Month: August 2020

The Ocean Beach Town Council is crying “enough is enough!” over the large, irresponsible crowds that gather Wednesday nights after the Farmers Markets.

In a public letter sent to political and government leaders, the Town Council implores those in authority “to do something about the unacceptable levels of crowds gathering in our beach community during this public health crisis,” particularly on Wednesdays, where “hundreds of people closely gathered on the lawn with live amplified music, unpermitted food and craft vendors, drug sales, and more.”

It’s not just the size of the unrestricted crowds, it’s their noise and sounds which “continue into the early hours of the morning disrupting our residents,” and the trash and mess they leave for the rest of the community to clean up.

The letter was sent to Councilwoman Jen Campbell, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, SDPD Officer David Surwilo, and Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten.

In the very timely letter, the OBTC also cites “the double standard” for local businesses and residents, where businesses must adhere to restrictive regulations to re-open safely, but there are no restrictions as yet on the crowds that gather without masks and safe distancing.

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

By Judi Curry

Several days ago I read a report on “Next Door” from someone stating that it was not legal to feed the birds in the neighborhood. I looked around my backyard and my 6 hummingbird feeders, my five bird-seed stations, and the plate of peanuts I put out to keep the crows at bay and I wondered if my life was going to change – again – for the worst.

I decided to do some research to find out if the information was correct. And you know what? It is! Damn!

First I contacted the “Fish and Game” department here in San Diego. I asked the nice woman that answered the phone if there was someone there that could answer my question. She said that she could. I asked her “ . . . is it illegal to feed the birds” and without hesitation she told me “yes.” Then I asked her if it was illegal to feed the humming birds and she said she would have to check.

by Ernie McCray

Looking through a picture album to distract me from Trump lying and whining as people are dying and as federal troops violate the rights of protestors, one picture, in particular, caught my eye.

It’s a one of me standing on the top step leading to the front door of the first house I ever owned, a house that my daughter, Debbie, owned at the time. It was the summer of 1976 and I was taking a break from helping Debbie with her Lamaze training shortly before Cedric, her first child and my first grandchild, came into the world. Her future husband was out to sea with the U.S. Navy.

I don’t know what was on my mind at that moment in time but it very well could have been what had been on my mind for some time, thoughts of my daughter parenting a child as a teen like I had.

Nuclear Shutdown News August 2020

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

Nuke Plant Multi-million Dollar Criminal Conspiracies Exposed

On July 23 Bloomberg News reported “Scandals taint efforts to save US nuclear plants.” The news service charged,” “Back to back scandals in Ohio and Illinois over the past week have given a black eye to efforts to prop up struggling US nuclear plants.”

As aging nuke plants continue to deteriorate and fail to make money, desperate utilities have been rolling out schemes to jack up prices on customers and funnel these ill gotten gains to corrupt politicos who further exploit the public to keep outdated nuclear plants spewing radioactivity into the environment from going under.

By Erik Anderson / KPBS / August 4, 2020

The warming climate is putting environmental pressure on California forests that have towered over the Golden State for thousands of years.

They are not the only forests being stressed by climate change, the region’s iconic underwater forests are also facing challenges. Those forests are populated by giant kelp, and there is one located just off the La Jolla shore. The giant kelp forests off the coast of La Jolla and Point Loma can be spectacular. Biologists have compared them to an underwater forest of sequoias, but unlike the giant trees which can live for hundreds and even thousands of years, kelp grows fast and dies fast.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Ed Parnell didn’t have to walk far from Scripps Pier to find strands of giant kelp washed up on the beach. “The root system is called the holdfast, it holds the kelp plant to the bottom, right there you can see that,” Parnell said.

By Colleen O’Connor

The Biden campaign’s search or the right woman to be his Vice-Presidential nominee has dragged on for over 5 months. He first committed to selecting a woman on March 15th.

Why no decision, yet? Not for any discernible rational reasons. Here are five unpleasant reasons that come to mind.

First, after declaring his intentions to name a “woman” to the ticket, Biden then named a man; a 76- old white, male and one-time Connecticut Senator, Chris Dodd to lead the search. The biggest reason given, “trust.” They have been bosom buddies for 30 years.

Herein, lies the problem. The country has changed. Connecticut is not representative. Chris Dodd is not representative. Even Joe Biden is not representative.

Women make up the majority of the Democratic voting base and Republican women have swelled those ranks with cross-over voting evidenced by their 2018 contribution to the Democrats historic House gains.

Women are the majority of voters now. Biden can count. But, which woman?

Here is the August 2020 Calendar from the Ocean Beach Green Center – 4862 Voltaire Street, Ocean Beach 92107 – oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com 619-613 5616

Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. August 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th Keep up-to-date on climate issues and Climate Action events. To register email Jon Findley at jon@climatemobsd.org. More info: https://www.facebook.com/SDClimateMobilization

August 6th Thursday 5:30 pm – 7 pm Arab American Studies in Ethnic Studies: a racial justice issue for the Jewish community

August 6th Thursday The Peace Resource Center will be at an online vigil with Campaign Nonviolence on the 75th tragedy of the Hiroshima bombing.

August 7th Friday 4 pm First Friday Monthly Meeting Green New Deal at UCSD On Zoom –

August 8th Saturday 12 pm – 3 pm March to Free Them All- Shutdown Otay Mesa Detention Center Waterfront Park 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego 92101 A rally and march to bring home the injustices of immigrant incarceration as a first step to shutting down the Otay concentration camp and abolishing the carceral state.

The Board Will Also Review “Improvements” to Spray Street Park and Proposed Round-About on W. Pt. Loma

This Wednesday, August 5, the Ocean Beach Planning Board will hold its online meeting at 6 pm via WebEx and requires pre-registration (see below).

First up on its agenda is an informational item where the Board will hear about the upcoming round-about on West Point Loma Blvd and other ADA improvements. Also the volunteer panel will review recommendations from a Park Ad Hoc sub-committee on improved amenities at Spray Street Park or the grassy area next to Dog Beach parking lot.

The big ticket item on its agenda is a review of the Board sub-committee’s recommendations on short term vacation rentals (STVRs). In response to Councilwoman Campbell’s recent “compromise” proposal on STVRs, the Planning Board formed an Ad Hoc sub-committee which has come up with a number of recommendations for the full Board to consider.

The motion that passed in the subcommittee is as follows – note that this was not a recommendation to vote for or against the proposal – :

Rubio’s Coastal Grill
3556 Rosecrans St.
Suite 101B
San Diego, CA 92110
619-223-2631

My First Review in Many Months and It Isn’t a Good One

By Judi Curry

Because of Covid-19, I had elected not to eat at any of the outside restaurants, nor have any food delivered to the house. Since I am in the vulnerable age group I felt it was safer to just stay at home and try different recipes for my 4th cookbook. I have pretty much followed that routine until yesterday. What changed my mind?

The other day was “National Avocado Day”! I love avocados. In fact, I have two productive avocado trees in my back yard, but they are not yet ready for picking. “Rubio’s” had a promo of “free chips and guacamole” if you purchased other items. How could I turn that down? (I make a wicked guacamole; Hugo’s makes a good one also. Do not like the one at Sunnies because it is too salty for me.) Since I received the notice about the “freebie” earlier in the week I found myself edging closer and closer to ordering on-line and having it delivered.

By Jim Miller

“It’s alright. We’re all dying.”

This is the feeling I get while consuming American media and walking the streets of downtown San Diego in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. I said these words to myself the other day as I made my way around a pack of maskless tourists by the harbor, heedlessly ignoring any need to be concerned about their health or that of anyone else’s.

On this particular date, we were experiencing what was a record number of new COVID-19 cases but that was no reason to interfere with vacation nation. We’re all dying, but it’s alright.

That was the refrain in Michael Ventura’s classic 1980s essay, “Report from El Dorado,” where he brilliantly outlined American media’s schizophrenic character. As Ventura puts it:

Media keeps saying, “It’s all right” while being fixated upon the violent, the chaotic, and the terrifying. So the production of media becomes more and more schizoid, with two messages simultaneously being broadcast: “It’s all right. We’re dying. It’s all right. We’re all dying.” The other crucial message — “We’re dying” — runs right alongside “It’s all right.”