Month: May 2020

The pandemic of 2020 has brought news to the world of Ocean Beach businesses. It’s tough enough to maintain a business during these crazy times – but to have to open a new venture must be doubly difficult.

Home of the Original Panini Dog

One brand new business has just opened up at the intersection of West Pt Loma and Bacon, where a coffee cafe once stood. It’s the “Home of the Original Panini Dog”, which offers, besides panini dogs, smoothies, shakes and acai bowls. That’s Jim and Jason at the outside window. They opened 3 weeks ago, and are associated with the Pioneer Day School, the adult vocational facility across from OB Elementary on Santa Monica Ave.

Hugo’s Mexican Food Divides Into Tres

Hugo’s Cocina, the historic “vegan options” Mexican restaurant on Sunset Cliffs Blvd., has redefined itself in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic –

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego / May 25, 2020

What is with the silly auditions for the vice-presidential slot on the Democratic ticket?

Sheltered in place, anyone interested can already recite the contenders’ names and chances from memory. And the fact that at least a dozen women are “under consideration.”

First are those who already ran the primary gauntlets for the Presidential nod: Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Then there are the governors, House members, and ex-office holders: “That woman” from Michigan, Governor Esther Whitman; Representative Val Demings of Florida; and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams.

These are the women now participating in a rather unseemly and unnecessary parade of interviews laced with praise for Biden, contempt for President Trump and a coy nod to their own formidable resumes.

By Jim Miller

This Memorial Day it’s time we properly mourn the dead. In the midst of a pandemic that the President has told us is a war against an “invisible enemy,” we are, as of this writing, closing in on 100,000 American dead. But as we mourn the scores of our fellow Americans, who the President has called “warriors” in this grand battle, we need to also remember that most of them didn’t have to die.

Rather than inevitable losses, the tens of thousands of our fellow citizens who have passed in only a few months are unnecessary casualties. As the New York Times reported last week:

If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers.

Here’s more charts to worry and think about – some negative, at least one positive. They’re all from the San Diego Union-Tribune tracking program current as of May 20, and one from today’s issue, current as of May 21.

The most citations that San Diego Police officers have issued for violations of the orders put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were in the 92107 zip code area – which include Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs.

In an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune Friday, May 22, writer David Hernandez reported that San Diego police issued 157 citations between April 2 and May 6. And most of them – 55 – were issued in the 92107 area. In comparison, 35 were for the 92101 zip code area – downtown, and 9 for 92109, which includes Mission Bay and PB. Most citations were issued in April.

by Kathy Blavatt

May has brought out various shades of pink in my garden. These cheery blossoms nicely contrast with the green foliage, and blues skies that peek through as the gray burns off through the morning’s May gray.

The growth in my garden has been spectacular.

Nursing Home Advocate Asks ‘Where are our elected leaders?’ – Not Enough Is Being Done

By Lemor Abrams / CBS8 / May 20, 2020

New numbers show about a half of San Diego County’s coronavirus deaths are linked to congregate living facilities, like nursing homes.

California advocates for nursing homes are urging the state to step up testing and enforcement of safety measures at those facilities.

“We have all these so called elected leaders. Where the hell are they?” said Patricia McGinnis, founder of California’s Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Three months into the pandemic, McGinnis is losing patience.

“Look enough is enough. Forty-percent of the people in nursing homes have died,” she said.

Experts are confident that the numbers of deaths from COVID-19 are higher than reported; death rate 10% higher than average

By Mari Payton, Dorian Hargrove, Tom Jones and Jay Yoo / 7SanDiego / May 19, 2020

Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicates the death rate since COVID-19 arrived in San Diego County is far higher than in previous years. The data provides a hint that the deaths for COVID-19 are likely far higher than the 209 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in San Diego County. And while the numbers from the CDC do not reveal the cause of death,

Here’s the recent poll the Ocean Beach Town Council conducted on time-limit restrictions on OB beach parking lots. They received 407 responses with nearly half (47%) wanting to see a 4 hour time limit (no cost) to the lots.

By Judi Curry

Dear Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Councilmember Jen Campbell:

I have been a resident of the Sunset Cliffs area since 1966. I have never felt as concerned about living in this area as I do now. I feel that my safety is in jeopardy, along with all of my neighbors living south of Pt. Loma Avenue. Let me tell you why.

Since the pandemic the parking lots along the Cliffs are blocked off. At each lot there are many police officers and cadets asking people to “move on”.

By Colleen O’Connor

Who are these people? And where do they come from?

What is it about newcomers to San Diego that get in positions of power and proceed to try and re-make the city in the image of New York? Overcrowded, densely population and dwarfed by sunless high-rises and wind tunnels – are a recipe for disasters in the future.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic taught us nothing about such urban nightmares?

If not listening to New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, repeat day after tragic day that “density” is what overwhelmed his city, then consider Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, the Pritzker prize–winning author and academic, with a new exhibition at the Guggenheim.