Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

Judge Rules SB9 Is Unconstitutional

by Source on April 30, 2024 · 14 comments

in California, Ocean Beach, San Diego

By Liam Dillon / LA Times – Yahoo News / Mon, April 29, 2024

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ruled that a landmark law ending single-family-home-only zoning in California is unconstitutional, a decision that could lead to the law being invalidated in the state’s largest cities.

Judge Curtis Kin determined that Senate Bill 9 does not provide housing restricted for low-income residents and therefore cannot override state constitutional protections afforded to local zoning practices.

“Because the provisions of SB 9 are not reasonably related and sufficiently narrowly tailored to the explicit stated purpose of that legislation — namely, to ensure access to affordable housing — SB 9 cannot stand,” Kin wrote in a April 22 ruling.

Kin’s decision now applies to the five Southern California cities — Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, Whittier and Del Mar — that challenged SB 9, which passed in 2021. If his ruling is appealed and upheld, it would affect 121 communities known as “charter cities,” including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, that have greater autonomy under state law.

14 comments

City Conducts ‘Survey’ on New Ocean Beach Pier Design But It’s a Waste of Time

by Source on April 30, 2024 · 5 comments

in Ocean Beach

COST TO BUILD??? COST TO MAINTAIN??? WTF???

By Geoff Page

For anyone who may not be aware, the City is conducting a fourth survey of opinions about a new OB pier. This survey followed the last public workshop the city held on Saturday, April 6 at Liberty Station.

So, imagine going to a car dealer who brings you out three cars to look at: a VW Bug, a Ford RAV, and a full sized, four-door, black BMW sedan, with no pricing on them, and being asked, which one you “preferred.” The BMW would be the winner for sure.

Then, the dealer shows you a list of fancy options and asks which ones you ‘prefer” and you go for heated seats of fine leather and other unnecessary niceties, with no pricing.

This is how the City of San Diego settled on the most expensive new pier design — it is a preference based only on its fancy look. This is how the city is now offering “options” to the public, based on “preferences.”

5 comments

Jellyfish-Like Blobs Washing Ashore in SoCal

by Source on April 30, 2024 · 0 comments

in California, Environment, Ocean Beach

by Amber Coakley / April 27, 2024

There’s some bizarre sea creatures washing ashore along the Southern California coastline.

They can be described as jellyfish-like blobs that are shaped like oval discs. Known as Velella velellas, this marine species lives on the surface of the open ocean.

With other names like sea raft, purple sail, little sail and by-the-wind sailor, this sea creature has a “sail” rising vertically from the center of its bodies.

Jessica Rodriguez, the education and communications manager at a popular whale watching tour agency in Newport Beach, California, said velella velellas are not always around.

Be the first to comment

The Port of San Diego Versus Assemblyman David Alvarez

by Source on April 30, 2024 · 0 comments

in San Diego

By Greg Moran /inewsource / April 24, 2024

San Diego Port District commissioners dug in harder against a bill pending in the state Legislature that would require ethics and governance changes to the agency, saying they would support it so long as large sections were cut and several amendments included.

At a special meeting Monday afternoon the commissioners voted 6-1 to oppose AB 2783, a bill from San Diego Assemblymember David Alvarez, unless changes covering funding, ethics reform and governance of the board were adopted.

Be the first to comment

The Magic Gardens of Del Mar Avenue in Ocean Beach

by Source on April 30, 2024 · 0 comments

in Environment, Ocean Beach

Be the first to comment

Did You Know There’s a Free Shuttle to the Airport From the Old Town Transit Center?

April 30, 2024 by Source

Public Service Announcement

By David Garrick / SD U-T/ April 28, 2024

Ridership is surging on a free airport shuttle from the Old Town Transit Center, showing growing local demand for the more direct airport-transit connection that regional planners have been studying for years.

Despite no marketing campaign and minimal promotion, annual ridership rose by 73 percent on the shuttle from 2022 to 2023 — 75,680 passenger trips in 2022 versus 130,912 passenger trips in 2023.

Belmont Park Upgrades … Again

April 29, 2024 by Staff

Last week, U-T writer Lori Weisberg did a lengthy piece about the new “overhaul” for Belmont Park that “could bring new rides and reinvented beachfront restaurant” to the hundred year old amusement park in Mission Beach.

She recounted in glowing terms the new rides, new restaurants and attractions Belmont Park is –or will be getting once Coastal Com’ish authority is obtained.

It’s always been a challenge to lure those “sunbathers and passersby strolling the boardwalk to venture inside.” And every decade or so, owners of the park engage in a new overhaul with new upgrades, rides, bars and eateries.

Why it was just a decade ago — that Weisberg did another glowing report on the “new” Belmont Park back in September 2014

Map: Arrests at University Protests Across U.S.

April 29, 2024 by Source

As pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on college campuses nationwide, protesters — including students and faculty — have been arrested. The protests grew after an encampment on the campus of Columbia University in New York City led to the arrest of more than 100 protesters on April 18.

Read the full article → 20 comments

‘Bar-Food’: New Burger Joint in Ocean Beach

April 29, 2024 by Source

There’s a new burger joint in OB — Wow! Really? Aren’t there too many in OB already?

Well, this one is called “Bar-Food” and it’s different. It is open seven days a week from noon to 2 a.m and can be found at 5026 Newport Ave.

Here’s more why it’s different from Fox5:

When you walk through the doors of this Ocean Beach burger joint, you’ll be swept away by a punk rock 90s vibe. There’s Thrasher magazines plastered on the walls, gleaming neon purple under black lights. Skateboards are lined up in an edgy décor accompanied by rows of stickers displaying alternative art and tweaked characters of familiar cartoons. There’s even a red landline phone that’s used to take orders.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Justices Play a Game of Kick the Can

April 29, 2024 by Source

‘So What If the Sports Arena Is Designated Historic?’

April 29, 2024 by Source

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 24, 2024

San Diego International Sports Arena, the imposing concrete venue in the Midway District and the longtime home of the San Diego Gulls, is worthy of special recognition ahead of its expected demolition. On Thursday, San Diego’s Historical Resources Board voted unanimously, with Chair Tim Hutter recused, to designate the 58-year-old sports arena as a historic resource.

The action, which does not prohibit demolition, officially recognizes the arena in three areas: it’s role in remaking the Midway District into a commercial hub after World War II, its association with a local sports legend and its New Formalism architectural style. The property will be added to the local register of designated historical resources.

Read the full article → 2 comments

San Diego Police to Enforce Narrow Limits of San Diego’s Vehicle Habitation Ordinance

April 29, 2024 by Source

The San Diego City Council recently approved a nearly $3.2 million settlement in a federal lawsuit case, Michael Bloom, et al. v. City of San Diego, which challenged the existing Vehicle Habitation Ordinance. The settlement set new rules for how the City is allowed to enforce its ordinances against unhoused people who sleep in their vehicles or RVs during a three-year period.

VEHICLE HABITATION ORDINANCE

City Municipal Code Section 86.0137 prohibits the use of streets for storage, service, or sale of vehicles or for habitation stating: It is unlawful for any person to use a vehicle for human habitation on any street or public property, unless specifically authorized for such use by the city manager:

between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
At any time within 500 feet of a residence or building used for living including a house, condo, apartment, or similar dwelling.
At any time within 500 feet of a school, not including a community or junior college, college, or university.

Read the full article → 6 comments

New Trail Opens at Cabrillo National Monument

April 29, 2024 by Source

by Joaquin Antique

After years of planning and one year of construction, a new hiking trail has opened at Cabrillo National Monument. Named “the Oceanside Trail”, it is an approximately 0.7 mile (one way) dirt and gravel pathway that leads from the whale watching overlook near the Old Lighthouse down a series of switchbacks and stairs to the start of the Coastal Trail near the Monument’s tidepools.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Scripps’ Study of 2020 Red Tide IDs Low Oxygen as Major Factor in Mass Fish Die-Offs

April 25, 2024 by Source

By Brittany Hook / Scripps – UCSD / April 25, 2024

In the spring of 2020, a historic red tide event occurred in waters off Southern California. Driven by a bloom of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedra, this event brought nighttime displays of bioluminescence to beaches along the coast, from Baja California to Santa Barbara. While the bloom gained international attention for its stunning visual displays, it also had significant negative impacts, including mass mortality among fish and other marine organisms.

OB Lifeguard Fights to Keep Leg After Serious Injury Surfing in Nicaragua

April 25, 2024 by Source

By Chas Smith / Beach Grit / April 24, 2024

A San Diego lifeguard is back home after nearly losing his life while surfing Nicaragua. Todd Rice, 23, was in the Central American country enjoying a fine pulse of swell when a panga ran him over deeply cutting his leg. The hit nearly caused Rice to lose consciousness but he mustered the internal fortitude to fashion a tourniquet from his leash and control the bleeding until help arrived.

A Silence Regarding Arab and Jewish Students That Needs to be Broken

April 25, 2024 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

The war between Israelis and Palestinians is affecting Arab and Jewish students in our schools, requiring educators to tend to the learning and emotional needs of both groups of young people.

But many Arab students claim that they aren’t getting the amount of attention that their Jewish counterparts are receiving. These students took part in a focus group as part of a study conducted by a doctoral student who is from the local Arab American community.

Students say they’re feeling alone, unheard, extremely uncomfortable with the way the armed conflict in Gaza is discussed on their campuses.

Read the full article → 12 comments

California Court Rules Against Pro-Density SB9

April 25, 2024 by Source

By Braden Cartwright / Daily Post -Palo Alto / April 24, 2024

Cities that are against state housing mandates have won their lawsuit against the state of California that challenged a controversial law allowing four homes on properties where only one home had been allowed before. The ruling means that Senate Bill 9 has been invalidated in charter cities, including Palo Alto, according to the lawyer who won the lawsuit.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” said attorney Pam Lee, who represented five Southern California cities against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Read the full article → 6 comments

SDG&E Unions Versus Public Power Advocates

April 25, 2024 by Source

by MacKenzie Elmer / Voice of San Diego / April 22, 2024

The ongoing war between public power proponents and San Diego Gas & Electric looked more like a battle between the municipalization advocates and union labor Thursday [April 18].

Each team’s respective poster-bearing players – with signs that read either “fire SG&E” or “municipalization is union busting” — took turns encumbering the live feed webcast of the City Council Rules Committee’s public comment period. But almost no one from a labor union spoke in favor of the proposed government takeover of the energy grid. Proponents had hoped the City Council would consider putting up a ballot measure and spare them the burden of collecting signatures.

Read the full article → 2 comments

A View of San Diego’s Homeless ‘Solutions’ From Los Angeles — Mega Shelters and Camping Bans

April 25, 2024 by Source

By Ryan Fonseca / Los Angeles Times / April 24, 2024

‘Managing mode, not solutions mode’

San Diego’s mayor created a department in 2021 to find solutions to the homelessness crisis, signaling a new direction. It hasn’t made things better. The city’s homelessness count increased 35% from 2022 to 2023. Nearly half of the unsheltered people counted were considered chronically homeless.

Homeless deaths increased about 135% over five years, up to at least 624 last year, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office. For every 10 people who find housing in San Diego, 13 people become homeless for the first time, says a 2022 report by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness.

Point Loma Garden Walk to Benefit Rady Children’s Hospital — Saturday, April 27

April 24, 2024 by Source

Point Loma’s Remarkable Rosecroft Gardens

April 24, 2024 by Source

By Eric Duvall / Pt Loma-OB Monthly / April 16, 2024

“See that big old tree,” Scotty Hunter would say as he regaled his cronies. “Teddy Roosevelt planted that tree.”

Quite a claim, you’ll agree. The fact that the great Afrocarpus gracilior, or African fern pine, stood in a shady section of Point Loma’s Wooded Area made that pronouncement even more remarkable.

Tall tale? The big tree certainly was tall. True story? Not really, no.

Earth Day 2024: ‘The War Against the Greens’ Is Expanding!

April 24, 2024 by Source

By David Helvarg / Daily Kos / April 22, 2024

The rightwing Heritage Foundation has written “Project 2025,” a plan for what it hopes will be a second Trump administration. The plan calls for rapidly expanding fossil fuel emissions and includes a chapter on opening up the Department of Interior’s lands to mineral mining and oil drilling written by Wise Use veteran, William Perry Pendley.

30 years ago, I wrote a widely-read book, ‘The War Against the Greens,’ describing how a “populist” backlash against environmental laws and violence against grassroots activists was ginned up by western public lands corporations seeking to defend their federal subsidies in mining, logging and cattle grazing.

Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free Speech

April 24, 2024 by Source

By Gary Robbins / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 20, 2024

A decision by Point Loma Nazarene University to limit the screening of a documentary about the Bible and homosexuality has angered students who say the move was disrespectful to the gay community and is having a chilling effect on free speech and academic inquiry.

The outcry is the latest in a series of controversies that have strained relations between the small, private Christian school above Sunset Cliffs and members and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community.

Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community Democracy

April 24, 2024 by Source

by Crystal Niebla /inewsource / April 24, 2024

Nearly two years after the city of San Diego changed longstanding policy to begin requiring community planning groups to pay for appeals, the groups’ leaders say the $1,000 fee has proven to be a barrier to fight against projects they oppose.

The appeals process allows anyone to challenge approved projects if they believe there are factual errors, new information, unsupported findings or conflicts with a city plan or rule.

Read the full article → 8 comments

Adam Avenues Unplugged — Saturday, April 27

April 23, 2024 by Source

Read the full article → 2 comments

PLNU Administration Pulls Film on Homosexuality at Last Minute

April 23, 2024 by Source

Student Host Group Forced to Show Film at Much Smaller Venue

By Charis Johnston / LomaBeat.com / April 1, 2024

Voices of Love (VOL), a Point Loma Nazarene University student group that provides community for LGBTQIA+ students, had been told by their faculty and staff advisors that they followed the guidelines to host an all-campus showing of the film “1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture,” which discusses an alleged mistranslation responsible for the Christian condemnation of homosexuality.

Despite the event initially being approved by Jake Gilbertson, dean of students and faculty advisor to VOL, it was canceled by Mary Paul, vice president of PLNU’s Office of Student Life and Formation (SLAF) and Gilbertson, on April 1.

Reader Rant: ‘Why I’m Breaking Up With Cox Communications’

April 23, 2024 by Source

By Kate Callen

When I felt stuck in a fractured romance just after college, a wise friend told me: If you walk out now, tomorrow is a new day. If you stay, tomorrow is the same day.
I want tomorrow to be a new day. That’s why I’m breaking up with Cox Communications.

Doomed affairs often languish until one final transgression breaks the glass. For legions of Cox customers in San Diego, that break may have come with the wholesale dumping of Cox email accounts into unwanted Yahoo email accounts.

Read the full article → 5 comments

Friends of OB Library Newsletter April-May 2024

April 22, 2024 by Source

California Leaders Take Sides in ‘Most Important Supreme Court Case on Homelessness in 40 Years’

April 22, 2024 by Source

by Marisa Kendall / Cal-Matters /April 18, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court is about to hear the biggest case about homelessness in decades, and it seems like everyone in California has an opinion. At issue: whether and under what conditions cities can fine or arrest people for camping in public spaces. The ruling will have nationwide implications for how local leaders manage homeless encampments.