Month: August 2017

A large crowd gathered at the foot of Newport Avenue and rallied against Target coming into Ocean Beach.

Many signs, a large banner and chants of “No Target in OB!” met the strollers, the visitors, people driving by and the handful of TV trucks and cameras.

It was Wednesday August 30th, late in the afternoon, and it was Farmers Market day on Newport Ave.

After about a half hour of speeches, more chants and people signing petitions, the protest marched into the street and down the middle of OB’s main business street.
COME INSIDE FOR MORE PHOTOS

By Lauren Horne / San Diego Entertainer Magazine / August 29, 2017

Every San Diego beach community has its own unique vibe. If you’ve lived here long enough, you know which beaches are for tourists, which ones are good for parties and pub crawls, and which beaches to visit for a quiet, relaxing day.

Perhaps of all the small beach neighborhoods in San Diego, Ocean Beach is the most eclectic. OB is known for its crowds of free-spirited hippies, starving artists, and a “locals only” attitude. Residents even have a saying that OB is “seven square miles surrounded by reality”.

By Kathy Blavatt

Sometimes timing in life can be ironic. Like on August 29, 2017 after doing an all-nighter to submit my complete book materials on deadline. I had been working this book called Ocean Beach Where Water and Land Meet, a historical photo book for Arcadia Publishing since January. It is a follow-up book from Ocean Beach, which I co-authored 2014.

By Dave Patterson, San Diego Veterans for Peace

The San Diego Veterans For Peace is now in its second year of working to influence the public away from attending the MCAS Miramar Air Show. We view American militarism as a clear and present danger to our society and the world, and the most visible symbol of militarism in San Diego is the annual Miramar Air Show.

By Bob Dorn / San Diego Free Press

Heading west in my car on University Ave.
tuned in to 88.3
in the heart of North Park, just past the emptied dollar Arab store
(a “for lease” sign posted, probably another craft brewery in the making)
and approaching that no-name street,
I see an average American four-door has its wheel aggressively cranked
to enter my lane.

Driven by a greybeard waving two American Flags

Editor: During this summer, we’ve been collecting and publishing accounts and memories of the 1967 “Summer of Love” here in OB and elsewhere. Here’s our latest by Seal:

By Seal in the Selkirks

Born at 5142 Cape May in 1954, my parents divorced in 1959 and I was living in Mission Beach with my dad and step-mom by 1961.

Summer of 1967: I had just graduated from 6th grade at Mission Beach School and was heading to Pacific Beach Jr. High in the Fall. I turned 13 years old after summer in 1967.

My Granny K was managing an apartment building at the end of Del Monte St. that had this huge rickety wooden stairway set in the concrete facing on the cliff that led down to the rocks. It was the shortcut to the Pier and beach.

By Stan Levin

Among the myriad of political systems societies flirt with, the most fragile revolutionary experiment — and possibly least likely to endure — might be democracy.

An ideal that people of different persuasions would willfully and collectively empower one another for the well-being of all defies odds. Democracy requires adherents to accept that all people have value, and are entitled to safe and satisfying lives, eschewing exploitation of any kind.

Dictatorship — the antithesis of democracy — once entrenched, may endure for generations

By Shona Neufeld / HuffPost / August 24, 2017

“…this really funky corner of a city that would grab us and hold us and speak to us as no other place…” – Zip Code 92107 by Franklin Straus, hanging in the OB post office

It was a Friday evening, like any other, unusual only in that I could not find a companion to accompany me to my favorite fish taco joint. The sun was about to set and I wanted nothing more than to chow down whilst watching the sun melt into the ocean behind the pier and palms. South Beach has the perfect outside patio for just the occasion.

The notion that rent is skyrocketing and my time here could potentially be limited is, unfortunately, always on the back-burner of my consciousness. The changing atmosphere, vacation rentals, and condos replacing my previous apartments, the breweries, and now swanky wineries…suffice to say it’s not looking good for regular folk like myself.

As I sat there drinking my beer,

* Homeless Man Injured by City Truck
*OB Hardware Is NOT Closing
* Is the City Installing Round-abouts on Rosecrans?
* Councilwoman Zapf Dodges Financial Hardship as Hubby Discharged from Chapter 7
* Airport Noise Committee Demands Details From Noise Monitoring Study
* Point Loma High Switches on the Lights Amid Continued Controversy
* Different Vibe With Girl Surfers
* Man Rescued From Fishing Vessel Miles Off Point Loma
* Undocumented Migrants Arrested at Sunset Cliffs and Mission Beach
* Point Loma Plumbing Co. Wins Gold Medal Plumber Fourth Year in a Row
* Co-Author of “Afoot and Afield in San Diego County” to Speak at OB Library, Sept. 16th
* Raised in Point Loma, Artist Shares His Struggles in Exhibit at Liberty Station
* Plant Power Seeds in Leucadia* OB Surf Lodge Part of Syndicate
* Surfrider Foundation and Volunteering – Int’l Coastal Cleanup Day – Sept. 16

COME INSIDE FOR DETAILS

Editor: The following is a letter to the governor of Texas, the mayor of Houston and the citizens of that city in crisis from Ed Harris, a San Diego lifeguard sergeant. Harris is part of a nationally-recognized River Rescue Team that went to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. They packed this time in preparation to go to Houston – but were blocked from going. Read this disturbing letter.

Dear Governor Abbott, Mayor Turner and citizens of Houston:

I am sorry to tell you that we are not coming.

I am a San Diego Lifeguard Sergeant. We have a River Rescue Team that is nationally recognized. Our guards spent weeks rescuing people during hurricane Katrina.

We saw this storm approaching Thursday and packed our bags. The team hooked up the taxpayer funded CAL-OES trailer and boats that have sat in storage for this type of event.

They waited for the call to go that would surely come quickly.

It did not.

Target Signed Lease Memo for Antique Center on August 1st – Despite Denials to the Contrary at Two Public Meetings
By Chuck Thassing

On Tuesday, August 1st of 2017, the Target Corporation quietly signed on the bottom line, to lease the Antique Center location on Newport Avenue of our beloved Ocean Beach. Target’s lease extends through 2027, with the option to extend in increments until the year 2051. The document further states the “Tenant may use the Premises for any lawful Retail Use.” Our source obtained this information from a lease agreement filed with the county.

This signing occurred a day before members of our Ocean Beach Planning Board hosted the 1st community meeting to discuss the prospect of Target Express.

It’s been two years now the City Council of San Diego has been debating what to do about short term vacation rentals. They’ll continue this debate at another hearing on the matter, October 23rd, the 6th hearing in those two years.

At that hearing, the city planning department will probably present draft alternative measures based on three options it released in March of this year, plus it will hopefully address new draft ordinances – one by Councilwoman Barbara Bry and one by Councilman Chris Cate.

Bry’s proposal – the most promising – was released last week