Month: March 2019

March 8th is International Women’s Day.

The OB Rag staff has been celebrating it since the 1970s. The OB Rag cover – Early March, 1975 – published here – commemorates International Woman’s Day. The cover shows a crowd of women activists from Ocean Beach on the OB Pier.

The cover was later formatted as a poster for a display at the OB Library of OB Rags during the 1990s by Bob Edwards, a former OB Ragster of the seventies.

Originally posted June 11, 2014
There is a reason that Ocean Beach has stayed as OB and did not suffer the fate of, say, its neighbor to the north – Mission Beach.

Have you been up to Mission Beach lately? Walked or biked on the Boardwalk? Surfed the MB curls?

Did you realize there’s no community left there? It’s all time-shares, vacation rentals, and empty buildings.

But most importantly for us, it’s practically wall-to-wall 3 story expensive giants facing the ocean for – literally – miles – all along the famous Boardwalk.

And the reason OB didn’t go that way is because …

Election Upset in District 1? – Record Number of Women Members on Board

At the Wednesday, March 6 evening meeting of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, the volunteer community planners took up the issue of Mayor Faulconer’s proposals for regulating electric scooters. Election results to the Board were also announced – with an upset in District 1 apparently and maybe a record number of women members now on the Board.

On scooters and the Mayor’s proposals – which were confirmed by a Council committee recently and are slowly on their way to the full City Council – the Board raised a number of substantial issues and concerns not addressed by the recommendations. In short, the panel wants to include Ocean Beach

OBceans Find 21 Different Species of Flowers

by Bob Edwards

Several OBceans made the 2.5 hour drive to Anza-Borrego State Park yesterday, Wednesday, March 6, to hike and check out the amazing flower display that the heavy rains have brought to our deserts.

We counted 21 different species of flowers and there are zillions of green sprouts that (barring a freeze or dry winds) promise several weeks more of new wildflowers. Plus, there are many cactus that will go off with their blooms in the next month or so.

Record Number of Candidates Running

There’s a record 18 candidates running for the Peninsula Community Planning Board – and they will all be introduced at a Candidate Forum being held tonight, Thursday March 7.

It will held starting at 6:00pm at the Point Loma Library, 3701 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107.

There are seven open seats, with five the regular yearly openings.

The Friends of the OB Library are having a “Gigantic Book/ CD/ DVD Sale” this Saturday, March 9th, from 9:30 to 12:30, on the Library Lawn!

There’s lots of great new donated books:

Enjoy the San Diego skyline with snow on the local mountains.

This was taken by Fred Koehrn on February 23, 2019 from the Cabrillo National Monument.

Originally posted Feb. 10, 2019

As serious injuries from scooter accidents mount at local emergency rooms, as it becomes known that more people are hurt on scooters than on bicycles or as pedestrians, while San Diego police issue record numbers of citations to scooter riders, while more companies are dumping their e-scooters onto the streets and sidewalks, and while other cities struggle to rein them in – it is time for San Diego to place some controls and restrictions on the motorized scooters.

And certainly more restrictions than what Mayor Faulconer has tentatively proposed (see below).

The Mayor is due to formally roll out his ideas on scooters at the Active Transportation and Infrastructure meeting of the City Council on Feb. 20th – at 2 PM at City Hall. If they are anything like what he has already publicly proposed in the press, they’re woefully inadequate.

The situation is dire.

The OB Planning Board is holding its 2019 General Election on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Polls will be open 4-7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

As we complete our romping review of Ocean Beach’s planning districts, we round out our visit with District 7 – the South End of OB.

The 2 seats on the Board for District 7are currently held by Andrea Schlageter, the Chair of the Board, and by Richard Aguirre. Andrea’s seat is good until 2010, and Richard doesn’t appear to be running for re-election. Another current member of the Board, Andrew Waltz, has jumped over to this district and is the candidate for the open seat.

Andrea Schlageter

(From bio at OBPB website:) Andrea Schlageter was born and raised in the Ocean Beach Point Loma area. SEE MORE INSIDE
Richard Aguirre

Richard has been on the Board since April 2017 and is the owner of a small eatery at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Pt Loma Avenue. (No bio available.)

Andrew Waltz – Candidate for District 7

(Edited bio from OBPB website) Andrew Waltz has a BFA degree from the University of Delaware, SEE MORE INSIDE

The Ocean Beach Planning Board takes on dockless scooters at their Wednesday, March 6 public meeting.

Or rather they are set to review the proposed regulations for scooters recommended by a City Council committee, before those recommendations go before the full Council. And the recommendations are really Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s proposals, with some amendments. The OB Board meets at 6pm sharp at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue

The only other major item on the Board’s agenda is a discussion and recommendations of budget funding requests for local projects for the upcoming fiscal year. There is also the annual election going on that Wednesday with polls open from 4pm to 7pm – also at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

It is time for the OB planners to take on the scooter issue. This community – and others – have been inundated with the various brands of scooters clogging our public right of way, sidewalks, crosswalks, any open spaces – and it is time to rein in these motorized vehicles, as local injuries mount literally on a daily basis.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board will hold its 2019 General Election on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Polls will be open 4-7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. Each of the 7 districts has 2 seats and there are 2 at-large seats on the Board.

As we move south across the map of OB in our continuing series about the different planning districts within the Ocean Beach Planning Area – we come to District 6 – “The Hills of OB“.

The district is currently represented by Jane Gawronski and Dan Dennison. Jane has been a volunteer on the Board for at least 5 years and Dan has been on it since May of 2016. Only Dan is up for re-election, and he is running against George McCalla.

Jane Gawronski

(From bio at OBPB website:) Jane retired as Superintendent of the Escondido Union High School District in 1998 – SEE MORE INSIDE

Dan Dennison

(From bio at OBPB website:) Dan grew up in San Diego, spent five years in the Navy – SEE MORE INSIDE

George McCalla – New Candidate for District 6

George introduced himself at a recent OB Town Council meeting as a candidate. SEE MORE INSIDE
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District 6 – The Hills of Ocean Beach

The is an updated and slightly edited version of an earlier District 5 review from February 2016.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board will hold its 2019 General Election on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Polls will be open 4-7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

In our continuing series of looking at each of the seven planning districts in Ocean Beach, we come to District 5 in southwestern OB, the “Cliffs of OB”. The district is currently represented only by Numan Stotz as the district’s other seat remains vacant. Each of the 7 districts has 2 seats and there are 2 at-large seats on the Board.

Numan Stotz

(From bio at OBPB website:) As a born and raised local, he has seen Ocean Beach grow and change over time. MORE INSIDE
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District 5 – the Cliffs at Ocean Beach

The fifth district within OB is the smallest district geographically, but because it hugs the gorgeous Sunset Cliffs, it has some of the most stunning views of sunsets, the coast, the surf, and provides an aura of solitude at those cliffs.