Month: March 2015

By Bob Dorn / San Diego Free Press

I still have my father’s hammer; it’s tough hickory handle, all blackened by decades of use, has never separated from its carbon steel head, which is similarly stained by use. (The grease and dirt buried in that wood, some of it left there by my father, probably is what keeps the hickory from taking on water and rotting.) Let it be a symbol of endurance, persistence, toughness, good design and good material.

Here are some others:

1. Toilet Paper. Has no rivals.

2. Analog Odometers. These, like cheap watches with sweep hands, are mechanical, not digital, so they keep on rolling as long as your wheels do. They’re disappearing because more and more of us like green or red lights on the dashboard, and glowing numbers. When you buy that used Lexus can you be sure the odometer’s sensors …

BikeSD / BikeSD Blog

Tuesday night, March 24, between 200-250 people packed the St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral for a special Uptown Planners meeting. It’s quite possible that that was the most number of people that church has held in recent years.

Sister Gaia Love, summed it up perfectly:

Proof that cars are a religion to some. Ever see this turnout on a Sunday? RT @BikeSD: Packed room with lots standing pic.twitter.com/CWYPBnjFDr

— Sister Gaia Love (@SrGaia) March 25, 2015

All eyes were on Nicole Capretz last night at the monthly Ocean Beach Town Council meeting. She was proposing that the Council join the Climate Action Campaign that she helped found and ensure that the City of San Diego lives up to its commitments under the Mayor’s new climate action plan.

Capretz addressed the Board and the audience of near 60 people on the topic of climate change, the City’s plan, and her group’s efforts to hold local government to be responsive, in terms of creating a viable, legally-binding roadmap for San Diego to follow.

“There is no greater risk to the human race,” she said, “than climate change.” Capretz has been a veteran of City Hall. She years ago, worked for Councilwoman Donna Frye, and more recently for interim Mayor Todd Gloria. She added:

The quality of life will be okay for current generations, but not for the next generations.

By Donna Frye

This past week, March 15 – 21, the annual celebration called Sunshine Week took place throughout the nation. It was started over 10 years ago by the American Society of News Editors, with its goal being to –

“enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.”

Enough of us have finally taken notice to mention it. Talk about a crack in your local sidewalk – you ain’t got nothing compared to this.

Check it out.

The concrete walkway at the bottom of Sunset Cliffs just north of Orchard Street has taken a beating from Mother Nature and the sidewalk is ‘a-buckling’.

This was all very predictable.

That is, it is predictable that attempts by government and private property owners along the famous and beautiful Sunset Cliffs to corral nature, prevent erosion and stop the gravitational, tidal and wind forces from doing their thing are bound to fail – eventually.

Also, we the citizens of a City like ours with its dismal history of maintaining of public access-ways shouldn’t be too surprised when nature and the lack of City attention take their toll.

Of course, no one knows who’s doing it, but some of the walls of Sunset Cliffs are getting tagged with spray paint markings.

A roving eye for the OB Rag spotted them and told us that they are visible from the path just north of the old baseball field under Nazareen College.

Attorney General Eric Holder will leave office with a perfect record of not having busted a single senior banker

By John Lawrence

The bank, HSBC, has been involved in criminal enterprises from dealing with terrorists and drug dealers to advising clients how to escape paying taxes. Yet no HSBC banker has gone to jail.

Dealing with drug dealers is nothing new for HSBC, also known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. They have always been associated with drugs. Founded in 1865, HSBC became the major commercial bank in colonial China after the conclusion of the Second Opium War. That’s the war in which European powers forced the Chinese to legalize the drug trade.

By Junco Canche / San Diego Free Press _______________________ Junco Canché Junco Canché, the Chicano Punk Rock Artesano, was born…

Stabbing In Saratoga Park Saturday Night A young, unidentified man was stabbed Saturday night, March 21,

New City Planner for OB Community Plan – Rumored to Go Before Coastal in August Ocean Beach has a new planner from the city

When is the OB People’s Organic Food Co-op’s Election? There will be an election for the Board of Directors for the organic market on Voltaire Street.

VOSD in OB The online publication the Voice of San Diego is planning on taking over the Masonic Center

Beers & Bikes Wheel in OB and Point LomaBikes & Beers will literally wheel into Ocean Beach, Mission Bay on March 28, as the 2nd annual

City Council Approves $750,000 to Restore Crystal PierThe City Council unanimously voted to finish a $1.2 million dollar restoration project

AND MORE, COME INSIDE ….

The Point Loma Peninsula has a pot shop! The San Diego Planning Commission on March 19th voted 4 to 2 to approve a medical marijuana dispensary in the Midway area of the Point.

The Point Loma Patients Cooperative is the 4th such dispensary to be allowed under San Diego’s stringent requirements. It’s located at 3452 Hancock Street.

The other dispensaries allowed include an Otay Mesa storefront that just opened last week, and 2 more – one in San Ysidro and the other in Kearny Mesa. Both are are expected to open this spring. Allegedly, the City is supposed to allow a total of 36 dispensaries within city boundaries.

By Susan Taylor

The flatlanders in San Diego had somewhere between 1-2 inches of rain recently and I hear the call of school gardens asking, “Can we plant something?” Of course we can, so let’s get going.

On a recent stroll along the boardwalk towards South Mission Beach, I dipped into the tiny streets between the boardwalk and Mission Blvd and saw so many interesting growing things.

One idea I’ve already tried is to take a hanging succulent cutting, let it harden off for a couple of days and here’s what’s next–wrap a handful of soil around the root (to be) end and then add some coir or even a paper towel. Moisten the whole wrap and nest it into the crotch of a tree branch.

This Saturday, March 28th, a public memorial and celebration of Mike Hardin’s life will be held at Petco’s “Park in the Park”. Hardin is mostly associated with his infamous Hodad’s OB burger joint.

His eatery was showcased on national television foodie shows, such as the features on the popular TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” hosted by Guy Fieri.

Hardin died of a heart attack in early February.

The “Celebration of Life” event at Petco Park’s Park in the Park in downtown San Diego runs from 11:11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Saturday’s tribute is being organized by Hardin’s family, employees and friends. The pubic is invited – it’s free to attend and, according to organizers, “open to everyone who ever knew Mike or knew his burgers.”