Month: December 2016

By Martha Sullivan, of Women Occupy San Diego / San Diego Free Press

The afternoon before Thanksgiving, the San Diego Mayor’s Office released a long-awaited report on racial bias in traffic stops by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) prepared by San Diego State University (SDSU) under contract to the Mayor’s Office.

There has been much news about the delay by the Mayor’s Office in releasing this study, as well as that office’s use of the well-worn tactic to release bad news on the eve of a major holiday.

Every now and then, there seems to be a spurt of graffiti activity in Ocean Beach. And usually, locals respond and paint over the markings left on walls, fences, and OB cliffs. Many of those locals wish to remain anonymous – in the photos some of them have been pixelated.

Much of this graffiti and who deals with it is unknown by your usual villager here in Ocean Beach. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, here is a photo tribute to those who deal with it – the individuals and their work; some of the graffiti has been pixelated in order not to broadcast gang markings.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and abroad, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world. Here is our November 2016 issue:

Fukushima quake rock’s Japan’s and the globe’s psyche.

On Tuesday, November 22, at 5:39 a.m., a strong earthquake hit Japan’s southeast region, including the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing widespread panic and immediate tsunami warnings. The 11-23 Japan Times reported:

“Sirens rang continuously along the coast, and on TV screens a red banner read”Flee immediately!”

By Judi Curry

One of my least favorite places to go to at this time of the year is the United States Post Office. And, more specifically, the Ocean Beach Post Office. Those of you living in the area probably know what I mean without any explanation. Because I am getting orders for my cookbook for holiday gifts, I seem to be spending a great deal of time at the OB Post Office. And…I seem to be spending a great deal of time STANDING IN LINE at this same post office.

It doesn’t seem to matter what time of the day I go to mail my packages. On Monday I went at 4:00pm. I stood in line for 12 minutes waiting to see a postal employee. Why did I stand in line for so long? Because, dear reader, there were 16 people in line and only two windows open. And it seemed that everyone had a number of packages to be sent, or an extraordinary amount of money orders to be purchased.

By Don Sevrens

For many, it is more than just a store opening. Jensen’s Foods opened at 9 a.m. today – Friday, December 9th – at the year-long vacant grocery space at Catalina and Talbot. A brief ceremony and such was held around 8:45 a.m.

Recall that a year or so ago Fresh and Easy folded and a mega-pharmacy picked up the lease. The
plan was to put a mega-pharmacy exactly next door to an independent.

The community said no. Three thousand times no. The mega-pharmacy went away. Peninsula
residents started reaching out to grocery chains: ‘Please visit the empty store site. We need a grocery store within walking distance. Especially the students at Point Loma Nazarene University without cars.’

Adam Zack, co-owner of Jensen’s Foods, an eight outlet chain based in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, heard those pleas.

Claudia Peters Jack, the unofficial “Mayor of OB”, explained the bend in OB’s left-leaning Christmas Tree at the very foot of Newport Avenue as natural, and added:

“It was on Worden Street growing next to another tree through the same trunk. The tree [was] very healthy when it was cut.”

She was quoted from a facebook comment in a cute article by Ken Stone of Times of San Diego entitled, “Obecians Stick Up for Left-Leaning Yule Tree: ‘Let It Be, Let It Be’ “

By South OB Girl

Tuesday December 6, 2016 marked the official 75th anniversary of Pacific Shores on Newport Avenue.

Pacific Shores opened the day before Pearl Harbor, which makes December 6th both a joyful and sad day for the many generations that have been patrons at “Pac Shores” – as it’s more familiarly called.

Next Friday — December 16th – Jack Panighetti, the bar manager and Kariann Medina — the owner of Pac Shores – will be having a party to celebrate it’s 75th anniversary and all are invited.

They Just Increase Amount of Poison We’re Exposed To

By John Lawrence

The controversy over genetically modified crops has focused on whether or not they were safe to eat. We have to ask ourselves what was the purpose for genetically modifying them in the first place.

That was so they could be sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup and they wouldn’t die. Only the weeds would die. But this leaves the crops, mainly corn and soybeans, with a nice coating of poison. It won’t kill them, but it might kill you.

The next promise of the chemical corporations was that the use of GMO sprayed with weed killers would lead to a significant increase in crop yields, but that hasn’t happened either.

It’s been nearly two years since the disappearance of Elizabeth Sullivan, a young Navy wife from Point Loma. There was quite an extensive search for her by both authorities and family.

The search came to a final and tragic end on October 6th this year, when her body was found in Bay waters off the 2600 block of Farragut Road. Police announced today – Dec. 7th – that her identity has been confirmed. Police have re-opened their investigation of Sullivan.

Elizabeth Sullivan was a 31-year-old Navy wife and mother of two young girls – and much more.

Here’s our coverage from October21, 2014:

From San Diego Coastkeeper

The numbers are in. California is conserving less water than it needs to. San Diego is doing even worse.

• California conserved less water this year than last year. In October 2015, California conserved 22.5 percent more than 2013. This year, California only conserved 19.5 percent.

• In October 2016, San Diego County conserved 12 percent more water than in 2013 — is this good? Not really. In October 2015 we conserved 22 percent more water than 2013. We can — and need — to do better.

• All local water agencies in San Diego County used more water this October than they did last October.

There’s been more shenanigans of late, apparently, at the controversial construction project at Ebers and Greene Streets in northeast OB.

This time around, the shenanigans include the theft of $1000s worth of property, a change of locks and a threat of eviction against the man who has been living on the property site.

World War II Vets Would Not Have Stood for President-Elect

Remembering this December 7th – Pearl Harbor Day – has special significance for us today in this new Era of Trump. The 75th anniversary of the attack by Japanese forces on US air and naval power in Hawaii in late 1941 finds few surviving members still with us. And our collective memory of “the day of infamy” – as President Franklin Roosevelt declared it the next day before Congress – which pushed the country into World War II – has all but faded.

But yes, we need to remember this day – and all that it represents – all the contradictions of that historic moment and context. And all the parallels from that day to ours today.

Yet this day does have a special meaning for us now -…