Month: June 2018

The City Is Posed to Begin a Massive Redevelopment of the Midway District

By Michael Winn

We are told there are 550,000 homeless people in America. We’re also told of a crisis, called, “housing affordability” in urban coastal California cities. Statements of politicians of every stripe: Brown to Cox, Beane to Zapf, Faulconer to Fletcher, all assume we will address housing affordability by developing more housing. This assumption is politically motivated by a desire for endorsements from local governments and for campaign contributions from a development industry that financially benefits from development.

To mortgage lenders and property managers, “affordable” means that a household’s mortgage payment or rent amounts to no more than 28% of gross income.

Every year in San Diego, the numbers of homeless people are accessed in the annual point-in-time count. Those numbers – collected by volunteers working for the Regional Task Force on the Homeless – are then used as a measure for the area’s progress in ending homelessness and – importantly – the funds and other resources required and received from the State and Feds.

So, this year the count was on January 26 – and volunteers spread out all over the region with their census sheets. And as it turned out, fortunately for them, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, County Supervisor Ron Roberts and City Councilman Chris Ward all held their pressers and got to announce a 6% drop in homelessness, compared to last year. There was just one problem. The numbers were wrong.

A special meeting of the Peninsula Community Planning Board on the Famosa Bike Track / open space / proposed housing issues will be held Thursday night, June 14.

The PCPB meeting will be held at the Point Loma Library – Hervey Branch at 3701 Voltaire Street, San Diego 92107.

Here is the official agenda:

Former San Diegan Peter Navarro was on my mind this morning. Why, there he was – on the front page of the Los Angeles Times – being quoted about the raunchy views the White House now has of Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Navarro said, “there’s a special place in hell” for Trudeau, that Trudeau engaged in “bad faith diplomacy”, and tried “to stab [Trump] in the back on the way out the door.”

This was all, of course, in the context of the G7 summit just held in Canada. Once Trump left for Singapore, Trudeau stated Canada would impose retaliatory measures in direct response to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products, warning Canada would not be “pushed around,” and that Trudeau “will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests.”

“Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”

(This is Part 2 of my report of the OBPB meeting last week; here’s Part 1.)

At their monthly meeting held Wednesday, June 6, the Ocean Beach Planning Board approved in concept a protected bike path along West Point Loma Avenue, between Nimitz and Sports Arena. The protected bike path, called a “cycle track”, would allow parking, much like the bike path does along sections of Wabaska Avenue near Voltaire Street in Point Loma.

The Board also approved sending a letter in support of efforts to get the city study traffic calming measures for the intersection of Voltaire and Froude in northeast OB.

Cycle Track Along West Pt Loma

The Transportation sub-committee of the OBPB brought forward their response to a recommendation by the City’s Planning Department to install bike paths along West Pt. Loma Avenue. Apparently, the city had recommended removing parking

Editordude’s Note: At the most recent OB Planning Board meeting on Wednesday, June 6, after 3 unsuccessful votes, the Board finally decided it could take no action on a proposed granny flat at 4715 Cape May Ave., particularly after allegations that the property would be turned into a short term vacation rental. The owner of the property, Jason Whitmore, responded to our report of the meeting with the following:

By Jason Whitmore / June 7, 2018

I feel the need to clear a few things up regarding this project as my wife and I are the owners of the property at 4715 Cape May Ave. We have owned this one (1) and only property in OB for nearly 10 years and have rented it both short term and long term during that period.

We have had much better results renting short term regardless of the money than we have with some locals who had stayed long term in the past (bad apples in every group). We have and continue to live in OB for over 10 years together (myself 18 years since moving here in 2000 and spending the first 4 months living out of my car).

There are multiple inaccuracies throughout this article

By Marjorie Cohn / Marjorie Cohn Blog / June 5, 2018

In a little noticed but potentially monumental development, the House of Representatives voted unanimously for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 (H.R. 5515) that says no statute authorizes the use of military force against Iran.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), states, “It is the sense of Congress that the use of the Armed Forces against Iran is not authorized by this Act or any other Act.”

A bipartisan majority of the House adopted the National Defense Authorization Act on May 24, with a vote of 351-66. The bill now moves to the Senate.

If the Senate version

Thud! What’s that sound? It’s the unceremonious crash landing of tens of millions of dollars of Charter Schools Association money in the Governor’s race backing Antonio Villaraigosa.

Never has such an obscene amount of money been spent on a bad cause with so little to show for it. The good news here is that their efforts to turn the November election into a proxy war between the billionaire boys club and California’s educators failed miserably.

Now, rather than having to watch the tragic irony of a multimillion-dollar crusade against teachers’ unions standing in for our Governor’s race in California while elsewhere in the red states teachers are turning the tide against decades of austerity budgeting brought to us by the GOP, we can watch a Democrat cruise to victory against the Trump-endorsed Republican.

That’s more like it.

Millionaire and Former OBcean, Jimbo, Sues Westfield for Mess at Horton Plaza

Jimbo Someck, millionaire owner of natural foods grocery chain, Jimbo’s Naturally, got his start in OB. Now he has filed suit against Horton Plaza…

Free Trees Still Available Despite Mayor’s Cut-backs

Virginia Wilson, our rep on the city’s Community Forest Advisory Board, there are still free trees available. “Now is the time to get a free tree,” she said. …

Special Hearing on Famosa Bike Track by Peninsulan Planners – June 14

OB Town Council to Hold Forum on Short Term Vacation Rentals – June 27

City to Hold Hearing on Short Term Vacation Rentals – July 16

Drug Addicts Break Into Home on West Pt Loma, Leave Empty-handed

Point Loman Arrested for Making Threats at Torrey Pines High

COME INSIDE FOR THESE AND OTHER STORIES FROM OB and Pt Loma

Pop Pie Shop Probably Coming – But What About Proposed Demolition?

Nati’s Mexican Restaurant closed its doors for good on Thursday, June 7. It’s been there for nearly 6 decades. And it will probably be replaced with a Pop Pie Shop, that originated in University Heights. We announced all this back in mid-January. News 8 reported in their piece from yesterday that:

The owner of the popular Pop Pie Shop in University Heights told News 8 they are interested in leasing and potentially opening up another restaurant. … Nati’s property which includes the neighboring business and parking lots is one of the largest private pieces of land in Ocean Beach. It was sold for $5.7 million.

By Colleen Cochran

San Diego Gas & Electric says San Diego County needs a new gas pipeline. I say that’s bunk, and I’m not the only one.

In May, California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge Colette E. Kersten concluded that SDG&E and its partner SoCalGas “failed to demonstrate that there is a need for the proposed Line 3602 Project.” If her draft decision to deny certification to the applicants is approved by other commission members, the pipeline project cannot proceed.

In a move that could bring smiles to opponents of short term vacation rentals, the Ocean Beach Planning Board did not take any action on a proposed granny flat on Cape May Avenue. In addition the Board, at Wednesday night’s meeting, voted to support a proposed bike lane for West Pt Loma Avenue and the concept of traffic calming measures at the intersection of Voltaire and Froude.

The monthly meeting of the volunteer community planners also brought smiles to some in the audience, as the meeting bounced between hilarity and serious discussion of key issues. It was a packed board meeting with 8 board members and nearly 30 people in the audience.

No Action on 4715 Cape May

After the presenter for the owner of the property at 4715 Cape May outlined the proposed addition of a granny flat to the rear garage on a plot with a house already on it, there was a spirited discussion of what would happen to the new construction.