November 2015

Elizabeth Warren Calls for Us to Sign Her Petition for Social Security COLA Increase

November 16, 2015 by Source

Editor: Senator Elizabeth Warren has started a petition to get Congress to pass a Cost of Living increase for Social Security recipients. As of right now there is no annual increase coming – and this is only the 3rd time in the last 40 years that there hasn’t been a COLA increase for those who received Social Security.

Here’s Elizabeth Warren’s call:

On January 1, for just the third time since 1975, seniors who receive Social Security won’t be getting an annual cost-of-living increase. Neither will millions of other Americans whose veterans’ benefits, disability benefits, and other monthly payments are pegged to Social Security.

Will you join me in calling on my fellow members of Congress to give seniors and veterans the raise they deserve?

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Only you can stop the surveillance cameras in OB!

November 16, 2015 by Source

Hey Kids! Download or print this graphic and staple it to your favorite bulletin board or telephone pole.

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Is It Time to Put Down the Bacon?

November 16, 2015 by Source

Processed meat may cause cancer, but your personal risk is probably low.

By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

By now you’ve probably heard the sobering news: Red meat may cause cancer. And bacon and other popular processed meats definitely do, the World Health Organization says.

Does that mean we all need to quit eating processed meats — no pun intended — cold turkey?

For nutrition-obsessed dorks like me, this pronouncement wasn’t news: Bacon’s been suspect for decades. Yet I still occasionally eat the stuff, and I have a weakness for a particular variety of overpriced salami sold at Whole Foods. (It’s great for camping trips, because it stays good outside the fridge.)

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America’s Same Old Sad Story: Why the White Working Class is Killing Itself

November 16, 2015 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

Last week brought us the stark news that America’s middle-aged white working class is killing itself.

Princeton economists Angus Deaton and Anne Case released a report documenting that:

“The mortality rate for whites 45 to 54 years old with no more than a high school education increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2014.”

And strikingly, “rising annual death rates among this group are being driven not by the big killers like heart disease and diabetes but by an epidemic of suicides and afflictions stemming from substance abuse: alcoholic liver disease and overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids.”

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The OB Rag Needs to Change Servers … and We Need Some Change

November 13, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

$400 Needed to Make Switch

The OB Rag needs to change servers and we need some help from our readers and supporters.

Much as our associates over at San Diego Free Press did, we have found our present server – Arvixe – unresponsive and seemingly over-whelmed by their “success”. Tech support has become literally unavailable.

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Ocean Beach in 1969: “Hippies Move To Ease Tension in Ocean Beach”

November 13, 2015 by Source

San Diego Free Press – March 1969

Hippies Move To Ease Tension in Ocean Beach

(no byline)

Relations between Ocean Beach Hippies and the San Diego Police Dept. continue to deteriorate according to Ocean Beach residents.

Police patrolmen have apparently shifted their tactics from Field Interrogation type harassment to outright threats and intimidation. Officer McLean told a gathering of youths in front of the In-Between on Newport Ave –

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OB’s Very First Winery Has “Soft” Opening

November 13, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

Gianni Buonomo Winery Opens Its Doors

The very first winery in Ocean Beach had its “soft” opening on November 10th during OB’s Restaurant Walk. The Gianni Buonomo winery – at 4836 Newport Avenue – opened its doors to the few passing by and invited them in for a taste.

I visited vintner Keith Rolle a few days before the opening at his new location and was given a tour of the place. Keith told me he has a “zoning affidavit” that allows wine manufacture on site – which he’ll do for only about 10 days a year max, he said. He’ll get his grapes from 3 growers up in Washington state – connections he made while attending Enology College up there.

Customers will be able to come in and watch the manufacture, Keith added, plus, of course, take part in the tasting.

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Arrest Ends Attempt to Set Ebb Tide Motel Unit on Fire

November 13, 2015 by Staff

An unidentified guy set fire to a unit at the Ebb Tide Motel in Ocean Beach Thursday night, Nov. 12th, and then was arrested by San Diego police. Fox5 reported on the incident.

A neighbor tried to put out the flames but the guy began throwing things at the neighbor.

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No Pictures, No Action at the Ocean Beach CDC Meeting

November 13, 2015 by Source

Report of OB Community Development Corporation Meeting of Thursday, November 12

By Lois Lane

The OB CDC Board Meeting Agenda held at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center promised “Veterans Plaza Committee Report – Closed Session” and it was right. After some usual financial reviews, the President, Tom Perrotti, announced that the Board would take a five minute break and then enter a closed session meeting.

When asked why items related to the Veterans Plaza were not public, he replied “President’s Decision,” and left the room. When he returned after five minutes, he announced,

“We are a 501(c )3 that is not subject to the Brown Act.”

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Al Gore’s Global Day for Climate Action – Saturday November 14th

November 13, 2015 by Staff

The San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition invites you to join us at Al Gore’s Global Day for Climate Action!

It’s Saturday November 14th at Noon at the Federal Building on Broadway and Front Street, San Diego 92101.

In conjunction with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and leading up to the December Paris talks we will be calling on the U.S. Government to begin the national mobilization to make the transition off fossil fuel and on renewable energy!

We encourage organizations to have a contingent present for the rally. Artistic expression via signs, banners, costumes, street theatre is encouraged.

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OBserved No. 7

November 13, 2015 by Source

By Terry Ratner

Photos as memory has a menacing side. Our own appearances and faces are now stored and saved in hundreds, thousands, of photographs: pictures made by ourselves or made by others.

Our faces are becoming not only unforgettable, but inescapable.

Photography is at the nerve center of our paradoxical memorial impulses.

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City Council Okay of OB Community Plan Ends Long and Glorious Update Process – Here’s the Timeline

November 12, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

Last Leg of Update Process Took 2 1/2 Years

Timeline of Update Process of the OB Community Plan 2002 – 2015

When the final City Council vote came down last Monday, November 9th, as it approved the OB Community Plan Update, it was a signal to all the OBceans and city planners who have been part of its creation over the last months and years to heave a great collective sigh of relief.

The vote was the final step in a long, long – but glorious – process …

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Nuclear Shutdown News – October 2015

November 12, 2015 by Michael Steinberg

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those who are working to create a nuclear free future.

Millstone and Me: 2015

This October I returned to the place I come from, southeast Connecticut on Long Island Sound, off the Atlantic Ocean. The region promotes and prides itself as “The Submarine Capital of the World.”

The General Dynamics Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT, has built almost all the nation’s nuclear powered submarines. These include each and every of the Trident subs, which along with nuclear missiles and bombs constitute the US “strategic forces.”

Each Trident carries nuclear missiles, each one consisting of multiple warheads that can be independently targeted.

Thus Tridents are submersible Armageddons.

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A Greedy Capitalist Gets His Comeuppance

November 12, 2015 by John Lawrence

Price-Gouger Martin Shkreli Becomes Known as ‘Most Hated Man in America’

By John Lawrence

Turing Pharmaceuticals chief Martin Shkreli will face new competition for Daraprim, the drug he recently hiked 5,000 percent in price, after competitor Imprimis Pharmaceuticals said it would market a similar drug for just $1 a tablet. Daraprim is used mainly to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that’s common in AIDS and HIV patients, as well as cancer sufferers.

Greedy buttwipe Martin Shkreli, the hedge fund guy that bought the drug Dariprim and then raised the price from $13.50 to $750. a pill will actually lose his ass on this venture.

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A Renaissance Man in a Sports Hall of Fame

November 12, 2015 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray

One of my most cherished honors is being among some pretty good Wildcat athletes in the “University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.”

I’m a member because I could snatch rebounds like a machine and get the ball in the hoop as a routine. But what does it really mean? For me, it hasn’t been something I’ve thought that much about day to day.

But a few months ago I got a little excited seeing a very familiar name on the list of super-jocks who were to join the club this year.

Dave Baldwin is the name. Pitching a baseball was his game. And I’m stoked that he and I are going to be in such a place of esteem together – because we go back before our college days, back to the Class of ’56 at Tucson High. Back to when I was stepping high, doing teenage boy things, testosteroned to the bone.

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A Cry for Ending the Slaughter in the ‘Drone Papers’ Revelations

November 12, 2015 by Source

By Marjorie Cohn / Truthdig

A new whistleblower has joined the ranks of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, John Kiriakou and other courageous individuals. The unnamed person, who chose to remain anonymous because of the Obama administration’s vigorous prosecution of whistleblowers, is a member of the intelligence community.

In the belief that the American public has the right to know about the “fundamentally” and “morally” flawed U.S. drone program, this source provided The Intercept with a treasure trove of secret military documents and slides that shine a critical light on the country’s killer drone program.

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OB Planners : Policy Crafted on Short Term Vacation Rentals and Quigley Building “Condo-ized”

November 11, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

At the well-attended monthly meeting of the OB Planning Board, Wednesday, Nov. 4th, the Board was able to finalize their policy on short-term vacation rentals, as well as approving the ‘condo-ization’ of the 4-unit Quigley building at 5151 Long Branch Avenue.

The “Quigley Building”

The project before the Board was the so-called “Quigley Building” – up for a map waiver to allow for condos. Rob Quigley – San Diego’s famous architect (San Diego Central Library) – designed and built the 4 unit building at 5151 Long Branch Avenue back in the 1970s. Each of the 4 units have one-in-a-kind unique designs, with a couple of them multi-floors.

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Here’s NBC7’s Report on OB’s Citizens Against Privacy Abuse

November 11, 2015 by Staff

Dave Summers’ NBC7 report on the new OB group, Citizens Against Privacy Abuse, was the lead story last night – Tuesday – at 11pm. Frank Gormlie, one of the organizers of CAPA was interviewed for it by Summers. Here’s the online version:

Grassroots Ocean Beach Group Fights Public Surveillance

The Citizens Against Privacy Abuse opposes 10 newly installed security cameras

By Dave Summers/ NBC7

An Ocean Beach group wants to block the city’s plan to install 10 surveillance cameras and point them at the public.

Proponents say 24-hour surveillance of the public space between Dog Beach and the Ocean Beach Pier will help solve crimes, protect businesses and visitors. The 10 cameras cost the city $25,000.

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Blogger Rant: What Can Ocean Beach Park – a “Dedicated Park” – Be Used for? Surf-Camps? Surveillance Cameras?

November 11, 2015 by Source

By Lois Lane

When I was a child, my father told me about the National Parks; National Geographic was the source of our knowledge. He told me that I could see the Grand Canyon some day because the parks belonged to the people, they were free, and they were protected by the law. Somewhere imprinted in the family gene pool is the idea that parks are to be enjoyed (sometimes as nature, but with conveniences, like bathrooms) by all the people.

Welcome to San Diego and welcome to Ocean Beach Park – our local version of a National Park.

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The Reader Uncovered Same Navy Waste Water Flushing Over Sunset Cliffs Back Last April

November 11, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

The little flap that we helped uncover recently over Navy waste water being flushed out over Sunset Cliffs and into the ocean seemed to have been the first exposure of this practice by the Navy, the flushing of potable water.

Yet, we have found an article from last April in the San Diego Reader that discussed the very same flushing at the same location.

Look at the photos of the water cascading out from the cliffs. It’s the same location.

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“Citizens Against Privacy Abuse” Forms in OB in Response to Planned Installation of Police Surveillance Cameras

November 10, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

In response to the planned installation by the City of San Diego of police surveillance cameras along OB’s waterfront, a loose collection of concerned and upset OBceans has gelled into a group called “Citizens Against Privacy Abuse” (CAPA).

Members of the new group are opposed to the cameras on principle or are upset with the process – how there was no community discussion about the system of 10 cameras that will stretch from the OB Pier to Dog Beach and the San Diego River.

One member said:

“It’s the way it was done. It sounds covert. To exclude groups because you’re afraid they’ll cause a stir – causes a stir.”

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Here’s a Shocker: Officer Involved in Fatal Midway Shooting Won’t Be Charged

November 10, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

Here’s a real shocker – hope you’re sitting down – the San Diego police officer involved in that Midway District fatal shooting of an unarmed man last April, will not be charged.

After an “exhaustive investigation”, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced that her office will decline to file criminal charges against Officer Neal B. Browder who shot and killed 42-year-old Fridoon Zalberg Rawshannehad, an Afghan immigrant, in an alley next to an adult bookstore late at night. The victim was unarmed – except for a pen.

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SeaWorld San Diego to Phase-Out Orca Circus Shows

November 10, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

SeaWorld Also Wants a Hotel on Mission Bay

The big news in our neck of the woods – or more accurately – our cove of the bay – is that SeaWorld has just announced that it is phasing out the Orca show performances at its San Diego park. They will be phased out sometime in 2016 – which means they could go on for another year. And replaced in 2017 with a “new orca experience”one with a more “natural” setting.

On Monday, November 9th, the company posted a document that stated that the theatrical Shamu stunts here in San Diego will be replaced with an “informative” experience with a “conservation message inspiring people to act.”

The changes do not affect killer whale shows in Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas, where they own other similar parks with orcas.

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City Council Votes Final Approval of OB Community Plan

November 10, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

Several people said to me: “It was all over too soon.” They almost couldn’t believe it.

But yes, it was over – the Ocean Beach Community Plan – freshly updated – was finally approved by the San Diego City Council in an unanimous vote Monday afternoon – the ninth of November, 2015. It was in a way, anti-climatic. The real drama had already been played out last year and this summer.

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Newport News – Latest on OB’s Main Street

November 9, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

Join us as we cruise up and down Newport Avenue – the main business street in Ocean Beach. This is one of our irregular columns on the very latest goings on in the commercial zone – what’s new? What’s old? Who’s in? Who’s out? Who is opening and who is closing? (Pics were taken Friday afternoon – a fine day, Nov.6th.)

OB Brewery Exterior Looks Done … But …

The latest brewery happening in OB is the OB Brewery – whose exterior looks great. But one look inside

No Progress at AppleTree Market

There’s been absolutely no progress – that we can see

Humble Hippie Is Gone

Another victim of the times, the economy, or what?

Yoga Center Is Ready for Everybody

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Farewell Fresh & Easy

November 9, 2015 by Source

By South OB Girl

Fresh & Easy will be closing its doors. This makes the second loss of a grocery store in the Ocean Beach-Point Loma community in the past three years. We had previously mourned the loss of Appletree Market. Now we are losing Fresh & Easy.

Technically Fresh & Easy, at the corner of Catalina and Talbot St., lies within the boundaries of the Peninsula Planning Board. But many a OBcean has headed up and over the hill to the store. The self-checkout was favored by some as quick and convenient. The prepackaged meals were likewise seemingly well-liked by many. But the self-checkout and signature Fresh & Easy products were not enough to keep the company from declaring bankruptcy for the second time, and not enough to keep the doors open.

On October 30, 2015, Fresh & Easy LLC filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code 11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532 (Case No. 15-12220).

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Fighting for More than $15

November 9, 2015 by Jim Miller

Teachers, Students, and Community Fight for $15 and More

3:00 Rally and March on Tuesday Nov. 10th at City College near Park and B

By Jim Miller

For progressives it is the worst of times and the best of times. As I noted on Labor Day, the American labor movement faces an existential crisis in the form of a looming Supreme Court decision that may essentially make the whole country “right to work” as the trend toward greater income inequality continues unabated.

Our sitting Democratic President has made pushing a terrible neoliberal trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, one of his legacy items, and the news on climate change seems to get worse by the day as our leaders bicker over half measures.

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All Out in Support of the OB Community Plan – One More Time – Mon., Nov. 9th at City Hall

November 6, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

One more time, OBceans are being asked to turn out in their blue shirts in support of the OB Community Plan. The Plan is going before the San Diego City Council this Monday, November 9th, and is on the 2:00 pm Council agenda.

Residents, property owners and merchants from OB have been in a long struggle to have the community plan updated and then approved by various governmental agencies, such as the San Diego Planning Commission, the California Coastal Commission and of course the City Council.

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Did San Diego Police Just Shoot and Kill an Unarmed Man Who Wasn’t Even Wanted?

November 6, 2015 by Frank Gormlie

The killing by San Diego police of a man in Pacific Beach has raised some serious questions – although no one is asking them.

Now identified, Missouri resident Timothy Gene Smith was chased and then shot and killed by a San Diego Police officer around 3pm on Wednesday, November 4th in the1600 block of Thomas Avenue in PB. Police and press initially reported that he was wanted on felony warrants and was “armed and dangerous”.

Veteran cop Sgt. Scott Holslag believed, we are told, that the man being chased – Smith -, after being bitten by a police dog and after scaling a fence and getting out on a ledge, was reaching for weapon in his pants, when Holslag fatally shot him in the torso.

No weapon was found.

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Colorado’s Legalization of Marijuana Is a Huge Success

November 6, 2015 by Source

Veer Guest House

Pot taxes to fund school construction and substance-abuse programs

By Walter Einenkel / Daily Kos

Colorado voters agreed on how to spend $66 million of the revenue generated by the legal sale of marijuana.

The measure sends the first $40 million to school construction and $12 million designated for youth and substance-abuse programs.

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