Month: October 2014

By Rika Davis / Special to the OB Rag

Residents of Cañon Street just over the hill from OB in Point Loma have been dealing with traffic issues for years.

The street, though just two lanes and lined for a stretch with single-family residences, is a major thoroughfare for the neighborhood, with trucks rumbling through on their way to make deliveries to the Fresh & Easy shopping center at the top of the hill, or to Naval Base Point Loma, or to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant.

There’s also the matter of car traffic, which comes whizzing downhill at speeds well in excess …

Did you see this morning’s lunar eclipse? With a bout of insomnia, I got up around quarter of 3 and went out on our deck, sat down, leaned back – looked up – and there it was.

The line-up was perfect. The earth was inching into a position directly between the sun and the moon.

I don’t have that great of a camera – not a great lens – but here’s proof that I was there during this wonderful celestial occasion.

It was October 7th, in the year 2011, that the Occupy Wallstreet movement hit San Diego.

In a huge outpouring of demonstrators, up to 4,000 San Diegans marched through the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego – mainly protesting for social and economic justice, against the state of the economy and the role of banks and Wallstreet responsible for the financial downturn. Occupy San Diego was born in a giant – for San Diego – protest in solidarity with the rest of the country and particularly those in New York City – where the occupy movement began.

An already built project over on the bayside of Point Loma has local Peninsula planners up in arms. They’re upset over what appears to them to be a violation of the sacrosanct 30 foot height limit at Portugal Place, at at 3102-3104 Avenida de Portugal and 1120-1122 Locust St.

In an unanimous vote at their Sept. 18th, the Peninsula Community Planning Board agreed to send a letter of protest to Mayor Faulconer alleging the city allowed the developer of the project to exceed height limit.

We had genuine concerns last weekend about what was going to come down at the beach.

We thought, maybe – just maybe – that due to the heat, droves of people would be heading to San Diego’s beaches – including OB, of course. And that due to the seasonal lay-offs of over 200 lifeguards on Labor Day, there would not be sufficient rescue first responders for hapless swimmers or surfers caught up in dangerous rips at the beaches.

By Lori Saldaña

(DISCLAIMER: This is a lighthearted look at a serious topic: how to read a California State Voter Information Guide. No names or facts have been changed to protect the innocent. Read it with a grain of salt, a sense of humor, and/or an open mind.)

The official voter information guide has arrived in the mailboxes of Californians all over the state! Have you checked it out yet, and started reading through its pages? Or is it sitting under a pile of bills, letters and other papers, where it will remain until a few days, or hours, or minutes before you realize it’s Election Day?

Don’t delay- find it! Open it!! Read along!!!
…

Tuesday Action Also in Solidarity with Hong Kong Demonstrations

Members of the Occupy Wallstreet local group, Occupy San Diego, are holding a third anniversary celebration this Tuesday, October 7 – which will also be a solidarity action in support of the Hong Kong demonstrators who have been occupying streets and government buildings for over a week.

The gathering will be – true to form – at the San Diego Civic Center Plaza – aka “Freedom Plaza”, at 7 p.m. People are asked to bring umbrellas – the symbol of the Hong Kong demonstrations – “to stand in solidarity with the Umbrella Revolution”.

The Most Important Race on the Ballot is the One No One is Talking About

By Jim Miller

This fall in San Diego the Peters vs. DeMaio and Kim vs. Cate showdowns are getting all the attention, but my pick for the most important race on the ballot is one that nobody is taking note of at the statewide level—and that’s a problem. The race in question is for . . . (wait for it) . . . State Superintendent of Public Instruction!

O.K. I know, Superintendent of Public Instruction races don’t usually get peoples’ hearts pumping, but if you are dismayed by the full-court-press assault on teachers, public education, and democratic local control over schools, …

There’s been a string of 4 armed holdups in Point Loma and Ocean Beach lately and police are looking for a suspect that fits the description given by victims. The stick-ups happened from September 19th to the 21st, where the armed suspect accosted people late at night or early in the mornings.

Even though the local TV media stated that all the robberies occurred in Ocean Beach, actually only one or two did – the rest were in parts of Point Loma. (Local mainstream media is constantly doing that – portraying crimes in OB that really occurred in other sections of the Peninsula.)

Here’s an accounting of the armed thefts:

Here is some advice to those who I call “plastic bag ban deniers” – people who are upset – and deny the benefits – about California’s newly enacted ban on plastic bags, just signed by Governor Brown just this past Tuesday, Sept 30th – which goes into effect July 1, 2015. According to HuffPo:

Under SB270, plastic bags will be phased out of checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and Target starting next summer, and convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for fruits, vegetables or meats, or to shopping bags used at other retailers. It allows grocers to charge a fee of at least 10 cents for using paper bags.

Why Europeans fell out of love with Obama – and the United States

by Christian Christensen / Aljazeera America / October 2, 2014

As we approach the 2014 midterm elections in the United States — the unofficial start of Barack Obama’s lame duck presidency — it is worth considering how the once giddy European love affair with Obama will come to a close. It might not be in an acrimonious George W. Bush–style divorce, but it is likely to end in disappointment and regret.

Europe had great expectations when Obama became president. A few were met, but most were not.

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish…

By Linda Perine / Democratic Woman’s Club

San Diego taxpayers find ourselves as mainly unwitting, possibly unwilling and almost certainly undercompensated partners with a corporation in a Sea World of hurt.

In July, 2013 the documentary Blackfish about the 2010 death of a Sea World trainer finally caught the public’s attention after decades of challenges to Cetacean captivity. The 2009 Academy Award winning documentary The Cove also raised questions about the possibility that Sea World obtained dolphins from the horrific Taiji dolphin drive.