Month: November 2018

Here is the Progressive Voter Guide for the 2018 General Election in San Diego County, published by the San Diego Free Press and now republished by the OB Rag. A few words about our process are in order. The OB Rag and the San Diego Free Press are online siblings. The OB Rag has been publishing since October 26, 2007, and the SDFP, as an all-volunteer group, has been publishing daily since June 4, 2012.

by Frank Gormlie

As Councilmember Lorie Zapf does her victory laps through the coastal neighborhoods of District 2 for her successful stand against unrestricted short term vacation rentals, locals need to remember Zapf is also a partisan candidate running to keep her seat on the Council (and hoping for an unusual third term).

A more serious look into her record over the past 8 years on Council does more than raise eyebrows – it raises the blood pressure.

By Frank Gormlie

Here is Part 1.

Zig-Zags on the 30 Foot Height Limit

These days, it does appear Councilwoman Lorie Zapf is a strong supporter and defender of the sacrosanct 30-foot height limit for San Diego’s coastal and and beach communities. She did come out against a 4-story monstrosity on Emerson Street in the Roseville neighborhood of Point Loma, and along with Mayor Faulconer, issued a joint statement announcing a “stop-work” order for the project.

However, we have to note, as we reported then in June 2016:

By Brett Warnke

Dr. Jen Campbell is not tall, loud, or filled with that busy anxiety of most politicians. But Campbell has a thoughtful quality. And a talk with her about the city’s problems is much like discussing the ailments of a weary organ. What seems to rile her most, like any good physician, is the untreated and blase patient. In this case, the city’s leadership, perpetually reacting to San Diego’s crises rather than responding actively to new realities and opportunities.

“It’s an old story of San Diego,” Campbell said. “It’s a city that just doesn’t plan ahead. Especially on infrastructure. We’re a city that has constantly gone from crisis to crisis. Zapf is part of this problem.”

The Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach hung another banner Thursday afternoon

Things must be tightening up in the District 2 race for City Council between Republican and incumbent Lorie Zapf and Democratic challenger Jen Campbell. Things are getting weird.

Check this out. Andrew Keatts over at Voice of San Diego posted Zapf’s campaign had announced she was going to hold a press conference to clear things up, to set the record straight about recent allegations and claims regarding all those anti-gay comments she made years ago – and about the whooping it up she did along with her fellow Republicans the day Trump was inaugurated.

Within hours, it was cancelled. And a rally was held instead. What? Why – or why not?

As you probably know, Ocean Beach has a brand new book store. Run for Cover at 4912 Voltaire, near Cable, was opened up by Marianne Reiner on October 5th.

And now she is proud to announce there are a couple of book readings or author appearances at Run For Cover Bookstore coming right up.

Children’s author Henry Herz will be reading from and signing books including his latest work, Alice’s Magic Garden, a prequel to Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, on Saturday, November 3, at 1 PM.

By John White / San Diegans For Gun Violence Prevention

“I gotta do something. Anything.”

How many times have you told yourself that?

Did you tell yourself that after Sandy Hook, when gun violence took the lives of 20 children and six adults?

Or after Las Vegas, when a man with guns left 58 people dead and 851 injured?

Or after Parkland, when 14 high school students and three adults died …

It’s now “official” – Target has confirmed it is opening up a store in Ocean Beach, right there on Newport Avenue – where we all knew it was coming in.

But according to 7SanDiego the giant retailer has announced it is moving from merely “pursuing a site on Newport Avenue” to actually moving in. The exact date of its opening has not been made known publicly – other than sometime next year.

Jacqueline DeBuse, a PR agent with Target, told NBC 7: “Target has long been pursuing a site on Newport Avenue to serve the surrounding community.”

Originally published on Aug. 17, 2017

Less than two weeks after Donald Trump was elected, dozens of OBceans and San Diegans rallied against him at the foot of Newport and then marched down the sidewalks chanting, “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!”

This is a common chant these days at anti-Trump protests, yet the inclusion of “KKK” in a chant shouted out in Ocean Beach was not as out of place as it may have seemed, for OB does have its own history of a KKK – or Klan – presence, and the presence of other white supremacists over the years. And within OB’s well known laid-back character and tolerance for alternative lifestyles –