Month: February 2016

Grey Whale Spotted Near Shelter Island
Prop 15 Celebration Party – Feb. 15th

Flood at Green Store

Searches for Missing Swimmer Off OB Come Up Empty

Vacationing Soldiers Rescue Passengers of Car that Went into Mission Bay
Navy, Water Department Wary of Massive Fish Farm Project Off Point Loma
Well Known Mission Beach Activist Struck by Car While Painting Over Graffiti

OB Pier Closed Over Weekend

Body of Man Found Floating Off OB Identified as Martin Paul McDermott

Thursday, February 18, 7 pm, Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents: “Centennial of the Devastating 1916 Flood and the Rainmaker”

Drunk Kid Rams Several Cars, Ends at Van

AND MORE ….

America Was Great at One Time?

by Ernie McCray

Making America great again
sure sounds like something worth doing.
But the word “again,”
implies that America must have been
great somewhere along the line –
and when I run the feasibility of that
through my long-active mind,
having not been deaf or blind
in my time,
a couple of questions come to mind,
on the fly.
Like:
“When was the country ever great?”
And “Where in the hell was I?”
Really.
Oh, there is greatness all over the place
in the USA.
Great things: art, music, science, who’s going to argue with that?
Great human beings: who can beat Lincoln, Cesar, Fannie Lou and folks like that?
Great opportunities: in this country you can reach for the moon and places like that.
But, just speaking for me,
I have had to sit at the back of the bus,
…

The public is left out of the decision making, the City Council is not fully engaged

By Jay Powell

On Wednesday February 10, the City Council Smart Growth and Land Use (SG&LU) Committee was asked to recommend approval to the full City Council of the marketing for sale of six City-owned properties that the Real Estate Asset Department (READ) has declared surplus and excess to the needs of the City.

At the meeting, the committee basically took extensive public testimony and then moved the items onto the full City Council. They appeared un-concerned about the Portfolio Management Plan issue.

There was a lot of testimony about preserving the Truax House and giving the community and other stakeholders time to put together a proposal to restore the house and make it a resource for meetings and organizations such as Lambda Archives, San Diego CanyonLands, a possible Seniors center and other community-serving organizations and evaluating a potential trail connection to Maple Canyon.

Plurality Wants The Joint’s Encroachment Removed Despite Permit

A clear plurality of respondents to our week long poll on encroachment into public space by an Ocean Beach restaurant agreed that it was “encroachment into the public space” – and agreed that it “must be removed.

42% of those who took the survey of readers are against The Joint’s newly installed gated outside sitting area.

There were a total of 93 participants in the non-scientific poll, posted on our sidebar.

Only 12.9% of respondents like the new sitting section.

By Jim Miller

Last week, in a New York Times editorial, Mark Schmitt joined the chorus of clear-eyed “realists” chiming in against Bernie Sanders’ bold agenda in “Is the Era of Big-Program Liberalism Over?”

While acknowledging the political appeal and strategic advantages of universal programs, Schmitt argued that, given the presumably inevitable constraints of the present, the future belongs to an incrementalism that is “most interesting and novel for the absence of big, universal programs that require legislative action.”

Mission Beach Residents Upset With Loss of Park, Size of Proposed Buildings and Loss of Alleys

By Mike Meyers

There is a current proposal to build 63 three bedroom condos and a park on the former school property by the developers McKeller/McGowan from La Jolla. The property was acquired by auction in May 2013 from the San Diego School District for $18.5 million. The property located in Mission Beach is 2.23 acres. (see attachment A)

Voting by San Diego Planning Commission and City Council will be within the next two months. The elementary school closed in 1973 to students. It has been used by the school district as instructional coaching to teachers and as administrative office until 2011.

City of San Diego residents—look at your water bill

By Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

We were told last year that our water rates in the City of San Diego would go up on January 1st of 2016. That prompted me to look a little more closely at the most recent bill which includes December and January.

This year’s bill for the winter months, when outside watering was unnecessary, broke a hundred dollars for the first time.

Yes, the rates have gone up. But in addition to the amount due, other information on the bill caught my eye.

As cities search for solutions to homelessness, Portland’s Dignity Village offers 60 men and women community and safety.

Katie Mays, the site’s social worker, stands next to villager Rick Proudfoot in front of his house. Photo: Paul Dunn

By Marcus Harrison Green / Yes! Magazine

On a frigid January morning in Portland, Ore., a tour through Dignity Village follows the same path its residents are required to travel. All were, or are, homeless.

COME INSIDE TO SEE LARGER VERSION WITH CLICK

By John Ambert

On-Site Permitting: The Atlas crew could not produce any permits today what so ever. No Tree work permit, no road closure permit, no authorization from the city. Absolutely nothing. If this is indeed for emergency purposes, this kind of activity must have some sort of authorization from the City to demonstrate this is a coordinated activity. Also there was no notice provided to residents or postings around the area. The city needs to do much better in this department.

Community Engagement: …

Geoff Page’s Stand for the Torrey Pines Mocked by Editorial

An editorial in today’s San Diego Union-Tribune was critical of OB’s “Torrey Pines Hero”, the “Man of the Hour” – the guy who brought to a halt – temporarily – Tuesday’s cutting down of two of the trees – Geoff Page.

The editorial took Page to task and mocked his compassion for standing up for the Torrey Pines on the 4600 block of Saratoga in Ocean Beach.

Page had physically blocked work crews from cutting down one of the Torreys, demanding that the workers, the arborist, the city – somebody! – produce the required permits for what they were doing. Page insisted that the work permit as well as the street control permit be shown upon request – as is required.