Month: March 2016

Polite Graffiti Sprayed on Construction Fence

The OB Rag was informed by the company that is building the condo project at Voltaire and Abbott that their construction fence was tagged with what they called “some pretty polite graffiti”.

Sometime late Monday night perhaps, March 14th, somebody or somebodies sprayed messages expressing discontent over the planned project, being developed by the group, Three on Abbott. The project includes 3 two-story condos. And unfortunately for the neighbors who have been parking on the dirt lot that is now fenced-in for literally decades, that convenience is now gone forever.

Three on Abbott notified us by email of the tagging, sent us photos, and asked us to remind the community that –

this project was approved by the Ocean Beach Planning Board in a monumental vote of 11-3 and that the board is elected and run by residents of Ocean Beach.

On March 17th the Ocean Beach Historical Society celebrates Spring with a program about the history and O.B. spirit of the beloved Wisteria Cottage and it’s famous 100 plus year-old vines.

Join the OBHS at the P.L. United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., in O.B. of course, at 7pm.

It’s time to ditch nonstick cookware — and then reform our laws.

By Jill Richardson / Otherwords

Teflon, you might have heard, may cause cancer.

The culprit was a toxic, now retired compound called PFOA. Also known as C8, the chemical became the subject of a major lawsuit accusing DuPont — the manufacturer of the popular nonstick coating — of sickening thousands of Americans.

Yet Teflon is still on the market, The Intercept reports, with a secret new active ingredient.

The following article originally appeared in 1988 in Justice Speaks, a publication of Black Workers For Justice, in North Carolina.

by Michael Steinberg

On November 29th [1988] the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a British law allowing Britain to detain suspects for up to 7 days without charging them is a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. The court’s decision is a blow to Britain’s attempts to crush the 800-year old Irish national movement. While the British government incorrectly portrays this as a religious conflict, in reality it is a political struggle for liberation and independence from British rule.

Union-Tribune Finally “Finds” San Diego’s Black Panthers

In a very decent February 28 article about San Diego’s Black Panthers penned by Peter Rowe of the San Diego U-T, some of the city’s turbulent civil rights and Black power movement history from the Sixties and Seventies was uncovered.

First, it’s amazing to some San Diegans, including Rowe, that San Diego even had a Black Panther chapter back in the day. And that’s a credit that the San Diego Union and Tribune themselves can claim, for the coverage of local Panthers and the civil rights movement in general was skewed due to the right-wing – and yes, racist – policies and bias of its owners and editors. Think the Copley family, who ran the city’s only pair of dailies for decades.

But now thanks to Rowe, some of this history has been dusted off and bared for all to read. Much of the article recounts the experiences of one Henry Lee Wallace, now 64 and still in San Diego, but back then, a member of the local Panthers.

By Murtaza H. Baxamusa / San Diego UrbDeZine

Over 120 cities and counties in California have a climate action plan either completed or in the pipeline. As cities develop these plans and initiatives to address climate change, it is important to emphasize that social equity is integrated within environmental policies.

The vulnerabilities, resilience and sustainability of the human ecosystem are as much determined by diversity and interdependence as its natural counterpart. As Pope Francis said inLaudato Sí, “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Sustainability is framed as a three-legged stool consisting of the three ‘E’s: environment, economy and equity. However, the third leg, social and economic equity, is often the weakest.

By Rob Tindula

A few weeks ago, the City Attorney’s Office released an 11-page memo outlining the public disclosure of police records, including body camera footage.

The report stated that the Mayor has exclusive rights when it comes to releasing the department’s body camera footage to the public and listed a number broad of exemptions to go along with it.

This is unfortunate for all San Diego residents. Police body cameras have the ability to increase the accountability of officers while performing their daily duties because video evidence can provide an unbiased account of what happened at the scene.

The City of San Diego has had a program for a decade now, that allows merchants and restaurants to use the sidewalks in front of their businesses.

It’s called the Public Right of Way (PROW) Program and was passed unanimously by the San Diego Planning Commission in March of 2006.

The program – according to the City’s new info website – allows:

“… merchants with ground-level storefronts in the twelve Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) will now be able to use the sidewalks in front of their businesses to place A-frame signs, limited displays of merchandise, and outdoor cafes without railings. ” (Our emphasis.)

The main Ocean Beach commercial district has such a BID – the OB Mainstreet Association.

By Jim Miller

Sarah Saez is best known locally for her work on the heroic United Taxi Drivers of San Diego campaign. As labor leader Richard Barrera noted after their big win in 2014:

The victory by UTWSD comes five years after drivers, improperly classified as independent contractors and without NLRB recognition, came together and organized a strike to protest their wages, benefits and working conditions.

Despite constant harassment, retaliation and intimidation by permit holders and dispatch companies over the last five years, and despite obstruction by public agencies, these workers stuck together, fought back against injustice, and prevailed.

By Tony de Garate

At a critical — perhaps even historic — time for the Midway community, two positions are available to serve on a volunteer citizen board that is overseeing an effort to determine what growth will look like for the next two decades.

The Midway Community Planning Group will host the balloting March 16 from 2:30 to 3 p.m. in the downstairs lobby of the West City Campus of San Diego Community College, Continuing Education, 3249 Fordham St. The group’s regular monthly meeting will follow upstairs in Room 205.

Both voters and candidates must live, own property or operate a business in the Midway Community Planning Area. Candidates, in addition, must have attended a meeting in the past year. To appear on the printed ballot, hopefuls must email Melanie Nickel, the group’s chair, by March 14 at MelanieN@stanfordalumni.org. Those who miss the deadline may run as write-ins.

Annual Election on Thursday, March 17, 2015 from 4-8pm at the Point Loma Library.

Editor: The following post on notes on some of the candidates for the upcoming Peninsula planners’ election was sent to us by Korla Eaquinta, a neighborhood activist from the Roseville area of Point Loma. Any opinions or observations made by Korla are her own.

By Korla Eaquinta

The Peninsula Community Planing Board (PCPB) Candidate’s Forum was held on Thursday, March 3, 2015 from 6-7:30 at the Point Loma Library.

Fourteen candidates have applied for five board positions. Applications received include:

Take a walk with us through the streets and sidewalks of Ocean Beach as we visit all the encroachments into public space by restaurants and bars across the community.

Many of the encroachments are welcomed as part of the new trend of cafe-style eateries and any intrusions into that common space are incidental and minimal. Others are where there is plenty of sidewalk or there isn’t much pedestrian traffic.

Some encroachments, however, are actually dangerous and unnecessary. Especially those encroachments that are permanent.

Whether an encroachment is dangerous or not often depends on its particular factors and circumstances.

So, take a walk with us – let us know whether you agree or not.