Month: December 2018

Is it storm surf or high tides? Whatever it is -surf was up in Ocean Beach – today, Wednesday, December 12.

And ACE (Albert C Elliott) was there. Check out his pics.

Meet the Leaders of the OB Town Council and the OB Planning Board

There’s been a changing of the guard in Ocean Beach. The top leadership of the two main community organizations – the OB Town Council and the OB Planning Board – have just recently changed.

The OB Town Council has a new president – Mark Winkie, and a new vice-president, Jill Kent.

Over at the OB Planning Board, the new interim chair Andrea Schlageter was made permanent chair, and Kevin Hastings was selected as the new vice-chair.

The Day of Shadow and Light
By Kathy Blavatt

Monday, November 24, 2018 was an ironic day.
Mel Shapiro San Diego’s longtime civic activist passed away.

I had a moment a little while ago when I was thinking about the notion that democrats, in spite of recent political victories (Yes!!!) need to come up with a message or at least a snappy meme, that resonates with voters (and more and more people are becoming so designated).

In that same moment I happened to turn the TV on and a man on C-SPAN was discussing superheroes, how they are mostly about creating a better world, citing Superman’s pursuit of “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

That triggered in my mind, right away, long ago days, when I was all caught up in the excitement of “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!”

OB Rag Talks to Principal Marco Drapeau

By Brett Warnke

Grades are good. Fundraising numbers are impressive. And OB Elementary is filled with smiling children, many brandishing ukuleles. But as San Diego’s rents soar, how might OBE change, too?

Ocean Beach Elementary is one of those schools you wished you’d attended. It’s one of the cliches of the community that we are filled with yogis, hippies and surfers. While (mildly) true, it is also true that OBE is one of California’s Distinguished Schools and has had 3 years of consecutive gains on its SBAC testing. Beside its grounds is a flourishing school garden. On the crest behind it are the broadly windowed Point Loma homes. And in front of its bright ceramic tiles, is the deep blue horizon of the Pacific Ocean.

What does OBE look like?

Border Patrol agents in riot gear stop faith leaders in Border Field State Park

By American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

On the afternoon of December 10th, dozens of faith leaders were arrested in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience at the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 400 people of faith and supporters gathered in Border Field State Park in San Diego in support of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. Faith leaders guided the group in a solemn procession to the border. When they reached the enforcement zone, they were stopped by a line of Border Patrol agents in riot gear. Leaders moved forward to offer a ceremonial blessing. Thirty people were taken into custody.

Up to now, the year 2018 has a higher death and seriously injured rate from beautiful but dangerous Sunset Cliffs than the average year since 2005.

For a number of years, the OB Rag has kept track of such tragedies as deaths and serious injuries caused by falls from the Cliffs or from the waters below. We have found that on average there have been 5 deaths or seriously injured each year since 2005.

And 2018 is already more tragic than the average year.

By our calculation from posts we have published since last January, there have been seven and possibly eight deaths or seriously injured in and around the Cliffs this year.

A 29-year old man may not survive injuries caused by the crash of his electric-scooter early Monday morning, the 10th of December.

The as-yet identified guy was riding a Lime scooter going eastbound on the south sidewalk of the 1200 block of Garnet Avenue. For unknown reasons, around 2:20 a.m. he veered to the right and struck a building.

He was hospitalized with “serious head injuries which are believed to be life threatening, according to police. (There was no update Tuesday morning as t his condition.)

Police said he was not wearing a helmet and also believe alcohol was a factor

By Geoff Page

There are many, many ways to get the news today. There was a time when there were only a few: basicically three network TV news programs, radio where the news was a part of music programming, and print, mainly newspapers. And, people had faith in the news, misplaced perhaps at times but not always.

Now, the news comes at us from everywhere and we don’t know what to trust. But the importance of small, local news disseminators like the OB Rag and the Peninsula Beacon has never changed. We want to know about the world but, really, our own world around us matters most.

If you ever wondered about the names of the Sunset Cliffs surf breaks – these are the guys who named them.

Bob “lizard” Chapman, John Holly, Jim “Mouse’ Robb, Billy Chapman and Marsh Malcom.

If you’ve been surfing the Cliffs for a few years – like decades maybe –

Intersection at Saratoga and Ebers Upsets Local Residents

Pt Loma Nazarene Faculty and Students Respond to Rapid Response Network Call to Aid Immigrants

Police: Man Attacked in Midway District Will Not Survive Injuries

Scrooge in Rouge at OB Theatre Company

PLNU Bans Weddings

OB’s New Bookstore Run for Cover Vying for Community Hub

Grandma Builds a Granny Flat in Her Point Loma Backyard With Plans to Rent It Out Via Airbnb

Why De Anza Cove wetland restoration would help protect us against sea-level rise

Mission Bay Golf Course Still Losing Money

By Brett Warnke

The ocean water is getting warmer. But our kelp like the cold. So what, right? The fly-blown smelly kelp ruins the beaches, anyway! Well, the precious kelp is a temporary ecosystem. Our species in Southern California, the Giant Kelp, needs to live or else an entire ecosystem will be disrupted. This “foundational species” then needs less heating, not more and if nothing is done their numbers will degrade with terrible results for life beneath the sea.

Lais Lima is a doctoral student at SDSU’s Dinsdale Lab. She has spent time diving in the waters around Point Loma, down in the cool waters our kelp love so much. But Scripp’s recently recorded the highest-ever seawater temperature of 78.6 degress, following a series of individual daily records of sea-surface and seafloor temperatures. In Lima’s beautiful dives around LaJolla and Point Loma she has seen a change in the temperature of the water, the thermocline.