Month: November 2019

by Ernie McCray

I came across a letter the other day. A letter I had written to a boy who had his life taken away. A two-year old. Anthony was his name.

It was a letter which my heart insisted I write to maintain my sanity after sitting, as a juror, in a courtroom, where an attorney, a lawyer who was but a wielder of smoke screens on a clear windy day, trying to sway our opinions with what amounted to bullshit by any definition.

I mean I had sat for days being blown away, looking at pictures with arrows pointing

Here’s the Ocean Beach Holiday Event Calendar for 2019.

Restaurant Walk – Tuesday, November 12, 5 -9pm

Craft Fair at Veteran’s Plaza – November 13, 9am – 4pm

Holiday Tree Arrives at the Beach – Lower Newport – December 3

For some reason, San Diego’s mainstream press is downplaying the fact that the man in court is suspected of being a serial killer of people who were homeless.

On Monday, a preliminary hearing opened for Jon David Guerrero, 42, who is charged with four counts of murder with a special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders. He is accused of killing four people, three men and one woman during a murderous crime spree in 2016. Plus he may be charged for another murder, as one of the badly injured victims has since died. He also faces charges of attempted murder, arson and assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury.

That’s still a lot of murders. So many I thought of asking the ol’ citadel of wisdom, wikipedia: “How many random murders does it take for it to be a serial killing? ”

Here was my answer:

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day.

Many Americans know Guy Fawkes through the movie “V for Vendetta“, or at least recognize the mask, popularized by the film, and which then used by activists in the Occupy Wallstreet movement back in 2011, which was modeled after his face.

We have a basically positive view of Fawkes.

But in England, it’s the other way around. Fawkes is seen by many as a traitor and they celebrate his death.

You’re familiar with the John Lennon song, “Remember” where he sings “remember, remember, the 5th of November….”? Listen to the rest of the words.

November Events Compiled by the Ocean Beach Green Center
4862 Voltaire Street, Ocean Beach 92107
oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com

Events at the Ocean Beach Green Center

November 14th Thursday 7 pm. Film Night “The Biggest Little Farm” The film chronicles the eight-year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Free of charge

Every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Meeting.

Whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, you need to be up to date on the new rent control law coming to San Diego and the rest of California in 2020. [The following is taken largely from the San Diego Union-Tribune of Oct. 27, 2019.]

Rent control was signed into law when Gov. Gavin Newsom put his signature on the legislation – Assembly Bill 1482 – about a month ago, in early October.

The basic rule of thumb: rent increases will be capped throughout California from 7 to 8 percent a year. It’s especially important for renters to know the law – as many landlords will get special briefings from their associations. The rent cap will expire in 10 years, but lawmakers are likely to extend It.

Rent is now capped: Landlords cannot raise rent more than 5 percent plus inflation as of Jan. 1, 2020.

This Wednesday night, November 6, the Ocean Beach Planning Board will hold its monthly public meeting. The volunteer panel of community members has one development project to review, but also will review issues from the weighty to the more lightweight. This all happens at 6 pm sharp at the OB Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Ave. Here are the agenda items of note:

1776 Cable Street

The Board will review a Coastal Development Project application for 1776 Cable Street, one which seeks …

By Jim Miller

One day last week, I was sitting at a table in a public space in San Diego doing political advocacy around education funding. And while the young activists I was with had a productive day and talked to a good number of engaged citizens, the thing that stood out to them the most, the thing we joked about, was the “zombie walk.”

This was the blank-faced, numb carriage of the majority of people closed off by ear buds or zoned out on their phones who couldn’t be bothered to even grant us (or anyone else for that matter) human recognition.

We were dead to them as they were to themselves.

That’s what you notice if you spend a lot of time watching people in public. It’s not that folks are angry or even alienated; they’re beyond alienation.

Of course, in the virtual world on our screens and on social media, we are full of animation, thrilled at our representations of ourselves or angry, very angry about the latest outrage usually committed by those outside of our self-selected silos.

DUI While Sailing?

A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of boating while intoxicated after running his sailboat into the shore in Ocean Beach on Sunday night, Oct. 27, authorities said.

Suspect in OB Murder Case of Mother Has Prelim Set

The preliminary hearing for a man suspected of killing his mother in Ocean Beach was set on Oct. 28 for Jan. 14

Point Loma High Has Broken Retaining Wall

Argument Over Stolen Scooter Leads to Stabbing in Midway District

OB Street Stewards Take Off

Ocean Beach Street Stewards are sweeping into town ushering in a new era in community beautification.

Communities of Point Loma, Downtown, North Park and Little Italy All Suffer Loss of Housing

From abc10News

In the midst of a housing supply crunch, San Diego is seeing apartments taken off market and reserved for short-term vacationers.

The units would add to the estimated 16,000 vacation rentals now available in the City of San Diego, according to a recent audit.

Now, a company called Sonder has signed master leases at apartment complexes and towers in locations including downtown, North Park, Little Italy, and Point Loma. Instead of renting them full time, the company leases them to visitors, charging more than $100 per unit on an average night.

Speed Rail to Love

By Terrie Best / October 31, 2019

After watching my friends at the Minority Humanitarian Foundation create a modern humanitarian speed rail – nightly trips getting asylum seekers off the side of the road where ICE dumps them and on to airplanes where their sponsor families collect them – I have been profoundly moved by their ability to fill in the many gaps to care along the way.

Using social media, several resourceful people have created a moving system of care that is changing everything.

The gaps to care are addressing a devastating humanitarian crisis and the folks struggling to fill them are laying down tracks from thin air.