Month: September 2015

Lifeguard Staffing at OB and Mission Beach Adversely Effected by Rescues at Pocket Beaches – Should Be On Par With La Jolla

By Ed Harris

For years, Lifeguards have expressed the need for increased staffing at several locations. The need for staffing at Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs is high on the list.

The pocket beaches along Sunset Cliffs (Santa Cruz, Bermuda, No Surf and Ladera Street) have become increasingly busy in recent years.

They used to be attended mainly by locals but the internet, increased tourism and vacation rentals have changed that.

A photographer was swept into the water off rocks he was standing on while taking photos, Thursday evening.

After a frantic search by a number of people who jumped into the water to save him but couldn’t get to him or help him get out of the water, the unidentified man was saved by lifeguards.

He was hoisted up to the top of the Cliffs near Adair Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and was apparently uninjured.

By Jeeni Criscenzo / San Diego Free Press

A week ago, I was sitting in the Denny’s across the street from Howard Johnsons in Chula Vista, waiting for Tracy (name changed), an Army veteran Amikas had been assisting for almost a year.

The good news was that Amikas, a non-profit that I started five years ago to help homeless women and children, was going to cover the next five days at the hotel for Tracy and her three children. But I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation – where this family would go after those five days was anybody’s guess.

It’s a horrible realization, but one that was abruptly shoved our way the other day when a 24-inch water main broke and caused massive flooding down Nimitz Boulevard for hours.

No matter how much water we save, it can all be trumped by just one pipeline failure.

No matter all the showers not taken, all the lawns removed, all the plants not watered, all the turning off of the faucets – all these water-saving efforts by OBceans and Peninsulans – can go for naught because San Diego has a crumbling infrastructure. The area has had all kinds of water main breaks.

Consider the following instances: …

A San Diego dog, Abbie Girl, holds the record for the longest wave surfed by a dog in the latest 2016 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Abbie Girl surfed 107.2 meters at Ocean Beach Dog Beach

Ocean Beach received another crosswalk yesterday, Sept. 9th, thanks to the city of San Diego.

This one went in at Voltaire Street and Cable. Locals have complained that this is a somewhat dangerous intersection and the crosswalks add an element of needed safety.

Special OB Planning Board Meeting – Sept 16 – The OB Planning Board is hosting a special Board meeting on Wed., September 16

OB Historical Society – Sept 17 – Kummeyaay On the Coast

Annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast – Sept 19

OB Town Council meeting – Sept 23 OBTC Public Meeting 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Masonic Center. The winning candidates to the OBTC Board will

AND MORE NEWS FROM OB AND PL …

By Ernie McCray

Donald Trump, on the stump, has been talking about making “America great again.”

And I’m thinking, again? We were great once and that greatness came to an end? When? I mean, I’ve been hearing about how great America is all my life, with no let up.

And I was a believer for a while, with all the fireworks and all. All the parades. All the “Oh say can you see” at the beginning of games and “God bless America” at the 7th inning stretch near the end.

And we love to say “That’s what makes America great” or “Only in America,” especially when some one of us: takes to a stage and makes us cry or laugh or jump up and boogie; gives forth with paintings and sculptures that are pleasing to our souls and our eyes; wins a noteworthy award like the Nobel Peace Prize.

By Marjorie Cohn / Truthdig

North Dakota has just become the first state to legalize police use of drones equipped with “less than lethal” weapons, including rubber bullets, Tasers, tear gas, pepper spray and sound cannons.

Now, police will be able to remotely fire on people in North Dakota from drones, much as the CIA fires on people in other countries.

Although drones in North Dakota will be limited to “less than lethal” weapons, some of these devices can cause injury or even death, …

It was 45 years ago this month – September – when the very first issue of the OB People’s Rag hit the streets of Ocean Beach.

With the banner date of September 17 1970, Volume 1 No. 1 was published on a mimeograph machine, it included 4 pages, back and front, stapled together.

The first issue included slams against the current state of education, articles on the women’s movement, struggles in the military, a critique of the “Miami-Beachization” of OB, plus a recipe for revolutionary granola.

In a message from the staff, the Rag declared:

The OB Peoples’ Rag will address itself to the problems and needs of the people and the community:

the Rag will create a continuous dialogue within our community thus providing a voice for its youth and its poor;

About 4:30 am, Tuesday, a 24-inch water main break caused massive flooding down Nimitz Boulevard at West Point Loma Boulevard. There was so much water, a sidewalk caved in and collapsed.

Police issued a Sig Alert for southbound Nimitz – closed between West Pt Loma and Famosa Boulevard.

By 8:30 am, crews had shut off the water but road was still closed.

Wildfires swept through the states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and northern California in a record setting conflagration. Thousands of firefighters from all over the world tried to protect houses, but, nevertheless, hundreds burned. A call went out for volunteers and thousands have responded.

Thousands have been evacuated. The cost is soaring past what state and Federal budgets can afford. The choice is to let the West burn up or bankrupt state and national budgets.

The Forest Service is spending $10 million a day to fight wildfires.