Ocean Beach News, Notes and Nuggets

The OB Entryway Sign – clean once again. Photo by South OB Girl.

Mainstream Media on Coastal Commission Approval of OB Community Plan

Last Thursday, Aug. 13, the California Coastal Commission approved the OB Community Plan Update at their monthly hearings – held in Chula Vista. Dozens of OBceans attended the hearing and many gave testimony. Here is the local mainstream coverage of the event – some cast it as “OB against the Coastal Commission”.  Here is 76KGMB , SanDiego6, an update from SanDiego6 , KPBS , abc10News, CBS8, … Here is our account.

Town Council Offers Reward for Info on OB Entry Way Sign Graffiti

The OB Town Council is offering $500 REWARD for info leading to the arrest and conviction of the OB Entyway Sign Vandal. The Town Council plans on sending a message to the graffiti tagger who defaced the community’s beloved, iconic entryway sign. That message is to “RESPECT OB!” The OBTC reward is in addition to the $500 reward offered by the City’s ‘Spray and Pay Graffiti Rewards Program.’ Persons with information should contact SDPD Officer Sergio Zamora at szamora@pd.sandiego.gov or the Graffiti Control Program hotline at (619) 525-8522. Please reference the graffiti tracker case number for the Ocean Beach sign: #441-7851. Persons interested in collecting the reward should complete the Claim For Reward form on the Spray and Pay Graffiti Rewards Program website . The OBTC intends on pressing charges against the vandal(s) to the fullest extent of the law. The Ocean Beach Town Council and community members removed the graffiti and had the sign re-painted by Integrated Signs (the makers of the sign). Our OB Entryway Sign has been restored.

The 1915 S.D. Exposition Road Race in Point Loma – Thurs., Aug. 20

The OB Historical Society presents:  1915  S.D. Exposition Road Race in Point Loma, at the P.L. United Methodist Church 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B. at 7 pm .  Presenter  Mac McPherson of the  Horseless Carriage Club, S.D., program is about the Jan. 9, 1915,  the Automobile Club of Southern Calif. & Al Bahr Shrine sponsored the San Diego Exposition Road Race,  a 300 mile road race over a 6-mile course around Point Loma. The race was one of the opening events of the 1915 Panama California Exposition in Balboa Park.

The race course routed around Point Loma starting  on Rosecrans St., heading North, turning West on Lytton St.,  South on Chatsworth Blvd. and Catalina Blvd., East on Cañon St. and back onto Rosecrans.  Almost 5 hours and 51 laps later, Earl Cooper in Stutz #8 won the race averaging over 65 mph. Only 5 of the 18 cars that started the race finished the grueling 300 mile 51 lap route. Racing cars in those days carried a driver as well as a mechanic. Other notable drivers were San Diegan, William Carlson, who finished 2nd, Barney Oldfield, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Bob Burman.  An estimated 50,000 people spread out along the course to watch the spectacle. The San Diego Union newspaper proclaimed: “It was the greatest throng ever seen at one event in San Diego, excepting, perhaps, the opening of the exposition.”   Also, clips from the recent Balboa Park Centennial Tour Reenactment will be shown at OBHS program.

San Diego’s First Centrally Located Licensed Pot Dispensary Opened in Midway District

It’s the second permitted dispensary for medical marijuana to open in the city. The first opened in March near the international border in Otay Mesa.  The new dispensary at 3452 Hancock St. brings to three the number of legal businesses selling medical marijuana in the county. …The owner of the Midway dispensary, Adam Knopf, said he’s committed to complying with the city’s long list of regulations for such businesses. “I understand that there have been concerns in the community about dispensaries,” Knopf said. “But we are committed to being good neighbors and will demonstrate that our business will have a positive impact.” The dispensary, located in an industrial area and called Point Loma Patients Cooperative, sells concentrates, juices, flowers, vaporizer pens and edibles. SD Union Tribune

Swimmer Rescued in OB Surf Taken to Hospital

Ocean Beach Lifeguards made a dramatic rescue on Saturday, August 15, when a swimmer got into trouble in an unguarded area. After the rescue, he was taken to the hospital with expectations that he will walk out soon.High temps drove people to the beach – but there were moderate rip currents and life guards were constantly trying to get bathers to move out of the currents. Ch8News.

OBcean Quoted in NY Times About Use of Facial-Recognition Software by San Diego Police

Eric Hanson is a retired firefighter who lives in Ocean Beach. He had a weird experience with San Diego Police last summer involving their facial recognition procedures and was quoted in an August 12, 2015 New York Times article.”Stopped by the police after a dispute with a man he said was a prowler, [Hanson] was ordered to sit on a curb, he said, while officers took his photo with an iPad and ran it through the … facial recognition software. The officers also used a cotton swab to collect a DNA sample from the inside of his cheek.” The software was used to try to confirm his identity and determine whether he had a criminal record. The entire article is worth reading. NY Times

 Is Dana Landing “Near” Ocean Beach?

Do you see how the media treats OB? Here is an article about how a jet ski was pulled over and its 2 occupants arrested for human border smuggling. The two were arrested, as the report states:

The aircrew notified an Office of Air and Marine water-bound crew, who intercepted the jet boat driver for questioning. The driver pulled into Dana Landing near Ocean Beach.
NBCSanDiego

 OB Lifeguard Team Wins Annual Competition – Again!

The Southern District lifeguards started off a little slow but finished strong to win the annual Ron Trenton Memorial Lifeguard Relays on Thursday, Aug. 6 at Ocean Beach. It was the second consecutive win for the Southern (Ocean Beach) team. The Central District (Pacific Beach and Mission Beach) team finished second, the Northern District (La Jolla) third, and the Boating Safety Unit (Mission Bay) was fourth. “It was a great competition,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Lee Swanson. “Although there was a lot of rip current activity, which made the ocean conditions a challenge.”San Diego Community News Group

Big Companies, Not Homeowners, Run Biggest Share of Short-Term Rentals

Most of San Diego’s short-term rentals are run by property managers who don’t live on-site — not by homeowners renting out a room or two. … There are 2,797 short-term rental units in San Diego whose operators registered with the city for tax purposes …. Twenty of the city’s top short-term rental management companies operate about 40 percent of those units, with each operating between 20 and 109 rental units. Another 22 percent of the registered short-term rentals are run by small companies and individuals who list at least three units. That leaves a little more than a third of short-term rentals registered with the city run by individuals who list just one or two units. Voice of San Diego

Liquid Blue Fast Becoming an OB Band

Ocean Beach–based Liquid Blue is in the midst of a series of albums that will see a different-themed release each month through the end of 2015. The band has already recorded over 600 songs, hits from the 1960s up through today, for the project. …The band recorded everything at its own studio in their O.B. headquarters, aka “Hippie House.” SanDiego Reader

SPF15 Hits OB

“I like to think that I’m one of the only gallerists in San Diego who owns their own gallery,” says Morgan Mandalay, the artist behind SPF15, a transient contemporary art space that’s popped up under a white canopy five times at five different waterfront locations over the past several months. “I don’t pay rent so there’s very little overhead,” he adds with a laugh. CityBeat

Drunk Man Falls 80 Feet at Sunset Cliffs

A man who fell more than 80 feet down Sunset Cliffs in Point Loma overnight Monday was airlifted to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. San Diego police say the man was walking along a path when he fell sometime before 12:20 a.m. Tuesday in the area of 4400 Ladera St. His friends rushed down to him. A woman who was sitting in her car told 10News she heard their cries for help.  San Diego firefighters and lifeguards responded. The man was in and out of consciousness when he was airlifted by helicopter to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. His condition was not confirmed. He had head and facial injuries. He may have also hurt is spine, SDFR said.  He is lucky to have survived. abc10News

Dog From OB Competes in Eureka’s Annual “Woofstock”

Every dog enjoying the sunny day at the park had a story. Anne Kinne of Ferndale was living in Pecos, New Mexico, when she met OBi. Several months earlier, her canine companion had died and she was ready to find a new one.  Searches of shelters and pet rescue organizations and other adoption opportunities hadn’t been successful. “I had been looking for months and months,” she recalled. One day she saw a pet adoption event outside a chain pet supply store. “It was just like the universe opened up,” she recalled. “There he was.” “Someone told me ‘he was waiting for you’,” Kinne said. OBi, so named for Kinne’s residence in the San Diego neighborhood of Ocean Beach, was seven months old at the time. The shepherd cross is now 11 years old. Times-Standard

The following “Local Notes” appeared in The Daily Transcript’s August 10, 1921 issue:

The report of Chief of Police Patrick filed yesterday shows, among other things, that there are 100,000 criminal records on file in the identification bureau.

Frank E. Milton, who resided here in boom days, having been later one of the organizers of the Merchants National bank, is in this city on a short visit. His home since he left here has been in Portland, Me.

Contribution of clothing, etc., for the relief of central and eastern Europe should be delivered to the local Red Cross, 708 Fourth street, not later than August 16.

Great preparations are being completed by the local post of the Spanish War Veterans for the army, navy and marine picnic at Ocean Beach next Sunday.

The list of sporting events, prizes, etc., for the Ad club picnic at Flynn Springs next Saturday was given out at the luncheon-meeting of the club today at noon.

A.L. Manahan, local fish and game commissioner, announces a total catch for the first week this month of 536,434 pounds of fish, of which albacore made up 366,203 pounds.