July 2017

Opposition Grows to an Ocean Beach Target Express

July 10, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Since the OB Rag broke the story on July 5th about Target looking to move one of its Express stores in the current Newport Avenue Antique Center on Newport Avenue, some other local mainstream media have picked it up.

Both ABC 10 News and CBS 8 carried the story, and in doing so confirmed its validity, and both reported on the concerns of residents and other businesses about a Target Express moving onto OB’s main commercial street. Many of the comments to our original post echo the worries and feelings of dread of those quoted in the TV station accounts.

A poll on an OB facebook on the issue involving over 500 respondents resulted in 70% opposed to the store, checking the box for “Terrible. Keep OB Local.” There’s also a Keep Target Out of OB petition.

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Gentrification in Action in Ocean Beach – 3 Projects Tell the Story

July 10, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

If you look closely, you can actually see gentrification in action here in Ocean Beach.

There’s at least 3 projects right now in Ocean Beach that tell the story, where the potential opportunity to build gentrifying structures and future short-term vacation rentals is just too great to resist. Check these projects out.

4651 and 4653 Orchard

A lot is going on at 4651 and 4653 Orchard. The permit was pulled by Expedited Permits of San Diego, for the property owner, Farrow Trust 11-24-15. There’s been a scope change to this project. Now, it states that the project includes permits for remodel and additions to 2 existing single dwelling units on two different lots.

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Demolition Work Begins on ‘Ocean Beach Plaza’

July 10, 2017 by Frank Gormlie


For any casual passerby of the old medical and dental offices building at the corner of Cable Street and Santa Monica Avenue, it’s very obvious demolition work on the site at 1929 Cable Street has made significant progress.

It’s the one-and-only “Ocean Beach Plaza” – a coming commercial-only complex of nearly a dozen business spaces with a total of over 10,400 square feet. The owner of this near-half acre of prime OB property is John Small, a well-known and long-time Newport Avenue business and property owner. Small owns a couple of bars – Sunshine Company and Tony’s, plus other buildings on Newport Avenue.

Yet, this project is arguably one of the most important commercial developments to come to Ocean Beach in recent years.

The project was approved by the Ocean Beach Planning Board by a vote of 8 to 1 in early August 2015.

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Summer Chronicles #1: When Things Fall Apart

July 10, 2017 by Jim Miller

Summer is here and it’s time to take a break from my usual column and stretch the form a little with some chronicles. As I explained when I started this summer series a couple of years ago, the chronicle is a literary genre born in Brazil:

In the summer of 1967, the great Brazilian writer, Clarice Lispector, began a seven-year stint as a writer for Jornal de Brasil [The Brazilian News] not as a reporter but as a writer of “chronicles,” a genre peculiar to Brazil. As Giovanni Pontiero puts it in the preface to Selected Chrônicas, a chronicle, “allows poets and writers to address a wider readership on a vast range of topics and themes.

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News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma : Early July 2017

July 7, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

OB Entry Mural Vandalized Again
* Opinion Piece by Colleen O’Connor Takes on Faulconer Over Lack of Water for SD Trees
* McMansion in South OB for Sale for $2 Million Plus
* Tony Award-Winning Musical “Avenue Q” at the OB Playhouse
* Over-the-Line World Championship
* Mike Hess Brewery Expands to Imperial Beach
* City’s Pilot Project to Clean-Up Key Neighborhoods Includes OB and Point Loma
* Watch Your Step! – The Sidewalks of Ocean Beach & Point Loma – July 20th
* The Grunion Are Running
* Point Loma Pocket Park to Have First Workshop – July 26th
* Sliding at No-Surf Beach

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Friends of OB Library Summer Sale : Saturday July 8th

July 7, 2017 by Source

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Trump and His Baja Resort Fiasco – ‘Just a Giant Hole in the Ground’

July 6, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

By Frank Gormlie

Ever since Donald Trump announced he was running for president, reports began circulating in the press about all the various failures of his businesses, which included the bankruptcy of his Atlantic City, N.J., casinos, the defunct Trump University here in San Diego where students successfully sued him, and particularly the troubles of his Trump Towers.

For instance, in the saga of the Trump Tower in Tampa, Florida, Trump sold the use of his name to developers of the $300 million condo project for $2 million. The developers collected down payments from investors but after the project went south in 2008, the snookered buyers sued Trump for misleading them.

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Local Cannabis Advocates to Celebrate DA Bonnie Dumanis’ Departure from Office

July 6, 2017 by Staff

There’s a going-away party – of sorts – for San Diego’s District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis when she leaves office on Friday, July 7th. It’s called the “Bonnie Bash!”

In fact there will be a Jazz Funeral March to celebrate the event, organized by the San Diego Americans for Safe Access chapter – a group that over the last several years has been very visible challenging Dumanis in her personal war against cannabis.

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Sign the ‘Save Kelloggs Beach’ Petition

July 6, 2017 by Staff

This past July 4th, many families enjoyed themselves at Kelloggs Beach, on the Bay side of Point Loma.

But a developer wants to ruin the area and a petition drive has begun to save the beach. Organizers want to take the petition to the Peninsula Community Planning Board to have them understand that many people do not wish to see this type of development at Kelloggs.

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Volunteers Clean Up 800 Pounds of Trash Off 4 Worst County Beaches – Including Ocean Beach

July 6, 2017 by Source

Surfrider Volunteers Tackle the Morning After Mess

Nearly 500 volunteers gathered at four popular beaches the morning of July 5th to assist with the Surfrider Foundation annual post-Fourth of July Morning After Mess beach series. By midday, volunteers had recovered over 800 pounds of trash. Surfrider volunteers hosted four cleanups in collaboration with I Love a Clean San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper from 9 a.m. to noon at the following County beaches:

  • Ocean Beach Pier,
  • Belmont Park in Mission Beach,
  • Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach
  • and the Oceanside Pier.

These cleanup sites were chosen because of the high concentration of beachgoers and notorious reputations for post-Fourth of July trash.

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The Widder Curry Asks: ‘A Scam from Frys?’

July 6, 2017 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

GRRR! Last week my microwave oven broke. Since a neighbor had her house catch on fire due to a faulty microwave, I decided rather than limp along with a door that had to be banged shut rather than closed normally and risk the possibility of fire I would purchase a new one.

I did extensive research, and decided on a Panasonic 2.2 CuFt Inverter Countertop, and then did price checks on those places offering the oven.

Not surprisingly, I ended up making the purchase from Amazon, which seems to be where I am purchasing everything lately. The total cost was $187. It was to be delivered the next day – a Monday.

In the Sunday paper, I happened to notice the Frys’ ad – good only on Sunday– and they had the exact same oven listed for $99.99!

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What’s Love Got to Do With It?

July 6, 2017 by Ernie McCray

Sign: LOVE with a peace sign for the letter O

By Ernie McCray

Tina Turner once sang “What’s love got to do with it?” And, ordinarily, as one who is a “love my neighbor as thyself” kind of guy, I’d answer: “Everything.” Giving my love is pretty much how I’ve managed to survive in the Milky Way. I don’t know any other way. But how loving am I? Really? I had never asked that question before receiving an email recently from an old friend, a high school classmate — in response to something I had written about The Donald. She wrote:

Dear Ernie. I believe that Mr. Trump is a deeply disturbed man. The only way I know of to soften that pain in my heart and gut is to send him love.

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Someone placed a tiny border wall around Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star

July 5, 2017 by Source

Yup, someone did place a tiny border wall around Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, complete with barbed wire and warning signs.

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San Diego Sheriffs Stood By as Alt-Right ‘Proud Boys’ Disrupted Impeachment Rally

July 5, 2017 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / San Diego Free Press

There were rallies calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump in cities around the United States on Sunday. Supporters of the President turned out for counter protests in Austin, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York. Law enforcement officers in those cities worked to keep the groups separated, allowing each to express their First Amendment rights.

The situation in San Diego at the County Administration Building was different, as Sheriff’s Deputies initially stood by idly and watched as members of the ‘Proud Boys’ disrupted, threatened and harassed attendees and speakers.

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Are We Witnessing the End of Public Education as We Know It? — Part Two

July 5, 2017 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller / Kelly Mayhew

As I wrote last week, these are dire times for public education. With Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education leading the charge for big budget cuts, charter schools, and a radical privatization agenda, the possibility that free quality public education for all in America could soon be a thing of the past is real.

One would think that such clear and present danger to a cornerstone of our democracy coming from the right would unite Democrats behind the mantle of defending public education.

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‘Day After’ Clean-up Goes Smoothly – But Still About 10% of Celebrators Break the Marshmallow Ban

July 5, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

According to Claudia Jack of the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association, the “Day After” clean-up is going smoothly, although volunteers found plenty of marshmallows – a clean sign that some beachgoers celebrating July 4th in OB either did not get the message about the ban on throwing marshmallows following the fireworks or are trying to bring the old OB tradition back.

Claudia estimated only 10% of those on the beach were throwing marshmallows.

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Target Express to Move into Newport Ave Antique Center

July 5, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

The OB Rag has heard from numerous sources that Target Express intends to purchase the Newport Avenue Antique Center on the main commercial street in Ocean Beach. The “junior Target” will open, reportedly, at the end of summer.

The Antique Center, owned by Craig Gerwig, is arguably the largest building on Newport.

This has huge implications for Ocean Beach and the conditions on Newport.

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The Widder Curry Asks: ‘What’s a Service Dog?’

July 3, 2017 by Judi Curry

“I Love My Dog, but….”

Let’s get one thing straight. I LOVE MY DOG, SHADOW. And I love his playmate “Rolle”. I love Shadow’s cousin “Toby”. There have only been two dogs in my lifetime that I did not love – the German Shepard that bit me when I was 5 years old, and the Pit Bull that attacked Shadow two years ago causing me to break my leg in three places, as well as my ankle and the cheek bone.

Other than those two dogs, I cannot think of any dog I don’t go “gaga” over. So when I received a note from a neighbor – Barb – saying that there is a lot of discussion about “service dogs” and other animals being brought EVERYWHERE, I decided to do some investigation and see what I could find out.

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Remember Three Mile Island? Its Last Reactor to Shut Down

July 3, 2017 by Michael Steinberg

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain News

Remaining Three Mile Island Reactor to Shut Down

On May 30 Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, the largest US owner and operator of commercial nuclear power plants, announced that it would be shutting down its Unit 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in September 2019. Located 10 miles from Harrisburg, the state capitol, and 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the reactor started up over in 1974, over40 years ago.

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Looks like the U-lock worked …

July 3, 2017 by Source

Photo by Albert C Elliott

and thanks to Adam Ewing:

How To Lock Your Bike – Secure Your Bicycle From Thieves — COME INSIDE

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1500 San Diegans March for Impeachment

July 2, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Briefly …

An estimated 1500 San Diegans rallied and marched in downtown San Diego today to impeach the president of the United States. The first rally began around 11am in front of the County Admin building. About 45 minutes into the event, the crowd moved off the site onto the streets for a march around the western edge of downtown.

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