Month: May 2019

The legislation, which only applies to San Diego County, targets short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO and would have the effect of prohibiting the rental of second homes on those sites.

By Lori Weisberg / San Diego Union-Tribune

In a major victory for critics of short-term rentals, a bill to sharply curtail them in San Diego County’s coastal communities won approval Thursday, May 23 in the state Assembly. Should the bill ultimately win passage in the state Senate and be signed by the governor, it would hugely transform the home sharing landscape in local jurisdictions that have more lenient rules or none at all, as in the city of San Diego.

By Tim Fox / Camping Guide

Too many people limit their idea of camping to long hikes, tent setups, campfires and awkward conversations with strangers in the wild outdoors – but let us assure you that it is so much more than that.

We all live our day-to-day surrounded by the immense traffic of a relentlessly busy life. Smog, dust, and city lights cloud our vision of the stars at night; skyscrapers and busy streets prevent us from appreciating the beauty of nature.

The solution? A vast expanse of indigo sky watching over you, with stars serving as your rooftop for the night. Camping in the midst of such natural bliss gives us a needed reminder of the beauty of Mother Nature.

Author’s note: During the last few days I have come to know and develop a deep respect for a man I have never met. I do family history as a hobby and have been doing research on Frank’s uncle, …. What follows is what I have discovered, and what has brought me to tears a few times while collecting it all, here, for Memorial Day.
Lawrence Edward Webber, USMC, MIA – POW – KIA
Lawrence Edward Webber was born in 1920, in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Frank Webber and Elizabeth Benson. He was the youngest of four children. He had one brother, Frank Webber (long-time local businessman and owner of Ocean Beach Camera, in the Newport Avenue area) and two sisters, Mildred and Dorothea (mother of our own editor, Frank Gormlie).

As a young man Lawrence moved to San Diego, where his siblings also lived, and enlisted in the Marine Corps on May 2, 1939 at the age of 19. He was stationed in San Diego until December 1939 when he was transported to Shanghai, China.

By Jim Miller

If you don’t know someone in the military, sometimes it can be easy to forget that the United States has been in a war that never ends since 9/11. As a professor at City College, I see the effects in and out of the classroom as the stream of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and/or dealing with war related health issues continues unabated and is frequently unrecognized by the community.

The same could be said of the skyrocketing suicide rates for active duty military and veterans .

As for the fallen that Memorial Day is meant to remember, the numbers since 9/11 are troubling with 480,000 dead from wars in the Middle East and Asia, including 280,000 civilians, according to a recent study from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Other studies put just the number of Iraqis killed in that conflict at a cold 1,000,000.

By Kathy Blavatt

All Photos by Kathy Blavatt

There is an art to vertical gardening. The vertical growing process starts out as an ascetic design project combined with a floral display, a living canvas that adds beauty to garden plots, trees, fences and walls.

Creative design of floral arrangements and vertical garden displays use the same important principles in terms of shapes, colors, texture, design, and function.

A colorful array of flowers and plants of various shapes and textures form a heart from Kathy’s garden.

We checked into the status of a number of alcohol licenses being applied for with the ABC in downtown Ocean Beach.

According to the Alcohol Beverage Control San Diego area website, here’s what we found:

The main presentation at the Ocean Beach Town Council meeting Wednesday, May 22, was by a team from Non Toxic San Diego about the City’s use of herbicides and toxic chemicals in our parks and playgrounds – Roundup.

Anne Jackson Hefti started out by describing how she came about getting involved; she and a friend were walking their dogs at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park and came across a work crew spraying Roundup. The men had no masks or other protective gear and the women were allowed to walk through the sprayed area just minutes after their work. Later, Anne’s dog became sick – and she started researching Roundup and its component glyphosate.

She was so shocked by what she found that she helped to found the group Non Toxic San Diego. (Much of the material the group handed out was from www.beyondpesticides.org )

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

On May 9 the US Naval Institute reported, “Due to provocative behavior from Iran and new intelligence…US National Security Advisor John Bolton cited {but did not identify}a “number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.”

Subsequently the US Central Command ordered the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln strike force from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, belly up with Iran.

The Navy report also mentioned that the Lincoln, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, is “set to arrive at its new homeport of San Diego later this year.”

Come show OB some love – come out to the 8th Annual “Beginning of Summer” Community Clean-up.

It’s Saturday, June 1st beginning at 8:30 a.m. with volunteers meeting at Raglan.

There has been a change in the date for the official re-opening of the Ocean Beach Pier.

It’s been changed to 8:00 a.m., Friday, May 24, 2019. It had been set for Thursday the 23rd.

From The Holding Company facebook:

The Holding Company is accepting applications for all positions as of now!

If you’d like to be considered for our team go to …

On Tuesday, May 21, hundreds of women – with a few men – rallied in front of the Federal Court House in downtown San Diego – joining rallies in 50 states and Puerto Rico to say “Our bodies! Our choice!”

It was a nationwide protest against the onslaught of anti-abortion legislation being passed in State Houses across the South and Mid-West – all aiming to destroy Roe v Wade.

Locally, San Diego Indivisible and Women’s March San Diego joined together to organize the rally “in Support of Women’s Rights & Reproductive Freedom !”