Month: October 2015

In the OB Rag poll asking readers about their opinions on the proposed re-naming of Saratoga Park to being one named after OB’s historian, Ruth Varney Held, there were some surprising results.

In the poll where there were 128 votes, only 27% were for an out-and-out name change (35 votes). That’s a little more than one in 4 who are ready or agree to the name change.

A whooping 31% apparently didn’t know who Ruth Varney Held is and replied they didn’t have enough info to vote (40 votes).

In the third OB Rag poll that we recently ran for a week, we asked our readers about the surf camps in OB requesting an extension of the time allowed in the ocean and on the beach.

The surf camps want to amend their Memorandum of Agreement with the City of San Diego to extend their time in the afternoon by one hour.

Nearly three-quarters of the readers who responded expressed some kind of opposition to the current set-up.

In the second OB Rag poll on short term vacation rentals, we asked readers what their opinion was on the current law allowing 25% of the units in an apartment complex to be short term vacation rentals.

With 145 readers taking part, nearly half – 48% – agreed with the option “There should not be any STVRs allowed in apartments,” (69 votes).

In the first of 5 polls that ran at the OB Rag for a week, we asked readers if they thought short term vacation rentals needed restrictions.

An overwhelming 85% said they agreed with some type of restrictions – 128 votes.

68% in the poll want “tight restrictions” on the STVRs (102 votes), whereas 17% were okay with “loose restrictions” (26 votes).

Killer Clash: SeaWorld’s Fate May Hinge on ‘Blue World’ Vote

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / October 7, 2015

The fate of SeaWorld’s $100 million Blue World Project — a doubling of killer whale space — rests in the hands of the California Coastal Commission on Thursday in a showdown being framed as the most crucial in the history of orca advocacy.

“There has never been a more important time to speak up for the orcas held captive at SeaWorld,” said Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

For Orlando-based SeaWorld Entertainment, Blue World’s OK represents a chance to reverse its business slide in the wake of the critical “Blackfish” documentary and former trainer John Hargrove’s book “Beneath the Surface.”

Think you have a dangerous job?

Check this poor soul working his machine on Sunset Cliffs.

Here are the OBceans who attended the San Diego Unified School Board meeting yesterday, Tuesday, Oct. 6th.

They were there to protest the transfer of 2 teachers from OB Elementary.

By Lois Lane

The Sunset Cliffs Natural Park tool shed for the native plant garden got broken into and the recent rainstorms tried to wash the cliffs out to sea, but overall, the Council meeting was positive. Here’s what was reported:

• The tool sheet hasp for the padlock was pried off the building by unknown parties. When the would-be thieves saw the array of shovels and a few other gardening tools, they left the contents untouched. All that was required was re-affixing the hasp to the building, and the shed was again secure.
• Elsewhere, the rains took their toll. In the 850 block of Sunset Cliffs Blvd., broken asphalt was repaired, the erosion drainage channel was fixed, and all seems to be holding steady.

Here’s 5 polls over current issues in Ocean Beach: short term vacation rentals, surf camp hours extensions, change of name for Saratoga Park, and the effort to install 24-hour police surveillance cameras along OB’s beachfront.

We plan to run this page for about a week – beginning Thursday, October 1.

An estimated one thousand residents from Point Loma jammed the FAA meeting last night, Tuesday Oct. 6th, in Liberty Station and many sounded off about the proposed new flight paths.

The proposed changes will – in all likelihood – bring east-bound planes that take off west over Point Loma close to or even over the Peninsula.

The current flight path has jets – once they take off over the Peninsula (including OB where it’s called the “OB Pause”) – they make a wide turn and fly south over the ocean and cross over the lightly populated area near Silver Strand State Beach.

But the new path would have airliners make a sharper turn, crossing Point Loma. saving fuel and pollution, the FAA claims.

San Diego Assemblymember Shirley Weber Authored Bill

California:first-ever bill to collect, analyze, and make public data on all police stops

From ACLU

On Friday, October 3, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 into California law.

Written by San Diego’s own Assemblymember Shirley Weber, AB 953 now requires law enforcement agencies to collect basic information on police stops in response to growing concerns about racial profiling and police misconduct.

Can you hear it? Or feel it?

The entire Peninsula is mobilizing today, Tuesday, October 6th. Both residents in Ocean Beach and residents in Point Loma are mobilizing – for different reasons.

OB residents upset about the transfer of 2 teachers from OB Elementary are planning on attending tonight’s school board meeting. And Point Loma residents upset with the flight path changes proposed by the FAA are planning on attending tonight’s Liberty Station meeting on the issue.

OB Residents to Attend School Board Meeting – 5pm

As OB Rag writer Matt Wood explained yesterday:

Kindergarten teachers Amie Frank and Katy Amberg will be reassigned to different schools in the San Diego Unified School District.

Wood also wrote:

A number of parents are planning to attend Tuesday’s School Board meeting …