Month: May 2018

Last week, after I wrote about the billionaire boys club behind the California Charter Schools Association pouring millions of dollars into Antonio Villaraigosa’s bid for governor, even more cash flowed into their campaign war chest the very next day.

As the New York Post reported:

Mike Bloomberg has plopped down $1.5 million to help elect former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as California’s next governor.

This first appeared at San Diego Free Press

By Peter Zschiesche

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the “Janus Case” and determine the legality of state laws that allow public employee union contracts to require all covered employees to pay at least a “fair share” fee to cover the union’s cost of negotiating and enforcing their agreement. There are 23 states that have such laws and California is one of them.

In 1977 the Supreme Court decided unanimously that yes, states could do that. But just a few years ago several of the current conservative Supreme Court Justices let it be known that they would be willing to revisit that 1977 decision.

Recently – within the context of discussions over the City of San Diego’s plans to bring massive redevelopment to the Midway District on this site – there has been some serious disparagement of the 30 foot height limit, and it’s being blamed for everything from the housing crisis to the lack of affordability at the coast.

So, apparently it’s time, once again, to present some local history – the origins of the 30 foot height limit – and some of the good folks who made it happen. It all began back in the late Sixties when beach residents began to rebel against a wave of unbridled development occurring at the coast.

By Tyson Siegele / SanDiego350

California will soon decide whether to combine its electric grid management with western states dependent on coal mining and coal-based electricity. This massive change has been proposed in the form of Assembly Bill 813 and before that in Assembly Bill 726. If passed, either of those bills would provide an avenue for coal-fired electricity to gain access to the California market. This would make the transition to renewable energy even harder.

Unifying California’s grid operations with other western states would be a huge risk. Thankfully better options are available.

* Book on History of San Diego Lifeguards to Be Released in Ocean Beach
* Stolen Pink Trike Taken During Falling Sky Pottery Class – Reward Offered
* SeaWorld San Diego Attendance Continues to Slide
* Bicycle Injuries Up –
* Point Loma Native Builds Skateboard Parks for Kids
* Benefit for Young Girl Who Needs Surgery – OB Brewery May 21
* OB Hit and Run Suspect Pleads Not Guilty at First Court Appearance
* Slightly Stoopid to Release New Studio Album
* High School Students Can Sleep Longer
* Big Sam’s Funky Nation at Winstons
* Hands Across the Sands at Mission Beach – May 19
* Mariachi Music at OB Library, Sat, May 19

AND MUCH MORE … COME INSIDE

It’s basically “mum’s the word” at OB’s hostel on Newport Avenue about their recent application for a liquor license with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Concerns have been raised in some quarters of the community about yet another alcohol establishment on OB’s main commercial drag.

But even if granted, USA Hostel Ocean Beach only plans to serve its own guests – those travelers who lease out spaces at the hostel. No one from the outside would be allowed into the 2-story iconic building – they have 24/7 staffing at the only front door, I was assured by Julie, the on-site manager,

Twenty years ago, Jim Bell – OB’s well-known ecology consultant – bought an old building on Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach, which once housed a variety of businesses over the years, including Seedless, one of the incarnations of Hodads and Effie’s Cafe. And for 2 decades Bell rented out the numerous interior rooms while he worked out of his office, “the cave”, deep inside the building.

Now the property is up for sale. Jim Bell’s daughter Heather, who lives in Seattle, confirmed to this reporter she is trying to sell it. The lot is 50 by 100 feet. This turn in events is all due to Jim’s failing health – he’s now bedridden in a local Point Loma senior assisted living facility, and his well-being is dependent on the sale.

By Beryl Forman / San Diego Free Press

City planning tends to be a long range, expensive approach to transforming cities, with a greater focus on the creation of planning documents versus the implementation of projects. While there’s no argument that regional and transportation planning has led to a new wave of urban living throughout the country, on a localized level, placemaking offers neighborhood leaders a greater opportunity to engage the public, envision tangible projects, and work together to enhance their surroundings. When The Media Arts Center of San Diego expanded their operations on El Cajon Boulevard in 2012, they launched an initiative called Take Back the Alley to transform their

It appears the City of San Diego is getting set to dismantle the 30 foot height limit in order to allow massive redevelopment of the Midway District.

With the Midway area community plan update – okayed by the Midway planning committee on March 21 – about to be approved by the City Council in June, all the chips are falling into place to set the stage for some kind of political action that would get rid of the sacrosanct height limit for the some 1324 acres being considered for the redevelopment. The redevelopment would bring in dense housing – some of it affordable -, “modern commercial districts”, and 7-fold population increase to the area.

But the 30 foot height limit stands in the way of the dreams of developers, city planners, and their sycophants within the mainly commercial zones of the district.

The upcoming Peninsula Community Planning Board meeting should be interesting as a San Diego Housing Commission representative and advocates for the Point Loma bike track will all be present. The bike track is on the agenda.

The Board meets Thursday, May 17 at the Point Loma Library, 3701 Voltaire Street, from 6:30 to 9pm.

Around 7pm, track advocate Katie Bendixen will assist the Board in a discussion about open space, development of the property at Famosa and Nimitz and the future of what’s called the Famosa Pump Track.

By Cathy

Today all of Palestine is on strike. No schools, no business as usual…all in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Words truly fail us today, but we are safe and together. The streets are eerily quiet.

When we visited Balata Refugee Camp last week a person on the delegation asked Ibrahim from Balata what he told his children about his life. He had been shot by the Israeli police at a demonstration and had been thought dead.

He told us that he never talked about this with his young children. That he talked with them about the need for a good education and that he wanted them to have hope.