OB Town Council Provides Forum for Groups to Recruit

OBTC Jan. 2017

The Ocean Beach Town Council held their monthly public meeting Wednesday night, March 22nd, at the Masonic Center – and more than 60 people filled the large hall.

The high point of the evening was something called “Engage OB” where chair Gretchen Newsom allowed representatives from different groups to address the crowd, each asking attendees to join their group or project.  And 8 to 9 individuals made their pitches, including this reporter asking for people to be involved with the OB Rag.

The meeting began as per usual, with non-agenda public comment.

• One guy who called himself a “5th generation OBcean”, complained that there hasn’t been enough public input into the plans for Saratoga Park, and he thought, for instance, that it needed input from the PTAs. He was reminded that it’s a project of the OB Community Development Corp.
• Board member Keith Fink announced the upcoming 28th annual Earth Day in Balboa Park on April 23rd. It’s “the largest free event on the planet,” he said. For info, go to earthdayweb.org .
• Well-known San Diego activist, Bryan Pease, announced that heis running for the District 2 City Council seat, currently held of course by Lorie Zapf.
• Rick Callejon raised the issue of the police surveillance cameras being evaluated after one year of their installation. This was discussed at a meeting of the OBTC last year and was part of the motion passed in support of the cameras – that there would be an evaluation after that time period.  One of the police officers resent responded to say that they don’t keep statistics, as they don’t capture data from the cameras everytime they’re used. The are used for felony convictions.
• The OB Women’s Club is hosting a recycling event this Saturday, March 25th. 10 to 2.
• The Point Loma Garden Club is having a plant sale on April 22nd, and any monies raised will go to local charities, at the Westminister Presbyterian church.

Other news or reports of  note:

The Board has filled 2 vacancies recently, and Jon Carr has returned to the OBTC as recording secretary, and newbie Jill Kent has joined the busy board.

There’s $48,009 in the OBTC bank account; part of this will fund their future scholarships for local students.

The Mayor’s office rep, Anthony George, was not present – again, and Newsom told the crowd that the message has been conveyed to Faulconer’s office that the OBTC is not happy with the lack of attendance. George has responded by saying that he’s stretched thin.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts was one of the dissenting votes in a recent vote by the Supervisors on banning medical marijuana from unincorporated areas of the county. He has seen positive benefits first hand with friends who have used medical cannabis. There’s a second read on the bill in the near future.

Police News – OB is losing the acting police lieutenant, Wathers, who is moving back to the proactive team.  The police reps reported on a recent homeless outreach effort; they had 20 empty beds to fill and after their team contacted 129 homeless people, they filled 10 of those beds. Local officers are also getting complaints of people setting up tents in Robb Field and Dusty Rhodes park; they go and and politely inform people of the rules and laws.

Lifeguard News – In February, Sgt Lonnie Stephenson reported that there were:

• 45,000 visitors to OB’s beaches;
• Lifeguards performed 500 preventative acts;
• 11 water rescues;
• 7 medical assists;
• 6 calls for service; and
• 2 cliff rescues.

Lifeguard staffing will increase for Spring Break.

OB Elementary News – No teachers were laid off, said Principal Drapeau. The budget deficit for the school district is $124 million. The school received a grant to provide free breakfasts for needy kids. And during their first ever Spring Carnival, the school raised $6,000, which will be used for their arts program.

OB Library – The OB and Point Loma branches will both be closed for 2 weeks, beginning Monday, March 27th and till April 8th.

Gio Ignolia, a board member and also a member of the Mission Bay Park Committee, discussed the possibility of OB’s small entryway parklet with a missing section of trail, could have the trail extended into Robb Field if the piece of land is made part of Mission Bay Park. The advisory panel will give its recommendation to the City Council and Gio is looking for support on this idea.

The OBTC is also about to take on its 5-year review of its bylaws.

Here are most of the groups who gave brief presentations during OB Engage:

• The OB Green Center
• Friends of Peninsula Trees  – having a class on tree advocacy on Sat. March 25th at the OB Rec Center.
• The OB Rag
• The Science March on April 22.
• Indivisible OB/ Point Loma
• “People Power”
• SanDiego350 – helping to sponsor a People’s Climate March on April 29th.
• Bermuda Street folks forming a Indivisible-type group; they have progressive values and just in their initial stages of getting together.
• Friends of the OB Library.