Assemblyman Todd Gloria Declares He Is ‘the Worse Gay Ever!’ at Ocean Beach Town Council

Assemblyman Todd Gloria. Sitting L to R: Nicole Ueno, Trudy Levenson and Gio Ingolia.

Assemblyman Todd Gloria graced the Ocean Beach Town Council meeting last Wednesday, March 28th, and during his spiel before the crowd, declared he was the worse gay ever.

In front of the board, Gloria –  in a humorous moment – had forgotten the title to the film, “The Wizard of Oz” – and when someone reminded him – he exclaimed : “I’m the worse gay ever!” – to a burst of laughter from the room. He had been in the midst of citing the famous line by Dorothy from the movie, “… we’re not in Kansas any more,” and momentarily the title had slipped his mind. This self-deprecating humor by the former San Diego Councilman has endeared him to many.

Gloria had come to the Town Council meeting to speak of his latest goals. Now that the Hep A epidemic had passed, he said, “What did we learn about the state and county responses to the crisis – was it good or bad.” He’s asking for an audit of the state and county expenditures and operations for the crisis.  “This is a big issue,” he said.

Much of his talk was about the state responding to the homelessness issue. “There’s a significant budget surplus this year,” he said, and he and the City of San Diego are asking for $1.5 Billion for homeless folks across the state. This reporter asked the Assemblyman for a comment about a recent LA Times article about several billions earmarked for homelessness but going unspent. It’s all tied up in litigation, he replied, obviously somewhat maddened by the issue.

Gloria also explained that the state is on record opposed to any Trump administration plan for oil drilling off the California coast. Gloria received a hearty round of applause when he thanked the audience and OBTC.

The OB Town Council, March 28, 2018. From L to R: Grace Quigley, Cameron Reid, Corey Bruins, Jill Kent, Marcus Turner, Mark Winkie, Jon Carr, Stephanie Ritter, Priscilla Turner, Marin Green, Melinda Therlalsen; not pictured: Trudy Levenson, Nicole Ueno, Gio Ingolia, and Andrew Waltz. Photo by Frank Gormlie

The monthly public meeting of the OB Town Council at the Masonic Center had a full board of directors present – 4 newbies and new officers and responsibilities – although the crowd was somewhat thin, perhaps due to Spring Break. Newly elected board members included Cameron Reid, Grace Quigley, Stephanie Ritter and Melinda Therkalsen, plus incumbent Jon Carr was re-seated.

There were 2 TV crews present, on hand for the big topic of the night – a forum on dockless bikes (see separate post) – which newly-sworn-in Chair Marcus Turner handled easily.

Other News

News From Zapf’s Office

Councilwoman Lorie Zapf’s rep, Conrad Wear, gave an update from City Hall:

• The Mayor’s budget is about to be released (or already has) and Wear assured the crowd that funding for OB’s future lifeguard station is his boss’ top priority.
• Zapf will be involved in a community, beach and water clean-up, along with I Love a Clean San Diego and other groups on April 28th;
• The city council approved a storage facility for 500 homeless people to store their belongings; he didn’t get into the controversy about the location;
• The city had 1,000 bicycle thefts last year, Wear said, and stealing expensive bikes is a felony; so this is becoming an issue and police and prosecutors are going after big bike thieves.
• Also, the OB Library expansion feasibility study should be done in June, Wear added.

Short Term Rentals Before City Council in April

Wear warned everyone to be on the alert for the issue of short term vacation rentals coming back to the city council during April. Mayor Faulconer has a compromise plan – which could be interesting.

Police Urge Citizens to Use “Get It Done” App

Sgt. Ricardo Peno and Officer David Surwilo urged the audience to download the city’s official “Get it done!” App and use it for non-emergency problems and issues. Such as, they said, potholes, graffiti, street lights out, curbs needing paint, signs down. The calls go directly to the Corrective Department. People are asked to take a photo of the problem, unload it from home or some nearby place. Get IT Done will automatically, they said, update the problem report with info about where the photo was taken. The app: https://www.sandiego.gov/get-it-done  .

Lifeguards: Sarah stated lifeguards have been busy due to the Spring Break. She also added, importantly, that lifeguards have asked for a geology report about the Ladera Street stairs – which have been closed for weeks due to threats of cracks in the cliffs; but they are still waiting for the response. (We suggest the monthly Lifeguard reports followed the format of Sarah’s predecessor – very detailed.)

No Firefighters present: (This reporter wanted to ask about a new firefighter chief, as the former one, who was controversial, has transferred to another city.)

Executive Committee and Other News

OBTC Candidates Forum – April 25th – the OBTC has confirmed 4 District 2 candidates for their forum at the next month’s meeting.

North OB Committee – is still meeting as a group of north OB merchants trying to improve that area; they are not tied to the Newport-area maintenance district.

Clean-ups in April – there are 4 clean-ups planned for April by different groups; the traditional monthly Dog Beach Dog Wash one; the one by the artist who pledges to turn beach trash into art; the one with Lorie Zapf – and a fourth.

14 Street Lights Out – a board member took a walk to find burnt out street lamps – and found 14.

Pt Loma Association – PLA is having a large community event April 17th with leaders from all over the Peninsula.

Women’s Self-Defense Class – April 10th at the OB Woman’s Club. And free.

Dusty Rhoades Dog Park – Has lost another tree. Also, Dog Beach Dog Wash received mucho props for donating the dog bags for years, estimated to be $20,000 worth, and ( they have received pulled back from doing it)they received a round of applause from the audience in appreciation.

After the meeting – at Kilowatt Brew Pub. Jon Carr, Marcus Turner, Priscilla Turner.