February 2014

Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away

February 28, 2014 by Matthew Wood
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By Matthew Wood

So this is what a winter storm in SoCal is like. Who knew?

Spending my first winter in San Diego after numerous cold, barren, lifeless years in the Midwest, I was kinda getting the impression that winter was like every other season here: Warm, sunny, pretty much perfect in every way.

Except for, you know, that massive drought we’ve been having. We need this rain, real bad.

As I watched the weather reports this week that are calling for the biggest storm in Southern California in years, I have been rooting for the worst. Maybe we could even get a name out of this one! Rainmeggeden? The Gusting Ghost? Wind-zilla? OK, we’ll work on those.

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Bicycles and Pie at the OB Town Council Meeting

February 28, 2014 by Source
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by Lois Lane

If you want to see OB, come to an OB Town Council meeting, and you are here. Held in the Masonic Temple Building on Sunset Cliffs Blvd, this icon of OB may not be quite historical status, but is provides ample parking, easy entry, and a comfortable venue for the number of people who arrived during the evening, along with their bicycles, children, and definite opinions on the agenda topics.

The meetings follow a standard format of public comment, official business, reports from the various elected official staff members, a special program, and committee reports. This meeting had special sixth item – pie with the president, as Gretchen Newsom, OB Town Council President, celebrated her birthday with her friends in Ocean Beach. And yes, the shoo-fly pie was every bit as good as promised.

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OB Planning Area District 5: the Cliffs at Ocean Beach

February 28, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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In our continuing series of looking at each of the seven planning districts in Ocean Beach, we come to District 5 in southwestern OB. (Here is a map of all these districts within the Ocean Beach Planning Area. )

The OB Rag is performing this public education service as the OB Planning Board is having its annual election on March 11th. (Here are our views of District 1, District 2 , District 3, District 4. Here’s why it’s important.)

District 5 – the Cliffs at Ocean Beach

The fifth district within OB is the smallest district geographically, but because it hugs the gorgeous Sunset Cliffs, it has some of the most stunning views of sunsets, the coast, the surf, and provides an aura of solitude at those cliffs.

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Ocean Beach and Point Loma News Round-Up

February 27, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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4 Unit Apartment on 4800 Block Long Branch Sold

A four-unit apartment complex at 4860-4866 Long Branch Avenue just sold for $850,000. (No other info is available at this time.)

Local TV Station Picks Up OB Rag Knock-Down Game Story

Michael Chen on Channel 10News picked up our story about an OBcean being attacked in a probable Knock-Down Game incident – the first of its kind in Ocean Beach.

OB Planning Board News & Updates – Candidate Forum – March 5th
……….

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Restaurant Review: Old Townhouse Restaurant in Ocean Beach

February 27, 2014 by Judi Curry
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Old Townhouse Restaurant
4941 Newport Avenue
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-222-1880

It has been years since I had a meal at the “Old Townhouse.” I am not sure why we stopped going there, but I am sure it had nothing to do with the food. I think more restaurants opened in the area and we started going to some of them.

The place, on Sunday, was packed, and there was a line waiting to get in when we left. .

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Arizona Dreaming

February 27, 2014 by Ernie McCray

AZ VetoBy Ernie McCray

Growing up in Arizona
I used to have simple dreams:
Eating in any cafe;
sitting anywhere in a movie theatre
or skating at the rink
at any time on any day;
attending any school
I could get myself to
and swimming in any pool.

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Changes Expected on Ocean Beach Planning Board

February 26, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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Every year around this time, there are some changes to the Ocean Beach Planning Board as the committee holds its annual elections. OB has 7 planning districts and each district has 2 reps. Usually only one is up for election any one year.

But this year, there may be more changes than normal as board members retire or are termed out and new ones elected in the balloting, which takes place on March 11th at the OB Rec Center.

Plus because of a timing flunk or other individual reasons (Jane G was in Peru, for example), on the official ballot, there is only one candidate’s name: Pete Ruscitti – the current vice chair and rep for District 6. He’s now running for District 3 – his home district.

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New Pot Dispensary Rules for San Diego: One of OB’s Own Will Have to Move

February 26, 2014 by Source
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Editor: The San Diego City Council just passed new zoning rules allowing for medical marijuana dispensaries to legally open throughout the City. The new plan only lets about 4 dispensaries for each of the city council districts.

One of the zoning rules is that the dispensaries cannot be within 1000 feet of each other – or schools, playgrounds, etc. This will mean that one of OB’s pot dispensaries on Voltaire Street will need to move as they are definitely within that limit currently.

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Not one drop of water for fracking in California!

February 26, 2014 by Source
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by Dan Bacher / Daily Kos

Apparently responding to recent articles written by Adam Scow of Food and Water Watch and others about the insanity of using water for fracking during an unprecedented drought, the oil industry has fired back with its standard response claiming that the oil industry uses insignificant amounts of water for fracking and is going out of its way to conserve and recycle the water it uses.

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Is the Drought Over in Ocean Beach?

February 26, 2014 by Judi Curry
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By Judi Curry

So, is the drought over in OB? If you have driven down Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in the past three months you would sure think so. I stopped driving down this street months ago when there was construction going on and I had to take detours.

Guess what? There is still construction going on and the street is like a floating river.

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Gio Ingolia Appointed to Mission Bay Park Committee

February 25, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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Gio Ingolia is a member of the OB Planning Board as well as a council member of the OB Town Council. He also has been very active in the process to draw up, vet and organize the new OB Community Plan Update.

For his grassroots visibility and work, Ingolia was just appointed to the prestigious Mission Bay Park Committee.

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OB Kite Festival Postponed to May Due to Rain Forecast

February 25, 2014 by Staff
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After 66 years, Mother Nature finally caught up with the Ocean Beach Kite Festival.

Because of the forecast of rain this weekend, the Kite Festival has been rescheduled. It will take place on Saturday, May 10 instead of the planned March 1.

The rescheduled event will still feature free kite making for kids, including instructions and all materials. There will also be carnival rides, a craft fair, music, food, and spectacular demonstrations by professional kite flyers.

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Why Surging Support for Marijuana Is Hurting the GOP and Will For Years to Come

February 25, 2014 by Source

mjgop2Don’t expect a major turnaround from the GOP on cannabis, just electoral pain across America.

By CJ Werleman / AlterNet

As the movement to expand access to marijuana grows across the country, the Republican Party, with the exception of its kooky libertarian wing, has a bad case of reefer madness. Gov. Rick Perry, who’s no stranger to moments of mental madness, equated marijuana use to murder, while Gov. Chris Christie has more or less said he’d prefer dead kids to stoned kids. During the 2012 election, Mitt Romney promised to “fight tooth and nail” against pro-marijuana legalization.

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Bikes & Beers: Promoting Bike Friendly Neighborhoods and San Diego’s Craft Brews

February 25, 2014 by Staff

bikes and beersJohn P. Anderson is an occasional contributor both to the OB Rag and the San Diego Free Press. Just recently, Anderson has joined up with other enthusiasts to start what they hope will be an annual trek through our city’s bike-friendly neighborhoods combined with visits to craft brewers along the way.

They’ve dubbed it Bikes & Beers SD, plotting out a 26-mile bicycling course taking participants through many of San Diego’s most dynamic urban neighborhoods and to some of the region’s most beautiful natural sights. The inaugural event will take place …

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OB Town Council Sponsors Panel and Dialogue on Bike Advocay and Planning – Wed., Feb. 26

February 24, 2014 by Staff
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The Ocean Beach Town Council is hosting what they hope will be a community dialogue on bike advocacy and planning and they are presenting a panel of experts to kick start this dialogue this Wednesday, Feb. 26th, at the Masonic Center.

The meeting of the Town Council starts at 7:00pm and the Masonic Center located at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.

Tackling a range of regional and local bicycle issues, the panel of experts includes:

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The Dark Side of the 2015 Balboa Park Celebrations

February 24, 2014 by Doug Porter
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By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

A non-profit group set up by the city to create a world class year long celebration of the centennial of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park hasn’t produced much of anything concrete to date, despite spending millions of dollars in public monies. And they’re making the claim that their lack of progress is nobody’s business.

Citizen activist David Lundin’s inquiries into the machinations of the group responsible for planning the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration have stirred up quite a fuss. After reading reports about difficulties and missed deadlines by the entity (Balboa Park Celebrations, Inc) he filed a series of requests for documents (ala Public Records Act).

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Ghosts of City Heights Past: Chaos, Wonder, and Love

February 24, 2014 by Jim Miller

http://volitaire.deviantart.com/

By Jim Miller

In my first novel, Drift, there is a passage where the main character, Joe, is driving through City Heights pondering the poetry of the streets.

He notes the “funky majesty” of a store front church sandwiched between a pharmacy and a liquor store and revels in the cacophony of signs in Vietnamese, Spanish, English, and more while he loses himself in the street life passing by as “everything bled together seamlessly in the twilight and became part of the mystic fabric of impending night.”

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New Mayoral Vote Count Decreases Faulconer’s Percent Over Alvarez

February 24, 2014 by Doug Porter

Click Here for Alvarez vs Faulconer Runoff Election Coverage!By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

A New and Interesting New Mayoral Vote Count

The County Registrar of Voters released a follow up (although not final) report on Friday, showing the mayoral contest between city council members Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez to be closer than originally announced. Faulconer’s win was apparently by six percentage points instead of the widely reported eight points(52.89% vs 47.11%).

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The Widder Curry’s Thoughts on ‘A Day of Honor’

February 24, 2014 by Judi Curry

peggy shannonBy Judi Curry

At the risk of alienating a lot of people, I am absolutely incensed by the City Council naming a day after Peggy Shannon for the “harassment suffered by the mayor of San Diego.” A day in her honor? For what? What did she do that was so honorable? Stop a thief? Adopt orphan children; Save people from a burning building? Fund a scholarship for children that can’t afford to go to college?

She is having a “day of honor” so that the city does not have to pay out any money from the harassment of the former mayor? She is having a “day of honor” because she told the world about the mayor’s flirting with her? She is having a “day of honor” because she “. . . had butterflies in her stomach because she didn’t know what was going to happen the next time the mayor came to her desk”?

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San Diego Council Likely to Approve Protection for Seals at La Jolla Children’s Pool

February 24, 2014 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

The San Diego City Council is expected to adopt a proposal prohibiting public access to the beach at the Children’s Pool during harbor seal pupping season.

A staff report saying municipal and other laws against animal abuse have not been effective in preventing harassment of the seals will be presented at today’s (Feb 24) council meeting.

The proposal before the council would bar people from using the Children’s Pool from Dec. 15 to May 15 each year, when the seals are giving birth and weaning their young. The report calls for this proposed action as the “the minimum step” in preventing the harassment of seals.

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A Benefit to Put Musical Instruments in Every OB Elementary Classroom

February 21, 2014 by Source
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Tonight – Friday, Feb 21

6 pm

The OB Playhouse & Arts Center

4944 Newport Ave

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Another Day, Another San Diego Police Sex Scandal

February 21, 2014 by Doug Porter
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By Doug Porter

Police Chief Bill Lansdowne called a press conference [Wednesday] evening to announce yet another reported incident of sexual misconduct involving a SDPD officer.

One of the women contacting the SDPD following allegations against officer Christopher Hays, provided information leading to yet another officer, who is now under investigation for allegedly touching and exposing himself to a female arrestee.

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Cohn’s “OB Warehouse” Still a Few Months Away From Opening

February 21, 2014 by Matthew Wood
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We have an update on the opening date for OB Warehouse, the new spot on Newport Avenue from the Cohn Restaurant Group.

Apparently Tim Spann’s estimate of “a couple weeks” that we reported was a bit optimistic.

“We don’t have a definitive opening date,” said Kelly Brown, a publicist with the Cohn Group. “It’s going to be in the next couple of months.”

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OB’s Planning District 4: the “Hub” of Ocean Beach

February 20, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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Editor: As we continue in our series looking at the different districts within the Ocean Beach Planning Area, today we settle in District 4 – the Hub of OB. (Here’s a look at District 1, District 2 and District 3. Here’s why it’s important.)

District 4 – The Center of the Village – the Hub of OB

It’s easy to see why District 4 is indeed the center and hub of the community of Ocean Beach. Just look at a map and you’ll see that the business district and the main beach are both in this district.

Downtown OB – the 3 commercial blocks of Newport Avenue and the adjacent side streets – is certainly the center of the community, no matter how you measure it. Traffic, pedestrians, events, happenings, music, food – and of course drink – it all happens right there.

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Planning Review Committee Punts Brighton Ave. Project to Full Board

February 20, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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Full Board to Take Up Project on March 5th

Last night, Feb. 19th, the Project Review Committee of the OB Planning Board met to check out a project proposed at 4766 Brighton Avenue. And after extensive questions and comments by board members, the applicant and audience members, the reviewers voted to send the project to the full board without approving or denying it. Without making a decision on the controversial project, they punted it to next month – entirely in their right to do so.

The full board next meets on Wednesday, March 5th. Whereupon, the applicant – Yale Jallos – will presumably return with promised changes to the design of the buildings and their placement.

Jallos is proposing to …

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Local News from the Village of OB and Point Loma

February 19, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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Rumors of Pat’s Liquor Being Sold Premature

We had heard from a good source that Pat’s Liquor had been sold, but it ain’t so, joe. Our reporter contacted those in the know and said nope.

OB Planners to Begin Review of 4766 Brighton Proposed Project

At their Wed, Feb 19 meeting the OB Planning Board will begin its formal review of a proposed project at 4766 Brighton Avenue. The review committee meets at 6pm at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica. The proposed development is to demolish an older single-family home and put up two 2-story houses.

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Candidates Jockeying for Kevin Faulconer’s District 2 Seat – OB’s Newsom Picks Up Endorsement from Women’s Group

February 19, 2014 by Doug Porter
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By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

The dust hasn’t settled from the February special election, but the jockeying for a soon-to-be-open position on the San Diego City Council in District 2 is getting into high gear.

Run Women Run, the non-partisan group advocating for increased female participation in electoral politics, announced their support for Gretchen Newsom as the interim appointee this morning. Let the politicking begin!

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It’s Official: Gretchen Newsom In the Race to Be Appointed Interim-Councilmember for District 2

February 19, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
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It is official. Gretchen Newsom, the president of the Ocean Beach Town Council, is in the race to be appointed the interim councilperson for the San Diego City Council seat being vacated by Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer.

After receiving encouragement from a number of community leaders and resources, including the OB Rag, Gretchen decided to throw her proverbial hat in the ring for the appointment. She already has the endorsement of the advocacy group Run Women Run and she told the OB Rag that she anticipates the endorsement of the Point Loma Democratic Club.

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Project on 4700 Block of Brighton Up for Review at OB Planning Board – Wed., Feb. 19th

February 19, 2014 by Staff
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The Project Review Committee, a sub-committee of the OB Planning Board, will be reviewing a project on the 4700 block of Brighton Avenue at their meeting Wed., Feb. 19th.

Taking up the only item on the agenda, the unnamed applicant is seeking approval from the Planning Board for a project located at 4766 Brighton Avenue: to take down an older one story house on a large lot and construct two 2-story houses.

This is the first step in a 2-step process, where the applicant first appears at the review committee, which takes a vote of approval or denial; the project then goes before the full Board for a final decision. The next full Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 5.

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Questions Arise Over Chief Lansdown’s Call for “Outside Audit” of Police Misconduct From All the Accusations of Sexual Assaults

February 18, 2014 by Doug Porter
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By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

News accounts concerning incidents of sexual assault by San Diego Police Department officers have finally reached critical mass. Chief of of Police William Lansdowne told UT-San Diego on Saturday the department has decided to seek an outside auditor “to take a hard look at how the department handles misconduct and how it can better weed out rogue cops.”

Incoming Mayor Kevin Faulconer issued a statement on Sunday declaring his intention of meeting with Lansdowne “in the coming days to discuss an independent audit as part of my broader goal of rebuilding the police department and ensuring we are recruiting and retaining the best officers to serve San Diegans.”

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