Updates from the Ocean Beach Town Council Meeting

OBTC board members and audience members crowd behind the banner from the former Nati’s restaurant. The OBTC plans to raffle off the banner during its holiday celebrations as a fundraiser.

President Marcus Turner opened up the non-agenda comment portion of last Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the OB Town Council – always a treasure trove of local issues and announcements.

Over a dozen members of the board looked out to an audience that approached 60 residents and government officials. (The main forum for the evening was about short term vacation rentals – reported here in a separate post.)

Matt Beatty, head librarian of the OB branch, and this reporter announced the coming “OB Shelf” to be organized over the next few weeks, with materials, books about OB or books by local authors. We made a pitch for any ideas or works that fit the description to be sent to Matt.

Laura Dennison of Friends of the OB Library, announced the group is holding its summer book sale on July 21.

Dr Jen Campbell, the Democratic candidate who won the chance to run against incumbent Lori Zapf in the November election, asked for people’s votes. Campbell ticked a number of issues she was focusing on: short term rentals, the homeless, affordable housing, scooters, and infrastructure.

Jenny Sabato got up and announced the formation of an new neighborhood group, “WeAreOB”. She said the group is “a collection of spheres of influence focused on OB.” One of its goals is to work with homeless people who care about the community and who would work in their barter system, exchanging doing work for benefits (showers, etc.) with local residents and businesses. “We’d like to help them,” she said, “restore their dignity.”

Susan Winkie invited everyone to the next OB Woman’s Club event, on the 2nd Tuesday of July, for a free dinner in exchange for a succulent, at 5:30pm.

Virginia Wilson reminded the audience that free trees are still available, although they probably won’t be planted by the city until a cooler season.

Denine Hunt decried a recent fatal accident at the intersection of Abbott and West Pt Loma, and thanked city reps for installing a third stop sign.

Politico Reports

Conrad Wear of Councilwoman Zapf’s office had a number of announcements.

• OB streets up next for repaving include Bacon, Froude and Muir.
• $840,000 has been restored to the city budget for trim trimming.
• 17 people were arrested on felony theft charges in OB for attempting to steal the police “bait bike”, an expensive bicycle used literally as bait to tempt would-be thieves, all in an effort to crack-down on the at times rampant bike thefts around the village.
• Zapf wants to organize a program that puts homeless people to work in OB and Pt Loma, such as picking up trash; she wants to model it after a similar program in Pacific Beach.

Chevelle Tate of State Senator Toni Atkins’ office told the meeting the state budget had been signed by Gov Brown that day; there is $18 million, she said, in the budget for the city of San Diego’s efforts on homelessness.

Chili Cook-Off Winners

The winners of the OB Chili Cook-off were announced (from the OB Mainstreet Assoc. website):

Amateur Division:

Judges 1st place: Dean Aldridge of Messy Dean’s 3-Chunk Chili
Judges 2nd place: Dillon Baker of Culture Brewery

People’s Choice 1st Place: Messy Dean’s 3-Chunk Chili
People’s Choice 2nd Place: Jetty Chili
People’s Choice 3rd Place: Hangover Cure Chili Crew

Restaurant Division:

Judges 1st Place: Raglan Public House
Judges 2nd Place: Pizza Port

People’s Choice 1st Place: Wonderland
Best Costumes & Booth Decoration: Sunset Clipps – Jason Bullard

Hottest Chili Award: Wesley Slack – Bacon or Bust

Community Relations Officer David Surwilo thanked the board for  the First Responders Picnic held recently. He also announced there will extra police patrols on July 4th, and asked people not to throw marshmallows, to chuckles around the room.

Board member Jon Carr questioned Surwilo about the legality of scooters on sidewalks. “Bikes and scooters on sidewalks are out of control,” he exclaimed. Surwilo explained in response that business zones restrict bikes or scooters from sidewalks. Other than business zones, it’s okay for bikes to be on sidewalks.

Lifeguard Report: the lifeguard rep told the crowd lifeguards deal with 10 stingray stings a day at the beach.

Andrew Waltz, liaison with the OB Planning Board, noted the planners are also gearing up for the City Council hearing on short term rentals on July 16. There’s also Planning Board appointments available, he said, encouraging audience members to consider joining the all-volunteer local planning committee.

OB CDC Forum on Saratoga Park Plans – this will be at 7pm on July 26 at the OB Rec Center.

OB Town Council Grants Available: the OBTC every year awards community grants to groups and individuals doing work for OB. The deadline to apply is July 8.