Month: December 2015

By Ernie McCray

Friday after Thanksgiving, every two years. As black people and/or African Americans.

And let me tell you, it’s so nice to be among people who were at your side when you were a kid growing up trying to figure out how to make it in a world where you’re looked at as “Those people.” People to be looked down upon.

Like Muslims today, who, in the way we look at folks, could be anyone wearing a head scarf that covered their face. It’s a “They all look alike” kind of thing.

Here are 10 reasons to oppose the ten police surveillance cameras being installed along OB’s waterfront.

1. The cameras are unconstitutional – violations of both the First and Fourth Amendments. They violate our right of assembly and right of association. They are an unreasonable search and seizure of our persons and of our images

2. The cameras violate our right to privacy. Citizens do have the right to certain privacies – even on the beach or in parks; lawful citizens have the right not to be subject to surveillance by government or the police. In this age of government surveillance via emails and cellphones (especially as has been uncovered by Edward Snowden), concern for citizens’ rights to privacy are heightened.

3. Video Surveillance has chilling effect on public life. Cameras bring subtle but profound changes to the character of our public spaces, as citizens behave more self-conscious and less free-wheeling.

4. The police have not submitted any statistics on crimes at the beach or other empirical data to justify the cameras.

By Jim Miller

Last week as the big climate talks kicked off in Paris it was my pleasure to co-host with Masada Disenhouse of SanDiego350 a community screening of Naomi Klein’s new film This Changes Everything.

We used this screening to help facilitate a discussion among folks from the local labor and environmental movements along with representatives from various community and student groups that was focused on the intersection between the climate crisis and the fight against economic inequality. Many folks expressed spirited opinions on how we might join the interests of the poor and workers with those fighting to save the planet.

By Jon Linney

What a gem the Dusty Rhodes dog park is. It is – or rather was – also an eye-pleasing splash of green awaiting us on our commute home to Ocean Beach or Point Loma. A gem on a key entryway to the Peninsula.

Visiting time clearly is the best time of the day for many a four-legged friend who gets to romp and run and roll – and socialize. That goes for their owners as well, a chance to enjoy the outdoors and sit and watch or socialize with other people who have brought their pets. Even non-dog owners who pass by cannot help but smile.

“Disneyland for Dogs,” is what OB resident Scott King calls it.

But “Disneyland for Dogs” has fallen into disrepair. Lush green has turned into drab desert brown as the spigots have been turned off completely to fight the drought. This dog park has done its part in the effort to conserve and much more.

By Brent E. Beltrán

Barrio Logan is one of the oldest neighborhoods in San Diego. It used to be one whole community called Logan Heights, named after congressman John A. Logan, but the creation of the Interstate 5 freeway that bisected the neighborhood changed that.

Then the building of the San Diego–Coronado Bridge changed it again. Thousands were displaced from building the freeway and the bridge. Now Barrio Logan encompasses a relatively small patch of land sandwiched between the San Diego Bay and the I-5 freeway and north of National City and south of San Diego’s East Village.

OB Rag Editor Kicked Out of Meeting for Profanity

In one of the most contentious meetings in its recent history, the OB Planning Board meeting Wednesday night – December 2nd – literally erupted into a “war of words” over the police surveillance cameras being proposed for Ocean Beach.

Opponents and advocates of the cameras traded pontifications, comments, tirades and insults – in a packed meeting with standing room only. However, the meeting soon devolved into a one-sided show, where proponents of the surveillance cameras and police were allowed to dominate what had been described as “a forum”. And yes, this author was ordered to leave the room due to an outburst of profanity (more on that later).

Much of the crowd was there because of the agenda item No. 2 – Surveillance Cameras along the waterfront, with a promise that the Board would discuss the issue and “gather consensus regarding their use”.

By Jeeni Criscenzo / San Diego Free Press

At the tail end of CBS This Morning this Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, was a brief interview with Monsanto’s CEO, Hugh Grant (not the movie star), on the debate over GMO labeling.

He tried to come off as a soft-spoken, reasonable man, describing his company as –

“…an agricultural company. We sell seeds to farmers and those farmers make harvests and those harvest end up on plates around the world.”

Cool. The man running the company that is poisoning our planet and our population is just so damn nice, what with putting all that poison (err food) on our plates!

Editor: OB’s Dog Beach is truly a model for other cities. Here is a comparison of Dog Beach in Ocean Beach and other San Diego dog areas with those in Atlanta, Georgia, and is part 3 in a three-part series that examined the similarities of two leading convention cities – Atlanta and San Diego.

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Home of nation’s first leash-free, free-range dog park offers lessons for Atlanta

By David Pendered / Saporta Report

San Diego – San Diego built what a plaque says is the nation’s first leash-free dog beach, in 1972, at a time the beachfront community was blossoming into a surfing capitol and the Haight-Asbury of southern California.

City leaders never turned back from their decision to provide a place for dogs and their owners to play together off leash. …
Today, San Diego has 14 leash-free dog parks, according to the parks department’s website. Popular nomenclature dubs these leash-free parks as “dog parks,” as if parks where companion animals can’t be set free aren’t dog friendly.

On any given day, dogs and their companion persons are playing catch with Frisbees on Dog Beach, said to be the nation’s first leash-free dog park; ….

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the US and global nuclear industry. In addition, it highlights the efforts of those who are working to create a nuclear free world.

Two more US nuclear plants slated for shutdown.

November brought news that two more US nuke plants will be permanently shutting down in the future.

On November 3 Bloomberg.com reported that the Fitzpatrick nuke on Lake Ontario in uppermost New York state would close down for good in “late 2016 or early 2017.”

Then on November 7 the Cape Cod Times reported that the Pilgrim nuclear plant on Cape Cod in Massachusetts will have its permanent closure “sometime before June 19” next year.

The first community forum on the planned installation of the police surveillance cameras has been set for Wednesday, December 9th.

The forum is being sponsored by the OB Citizens Against Privacy Abuse (CAPA) and will be held at the OB Recreation Center. The forum will run from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and will include a presentation or two by members of CAPA as well as a question and answer session with San Diego Police representatives.

Councilwoman Lorie Zapf has been invited to address the forum, as well, as it was her office that found funds for the surveillance cameras.

Waterfront Bistro Will Attempt to Open By Weekend of Dec. 5

One of our favorite restaurants in OB suffered a fire over the Thanksgiving holidays and has been closed ever since.

Shades had a fire in its kitchen – and due to the flames, the sprinkler system went off – and probably damaged more than the fire did.

When we checked on the restaurant on Wednesday, workers and electricians were making repairs.