a probably tragic ending to his life.

By Kym Kemp / Lost Coast Outpost

Revelations in the case of missing person Garret Rodriguez and the recently discovered body in Southern Humboldt continue to emerge. More information was revealed today by Chris Cook, of Cook & Associates Private Investigations.

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Join Surfrider on “Ocean Friendly Garden” Tour in Ocean Beach – Sat., Dec. 14th

 Staff  December 12, 2013  0 Comments on Join Surfrider on “Ocean Friendly Garden” Tour in Ocean Beach – Sat., Dec. 14th

Surfrider San Diego is holding another one of their tours of what they call “Ocean Friendly Gardens Lawn Patrol” in Ocean Beach this Saturday, Dec. 14th.

The tour will begin at the corner of Cable and Orchard streets in OB and will go from 9am to 11am.

Join them and other OBceans for their Ocean Friendly Gardens Lawn Patrol and take a tour of neighborhood gardens while discussing the Ocean Friendly Gardens principals …

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Homelessness and Hunger on the Rise in U.S. Cities, Nation’s Mayors Say

 Source  December 12, 2013  0 Comments on Homelessness and Hunger on the Rise in U.S. Cities, Nation’s Mayors Say

By Matt Pearce / LA Times / December 11, 2013

Although the jobless rate is at its lowest level in five years and the stock market has surpassed its pre-recession high, the economic gains have not reached many poor urban residents, and 2014 could be even worse, a new survey said Wednesday.

Homelessness and hunger have increased and are expected to keep rising in many cities next year, according to the latest U.S. Conference of Mayors survey of 25 large and midsized metro areas.

Last year’s national poverty rate of 15% is still near the Great Recession’s high of 15.1%, according to U.S. Census figures.

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Monsanto, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Global Food Dominance

 Source  December 12, 2013  13 Comments on Monsanto, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Global Food Dominance

monsanto279By Ellen Brown / EllenBrown.com

Control oil and you control nations,” said US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. ”Control food and you control the people.”

Global food control has nearly been achieved, by reducing seed diversity with GMO (genetically modified) seeds that are distributed by only a few transnational corporations. But this agenda has been implemented at grave cost to our health; and if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes, control over not just our food but our health, our environment and our financial system will be in the hands of transnational corporations.

Profits Before Populations

According to an Acres USA interview of plant pathologist Don Huber, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, two modified traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One involves insect resistance. The other, more disturbing modification involves insensitivity to glyphosate-based herbicides (plant-killing chemicals). Often known as Roundup after the best-selling Monsanto product of that name, glyphosate poisons everything in its path except plants genetically modified to resist it.

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Volunteers Needed for San Diego’s Homeless Census Count

 Frank Gormlie  December 12, 2013  0 Comments on Volunteers Needed for San Diego’s Homeless Census Count

weallcount-300x167By Doug Porter

The Regional Task Force on the Homeless is seeking over one thousand volunteers to assist in counting homeless individuals in San Diego on January 24, 2014.

The Point In Time Count (PITC) is an annual census effort encompassing both sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals. Data about locations and demographics is collected, enabling agencies in the San Diego region to better understand the scope, impact and potential solutions to homelessness.

The PITC is also crucial in that it supplies information essential to applications for funding to address homeless issues. Based on San Diego’s 2013 census, approximately 8,900 individuals, families and unaccompanied children experience homelessness annually in San Diego County.

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Work set to begin on OB Elementary School crosswalk over winter break

 Matthew Wood  December 12, 2013  3 Comments on Work set to begin on OB Elementary School crosswalk over winter break

By Matthew Wood

The area around Ocean Beach Elementary School is about to get a little bit safer.

Work on the proposed crosswalk on Santa Monica Avenue just outside the school is expected to begin in the next few weeks, according to John Ly, a council representative and policy adviser for Councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s office.

In an e-mail, Ly said construction on a street light – a step necessary to stay within city code for crosswalks – would begin Dec. 23, the first official day of winter break for the school. He said he expects work on the street light to be completed by the time students return on Jan. 6, at which time work can begin on cutting curbs for the crosswalk.

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More Thoughts on the Most Recent OB Planning Board Meeting

 Frank Gormlie  December 11, 2013  0 Comments on More Thoughts on the Most Recent OB Planning Board Meeting

As I also attended – along with OB Rag reporter Stephanie Denton – the most recent Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting held on the 4th of December – I wanted to share some of my notes and offer insights into that oft-confusing meeting. (The Board is holding a special meeting tonight, Wed, Dec. 11, solely on the Community Plan.)

Stephanie’s report of the Dec. 4 meeting is an excellent summation of the actions the Board took that night regarding CVS Pharmacy and two local development permits.

CVS Confusion

But there was some confusion on the Board – and certainly in the audience – when Chair Tom Gawronski modified the agenda by moving the CVS-related agenda item, scheduled for 7:25pm, to the fore of the board’s business for the evening. (If anyone came at that later time they were simply out of luck.)

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Have You Ever Wondered How Rumors Get Started?

 Judi Curry  December 11, 2013  2 Comments on Have You Ever Wondered How Rumors Get Started?

The New “Hippie House” of Sunset Cliffs

Have you taken a walk along the south part of Ocean Beach lately?

Have you walked along Sunset Cliffs and Adair and wondered if you had stepped into a time capsule and were transported back to the 1960’s?

Have you ever said to yourself – or out loud – I wish I were living in the days of the Beatles, Mario Savio, Angela Davis, or Samuel I Hayakawa?

Well, my friends, hold on to your roach clip, because you may be taking that trip into that tunnel as this is being written. Is this going to be the new maryjane house of Ocean Beach?

Oh my goodness! Is this house going to give the Kodiak a run for it’s money?

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South Africa’s Role in My Evolution as an Educator

 Ernie McCray  December 11, 2013  0 Comments on South Africa’s Role in My Evolution as an Educator

As I reflect on Mandela’s passing I’m reminded of how the struggle of his people has played an important role in my development as an educator, starting back in ’57 or ’58 before I had taken my first “How to Teach” course at the University of Arizona.

At the time I was writing a research paper and found some essays on South Africa and the word “apartheid” leapt off the pages at me and I discovered that my struggle in Southern Arizona was so similar to what blacks were going through in the southern tip of the Dark Continent.

Of course, apartheid was more brutal. I didn’t have enough time to dwell on the subject so I just tucked my new found information away and got back to a life of pop quizzes and mid-terms and the like.

But, I didn’t know how much I had internalized what I had learned until the next year when I was in a class listening to a glowing lecture on South Africa that highlighted the country’s sparkling beaches and stunning countryside and rugged mountains and rich resources.

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Nelson Mandela – Rock Star? (Thoughts on His Passing)

 Ernie McCray  December 11, 2013  0 Comments on Nelson Mandela – Rock Star? (Thoughts on His Passing)

By Ernie McCray

First thing that came to my mind when I heard that my hero of heroes, Nelson Mandela, had passed away was “Man, what a Rock Star he was!” Now I know it seems profane to diminish a great man’s name like he was a Beatle or Rolling Stone or some facsimile thereof but let me explain.

When I got the news I had just spent a very pleasant morning and early afternoon with fellow University of Arizona alumni listening to one of us, a bright inspirational warm and beautiful woman, a motivational speaker, share from her successes as a business person, what leadership should be all about. Kristi Staab is her name. And she has a lot to say. To summarize, she advocates leading like a Rock Star, “inside out,” with passion and with solid ethics and personal values. That sure epitomizes Mandela.

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OB and Point Loma Neighbors Battle Over New “Kodiak” Restaurant

 Staff  December 10, 2013  17 Comments on OB and Point Loma Neighbors Battle Over New “Kodiak” Restaurant

Opponents Want to Protest at Wednesday OB Planning Board Special Meeting on the Community Plan

There’s a small battle brewing in south Ocean Beach and it’s all over a restaurant that hasn’t even opened yet.

The owners of the planned restaurant – called “Kodiak” – want to open in the building at the southwest corner of Point Loma Avenue and Ebers. This is the same building where the VFW wanted to open up a chapter house but ended up giving up due to neighborhood opposition.

Now, those same neighbors are battling each other over the projected opening of “Kodiak”. (Judi Curry reported on it about a month ago.)

One side wants zoning changes that would potentially prohibit any restaurants from ever opening along the commercial street of Point Loma Avenue, despite the history of eateries in the area. This side views the new OB Community Plan zoning changes as a window of opportunity to achieve this goal.

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