Month: June 2016

This is an update on what’s happening with the controversial Emerson project in the Point Loma neighborhood of Roseville. The 40 foot duplex has been under siege ever since neighbors and Peninsula activists took notice of its construction and of its clear violation of the 30 foot height limit.

The only real news is that on Wednesday, June 29th, Mayor Kevin Faulconer met with a few Peninsula Community Planning Board members and a local resident who organized a protest rally at the project, at 3144 Emerson Street, near Evergreen.

Afterwards, the mayor held a press conference to pledge that he would ensure that the city and developers follow the rules and that “we protect our coastal zone and height limit.”

The day before – on Tuesday – Faulconer had ordered a Stop Work Order on the project being built by Pacific Enterprise Builders.

By Mukul Khurana / San Diego Free Press

The 2016 San Diego International Fringe Festival arrived a month earlier than last year. There must be good reason, but it wasn’t announced.

Almost everything else remains the same.

Bi-national shows (San Diego and Tijuana being so close to one another) are now a fact since last year. The venues are pretty similar to last year too. However, this year, there are essentially two “centers.” Downtown has always been a base. Diversionary Theatre in University Heights got added to the mix.

UPDATE: Several past and current members of the OB Planning Board have confirmed that this project never went before the Board.

Here’s why: come inside …

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If you drive in and out of OB on Ebers Street, like many locals, you can’t but notice a large, wood-framed, 3 story building under construction at the corner with Greene Street.

It’s been going up for months now – and it was constructed from scratch – whatever used to be there was totally demolished and removed and the building began at grade level. The building looks like a single-family residence.

It does looks tall. Is it 30 feet or under? Hard to say, really. You just hope it is.

Didn’t the OB Planning Board approve this?

Hey, this is crazy! I – editordude of the OB Rag – am quoted in “Ballotpedia” – the “online encyclopedia of American politics and elections,” in their complete run-down and neutral analysis of California’s marijuana initiative.

Temporary Victory for Roseville – But Hurdles Remain

On Tuesday, June 28th, the City of San Diego issued a Stop Work Order on the controversial 40 foot structure at 3144 Emerson Street, near Evergreen.

Both Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Councilmember Lorie Zapf issued a joint statement that stated:

Further review of the Municipal Code has determined that this project does not conform to the City’s development regulations.

This is definitely a victory for Roseville, Point Loma and all the neighbors who rose up and demanded action from the City to deal with an obvious violation of the spirit of Proposition D, the 30-foot height limit that passed overwhelming in the 1970’s. Although, it is a temporary victory.

On July 5th activists and community leaders in Southeast San Diego will begin a hunger strike to protest the private prison Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)

By Mark Bartlett

Community Leaders and Local Activists will execute a hunger strike on July 5th at 6pm next to the Oceanview Facility located at 551 S. 35th St. San Diego, CA 92113. The hunger strike will continue until all action items requested by the protest organizers have been satisfied.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is the largest for­-profit prison industry in America and they currently operate three Correctional Facilities across San Diego County.

Two out of the three facilities are located in the heart of Southeast San Diego and Barrio Logan. Both centers are located in residential neighborhoods within close proximity of homes, churches, schools and businesses.

By South OB Girl

Without a doubt Culture Brewing Co. is wildly popular here in OB. Popular with OBceans and people from throughout the city. And many a tourist has stopped in at Culture on their travels to San Diego.

You may not know that the head brewer and the assistant brewer deliver their kegs themselves in Culture’s own, heavy duty pickup truck.

South OB Girl happened to run into head brewer Mitchell Wix delivering a truck load of kegs along with assistant brewer Perry Hague on Monday morning, June 27.

More often than not, Wix and Hague deliver the kegs themselves in this black pickup truck, which is owned by one of the owners of Culture. And occasionally Wix delivers in his own personal pickup truck.

Steve Yeng and his family, the owners of both the OB Noodle House on Cable and Bar 1502 over on Niagara, had moved into the old Gallagher’s on Newport Avenue. They held an opening night under the old name not too long ago – which a bunch of us attended.

And now there is a new handle on the place.

The new name: “The Holding Company” or “THC” and “1502” (the positions of the alphabet for “O” and “B”).

Some locals find the new name very edgy, even controversial due to the obvious double layer of meaning. But Yeng is not fazed. After all, this is the year that Californians will (probably) vote to legalize marijuana.

By Geoff Page

Last night there was a town hall meeting at the Portuguese Hall in Point Loma that was filled to capacity with a whole bunch of angry citizens.

The meeting was to discuss a project on Evergreen and Emerson in Roseville that is a 40-foot tall thumb in the eye of San Diegans.

But, the issue is much bigger than one project, it concerns all of the area affected by the 30-foot height limit.

Representatives from the mayor’s office, District 2, the City Attorney, and the Development Services Department (DSD) were supposed to be on hand. Not one single City official showed up. Let’s call that thumb in the eye number two.

The issue is the City’s new interpretation as to how the sacred 30-foot height limit is measured.

Have you ever wondered who’s piling the rocks up – making artistic piles – along the entryway into OB? Have you even noticed them?

There’s these two guys – Corey and Greg – both homeless – who are making Ocean Beach rock with their rock art.

You can see it along the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard entryway into and out of OB. And Corey and Greg have been doing this for the past eight months – they told me. They work everyday, they say, 7 days a week, on their art.

Greg – the self-admitted artist of the two – figures they have completed up to a quarter of a mile of their installations. Corey agreed that it takes a lot of time just to assemble one pile.

So, it’s constant.

A memorial has been set up for the victim of last week’s shooting near the site of the fatal encounter in the 4100 block of Voltaire Street. Flowers and personal messages were left for Jess Matthew Robles, in his mid-30’s and from Pacific Beach, on a painted utility box in front of a coffee shop.

Here are some random faces from the Ocean Beach Street Fair – taken by our good friend Byron Morton.

Here’s Mike Deadman of Kissed Alive Tribute Band.