August 2019

Red Flags at Ebers-Greene ‘Rehab’

August 30, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Red flags are being raised by neighbors about what is going on at the “rehab” of the Ebers – Greene project.

The most noticeable thing there is the three-layered monstrosity is gone and all that’s left is a concrete slab and part of a section of the wall – and the old house on the lot, of course.

Neighbors could not help but notice workers in the old house – which has asbestos according to long-time observers of the saga of this project. The workers were without masks or other protective gear. Why should they wear anything? Reportedly, the asbestos expert the contractor hired says there’s no asbestos inside the old building.

The plans are to tear into the old place and convert it into a garage off the alley. The other red flag is

Read the full article → 13 comments

Restaurant Review: Casa Castillo – New to Point Loma

August 30, 2019 by Judi Curry

Restaurant Review

Casa Castillo
Mexican and Guatemalan Cuisine
3334 Rosecrans St.
San Diego, CA 92110
619-432-1922

By Judi Curry

Sometimes you luck out and are in the right place at the right time. This particular night Hugh and I had excellent luck and happened into a new restaurant that has only been opened for a month. Casa Castillo is the name of the restaurant, and it is just opposite Loma Square shopping center, near the car wash.

And – what’s more, the three managers/ owners – Juan, Carlos and Jesus – were there planning their grand opening this Labor Day Weekend. They will be offering 15% off the entire tab; there will be FREE APPETIZERS! And there will be music. The “ribbon cutting ceremony” will take place at 11:00am, and it will be fun for the entire three days. They are open from 8:00am to 9:00pm Sunday-Thursday, and open until 10:00pm on Friday and Saturday evenings!

So what’s on the menu? I had never had “Guatemalan” food so I wanted to sample what was available.

Read the full article → 3 comments

During Raucous Meeting Peninsula Planning Board Votes to Oppose Any Development of Famosa Canyon

August 30, 2019 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board took a stand on Wednesday, August 28, as a result of intense community pressure. The PCPB voted to oppose development on what has been referred to as the Famosa Canyon site on the south side of Famosa Blvd. across from Bill Cleator Park.

The vote came at a special meeting called by the PCPB at the Point Loma Library to discuss just one topic, the San Diego Housing Commission plans to build 78 affordable housing units on that piece of open land. Dedicated PCPB volunteers and community members devoted hours of time and effort during the month of August in five subcommittees discussing the site and collecting community input.

Read the full article → 11 comments

‘Juggernaut Port vs. People of Point Loma’

August 29, 2019 by Source

By Cholly

The standing room only meeting of 600 or so concerned citizens at Portuguese Hall Wednesday, Aug. 28, opened with introductions and laudatory remarks by the Port’s chief planner Lesley Nishihira. Nishihira praised the Public Outreach Program of the Port – which it was claimed included “more than 250 interviews with key stakeholders and partner agencies, 13 open houses and community meetings, 36 public board workshops and two online surveys with a combined total of more than 6,300 respondents.”

Introductions included the three attending Port Commissioners:

  • Marshall Merrifield, (a former member of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ Economic Advisory Council),
  • Ann Moore, (Vice Chair of the Port Commissioners; former City Attorney of Chula Vista), and
  • Rear Admiral Garry J. Bonelli, (U.S. Navy SEAL and former executive staff member of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).

Each of the Commissioners was an extremely friendly, polished, finely-honed and exceptionally street-wise orator. Just the type you’d eagerly buy a car from.

Read the full article → 3 comments

OB Town Council Hears Impact of Census Under-Count in Ocean Beach

August 29, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

At the Ocean Beach Town Council monthly public meeting Wed., Aug. 28, a presentation was made about the impacts to OB when there’s a Census under-count in the community.

The lightly-attended meeting also heard from community residents and political representatives about a myriad of upcoming events and then of issues that confound the neighborhood.

A US Census Dept expert, Alejandro Aguilar, gave a presentation on “The Road to 2020” with details about some history, the importance and Constitutional mandate of the Census.

The most interesting aspect of the presentation was on the “Impact to Ocean Beach”. Apparently, the OB Census “Mail Participation” rate in 2010 was only 78%. Not too good. And an estimated 2,000 OBceans required a follow-up by a Census enumerator that year.

Also troubling was the estimated net undercount of OB people

Read the full article → 0 comments

OB Rag Fund Raising Closing in on Half-Way to Goal: A Renewed Call for OBceans and Point Lomans to Support ‘the Conscience of OB’

August 28, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

We’re now in our third day of our annual summer fund-raising campaign and we’ve raised $885 – which is just a smidgen from the half-way point of our goal of $2,000. We do this every year because we do have bills to pay – and obviously we’re not part of the mainstream media.

But we have been the online newspaper for Ocean Beach and Point Loma and now we’re in our 12th year. And we’re funded by our readers and supporters, primarily.

So, dear Reader, we’re asking you to go to the top of the home page and click on the PayPal logo and make a donation. Or you can donate to us the traditional way, by mailing it to us at our post office box (OB Rag, PO Box 7012, Ocean Beach, CA 92167). Besides the 10 Reasons to donate to the OB Rag we posted on Monday, if you still a reason, consider these:

Read the full article → 0 comments

There’s Lots of Affordable Housing Near Famosa Canyon

August 28, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

The San Diego Housing Commission is ready to build 78 units of affordable housing units called “workforce housing” on the piece of property at Nimitz and Famosa, called Famosa Canyon by locals.

Yet the same piece of land has been a playground of sorts for generations of local youth – and many neighbors have opposed the idea of developing what appears to be one of the very last portions of open space on the Peninsula.

But who can argue with the need for more affordable housing? Everybody wants more affordable housing. So, what’s the deal?

The deal is the Housing Commission currently controls the land; their goal is to build units on it – and anybody who is against their plan are NIMBYs. Those who oppose that proposition do come from a myriad of stances

Read the full article → 16 comments

OB Town Council to Meet Wed., Aug. 28 – All About the 2020 Census

August 28, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

The 2020 Census is right around the corner. Our community has to be ready to be counted in order for us to receive our fair share of federal funding and representation.

Join the OB Town Council at their Public meeting on Wednesday, August 28th at 7:00pm and come ready to learn, ask questions, and interact with Alex Aguilar, a Partnerships Specialist from the U.S. Census Bureau.The Ocean Beach Town Council holds it monthly public meeting from 7:00 – 8:30pm. The meeting is held at the Masonic Lodge at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Regular speakers include representatives of local, County and State politicians, reps from fire fighters and life guards and law enforcement.

Read the full article → 0 comments

OB’s Tilted Stick Patron Throws Up Billboard as Surprise to Wife on 10th Anniversary

August 28, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

The Tilted Stick bar at 4970 Voltaire in north Ocean Beach is patronized by Vic Tulsie and Laura Lynn Tulsie.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Resistance to Port’s Master Plan: ‘It’s Not About Piers for the Wealthy – It’s About a Land and Water Grab’

August 28, 2019 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego / August 27, 2019

If you think that fights over scooters, Airbnb, height limits, infill development, increased density, traffic congestion, and the homelessness are testy — wait for this one.

Remember the early Barrio Logan community standoff with shipbuilders? … How about Bay Ho’s resistance to running the trolley extension in front of their homes? Or the Campland’s quick 5-year lease extension? Then there are the violations of the Liberty Station lease … the reversal on preservation of the former Navy chapel now to be a restaurant.

Small wonder voters are angry. Any neighborhood resisting is now dubbed a “stranglehold.”

Read the full article → 1 comment

Do Colder Waters Off West Coast Mean a Return to ‘Normal’?

August 28, 2019 by Source

By Deborah Sullivan Brennan/ San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 27, 2019

Record high Pacific Ocean temperatures recorded off the West Cost in recent years have receded to near normal, according to a report on the California Current.

That cool shift marks the end of “the blob,” the mass of warm water that dominated the West Coast, and of the El Nino event that followed. It’s unclear, however, what that means for fish and marine mammals, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated in the 2019 ecosystem status report for the California Current Ecosystem.

“The big thing is that a lot of the physical conditions of the ocean here off of our coast are beginning to return to normal,” said

Read the full article → 0 comments

OB Resister Sisters Respond to Trump Wanting to Nuke Hurricanes

August 28, 2019 by Source

The OB Resister Sisters have struck again

Read the full article → 0 comments

Restaurant Review : Fairouz Café & Gallery in the Midway

August 27, 2019 by Judi Curry

Restaurant Review

Fairouz Café & Gallery
3166 Midway Dr. #102
San Diego, CA 92110
619-225-0308

By Judi Curry

There are not many restaurants left in the Ocean Beach – Point Loma area that were here when I moved to San Diego in 1966. Most of the old favorites are gone and as new restaurants open and close, I seem to miss the older ones the most.

What is it that allows a restaurant to stay in business for a long time, still attracting diners – new and old? The Fairouz has an interesting draw – modern and fine art line the walls, all painted by the owner, Ibrahim Al Nashashibi. Under each glass enclosed table are poems written by Mr. Al Nashashibi. The poems are absolutely beautiful, depicting thoughts that he has had about life over the years.

The food is eclectic from Mid-eastern countries and there is an extensive menu.

Read the full article → 11 comments

NASA Lends a Hand to Southern California on ‘King Tides’

August 27, 2019 by Source

From Aero Tech News / August 26, 20190

NASA in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey is helping emergency planners in Southern California get a more complete picture of the increasing risk of coastal flooding by looking at the highest of tides —”king tides.”

“King tide” is the informal term generally used to describe an exceptionally high tide, which most often occurs when the Moon and the Sun are aligned and their gravitational pull on the Earth is at its strongest. King tides can be just a few inches higher than normal, but when combined with other factors, they can have damaging effects.

That’s what happened in the winter of 2018-19 when a king tide occurred

Read the full article → 0 comments

Ocean Beach Locals Mobilize to Push City to Repair Bermuda Beach Stairs

August 27, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

A brand new network of local OBceans called the Save Bermuda Beach group held their “kick-off” event this past Sunday, August 25 – down at – of all places – the foot of Bermuda Street, where the stairs have been damaged.

The goal of the group is to mobilize neighbors and other locals to pressure the City of San Diego to repair the stairs that lead to a small, popular beach.

The access stairs to the beach were damaged by a winter storm in early 2016 and the public access has been closed since then.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Ocean Beach Gets a Failing Grade for Coastal Access

August 27, 2019 by Source

Originally posted Feb. 1, 2018

By Kevin Hastings

If you haven’t explored our coast south of the OB pier, I recommend you try before they are gone completely.

These cliffs and pocket beaches south of the OB pier have historically served locals and surfers as a refuge from the more touristy beaches to the north. You’ll find an interesting mix of sand crabs and other wildlife, yogis and homeless, remnants of eroded structures, breathtaking sunsets, litter, and graffiti.

Unfortunately, the constant wave action and sluggish response from the city has left most of the coastline inaccessible. The map shows the locations, most of which are now closed (in red) or are at risk of closure (yellow).

Most of the locations are somewhere in the city’s to-do list, but

Come Inside and Take a Tour of Your Inaccessible Coast

Read the full article → 18 comments

The Scooter Rebellion Is Fueled By Serious Injuries

August 26, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

No doubt there is a scooter rebellion going on in San Diego’s coastal enclaves. District 1 Councilwoman Barbara Bry – who is also running for mayor – called for a moratorium on the vehicles. A Pacific Beach resident has begun an online petition for banning them, the City of San Diego is sparring with one scooter company over non-compliance issues after new regs went into effect, while citizen complaints about them mount at the Mayor’s office … but one thing is clear.

There are serious consequences to the fairly loose, free-wheeling atmosphere government has allowed the scooters to create; people – riders – are suffering serious injuries; so much so that one recent week in San Diego, there were three skull fractures from scooter accidents.

One of those victims, Karen Riggot, continues to fight for her life

Read the full article → 8 comments

Special Meeting on Future of Property at Famosa and Nimitz Called by Peninsula Planners for Wed., Aug. 28

August 26, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

A special meeting has been called by the Peninsula Community Planning Board to review the future of the property at Famosa and Nimitz Boulevards and to allow a community discussion. The meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 28 at the Point Loma Library / Hervey Branch Library located at 3701 Voltaire Street. The meeting will be from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Background from the PCPB:

Famosa and Nimitz Boulevards Property (Site 428)

The San Diego Housing Commission released a memorandum on July 2, 2019 regarding the Feasibility study completed for the property and furthermore stated they will release an RFP (Request for Proposals) within 60 days to obtain proposals from developers for a potential affordable rental housing development at the site.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Much Needed Prop 13 Reform Is on It’s Way with ‘Schools and Communities First’ Ballot Measure

August 26, 2019 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

There is a movement afoot to reform Proposition 13, with community organizations aligned with labor promoting the Schools and Communities First ballot measure. Why would anyone want to touch the third rail of California politics? The answer is simple: we can keep its central benefit to homeowners while closing an unnecessary corporate loophole that will help our schools, cities, and counties across California.

Ever since its passage in 1978, Proposition 13 has starved California’s schools and local governments of funding. While the measure was pitched as a way to keep individual homeowners from being buried by taxes, the real beneficiaries of Prop. 13 were not elderly folks or other vulnerable groups struggling to hang on to their homes, but super rich corporate property holders.

What most voters don’t know about Proposition 13 is that it gave huge commercial property owners like Disneyland the same tax break as your grandmother.

Read the full article → 15 comments

Presidential Candidates Must Commit to Immediate US Withdrawal From Afghanistan

August 23, 2019 by Source

By Marjorie Cohn / Truthout – Blog / Aug. 17, 2019

On July 30, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported that the Afghan government and international military forces, primarily the United States, caused most of the civilian deaths in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2019. That’s more killings than those perpetrated in the same time period by the Taliban and ISIS combined.

Aerial operations were responsible for 519 civilian casualties (356 deaths and 156 injuries), including 150 children (89 deaths and 61 injuries). That constitutes a 39 percent increase in overall civilian casualties from aerial attacks. Eighty-three percent of civilian casualties from aerial operations were carried out by the international forces.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Who Remembers This? Last August Ocean Water Temperatures Set Record Highs

August 23, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

Do you remember last August? So long ago, but last August 2018 saw the ocean water temperatures reach record highs.

On August 1, 2018, Scripps Pier recorded the highest ocean surface water temperature in its 102 history of taking measurements.

The water temperature was 78.6 degrees. Usually it’s around 68 that time of year.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Sometimes We’re Lost Without a Burden: Joshua’s Story

August 23, 2019 by Source

By Joni Halpern

Dear Ohio,

The massive gap between what we know about each other and what we hear from a myriad of information sources is killing us. This gap is rendering us incapable of measuring the facts and opinions to which we are exposed against the truth about our individual lives.

How can we know if it is correct to cut 3.1 million Americans from the food stamp rolls if we know nothing about people who get food stamps except what powerful people tell us? There is no cure for this ignorance except to hear each other’s stories. I’ll go first.

In the recent past, when I was working as a volunteer lawyer, running a nonprofit that served very low-income families,

Read the full article → 0 comments

Still Trying to Keep Martin’s Dream Alive         

August 23, 2019 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray

Nothing has ever resonated with me more than the “I Have a Dream” prose and poetry Martin Luther King delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on a pleasant summer day in 1963.

I was about to enter my second year of teaching and I couldn’t wait to share my thoughts about Martin and about what he had to say that day just in case any of my sixth graders were, in their youthful innocence, confused about what was being said about him throughout the country – all the demonizing of him as a womanizer and the FBI describing him as a dangerous commie, a designated “enemy of the state.”

I was eager to sit down with such young learners and set the record straight, to give them a bit of insight on the man from a black perspective. Mine.

I wanted to throw in some facts into the mix of insinuations and accusations in the air so that they could know and understand that Martin, this remarkable human being, rather than being a threat to our way of life, was devoted to making us more loving and caring as a nation.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Clean-Up at the Ocean Beach Jetty – Sat. Aug. 24

August 23, 2019 by Source

Read the full article → 2 comments

Duncan Hunter and White Nationalists

August 22, 2019 by Doug Porter

By Doug Porter / Words & Deeds

Congressman Duncan Hunter’s relationship with a self proclaimed white supremacist made headlines following disclosure of a photograph taken at a July Fourth parade of the congressman standing beside Kris Wyrick, who flashed an “OK” gesture — a sign appropriated by extremists in recent years to mean “WP” or “white power.”

The photo was deleted from Hunter’s Facebook page following media inquiries.

Read the full article → 6 comments

California Supreme Court Rules San Diego Marijuana Law Required More Environmental Analysis

August 22, 2019 by Source

Unanimous decision about 2014 law may limit local government discretion across California

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 19, 2019

SAN DIEGO — In a decision expected to limit the discretion of local governments across California, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday that San Diego failed to adequately analyze the potential impacts of its 2014 marijuana dispensary law. The court ruled unanimously that local governments, when adopting new laws or zoning changes, must analyze reasonably foreseeable changes those laws would make to the environment — even if the changes would be indirect.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Port of San Diego Responds to Point Loma Activism – Schedules Another Hearing on Master Plan – August 28

August 22, 2019 by Source

From Point Loma Association Newsletter:

When the Peninsula community discovered the San Diego Unified Port District Draft Master Plan Update they found two things unifiedly upsetting:

1.) Some changes proposed for our area seem more destructive than constructive.
2.) Public discussions of the plan were scheduled in Rancho Bernardo and La Mesa but not in Point Loma.

Many of us were surprised to learn changes were afoot. The Plan was unveiled (somewhere to someone) on April 25, 2019.

Get anything in the mail? Anyone knock on your door? See a posting on Nextdoor? Instagram? Beacon? [OB Rag?] Craig’s List? Nope.

Read the full article → 1 comment

If You Were at This Point Loma Bakery from August 15 to August 18, You May Have Been Exposed to Measles

August 22, 2019 by Frank Gormlie

The County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency announced on August 21 that people who had recently visited the Point Loma bakery, 85° Bakery Café on Rosecrans on August 15, 16, 17 and 18 from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. may have been exposed to measles.

In a very recent local case of measles, the person was fully immunized but had exposure to an 11-month-old San Diego resident who contracted measles after a recent trip to the Philippines.

The bakery is located at 3361 Rosecrans. There were two other locations where the public may been been exposed: Min Sok Chon Korean Restaurant, 4620 Convoy St., on Aug. 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Ralph’s, 3011 Alta View Drive, on Aug. 16 from approximately 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Read the full article → 0 comments

‘Teach for America’ Is Bad for the Nation

August 22, 2019 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / August 19,2019

Teach For America (TFA) has become the billionaire financed army for privatizing public education. It is the number one source of charter school teachers and its alumni are carrying a neoliberal ideology into education leadership at all levels.

TFA undermines education professionalism and exacerbates teacher turnover. Its teachers are totally unqualified to run a classroom yet their political support caused the US Congress to label them as highly qualified teachers. Big money and its political power have elevated TFA to being the nation’s most effective force driving the privatization of public education.

Defining TFA Neoliberalism

Read the full article → 0 comments

Leading Civil Rights Lawyer: 20 Ways Trump Is Copying Hitler’s Early Rhetoric and Policies

August 21, 2019 by Source

By Steven Rosenfeld / August 13, 2019

A new book by one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers powerfully describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the early 1930s—when the Nazis took power in Germany.

In When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic, Burt Neuborne mostly focuses on how America’s constitutional foundation in 2019—an unrepresentative Congress, the Electoral College and a right-wing Supreme Court majority—is not positioned to withstand Trump’s extreme polarization and GOP power grabs.

Read the full article → 0 comments

← Older Articles