Month: June 2016

Carbon emissions and extreme weather events poised to push CO2 levels past symbolic threshold for good.

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (PPM) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures, and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide “will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes.”

Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Niño event.

By Frank Gormlie

The San Diego Union-Tribune had veteran reporter Lori Weisberg write an extended piece on short term vacation rentals in Sunday’s “SD In Depth” entitled “Opportunity or Nuisance” (June 12, 2016). Weisberg looked at the impact of short term rentals on San Diego’s housing market and wrote based on her research into who exactly was profiting “from the rise of the home sharing.”

Two of the immediate take-aways from her article are that more and more commercial rental agencies are dominating the short term market and that the available housing stock in San Diego is being affected.

Yet, she still has not focused on one of the key effects of the short term vacation rental industry: the loss of community.

Weisberg’s piece showcases Ryan Scott, who – as Weisberg explained – owns or sublets a dozen STVR dwellings and manages another 10 – many in the beach area and including Ocean Beach.

“The reality is,” he told Weisberg, “you’re leaving money on the table if you’re renting to a long-term tenant.”

By Raul Grijalva / Daily Kos

This week marks the 110^th anniversary of the Antiquities Act, a landmark law allowing presidents to designate national monuments on land owned by the federal government. Its signing by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 began the modern era of conservation, allowing Roosevelt to designate nearly twenty national monuments and protect natural and cultural resources that have come to define our country.

Many of the monuments he established, including the Grand Canyon in 1908, are now among our most popular national parks. The Antiquities Act, by any measure, has been a tremendous and popular success.

Despite that, the law is under constant attack by Congressional Republicans who mischaracterize the authority granted by the Act as a “land grab.”

A Quick and Icy Review

Hammonds Ice Cream
3740 Sports Arena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110
858-717-5063

Hitomi and I were out shopping and I asked her if she was hungry. When she said “yes” I decided we would go to Phil’s BBQ since she had never been there. It was 3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon.

Needless to say that the line was around the building and when I called them to see how long it would take for “take out” I was told 30-45 minutes. Too long for us on both accounts.

I remembered that Hammonds Ice Cream had opened up a few weeks ago and since it shares the parking lot with Phil’s decided to go there. And I realize that this review will not be popular with a lot of folks, but the scars have healed from the Liberty Public Market so am ready for the onslaught of comments about this one.

The offerings of ice cream were numerous, and on paper – or on the board – they looked delicious. It was difficult to make a decision.

Hitomi loves coconut so she decided to have the coconut/pineapple ice cream on a regular cone.

By Byron Wear

As a 52 year resident of Point Loma and OB and a lifeguard stationed in the old tower at the foot of Santa Monica, I can remember shopping on Newport Avenue to buy clothes and shoes, visiting the Coronet variety store, the OB hardware, SD Glass and Paint and the local drug store independently owned.

There were always a few favorite restaurants like Little Chef, Village Kitchen, Pomas, Natis and of course Hodads.

Beginning in the late 60’s we began to lose our local neighborhood shopping districts (Point Loma, Pacific Beach, North Park, etc) to big box retail. We all started driving to Midway/Sports Arena or Mission/Fashion Valley where we could catch a movie.

It was cheaper to buy our clothes at Mervyn’s or household stuff at Fed Mart (now Target) and fill our prescriptions at Savon. And we lost the Strand Theatre.

So Newport became a center of Antiques and great local restaurants and drinking establishments. There have always been a few unique places for ice cream, special health products, beads and of course The Black.

How did OB and the Peninsula vote in the Primary held last week? What was the breakdown in the mayoral race in Ocean Beach?

Check out these maps that show the winners in each precinct in OB and Point Loma for the various races.

Go to the original map site, and you can click on individual precincts to see the vote tallies and percentages for each candidates.

The City of San Diego has sent out notice that the construction of a three-story dwelling unit is being planned for 4768 Del Mar Avenue in Ocean Beach. A process 2 Coastal Development Permit has been applied for by Justin Salbato for the project.

The permit calls for the demolition of a “non-habitable accessory structure”. The site contains an existing single family residence at the front of the lot, which is 0.16 acres. The new dwelling unit design includes a garage, with the unit having 2,226 square feet.

Plus – following a new trend – the new building design incorporates a roof-mounted photovoltaic system with solar panels “sufficient to generate at least 50-percent of the project’s projected energy consumption”, in conforming to the City’s new, so-called Affordable / In-fill Housing and Sustainable Buildings Expedite Program.

There appears to be several trees on the property, including a large pine tree (possibly Torrey Pine) in the back portion of the lot. It’s assumed that if the project is given the go-ahead, this tree will also be demolished.

By Jim Miller

Among the stories that you may have missed during the stretch run of the primary season was some significantly bad news out of labor on the national front.

Several large unions in the building trades came out against a plan by some of the biggest public sector unions to join forces with environmentalist Tom Steyer in order to fund a major anti-Trump get out the vote operation in the fall. The New York Times noted that:

Two of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies, labor and environmentalists, are clashing over an effort to raise tens of millions of dollars for an ambitious voter turnout operation aimed at defeating Donald J. Trump in the November election.

A Tragedy Over the Weekend

A sad incident took place over the weekend in Ocean Beach. The information I have is second hand, but several people that I talked to gave me the same version of the incident.

Apparently a man was walking his dog and crossed the street at Newport and Sunset Cliffs. A man driving a jeep made an erratic left hand turn and almost hit the man.

The pedestrian, apparently scared and angry, yelled at the driver and kicked at the car. (One person told me he made contact with the car; another wasn’t sure.)

The driver swerved to the curb and pulled over and he jumped out of the car, screaming and threatening the pedestrian. The pedestrian dropped the leash of his dog and told him to run away.

The driver got back into his car, after yelling more threats. The dog was scared and as he was running away, got hit by a car.

Women Occupy San Diego address Citizens Review Board
on Policy Practices inadequacies (again);

Democratic Woman’s Club advocacy for City of San Diego
Department of Public Health and Social Welfare

By Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

Keep an eye on some of the new ballot proposals that have been filed recently with the San Diego City Clerk.

These proposals reflect focused citizen participation that offer correctives to the city’s Citizen Review Board on Police Practices (CRB) and the county’s meager health and human services. These small “d” democratic efforts also happen to be spearheaded by women.

* City Plants New Tree Where Old One Was Cut Down Mistakenly

* OB First Responders Appreciation BBQ – Sat., June 11th

* SeaWorld’s ‘Grand Dame,’ Bubbles the Pilot Whale, Dies

* Gunman Ransack OB Home
* Red Tuna Crabs Swamp Mission Beach
* Man Spots 7 Foot Snake at Sunset Cliffs
* Airplane Noise Results in Letter to FAA by Politicos
* Beach Pedalers Join Solstice Bike Ride on June 16
* Pt Loma High Girls Sand Volleyball Team at Championships
* Mission Bay Wetlands to Draw Community Input at Two Public Meetings

Originally posted on June 10, 2016

On Saturday, June 4th, 2016, activists from a renters’ advocate organization called San Diego Tenants United held a rally at the foot of Newport Avenue, where among other issues in the speeches and testimonials given by organizers, supporters and OB tenants, the name of a notorious OB slumlord was mentioned several times: Michael Mills.

Mills owns a lot of property in Ocean Beach – many rental units. And he has a long history buying up properties, raising rents, and maintaining sub-standard living conditions.

Rumors have swirled for years about how many rental units Mills actually owns, so we set out the other day to find just a few of his properties. And what we found initially were four sets of units that Mills either currently owns or has owned in the past – four properties that had a total of 51 units.