Month: June 2017

By Laura Dennison

The June 17 Friends meeting was devoted primarily to our annual budget. Our treasurer, Mary Cairns, detailed our current income based on membership dues and estimated book sale proceeds. Due to a variety of reasons, e.g., fewer membership renewals, smaller member donations, and city-wide cutbacks, we are facing a shortfall if we want to fund all the library programs we currently have.

From the OBTC

Calling all who want to do some good in the neighborhood…

The Ocean Beach Town Council is now accepting applications for community grants that the Council will fund for the year 2017.

The OBTC seeks to award grants to local organizations, groups, and persons that will promote the general betterment and beautification of Ocean Beach and the welfare of its residents.

The OBTC will award a total of $12,000 in community grants in 2017. Grant amounts range from $200 to $1,500.

By Jeeni Criscenzo / San Diego Free Press

Is the Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) really expecting people in desperate situations to patiently wait another year while we work on yet another plan?

Do we have so little confidence in our own ability to assess a situation that we need to bring in an expert from Sacramento to tell us what to do? Or are we so hamstrung by the same old vested interests that we can’t accommodate new ideas unless they come from outside and we pay lots of money for them?

I really want to believe that we are getting closer to a coordinated plan for housing people who’re experiencing homelessness. But I’ve sat through enough of these meetings over the last decade to justify my skepticism.

Tragically, a man was stabbed last night on the streets of Ocean Beach who has since died of his wounds. Police are calling the fatal assault an “unprovoked attack” and are searching for the assailant.

Around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, June 22, police were called and told that one man was attacking another in the 1900 block of Bacon Street – near Newport Avenue. When they arrived on the scene, police found a man on the sidewalk with multiple stab wounds to his upper body. They performed life-saving measures, got him into an ambulance and off to UC San Diego Medical Center – but he later died.

The victim was reportedly in his sixties, but has not been identified as of yet.

The assailant was wearing a white or gray hooded sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans, police said.

In our continuing irregular series on Mission Bay and its condition and future, the following development of a project heading for the old Visitors Center in East Mission Bay is a must-read, especially for those so-inclined to keep up with this largest of aquatic parks on our doorstep in OB and Point Loma.

What’s being called “a waterfront restaurant/event center” will open in the former tourist info center later this year. A $3 million project headed by a San Diego hospitality company, Playground Concepts, is developing the site as “Shoreline Mission Bay”.

And recently, the San Diego City Council approved a 25-year lease with Playground to move forward on their project. The building is 4,600-square-feet and the entire site is 2.6-acres.

Trump’s Version of Ocean Month

By David Helvarg / Blue Notes /June 20, 2017

On May 31 the White House released a statement from the President declaring June National Ocean Month. It read in part,

“Today, our offshore areas remain underutilized … In the field of energy, we have just begun to tap the potential of our oceans’ oil and gas, wind, wave, and tidal resources to power the Nation. The fisheries resources of the United States are among the most valuable in the world. Growing global demand for seafood presents tremendous opportunities for expansion of our seafood exports.”

The depths of the ocean are nothing compared to the depths of ignorance in that statement. To reiterate: Good science tells us that we need to leave most of the known oil reserves in the ground and under the seabed, not expand offshore drilling if we’re to survive the climate crisis.

The Ocean Beach Green Center is hosting a film and discussion about single-payer health care for California. This will be Thursday, June 22nd at 7pm.

The presentation and film will be led by a representative of Health Care For All San Diego. The film “Now Is The Time”and the discussion will be on single-payer health care and how we can move forward with SB 562 “Healthy California” legislation.

By Judi Curry

An embarrassing thing happened to me the other day while shopping at Ralphs. Something that had me puzzled, and later pissed off.

Several months ago I purchased an item from an on-line seller. I returned it, but didn’t notice that it took almost 8 weeks to issue me a credit. In the meantime, Mission Federal Credit Union – the institution I have banked at since 1966! charged me interest on the remaining balance.

I protested the charge, and, in the end, I thought it was all taken care of. A credit appeared for the merchandise. BUT I did not check the amount of the credit carefully – my error.

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board held its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, June 15 at the Pt. Loma Hervey Library. The two items that generated the most interest had to do with the 30-foot height limit and the proposed soccer stadium development, or Soccer City, where the Qualcomm stadium now sits.

Missed Coastal Commission Deadline Could Allow for Roseville Projects Over 30 Foot Height Limit

Last year, the city council passed an ordinance to place a footnote in the Municipal Code supposedly “fixing” a loophole in the RM-3-7 zone, specifically in the Roseville area.

Update and Time Line of Scandal

By Sara Kent / San Diego Free Press

Six months ago news broke about Sandy Naranjo, a young mother, progressive activist, and passionate labor advocate filing a lawsuit against one of the most powerful men in San Diego.

Mickey Kasparian, President of United Foodservice and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135 was named in the complaint, which included claims of gender discrimination and retaliation she experienced while working at the Union. Kasparian was then also President of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

That litigation is ongoing.

Were you in or near OB during the “Summer of Love” in 1967?

If so, we’re looking for you and we’d like to hear your stories of those days. The OB Rag is looking for folks who were in OB – or San Diego – during the famous summer 50 years ago and can share what they experienced during that fabled summer.

The summer of 1967 certainly changed OB. Music, clothing, fads, drugs and a new rebelliousness among the young were the hallmarks of the emerging counter-culture which burst upon the national – and international – scene when the fabled Summer hit. And OB was right there – it became the hippie capital of San Diego, while San Francisco became the hippie capital of the nation.