News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Early April 2017

Big Community Clean-up – Sat. April 1

From 10am to 2pm, OBceans will join up and clean up the streets close to the beach and do a clean sweep of the beach. Everyone is to meet up at Mother’s Saloon, 2228 Bacon Street. There are limited supplies, so volunteers are asked to bring a bucket and gloves.

Hugo’s Cochina Ends Up on Hot Plate

In its column, “10 Hot Plates” – a listing of “San Diego restaurant rumors, openings, and coming-soons in April”, Hugo’s Cochina was listed as No. 9 .  San Diego Magazine

Ocean Beach Networking Group

The OB Networking Group will meet Tuesday, April 4 at 12 PM – Te Mana Cafe on Voltaire in OB – facebook Networking Event 

Average San Diego Rents Up Slightly

This certainly affects many OBceans, 6 out of every 7 are renters. “The San Diego average rent went up slightly to $1,748 a month – bad news for renters is rent keeps going up. The good news is the increases have slowed considerably. Average rent reached $1,748 a month in San Diego County at the start of March, increasing 8 percent in a year, said MarketPointe Realty Advisors in a report released Monday. Despite the big yearly jump, the average rent rose just $5 a month in the last six months, or 0.29 percent.” SD U-T

Does the Threat of Plane Crashes from Lindbergh Field Affect Your Rent?

Rent increases are continuing to hammer San Diegans,  and an obscure law may be pushing them even higher. … One key reason — there aren’t enough apartments to meet the high demand. Additionally, one law could be keeping developers from building some of that much-needed housing. Lori Fritzer said she’d like to see more of those units. Her rent just rose $100 a month. …Enter local developer Bob Burkett. He’d like to build eight more apartments in the heart of Fritzer’s Point Loma neighborhood. City zoning code says he should be able to build that many more on his land, but he’s only allowed to add six because of the planes flying over.

“They usually start at about 6:30 in the morning and you just get used to it,” Fritzer said. “It’s called the Point Loma Pause.” But noise has nothing to do with limiting Burkett’s project to six apartments instead of eight. It’s all about the unthinkable — minimizing casualties in the event of a plane crash.  10News

Counterfeit $100 Bills Show Up at OB and Point Loma Businesses

There’s been two incidents recently over a weeks time, where someone used a counterfeit $100 bill at an OB Business and at a Point Loma business. 10News reported:

A woman used a fake $100 bill to pay markers at Paper Tales in Point Loma last Wednesday. [March 22]  An employee discovered the money was fake when she went to the bank.

Then Friday, David Draize – owner of the Galactic Comics on Newport Avenue – reportedly spotted a fake bill  when a customer tried to use it to buy a Batman figurine. 10News:

Draize said the agent told him it was a higher quality bill. “It was made on an ink jet printer, with a magnifying glass you can actually see tiny little dots which would be indicative that it was actually made on a high resolution at home printer,” said Draize.

Draize said the agent also told him he was surprised the crook would try to scam a comic book store because it’s not as busy and there’s more time to inspect bills. “He said the most common place he would probably want to go to would be a mom and pop liquor store,”

The Secret Service confiscated several matchbox cars, surveillance footage and the counterfeit bill. And they are not commenting on the incidents. Nor will they say whether there’s an ongoing investigation. A spokespeople did state that getting counterfeit cash is rare. 10News

Airbnb Van Found in Ocean Beach

A sharp-eyed OB Rag reader found the van advertised in Airbnb for $25 a night. The reader sent us these photos and wrote: “Just pulled up at around 6pm on Saratoga ave, between bacon and cable.”

Point Loma Homes Broken Into Via Garage Door Openers

Some Point Loma residents are warning others about thieves breaking into their cars in search of one specific thing. At least five families woke up Wednesday morning to find someone had broken into and raided their cars. Jen told 10News, “They broke into the back and it’s locked now; I wish it would have been locked last night.” Jen said having thieves rifle through her husband’s car is bad enough, but it’s what the thieves did next that scared her. “They took his garage door opener and opened our garage,” according to Jen. Jen said the thieves stole thousands of dollars’ worth of items such as bikes and tools, but what concerned her most is how the thieves tried to get into their house.

Court Gives Controversial South Mission Lifeguard Tower Thumps-Up

Former lifeguard station in South Mission

A ruling Tuesday March 27th clears the way for construction of the long-planned South Mission Beach lifeguard station to continue. The Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that Superior Court Judge Katherine A. Bacal was wrong to block construction of a new lifeguard tower for South Mission Beach in 2015, according to San Diego City Attorney’s spokesman …. The court ruled the site development permit was valid and had not expired, as argued by the opponents of the project.

[Ed. See here for some background.]

Construction of the three-story tower had begun in 2015, but was halted after project opponents complained that the new tower would block the ocean view for residences and people who bought homes in the area since the approval of the permits were not notified of the project. The opponents proposed moving the tower further south. Fox5

Suspect in Homeless Serial Killings Deemed Mentally Competent to Stand Trial

A judge has determined Jon David Guerrero is mentally competent to stand trial for three bizarre murders of homeless men in Ocean Beach, Mission Bay and downtown. San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen confirmed a psychiatric hospital’s finding that Guerrero is competent and criminal proceedings resumed in his March 20 ruling. Guerrero, 40, was returned from Patton State Hospital on Jan. 19 and he remains in the central jail without bail. Danielsen set the next hearing for April 4 and Guerrero is expected to enter a not guilty plea.

Shawn Longley, 41, was found dead in Ocean Beach on July 4, 2016. He was the second vicim. The first victim was Angelo DeNardo, 53, who was attacked where he was sleeping under the Interstate 5 Bridge near Mission Bay on July 3, 2016. An autopsy determined he died before his body was set on fire. … Dionicio Vahidy, 23, died July 10, four days after he was mortally wounded downtown. LGBT Weekly

Peninsula Community Planing Board Election Results

Here are the published results of the recent election to the Peninsula Community Planning Board:

A slate of candidates, headed up by Board Chair Jon Linney, won 4 of their 5 contested seats. Unlike the OB Planning Board, there are no separate districts in the Peninsula planning area, and candidates are selected on at-large basis. And unlike OB, hundreds of residents participate in the annual election. Voters were able to choose a number of candidates. Of note, Geoff Page, a common name on OB Rag pages, ran as a write-in and garnered 56 votes – the most of any write-in.

Traffic Synchronization System Along Rosecrans Installed

A new automated traffic-signal optimization system on Point Loma’s Rosecrans Street was officially dedicated March 24 by Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Peninsula leaders. …The mayor noted the new signals “communicate with each other, memorize traffic patterns and make timing adjustments so cars keep moving along rather than sitting at a red light for minutes on end.”  … “Since the new signals were installed, we’ve seen travel times reduced by as much as 25 percent during rush hour,” the mayor added. “We’ve also seen the number of stops at these traffic signals decrease by as much as 53 percent, depending on the signal. We have residents and commuters who travel this corridor every day — and they’ve definitely noticed an improvement.” Councilwoman Zapf said: “This is the largest traffic signalization project in the city ….” San Diego Community News Group

Point Loma – OB Democrats Elect New Officers

New officers for the Point Loma-OB Democratic Club were elected at their February 2017 meeting.

New officers: from L to R: Deborah Currier, Secretary, Merrin Muxlow, VP, Jonathan Wubbolding, President  and Thena Taylor, Treasurer

Point Loma Waters Can Be Deceptive

From Pt Loma Nazarene’s Loma Beat.com – Sunset Cliffs might seem like a safe place to surf and swim after a rainstorm, because of the lack of concentrated buildings and nature around our school, but the high open bluffs are a deceiving visual pleasure that come along with a hidden set of perils looming just over the rise. San Diego is known for being a port city with heavy industry, large-scale military presence, and toxic shipyards.

Point Loma treats 175 million gallons of sewage each day and uses a 50-year old pipe to dump the remaining run-off four and a half miles offshore. The discharge receives a primary treating, which is the removal of solids and some chlorine to treat the sewage that is regurgitated in front of our school.

Props to Three Little Lions in Gushing Reader Article

The Little Lion Café inhabits a tiny building at the edge of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, right at the point where the long straight street becomes a winding road that hugs the coastline. The Little Lion Café is owned and operated by three granddaughters of Don and Arlene Coulon, former owners of the Belgian Lion in Ocean Beach. Anne-Marie is chef; Jacqueline, beverage director and front of the house; and Dominique (marketing and branding). Their motto: Food is love, love is family. San Diego Reader

Zombies’ Smoke Shop Promised

Dwayne Costea opened the Bountiful Herb store at 4958 Newport Avenue about seven years ago. … Rumors of a brewery moving in are false. “It’s going to be a Zombies Smoke Shop,” said Costea. “We have two in Arizona that do really well,” he said. “We’ll have O.B.-themed merchandise as well as the usual smoke-shop goods, plus T-shirts and trinkets and a very friendly staff…. We should be open in about two weeks.” Costea has plans to combat the influx of “travelers” who have taken up camping in the doorway: “We are also putting a gate in front. San Diego Reader