August 2023

San Diego Mainstream Media Parrot City’s Account of Homeless Camp Site

August 10, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

On Monday, August 7, The Rag requested a tour of the city’s “hot lot” camping site at the City Operations facility as a follow up on The Rag’s two previous stories about the site. Some of the media had previously requested a site visit but had been rebuffed on privacy grounds. The Rag decided to try anyway.

Three hours after the email requesting the tour, the city responded informing The Rag about a media event scheduled for the next day, Tuesday, August 8. A link was provided that brought up an invitation for the media to tour the site. It was dated the same day as The Rag’s email, Monday, August 7.

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Your Favorite Beach Might Be Eroding

August 9, 2023 by Source

By Zayna Syed / Popular Science / Aug 7, 2023

While most people think of the beach as a place to relax, it has always served a more purposeful role: a buffer against storms. It’s a role that will become even more important as climate change continues to disrupt nature’s delicate balance, inciting sea level rise and stronger, more frequent storms on the coasts.

But those living right along the shore may soon find themselves without as much of a cushion, as coastal erosion diminishes or displaces major beaches.

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Vacation Rentals Turn 100’s of San Diego Apartment Buildings into Pseudo Hotels

August 9, 2023 by Source

The city of San Diego’s ordinance allows property owners to list entire buildings as vacation rentals

By Alexis Rivas, Mike Dorfman, Meredith Royster and Jay Yoo / 7SanDiego / August 8, 2023

In the thick of a housing and homelessness crisis, hundreds of San Diego apartments are off the market – off limits to San Diegans and set aside for tourists.

Those units are listed on short-term vacation rental sites, and allowed under the city’s Short Term Residential Occupancy ordinance.

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Slavery Was a Sin Against Humanity

August 8, 2023 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

There’s an unsound
idea going around
that slavery
benefited those held in bondage
by giving them the opportunity
to learn trades
like blacksmithing
and carpentry
and whatnot.
And in some places
there are intentions to teach this sham
about slavery being a “Job Skills Program”

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San Diego’s Surveillance Street Lights and License Plate Readers — Answers to Questions That Lead to More Questions

August 8, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

On Monday, August 7, the Union-Tribune published writer Lyndsay Winkley’s ‘question and answer’ piece about the new high-tech smart street lights and license plate readers that will be installed soon in San Diego.

It was entitled, “Much of San Diego will soon be surveilled by a network of police cameras. Here’s what you should know.” (It’s a subscriber-only piece and we cannot link to it.) We’ll attempt a summary of the “some answers to those queries and others” Winkley writes.

Where will the cameras go?

The official line is that “the cameras are slated to be placed across the city — from Rancho Bernardo to San Ysidro,” in every council district, and “many” will be “located along freeways and main thoroughfares.”

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Tethers: The Touch of Someone Who Cares

August 8, 2023 by Source

By Joni Halpern

In times of great turmoil and great division among humanity, there is always the argument that it is human nature for us eventually to act in ways that destroy each other and every good thing we have ever built, whether tangible constructs like buildings or intangible ones like good will.

A practicing psychologist I know who listens daily and empathetically to the pain of others seems to take the opposite view. She believes that most human beings desire to be decent, even good.

People who act badly toward their fellow humans lack the ties that bind us to each other,

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OB Rag Refutes Mayor Gloria’s Tent Count at ‘Hot Lot’

August 7, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

The OB Rag is refuting Mayor Gloria’s count of the number of tents at San Diego’s official homeless encampment, otherwise known as the city’s “first safe sleeping site” or “hot lot.”

Last Wednesday, August 2, the Rag posted reporter Geoff Page’s account of his “revisit” on Tuesday, Aug. 1 to the city operations yard at B and 20th. He wasn’t allowed inside — as no media have — so had to rely on views of the encampment from the hill just to its east. Page reported that there were 55+ tents altogether.

Then Mayor Gloria announced on Thursday that as of Wednesday night, August 2, 111 people slept at the site and were staying “in 93 tents,”

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Oppenheimer and the Atom-Bomb: Part 2

August 7, 2023 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

Part 1 of this series addressed the popularity and the consequences of the two iconic figures featured in the two movies: “Barbie” (a plastic doll) and “Oppenheimer” (physicist and “Father of the A-Bomb).

“One movie hilarious and fun while being cartoonishly clever (Barbie).  The other darker, more deadly, but equally as relevant today.  Both popular. And remain so.  Barbie crossed the $1 billion box office mark over the weekend.  Still #1.  While Oppenheimer fights to hold second place.

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Ocean Beach Pier Jump Fundraiser — Monday, Aug. 7

August 7, 2023 by Staff

The Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego is holding its second Ocean Beach Pier Jump Fundraiser – today, Monday, Aug. 7 from 7:30 AM to 4 PM. There is a $150 minimum donation/ticket purchase for each participant.

The public is invited to join the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego and the San Diego Junior Lifeguards at the OB Pier Jump!

Important Jump Information:

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OB Planning Board Nixes Roundabout at Bacon and Brighton

August 4, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The clear highlight of the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s monthly meeting August 2 was the board, and the attending public, driving a stake into the heart of the Bacon Street roundabout proposal. If the city is true to its word, that idea is dead. We’ll see.

Bacon Street and Brighton Ave. Roundabout

The proposal for a roundabout at Bacon and Brighton came before the OBPB in May. It came back in June . The third time Wednesday was not the charm.

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Sunset Cliffs Watch Group Brings Neighbors Together – Many for the First Time

August 4, 2023 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

Many years ago the Neighborhood Watch group was quite active in the Sunset Cliffs South area.  It was started not because of crime in the neighborhood, but to allow neighbors to meet each other and share the wonderful neighborhood we live in.

Over the years the residents of the area have changed, and it has been years since there was an active “Neighborhood Watch” in this area.

Enter Rosamaria Acuna and Gary Werchak, concerned home owners in the neighborhood

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San Diego Planning Commission Votes Unanimously Against Senate Bill 10

August 4, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

On Thursday, August 3, the San Diego Planning Commission unanimously voted against Senate Bill 10. Although the Commission’s vote is only a recommendation for the city council, Mayor Gloria’s office confirmed after the vote that it will not be pushing for Senate Bill 10 to be part of the housing package going forward.

Other elements of Gloria’s sweeping Housing Action Package 2.0 were approved, such as converting unused land for housing, extending building permit times, eliminating parking requirements in many projects and making it easier to build off-campus housing.

Planning Commission chair William Hofman stated:

“In my opinion, SB 10 is not the right way to go.”

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Retaining Wall Proposed for Ocean Front Street Residence in South OB

August 3, 2023 by Staff

A cliff side retaining wall with concrete piers is being proposed for 1409 Ocean Front Street in South OB by the owners.

The city’s Development Services Department issued a Notice of Application on July 28 that an application has been filed with the city “for the construction of a secant pile retaining wall which would include placing concrete to form piers and a retaining wall for reinforcement.”

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The Rag Revisits Gloria’s ‘Hot Lot’ Homeless Encampment

August 3, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

It has been three weeks since The Rag’s story on the city’s homeless encampment at the city’s Central Operations Station. The hot lot. A return visit was in order to see if the facility was doing any better after all of the criticism in the media. Sadly, not much better at all.

There have been changes. During the last visit, the facility consisted a large fenced area with one interior fence. There was a large area for tents and a small area for a trailer, restrooms and wash stands. The trailer appears to be an office.

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Finally! Trump Indicted for His Coup Attempt – This Is the ‘Most Important Criminal Prosecution in American History’

August 2, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

Finally, the Department of Justice has indicted Trump for his coup attempts, which included of course the armed insurrection and attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021. The indictments also cover his and his cronies’ other efforts to overturn the election in various states.

No where in the indictment is the word “coup,” but we know what he did — we witnessed it on live television.

It was a federal grand jury that indicted Trump on Tuesday, August 1, for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Six unnamed co-conspirators were also indicted. Trump is charged with four counts:

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The San Diego Police Union’s Misleading Attack Ads Against Montgomery Steppe in Special County Board Election

August 2, 2023 by Source

Reporter Jill Castellano at inewsource has written that the San Diego Police Officers Association and a group sponsored by County Deputy DAs have published misleading attack ads against Monica Montgomery Steppe, a candidate in the upcoming San Diego County Board of Supervisors special election on Aug. 15.

She reports that “Law enforcement unions have funneled more than $160,000” into the race. Their ads claim Montgomery Steppe, a Black woman, is a threat to public safety.

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The Twists and Turns of Mayor Gloria Over Smart Streetlights and Homelessness

August 2, 2023 by Source

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune /July 30, 2023

A political heat dome is hovering over Mayor Todd Gloria on a couple of fronts. The mayor is supporting smart streetlights, with cameras and license plate reading technology, but has faced the ire of some privacy advocates, who point to his earlier comments about reining in use of surveillance tools.

Similarly, Gloria has been hounded about his approach to homelessness since almost the beginning of his administration two and a half years ago.

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Majority of City Council Approves Police Surveillance Tools — Smart Streetlights and License Plate Readers Getting Ready to Be Installed

August 2, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

In two separate votes, the San Diego City Council approved the Police Department’s smart streetlights and automated license plate readers proposals on Tuesday, August 1.

Seven council members voted in favor of the cameras, with Monica Montgomery Steppe and Sean Elo-Rivera voting no, and six council members voted for the license plate readers with Montgomery Steppe, Elo-Rivera and Vivian Moreno voting no.

These votes now authorize SDPD to obtain contracts with Ubiquia, a telecommunications company, for the cameras, and Flock Safety, for the license plate readers. Once the contracts are approved, police can install the network of 500 cameras –all equipped with automated license plate reader technology.

There are a few points worth emphasizing:

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Everyone’s Invited to Showdown Over SB10 at San Diego Planning Commission — Thursday, August 3

August 1, 2023 by Source

Here’s How to Make Your Opinion Known

The San Diego Planning Commission is reviewing Senate Bill 10 for the second time on Thursday, August 3rd at 9 AM and the Agenda has been posted.

It’s time to make your opinion known!

BEFORE THURSDAY: Use the PUBLIC COMMENT WEBFORM to get your opinion into the Planning Commission record no later than 7 am on Thursday, August 3rd.

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August 2023 Events from the Ocean Beach Green Center

August 1, 2023 by Source

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise

Every Saturday 10:30 am. Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings  August 26th.

August 24th Thursday 7 pm Nat Talk: Three Parks, Three Stories by San Diego Natural History Museum

August 26th Saturday 10 am – 1 pm Health & Healing Summerfest

August 26th 10 am – 11:30 am County LWV Day: Permanent Housing Solutions by League of Women Voters

August 31st Thursday 7 pm – 10 pm Farm Film & Music Series Coastal Roots Farm

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Goliath, Meet David

August 1, 2023 by Source

Roll up for Cannabis Social Equity

By Terrie Best

Big cannabis and social justice are having a showdown and it’s not pretty. Nor is it helpful to the most vulnerable citizens in our city – the sick and dying patients who use cannabis to improve their quality of life and those under-served and over-policed communities so wounded they require a whole renaissance of repair.

Rooting out inequity in public policy is part of San Diego’s Strategic Plan. Under the “Foster Regional Prosperity” portion it states:

Increase access to opportunities for ownership of and employment in small, locally owned businesses, as well as key industries.

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OB Planning Board Agenda: 5 ADUs for Review, Plus Updates on Bacon St. Roundabouts and the OB Pier Project — Wed., Aug.2

August 1, 2023 by Staff

The OB Planning Board has two action items on its Wednesday night agenda. The first one is a permit to construct 3 ADUs at 2171 Abbott Street over an existing commercial building, and the second one is a permit to demolish 2 units at 4732 Del Monte and construct 2 ADUs. That’s a total of 5 ADUs up for consideration.

Also on the agenda is an update on the OB Pier and on the proposed two roundabouts on Bacon Street.

The Board meets at 6 pm at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

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