Month: March 2019

By Geoff Page

One of the things that makes community planning groups worthwhile is that they provide a launching site for ideas by regular folks. A one-woman crusader came to the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regular monthly meeting last Thursday, March 21, with an interesting ordinance proposal to ban adults from children play areas unless accompanied by a child. Just the idea makes one smile. But, there was a serious reason behind her effort.

A Proposal to Ban Adults From Play Areas

Sandy Algra’s very young child was scratched by a bloody needle in a play area and now faces years of biannual testing for possible disease.

By Jim Miller

This is who we are now: a country where the criminal rich brazenly buy their kids’ ways into elite colleges while the sons and daughters of ordinary Americans scrape and claw to gain admission and then struggle to pay for the skyrocketing costs of higher education. As a recent Public Broadcasting Service story on the college admissions scandal put it:

The multimillion-dollar bribery scheme unveiled by the Justice Department this week has sparked equal parts outrage and incredulity over the astonishing lengths some wealthy parents have gone to get their children into the prestigious universities of their choice.

Attorney General William Barr has released his “summary” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report – and it’s a doozy. I’ve just read the brief 4-page letter Barr sent to Congress today and since released to the public. (See letter below.)

First off, Mueller does not find any coordination or conspiracy between Trump and his people and Russia.

On the issue of obstruction of justice, however, Mueller punts, and while – according to Barr – does not exonerate Trump on other matters, left the decision of whether Trump did obstruct justice to Barr and Rob Rosenstein. And guess what? They – Barr and Rosenstein – have decided there’s not enough evidence for any obstruction of justice by Trump.

By David McCullough / San Diego UrbDezine / March 9, 2019

Originally published in the author’s own blog under the title of “Spectrum of Light.”

Light is not often the first thing that one thinks of when considering the built environment, but in fact, as to the photographer, light is a primary ingredient to the success of any site design.

In contrast to other professions that utilize light, the impact of light on the built environment is constantly in flux. In its complexity there are three types of light: continuous, absorptive and emissive. In the science of the light spectrum, the fact is that light behaves like a wave and is defined by its wavelength frequency. Simply put, light of different wavelengths is perceived as different colors.

Here are the election results from Thursdays vote for the Peninsula Community Planning Board. Chair Robert Goldyn was re-elected with the most votes (227). And other top vote-netters were Margaret Virissimo (202), Korla Eaquinta (194) and Brad Herrin (194).

Due to ties, there’s a recount “underway” for the 5th, 6th and 7th places. Voters could select up to 7 candidates when voting.

Editordude: The opinions expressed here are of the author’s and do not reflect those of the OB Rag.

Mayoral candidate Barbara Bry (BB)

By Norma Damashek/ NumbersRunner / March 21, 2019

Here’s a fact: San Diego is a big small town in which–at one time or another–most everyone gets into bed with most everyone else (figuratively speaking, of course, but literally sometimes). So when we question who’s got easy access to whom, we’re not just being nosy.

It’s not just Democrats that see the virtue in reforming presidential elections.

By Steven Rosenfeld / Voting Booth /March 14, 2019

This article was produced by Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

There’s new momentum around the National Popular Vote movement, where states will award Electoral College votes to elect the president based on which candidate has won the most votes nationwide—instead of today’s state-by-state winner-take-all system.

“It does have new momentum, because there was a [recent] period starting with the second Obama election when Democrats bought into this blue-wall theory” that their political party had a lock on the White House, said John Koza, a former Stanford University scientist who co-founded the National Popular Vote project in 2006.

Without much fanfare or public notice, the San Diego City Council in December 2016 approved a $30.3 million project to upgrade 14,000 street lights with sensors — and a portion of them with cameras.

Since then 3,200 have been installed to collect data that the City or developers can use for future infrastructure and sustainability projects.

Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of smart sensors include Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Little Italy, Bankers Hill,

By Ralph Nader / Common Dreams / March 21, 2019

As internal and external pressures mount to hold Boeing responsible for its criminal negligence, the giant company is exerting its immense influence to limit both its past and future accountability.

Boeing whistleblowers and outside aviation safety experts are coming forward to reveal the serial, criminal negligence of Boeing’s handling of its dangerous Boeing 737 Max airplanes,

It’s happening again in this most recent campaign for the Peninsula Community Planning Board. The promotion of “slates” of candidates for the Board. It’s not allowed.

It’s unclear how or if this will be resolved, as the annual election for the Board is Thursday, March 21, at the Point Loma Library, from 4 to 8pm.

This happened last year for the March 2018 Board election, where Board members helped draw up slates of candidates and promoted them.

According to Peninsula Board’s own bylaws, Article V “Elections,” Section 3 states:

Board Election : The Peninsula Community Planning Board election is Thursday, March 21, 2019 from 4 to 8pm and is held at the Point Loma Library.

The following post is by Geoff Page, who is a candidate for the Board

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board election is heating up as expected and is getting nasty. There is something of a Trumpian tone to the whole thing. People are flouting the election rules as if rules don’t apply to them and are resorting to tearing down election posters and putting up others. All this for a planning board election.

As related in last week’s Rag story about the PCPB Candidate Forum, there are a record number of candidates running for seven open seats and there is a concerted effort to take control of the PCPB.

Leucadia Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant
4161 Voltaire St.
San Diego, CA 92107
619-295-2222

By Judi Curry

A friend of mine gave me a gift card for Leucadia Pizzeria for my birthday and I thought it would be fun to use it with a good friend from Leucadia. He was going to meet me there and so we had two cars. When we pulled into the parking lot we found there were no parking places, but three spaces were taken up with Leucadia Pizzeria delivery vans. There was no available parking on the street so we went somewhere else.

They have over 20 pizzas listed on their menu,