Ocean Beach Town Council Starts the New Year – Report on Jan. 22 Meeting

 by Lois Lane

The OB Town Council is always a great place for finding out what is going on in OB –with some interesting items occurring before the regular agenda gets started, and all professionally kept on schedule by the President, Gretchen Newsom. The previous meeting was in late October when the mayoral candidates spoke; the Wednesday, January 22 Agenda was too packed to report everything. Here are some highlights.

People came prepared for public comments. One woman identified herself as the resident where the purple cow sculpture is in the yard; this served to identify her as she asked the police to ticket people parked in Red Zones. Her husband asked about the long-term water repair project, resulting in 24 hour leakage from the old temporary connectors. Another resident made a request (deferred to the future executive board member) for funds for cleanup and graffiti abatement.

The president of the Point Loma Democrats invited everyone to join them on January 26 at 4:00 at the Point Loma Assembly, Howard Wayne the featured speaker.

Only then did Ms. Newsom begin the regular agenda with an announcement of the OB Town Council’s recent accomplishments – a hugely successful Christmas Parade and the donations for the food and toy drive, resulting in 93 food and toy deliveries in Ocean Beach. The OB Town Council also supports a plastic bag ban and will continue to support this effort. The flags at Veterans Plaza have been replaced.

If you want to know what is going on in the City, County, State and sometimes Nation (Scott Peters rep was absent), you will find the OB Town Council the place for information all at once. These Reps attend a lot of meetings and handle a lot of complaints. You may or may not agree with what they have to report, but these meetings provide a chance for public input as well.

The new Captain of SDPD Western Division, Capt Nisleit, addressed the meeting as a guest speaker and provided information about the police response to “traveler.” Barbara Houlton and David Flietner provided an overview and status of the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Native Plant Restoration Project.

On to the real highlights – the Presentation of awards to the winners of the 34th Annual OB Holiday Parade! Already announced December 13,  the smiling winners displayed unanimous delight in receiving their awards to rounds of applause. A male awardee with white beard and dressed in a white ballet tutu set the tone for recipients. Additionally, he was acknowledged as the very first parade Santa Claus.

The meeting concludes with the Committee Chair reports. In general, not much progress over the holidays, with the Veterans Plaza still in the planning phases, and the OB Entryway is held up with City of San Diego contracting issues. The OB Community Plan, under the leadership of the OB Planning Board, heads for final city approval, and Giovanni Ingolia is reported to be a nominee for the Mission Bay Park Committee.

Gretchen Newsome herself should receive the “herding the cats” award, as people in Ocean Beach know what they think, and don’t hesitate to share their opinions, At the next meeting, Wednesday Feb 26 at the Masonic Temple on Sunset Cliffs, 7:00 PM, President Newsom will be celebrating her birthday with “Pie with the President.” Shoo-fly pie was hinted, but not promised. If you want to be re-assured that OB is still OB, the OB Town Council provides a good place to be.