Month: May 2015

Channel 10News has broken the story that a claim against the City of San Diego has been made by the family of the man fatally shot by police in the Midway District at the end of April. The claim alleges that the police officer involved used excessive and unreasonable force, violating the civil rights of Fridoon Rawshan Nehad, the victim.

Nehad was shot by Officer Neal N. Browder in the alley outside an adult bookstore near Rosecrans Blvd. on April 30th.

The claim calls for the city to compensate Nehad’s estate and his parents for damages in an amount of $20 million. A claim such as this is the first step in a lawsuit.

The OB Town Council, led by its president Gretchen Newsom, sought to find a compromise at their meeting on Wednesday over the San Diego Union-Tribune‘s mass distribution of the newspaper’s ad circulars throughout the community. There’s been a small movement in OB of late to get the plastic-bagged circulars banned from Ocean Beach – due in large part to the willy-nilly way it which they’re distributed – where many end up in gutters, in streets and on sidewalks- and then in trash cans.

The badly decomposed body of a woman was pulled from the ocean about 100 yards west of the Ocean Beach Pier, near the end of Niagara Avenue on Thursday afternoon. The body was found inside the surf line, and brought it to shore,

Rescuers believe the body was in the water for at least a day and probably more. San Diego Fire-Rescue Departmen Capt. Joe Amador told the media that the body had been in the water “for quite some time,” and was beyond recognition.

By Will Falk / San Diego Free Press

I went to the Thirty Meter Telescope construction site near the summit of Mauna Kea for the first time, today. Four-wheel drive is recommended for the road that twists steeply with hairpin turns up the Mountain, so ten of us piled into a Kanaka uncle’s (older native Hawaiian man’s) pick-up truck to go see the summit.

Leaving from the visitor center parking lot at 9,200 feet the road ascends over 5,000 feet to an elevation close to 14,000. While my ears popped, my sense of wonder grew. Conversations around the truck bed stopped as the Mountain’s power over our senses intensified.

By Bill Adams/UrbDeZine

A nearby roadway may be putting your household’s health at risk. The same is true of workplaces, schools, and other places where people spend significant time. This health risk is from the elevated auto emissions near high traffic roadways. It’s a health risk separate and in addition to the regional air pollution from auto emissions.

We have come to draw a false sense of security from our collective sharing of regional air pollution and, perhaps, the belief that regulatory agencies protect us. However, research continues to show that air pollution, particularly from auto emissions, has profound effects on health.

Here are the winning photos from the 2015 “OB Exposed!” photo contest held every year by the Ocean Beach Historical Society. The photos are on display at the OB Business Center, 4876 Santa Monica Avenue.

(Taking photos of the winning photos hung up on display was kind of iffy to begin with, as the lights created a sheen on some of them and the gentle breeze prevented a still-life, so please excuse the

By Judi Curry

There is no questioning the beauty of the restaurant. Right on the water’s edge; quiet with subdued music playing so that you could hear everyone at the table without having to raise your voice, and a wait staff that was second to none. Friendly, knowledgeable, patient, and made suggestions that we listened to in selecting our entrees. There is also no question that the prices were high, but the food was excellent.

By John Lawrence

How to figure out the ongoing crisis that is Greece? What exactly is going on there? As per usual it’s another chapter in the strange saga that involves Wall Street’s stranglehold over the world economy.

What happened to Greece is similar to what happened to American mortgage holders after they were encouraged to go in over their collective heads borrowing more money than they could reasonably expect to be in a position to pay back. Greece did the same.

Will Greece default soon? Will they stay in the Eurozone or be ejected out of it? These questions have been hanging in the air for what seems like an interminably long time.

By Tony de Garate / Special to the OB Rag

Nearly three months after an SUV struck and killed a seven-month-old girl who was being pushed in a stroller in the middle of a Point Loma crosswalk, city officials say they are developing plans to ensure such a tragedy doesn’t happen again.

Two city engineers say construction of a traffic signal designed to protect people using the crosswalk where the fatality occurred near the intersection of Catalina Boulevard and Cañon Street could begin in two months.

Pedestrians would be able to stop traffic 50 feet in front of the crosswalk by pushing a button, which would cause the light to turn yellow, then red, allowing cars to stop in good time, said Kharman Tawfiq, an assistant civil engineer in the city’s Traffic Engineering Division, at the monthly meeting of the Peninsula Community Planning Board May 21.

Bernie Sanders Announces Presidential Campaign

This is Bernie Sanders’ prepared speech*, delivered Tuesday, May 26, in Vermont.

Today, here in our small state – a state that has led the nation in so many ways – I am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.

Today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout this country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally.

By Matthew Wood

A healthy debate is expected at tonight’s Ocean Beach Town Council meeting regarding the San Diego Union-Tribune’s practice of distributing their “Local Community Values” advertising circulars.

“I’ve been picking these things up from in front of my house and getting annoyed about it for a long time,” said OB resident Mary Tolena, who will present a case to the council to have the Union-Tribune end its practice of tossing out hundreds of the plastic-wrapped circulars in the neighborhood each week.

She says the advertisements are supposed to be targeted to subscribers, but instead they are sent out willy nilly and end up sitting on neighborhood sidewalks and in yards, creating a nuisance.

The regular monthly public meeting of the OB Town Council is being held tonight, Wed., May 27th. It will be at the Masonic Center, at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, and begins at 7pm.

The featured speakers include concerned citizens who have asked the OBTC to consider a resolution on “U-T San Diego Local Community Values” advertising circulars that are wrapped in plastic bags and thrown onto the sidewalks, gutters, and streets of Ocean Beach every Friday.