Month: May 2018

Originally published May 31, 2018

Michael Mills – the gigantic land owner of Ocean Beach – has just expanded his OB empire larger with the purchase of 16 units on the bluff at the end of Narragansett Avenue.

One of Mills’ trust has purchased 5101-5107 Narragansett Avenue, a 3-story apartment complex right on the coastal cliffs for $6.8 million – according to an industry source. The seller was William R. Mundt Trust.

The large structure, built in 1973, includes a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments which range between 484 and 1,527 square feet on the 12,141-square-foot chunk of prime real estate cliffs.

By Jeeni Criscenzo

According to the survey in the 2018 Point-in-Time Count (PITC) of homeless people in San Diego County, the four main reasons for becoming homeless are: Loss of Job; Money Issues; Cost of Housing, and Other. Abuse/Violence ranks lowest.

But this survey is missing input from thousands of families, as I explained in my prior column, so in reality, fleeing from domestic violence could be a major cause of homelessness. So too could deportation of the primary breadwinner be a factor, which is not even listed as an option, but is a contributing factor for some homeless families.

Underlying those four highest causes are specific failings in our current economic system, such as: jobs that don’t pay enough to cover the basics;

By Norma Damashek / Numbers Runner

Never before in human history have ordinary people – you and me – been able to peer into the quirky, submicroscopic genomic particles that direct traffic within our mortal bodies (hooray for our tenacious medical researchers) while simultaneously scanning the vast cosmos for the daunting mysteries of black holes (posthumous homage to Stephen Hawkings). ­­­­­­­­­­

By contrast, tackling the routine challenges of daily existence ­– love, work, family, politics – should be a piece of cake. Alas, not so. The scientific method, the intellect of experts… these tools are woefully inadequate in the realm of social and political affairs.

To illustrate, let’s look at our own city of San Diego.

Andrew Waltz was very gracious at the last OB Town Council meeting May 23 in giving his monthly report on the Ocean Beach Planning Board. Andrew, a member of both the Town Council and the planning board, is the liaison between the groups. And in his update on the planning board, he noted the May meeting of the Planning Board had been “dark”.

But actually, the Planning Board meeting was not dark, – it just failed to have a quorum. A quorum is 8 members if there’s a full 14-member board – there is not – or a majority of the remaining filled seats. And of course, without a quorum, the board cannot conduct its business.

Incumbent city councilwoman Lorie Zapf – running hard to keep her seat – joined Mayor Faulconer today, May 30, just 6 days before the June Primary, for a major photo op announcing a set of new bridges whose construction will begin later this summer.

The bridges will replace the existing West Mission Bay Drive bridge which stretches across San Diego River, and will help to improve traffic flow to SeaWorld and the beach communities.

By Susan Duerksen / Center on Policy Initiatives

San Diego’s Community Budget Alliance (CBA) has won approval of environmental, labor, police reform, and pedestrian safety projects this year, and will continue to push for more equitable spending throughout the final month of brewing the 2018-19 City budget.

The City Council has several chances in June to modify the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The CBA coalition, which advocates for budget equity to benefit low-wage working people and underserved communities, is asking the Council to fund these items:

By Ernie McCray

I just finished reading a collection of essays, “La Neighbor: A Settlement House in Logan Heights,” written by a longtime friend, Maria Garcia.

Maria and I go back a ways and we’re soulmates in so many ways. We’re writers, and activists, who’ve taken to the streets many a time in the pursuit of equality. We’re educators who modeled, in our schools, how to treat children with respect and

A mermaid has appeared on top of what some locals call “the Rock”, or “Bird-Shit Rock” or “Ross Rock”.

As the art installations that have appeared on the same rock over the years have been, this was done anonymously.

By Bob Dorn

I have a pair of tan pants, made by … Dickies, an intriguingly long lasting brand name, perhaps because on one level it is a tad juvenile, but on another it’s very manly.

I’m no philologist but I think that’s one of the great attraction of words, their instability and ambivalence. Think about it: manly dickies? But of course.

It’s true these pants from Dickies are manly. They even have a slit pocket at the right thigh where a guy could put his money bag so that he’d notice if someone groped for it. Another manly thing is that they’ve lasted a very long time; I purchased them more than five years ago and they look today like they did when I first bought them down in National City.

By Jim Miller

There’s been a lot of controversy lately about Lori Saldaña’s previously floundering County Board of Supervisors run getting a big money boost in the form of an independent expenditure campaign by the Lincoln Club, and while Doug Porter did a fine job of connecting the dots and explaining why both the Lincoln Club and the Working Families Council would be involved in a dark alliance to attack Nathan Fletcher and promote Saldaña, some folks wandering the barren landscape of social media still don’t seem to grok precisely how troubling these connections are for those inclined to support Saldaña, the self-proclaimed savior of the Democratic Party.

Thus, some history is in order.

Editor’s Note: Matt Valenti is a lawyer and candidate for San Diego City Council District 6 and has been endorsed by Save San Diego Neighborhoods.

By Matt Valenti

As a candidate for city council in District 6, my top priority is to expose the ways our leadership has failed our neighborhoods and communities. Perhaps no current leader has proven to be more incompetent and corrupt than my opponent Chris Cate, yet others downtown share the blame for bungling so many of the most important issues facing us as a city.

Too often their malfeasance is glossed over by a bipartisan cheering squad downtown