Month: November 2015

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

A rally and march in support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is on for Saturday, November 7th in San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Billed as the “Enough is enough” rally for Southern California supporters of Sanders, organizers expect more than 2,000 people to attend. (Which means parking will be tight.)

The main gathering and rally at the fountain in front of the Science Center starts at 11 am, with speeches, and then a march begins around 12:30.

Starting at 10 am there will be booths of local activist groups and political initiatives.

Come inside for the formal announcement:

Back on October 26th, we posted an article about possible Navy waste water flowing down Sunset Cliffs into the ocean – as had been discovered by Andrew, one of our readers, while walking his dog south of the Nazarene college. Andrew took it upon himself to take photos and vid of the possible thousands of gallons of water he witnessed cascading down a gully of the cliffs, also possibly causing erosion of the protected area.

The water appeared to be coming from Navy facilities on Point Loma, directly to the east and up the hill. Andrew and others who surf in that area have concerns about the quality of the water, whether it was toxic or not, or just exactly what was in it.