October 2014

Point Loma Democrats Review the Propositions – Didn’t we hire the Legislature to do this?

October 31, 2014 by Source
Thumbnail image for Point Loma Democrats Review the Propositions – Didn’t we hire the Legislature to do this?

By Lois Lane

The Point Loma Democrats met Sunday, October 26 at their usual venue, the Point Loma Assembly building.

Before the panel discussion of the propositions started, Ed Harris, still our councilmember, was there to fill us in on the Belmont Park proposed lease extension to 55 years. His take is that this will not come back to the City Council before he leaves office. He had an additional piece of information – the current lease requires the tenant to spend 2.5% of gross revenue on improvements. The proposed lease removes this requirement. This makes the proposed lease even worse than he originally projected.

Attended by about 50 people, the main meeting was devoted to the Propositions, and it was a spirited presentation,

Read the full article → 0 comments

How Many Times Did You Flush The Toilet Today?

October 31, 2014 by Judi Curry
Thumbnail image for How Many Times Did You Flush The Toilet Today?

Do We Want Neighbors Spying On Each Other?

Really, how many times did you flush the toilet today?

I remember reading Orwell’s “1984” many years ago, and laughing as I read page after page of things that I thought were impossible to occur during my lifetime. After all, who expected to have drones following your every move; computers able to pinpoint just where you were standing in the Universe. Well, another joke on me!

I have been accepting of most of the “1984” happenings, but I think the one thing happening now that really ticks me off is the offer of an “App” that you can use to report that your neighbor is using too much water.

Neighbors spying on each other?

Read the full article → 5 comments

Tyler and Friends Have an OB Haunted House Just for Halloween

October 31, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Tyler and Friends Have an OB Haunted House Just for Halloween

Every Halloween in OB for the last several years Tyler Standley and his friends offer up to anyone who shows, a tour of their OB Haunted House that they construct.

The free haunt starts outdoors and spans the common area of an entire apartment building and then proceeds through the neighboring house’s full garage, backyard, side yard and front.

It takes Tyler and his friends roughly 2 months to build the complex, and it takes between 15 to 20 minutes to get through. …

Read the full article → 1 comment

The Ghoulish Sights of Halloween In OB – a Photo Gallery

October 31, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for The Ghoulish Sights of Halloween In OB – a Photo Gallery

Do Not Allow Your Kids to See These Photos!

OB gets into Halloween. Obviously, no longer just a kid’s thing – the front porches and yards of OB residences prove that all kinds of people – get into it.

We set out with camera in hand to capture just how much Ocean Beach is into this un-holiday holiday.

We saw many graveyards, ghosts, spiders, pumpkins of course, and webs. Even a shark!

Read the full article → 6 comments

“OB Time” for News

October 30, 2014 by Staff
Thumbnail image for “OB Time” for News

CVS Pharmacy Signs Are Up

The CVS storefront was lit for the first time on the night of Friday, October 24. Gretchen Newsom told the OB Rag that she will be reaching out to them this week to request an update on their progress and fulfillment of the Community Benefits Agreement.

Hit & Run Victim Katie Conner Improves – Fundraiser at Pizza Port – Nov. 1 “She’s lucky to be alive,” Mike Conner said.

SeaWorld to Skip the Rose Parade This Year

Union-Tribune Makes Fun of OBceans – Again Once again, our very own daily, the Union-Tribune, is making fun of OBceans.

Loma Portal residents object to recycling operation

AND MORE – COME ON IN …

Read the full article → 13 comments

Point Loma: Three Unit Complex on Wabaska Court Sold for $3/4 Million

October 30, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Point Loma: Three Unit Complex on Wabaska Court Sold for $3/4 Million

A three unit complex at 2121-2125 Wabaska Court was recently sold for $725,000 cash. The complex includes a three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-family front house plus a large 1 bedroom upstairs unit and a lower studio unit.

Also on the 6,799 square foot lot, is 2 full 1 car detached garages and 1/2 car garage. The complex has more amenities than these photos show, and zillow.com has them. The original structures were built in 1948. And the lot is very close to busy Nimitz Boulevard, as it rests in a cul-de-sac just yards away.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Restaurant Review: The Old Venice in Point Loma

October 30, 2014 by Judi Curry
Thumbnail image for Restaurant Review: The Old Venice in Point Loma

Old Venice
2910 Canon Street
San Diego, CA 92106
619-222-5888

A friend and neighbor – Jim – called me a few days ago and wanted to take me out to dinner as a thank you for taking care of his house while he was away. He suggested a new restaurant in Ocean Beach, but when I looked at the menu, even during “restaurant week” I felt it was too expensive for what was being offered. I said I would go with him, but not to the restaurant he chose. He didn’t care where we went so I looked thought those listed that were under $35. The “Old Venice” restaurant was listed at $25 per person, and had a nice selection of items. It seems to me that I reviewed this restaurant before but it was at lunch time, so I felt this time would still be a review of a what was being offered.

Read the full article → 4 comments

Culture Brewing Co. Set to Open Tasting Room in Ocean Beach

October 30, 2014 by Matthew Wood
Thumbnail image for Culture Brewing Co. Set to Open Tasting Room in Ocean Beach

Newport Ave Storefront to Be Similar to Solana Beach Brewery

By Matthew Wood

The Ocean Beach craft beer scene is about to get a bit sudsier, as Solana Beach’s Culture Brewing Co. builds a new tasting room on Newport Avenue.

Construction is already under way on the storefront, which is just west of OB Warehouse. Co-owner Steve Ragan said he hopes to have the place open by November 8, in time for San Diego Beer Week.

He said the place will be similar to the Solana Beach brewery, except all the beer will be brought in from there and none made at the OB location.

It will be a rather bare-bones operation: No food, no TVs, no other booze. Just 20 or so taps serving nothing but their beer.

Read the full article → 10 comments

MTS Ad Policy: Incoherent, Inconsistent and Anti-Democratic

October 30, 2014 by Anna Daniels

San Diego’s publicly funded transit system bites the hand that feeds it

By Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

MTS Poster3MTS – you are a craven, pathetic mess. When Alliance San Diego launched a non-partisan effort to increase awareness about elections in communities with historically low voter turnout like my community of City Heights, they approached San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) with the intention of buying printed bus ads.

The ads would include the message Vote for San Diego, along with the date of the election. Images of native San Diegans were included with motivational messages such as “Vote for what’s best for your community.”

Did I say that Alliance San Diego’s intention was to buy bus ads? They weren’t asking for a public service freebee. MTS declined the request and herein lies the tale of how our publicly funded, public benefit agency proceeded to simply make sh*t up. …

Read the full article → 1 comment

More Photos from the ‘Great OB Flood’ of January 2010

October 29, 2014 by Source
Thumbnail image for More Photos from the ‘Great OB Flood’ of January 2010

Our set of photos taken during the last ‘great flood’ in OB – January 2010 – sparked the following response from local Mark Dodge. Mark sent us the following photos. He told us:

I was living at the end of Cape May at the time but parking in a garage on Narragansett. I parked, started home and just happened to have my camera. I had also almost gotten swamped on Bacon St between LB and Brighton. The water was up near the bottom of the doors of my Ford Ranger.

…

Read the full article → 2 comments

Why Is Feminism More Offensive Than Rape, Inequality and the F-Word?

October 29, 2014 by Annie Lane
Thumbnail image for Why Is Feminism More Offensive Than Rape, Inequality and the F-Word?

By Annie Lane

Feminism comes in many shapes and sizes, though if you ask author Karin Agness of the Time Magazine article Seriously? This Is What Passes for Feminism in America it appears that it should only ever manifest itself in the form of an 11-year-old girl who was shot in the head, as was the case for Malala Yousafzai.

Thankfully, Yousafzai survived the senseless and depraved attack on her life by the Taliban in 2012, and has gone on to be the voice for women’s rights in Pakistan. And the world is better because of her.

But according to Agness, American girls, such as the ones who appeared in the controversial FCKH8 video that went viral last week, don’t even graze the surface of what it means to be a Feminist. Instead, they are merely some part of a cheap marketing ploy to sell t-shirts: …

Read the full article → 10 comments

The San Salvador Project: Ignoring Genocide

October 29, 2014 by Source

Editor: In the interests of continuing the public debate around the San Salvador, an historical replica of the original flagship of Juan Rodíguez de Cabrillo, we offer the following:

By Steven Newcomb / Indian Country / March 4, 2014

In A Legacy of Genocide: The San Salvador, published by the OB Rag and San Diego FreePress , February 14, 2014, Will Falk, an attorney and poet, precisely pinpoints what is wrong with the nearly completed reconstruction of the Spanish designed ship San Salvador (“Holy Savior”).

Once completed, the vessel is to be a replica of a ship built under brutal conditions with Indian slave labor under the command of the conquistador Juan Rodíguez de Cabrillo. In September of 1542, Cabrillo sailed the San Salvador into the vast bay of the Kumeyaay territory. …

Read the full article → 0 comments

Debate Heats Up Over San Salvador “Historic Replica”

October 28, 2014 by Source
Thumbnail image for Debate Heats Up Over San Salvador “Historic Replica”

Editor: Ever since the OB Rag first published articles about the reconstruction of a replica of the San Salvador, the flagship of Juan Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer who was the first European to land on San Diego’s shores, a debate has ensued over how modern society views and values the new ship which represents so much of the past. The ship is docked right off Point Loma, in Spanish Landing.

By Will Falk

As a settler, I think it’s my responsibility to say this: The San Salvador was a weapon of genocide and, today, is a symbol of genocide.

“A Historically Accurate Replica”

How accurate are we going to get with the San Salvador? Are we going to use African and indigenous slave labor to build it? …

Read the full article → 1 comment

OB Town Council Wants You to Volunteer for the Holidays

October 28, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for OB Town Council Wants You to Volunteer for the Holidays

Meeting Tuesday, Oct. 28th at OB Rec Center

The Ocean Beach Town Council does want you to volunteer for the numerous holiday events coming up in this seaside village.

And there’s a meeting for the volunteers – tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 28th at the OB Rec Center, from 6:30 to 8pm.

The theme for this year’s holiday parade in early December is “35 Years of Peace, Love and OB”, as this is the 35th year of the holiday parade.

The main event, of course, is the Holiday Parade, which will take place on Saturday, December 6th at 5:05pm. And that’s where the OB Town Council needs volunteers.

Volunteers are needed for everything from block captains for the parade line-up, security, traffic guards and clean-up. Here’s what the OBTC says, from its website: …

Read the full article → 2 comments

San Salvador Replica Progress

October 28, 2014 by Judi Curry
Thumbnail image for San Salvador Replica Progress

Building a Historically Accurate Replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s Flagship

By Judi Curry

There are not many times in life that you meet a person you don’t want to say goodbye to. This was not a romantic endeavor, but rather a person that is so genuine, so humble that you obtain energy just from being with him.

I recently met one of those extraordinary men – a Sicilian, who has worked in the boat business for 50-odd years, learning the trade as a teen in Sicily. He is a wonderful craftsmen and you can’t help but marvel at the finished product he creates.

Who is this man, you ask? A little background first. A while ago I did a story of the “Women volunteers of the San Salvador.” This is the ship that you can see being built just west of the airport on Harbor Drive. I was going to go back and do a story of the men volunteers but never got around to it.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Who Runs San Diego? Co-opting an Icon in Hillcrest

October 28, 2014 by Source

pride flagIt’s a Gay Thing

By Linda Perine / Democratic Woman’s Club

As you may have noticed, October has not been a happy month for the San Diego LGBT community.

Earlier this month the Harvey Milk American Diner in Hillcrest closed abruptly, bouncing checks to workers and simply failing to pay others, including the Harvey Milk Foundation.

At an October 8 press conference an LA Times reporter began asking questions about allegations of sexual harassment against Republican Carl de Maio. He is an openly gay candidate for the 52nd congressional district.

Both stories have grown into full-fledged embarrassments for the LGBT community.

Read the full article → 1 comment

It’s the OB Rag’s 7th Birthday

October 27, 2014 by Frank Gormlie

This is the 7th birthday for the online OB Rag. During the October fires of 2007, Patty Jones and I launched the OB Rag out of our small cottage on Long Branch Avenue. Many of our early articles critiqued both the mainstream media’s coverage of the fires plus how the fires were being fought.

Seven years later, much has changed, of course. We’ve gone from a little-known blog to one of the best community-based websites in Southern California, which is constantly referred to by the local mainstream media, police, and local politicians, and occasionally we make the national news. Other notes of interest: quotes from the OB Rag made it up on the ceiling of OB’s newest public “comfort station” on the beach – whose design won an Orchid Award in 2012.

Read the full article → 8 comments

Twelve Years Ago Today OB Held Its Largest Peace Rally This Century

October 27, 2014 by Marc Snelling
Thumbnail image for Twelve Years Ago Today OB Held Its Largest Peace Rally This Century

By Marc Snelling

Last month Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama, who was elected to end two wars, addressed the nation to announce an open-ended bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria. As the Afghanistan War (now the longest in American history) and the conflict in Iraq continue it is clear Obama has failed to live up to his election promises.

Not only has his administration failed to live up to it’s word to end two wars and close Guantanamo prison, he has even changed his tune about the initial invasion. The US “sought to work within the international system” he said earlier in March of this year at a speech in Brussels. Obama further declared the the US had “left Iraq to it’s people in a fully sovereign Iraqi state that can make decisions about it’s own future.”

Read the full article → 1 comment

Goodbye San Francisco Bay Guardian; Hello Wankergate

October 27, 2014 by Jim Miller

Bay Guardian Front PageBy Jim Miller

Recently, California lost one of its last remaining, genuinely progressive weeklies, the San Francisco Bay Guardian. As [people.power.media] tells the story:

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, the prize-winning newspaper and progressive voice, was shut down immediately by the San Francisco Media Company, after 48 years of “printing the news and raising hell.”

No warning for staff, just pack your boxes and get out. Boom. This historic independent newspaper, so long a pivotal force in San Francisco progressive politics and culture was suddenly treated as a corporate portfolio item, and lopped off the balance sheet . . .

Read the full article → 0 comments

Point Loma Planners Differ Over What’s a “Bedroom” with Carleton Street Developer

October 24, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Point Loma Planners Differ Over What’s a “Bedroom” with Carleton Street Developer

By Anthony de Garate/ Special to the OB Rag

A trio of representatives for a developer explained the definition of a “bedroom” to members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) Oct. 16th at the group’s monthly meeting at the Point Loma-Hervey Library.

On the website of Acropolis Development, owner of four, three-story units with roof decks and underground parking envisioned as luxury condos now under construction in Roseville, the project is alternately referred to as Carleton 4 Row, Carelton Row Homes, or Carleton 4 Homes.

And in response to the question of how many bedrooms each of the four units contain, there also appears to be more than one answer. …

Read the full article → 5 comments

Nostalgia and Anticipation at the OB Town Council

October 24, 2014 by Source
Thumbnail image for Nostalgia and Anticipation at the OB Town Council

By Lois Lane

The OB Town Council met for the last time this year on Wednesday, October 22. The usual full house at the Masonic Lodge was down in numbers – only about 50 people there – including the board members. (The general opinion was that the World Series had lured some people away who are usually there.)

As always, the public had a lot to say, and the government was well represented, although the fire department officials who were there to be introduced ran out to an emergency call instead.

But most of the program was about the OB Town council itself, looking back at a year of accomplishments, and looking forward to the busiest time of year – the holidays. October is the last meeting of the year because the OB Town Council is busy with what’s coming up.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Malin Burnham and the U-T San Diego Idea Factory

October 24, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Malin Burnham and the U-T San Diego Idea Factory

Part Two

By Frank Gormlie

As we delve more now in Part Two into Malin Burnham, “the last Corte Maderan” as Mike Davis calls him, and his possible take-over of San Diego’s only daily newspaper, longtime City Heights community activist, Anna Daniels, one of the editors at San Diego Free Press, cautioned:

When the news broke that Malin Burnham was interested in purchasing the U-T San Diego with the intent of turning it into a non-profit, the main and often only description of him was as a San Diego “philanthropist”. And it is true–Burnham is known for his extensive philanthropy.

He is also known for his role as a local real estate developer, as chairman of First National Bank at San Diego and as a former Director of San Diego Gas and Electric. It might prove useful in the future to keep these other interests in mind.

Which pretty much sums up Part One for me. As City Hall veteran, Norma Damashek, reminded us:
…

Read the full article → 2 comments

Tracking the Construction Projects In and Around Ocean Beach

October 24, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Tracking the Construction Projects In and Around Ocean Beach

Every now and then, we set out with camera in hand and attempt to record and track the various construction projects in and around OB. And there’s a lot of them, from CVS Pharmacy coming on line to the OB Entryway Project to the latest mansion starting to be built along West Pt Loma Blvd.

So here they are in all their glory.

CVS Phamacy to Keep Mural

Spoke to Mike Smith of Hearne Corp., supe at the CVS Pharmacy site.Smith explained that he and his crews have to be ready to turn the building over to CVS by November 17th – this year.

Read the full article → 22 comments

UCSD’s CHE Cafe Facing Eviction Next Week

October 23, 2014 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter

A ruling by Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal on Tuesday, Oct. 21 may well mean the end of the road for the C.H.E. Cafe, a student run cooperative at UCSD.

The co-op will have five calendar days to vacate once a written order is signed by the judge and the university files a writ of possession, meaning the group could be evicted by the middle of next week.

Supporters of the C.H.E.were vague about their future plans when speaking with the news media following the court decision, saying they were considering further legal actions and promising to continue protest activity and lobbying.

Read the full article → 0 comments

OB Town Council Announces New Leadership

October 23, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for OB Town Council Announces New Leadership

At last night’s Ocean Beach Town Council, Wednesday, Oct. 22, the newly elected top leadership of the Board was announced.

Gretchen Newson remains as president. Gio Ingolia was elected as vice-president. Donna Zoll selected again as treasurer, Marin Green as recording secretary and Jon Carr as corresponding secretary.

Read the full article → 1 comment

An Abbreviated Voter Guide to Electing Judges

October 23, 2014 by Anna Daniels

justice scalesBy Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

Editor note: The OB Rag and the San Diego Free Press have not endorsed any judges. The opinions in the article are those of the author.

Does this sound familiar? ” I’m filling out my ballot and there are 14 judges. Who do I vote for and specifically not for?” The usual means at our disposal for choosing voter nominated candidates and propositions are noticeably absent when voting for judges. It is therefore easy to blow off this obscure exercise in democracy until you wake up one day to find out that you have been Kreep’d, as in San Diego Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Wall Street’s Latest Scam: Subprime Auto Loans

October 23, 2014 by John Lawrence

By John Lawrence

unnamedWall Street needs to get people into debt. That’s one way they make their money – by collecting interest on people’s debts. They had a field day with subprime mortgages, and then those government bailouts were the sweet icing on the cake. Then they moved on to student loans.

Now they are making a killing off of subprime auto loans. Anyone can buy a used car, even those with no credit, the same way you used to be able to get a mortgage. They are also called liar loans which is the appropriate name for them because loan applications are falsified in the same way that mortgage loan applications were falsified.

Read the full article → 0 comments

What Does Malin Burnham’s Possible Take-Over of the U-T San Diego Mean?

October 23, 2014 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for What Does Malin Burnham’s Possible Take-Over of the U-T San Diego Mean?

As ‘Old-Money’ Point Loman Burnham emerges to operate San Diego’s daily, questions raised whether this is the “Moderate Wing” of the Establishment reasserting itself?

Part One of two parts.

By Frank Gormlie

The news has been out for nearly a month now that well known wheeler-dealer and financier Malin Burnham of Point Loma has initiated efforts to purchase the U-T San Diego from Doug Manchester, the current owner and publisher.

Burnham, who calls himself a moderate Republican and who has lived in Point Loma all his life, told the press that he is the spokesman for a 5-man group of economic power-brokers who want to form a non-profit that will take over the newspaper and run it as a profit-making enterprise. Any profits, Burnham has pledged, would go back into community charities. Now as crazy as that plan might seem in this day and age of folding newspapers and expanding internet news sites, there are at least two other major dailies in the country that are run by non-profits. …

Read the full article → 12 comments

News and Happenings From Around Ocean Beach

October 21, 2014 by Staff
Thumbnail image for News and Happenings From Around Ocean Beach

Rumors of Sale of Voltaire Cottages Not True

The OB Rag had heard rumors that the set of cottages on the south side of the lower 5000 block of Voltaire Street had been sold. …

Update on Katie Connor: Father’s Plea and Pizza Port Fundraiser

Here’s an update on Katie Connor, the young woman who suffered a serious head trauma by a hit and run truck on October 12th in O.B. …

New California Law Cracks Down on Fraud at Farmers Markets

After some LA media caught farmers who bought produce wholesale and then resold …

Annual OB Holiday Parade Applications Now Open – “35 Years of Peace, Love, and OB”

Mayor Faulconer’s Push back on Reports of His Use of Too Much Water

Internet Addiction Disorder Discovered in Point Loma

PLUS ALL THE MEETINGS THIS WEEK …

Read the full article → 2 comments

Point Loma Navy Wife Missing for One Week

October 21, 2014 by Staff
Thumbnail image for Point Loma Navy Wife Missing for One Week

UPDATE: There has been a confirmed sighting of Elizabeth Ricks Sullivan. Local NBC is reporting that on Sunday, Oct. 19th, she was seen in Liberty Station at the soccer fields on just before noon, and was wearing black stretch style cloth pants and a gray sweatshirt.

A woman from Point Loma has now been missing for one week. Elizabeth Sullivan, a mother of two young daughters whose husband is in the Navy, was last seen on October 13th at her Point Loma home near Liberty Station. Police have reported that Sullivan’s car is in the garage.

Understandably, family and friends are extremely worried for her safety. Sullivan has family in Virginia.

Sullivan’s last contact reportedly was with a friend Nathan Caracter, a text message on the 13th, and her phone has been off ever since. Caracter spoke to the press and told them he had contact with Sullivan on Sunday night – that’s the 12th. He said:

“We left it at ‘talk to you tomorrow’ … didn’t hear from her again.”

Read the full article → 14 comments

← Older Articles