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Easter Protest at SeaWorld San Diego

April 22, 2014 by Source
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By Zach Affolter / Special to the OB Rag

A group of 80-100 protesters stood just outside SeaWorld California on Easter, April 20, lining the edges of the sidewalk from the lights directing the cars to a distance stretching farther than a SeaWorld tank could ever hope to reach. The bushes just outside the chain-link fences of the park were littered with plastic bags and discarded trash. A few protesters looked at the filth in disgust.

A few others, just joining the group, walked over with a red light glaring above them to grab a sign, hoping the words would awaken passersby. As the light changed to green, cars whizzed on by, obeying the command.

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“If I could sit down with SeaWorld executives, I would share my vision …”

April 2, 2014 by Source
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By Cara Wilson-Granat

If I could sit down with the Sea World executives, I would share my vision for their new park.

Since I’m an incurable optimist I believe that wishes do in time come true. I’ve dedicated my life to talking and writing about the power of hope — even when all seems so hopeless. Indeed, one of the most famous Holocaust survivors was the one who told me that “Even if the end of the world would be imminent, you still plant a tree today.” Those words were expressed to me years ago by the father of Anne Frank, Otto Frank. He gave me hope as he did a worldwide global family.

So surrounded by others who are strong believers in seeing a harmonious world for orcas, dolphins, indeed, all captive beings I appeal to Sea World to “sea” your next 50 years as the one we all wish to celebrate.

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SeaWorld Plans New Roller Coaster – Requires Excavation of 24 Feet

February 9, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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SeaWorld in San Diego is announcing today, according to the San Diego U-T, that it plans a real roller coaster at the park for next year, 2012. The ride will include a 54-foot drop which will require an excavation of 24 feet because of the 30-foot height limit. And SeaWorld says its new “Manta” ride […]

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What Does “One Paseo” Have to Do With Ocean Beach?

April 6, 2015 by Source
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OB Planning Board Takes a Stand Against Carmel Valley Project

By Lois Lane

On Wednesday, April 1, the Ocean Beach Planning Board had a somewhat mystifying item on the agenda when the opposition to One Paseo, a Carmel Valley project, requested a slot. One Paseo lies in the Northern reaches of the City of San Diego, not quite to Del Mar, at Del Mar Heights Road and El Camino Real. This project was described by Jeff Powers as the largest mixed used project in California without public transit – 608 units.

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Orca Profiles in Captivity: No. 3 of the San Diego 10

April 25, 2014 by Source
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Third in a Series

By Cara Wilson-Granat

“Lots of people talk to animals. Not very many listen, though. That’s the problem.” –Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

This is the third in a series of ten in which we meet one of the San Diego 10 orcas and hear from an advocate who continues to be one of the voices of these imprisoned voiceless, never stopping until the whole world listens. (Here is Orca Profile #1 and #2.)

Prisoner #3: Ulises

Age: About 36

Ulises, the oldest male orca in captivity, and the second largest (the largest being Tilikum, 12k pounds) is also a good candidate for a full return to the ocean. This hefty, Icelandic orca is 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m), weighing 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg). Easily discernible, one can recognize him as not only being the largest captive whale imprisoned in Sea World San Diego, but he has the tallest dorsal; it stands straight up and droops ever so slightly to the right at the top.

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Digging Tunnels Under the 30 Foot Height Limit – Part 1

January 28, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Height Limit Critic Sparks Debate But Important Exemptions Need to Be Acknowledged

This is the first part in a two-part series on the latest debate about the 30 foot height limit.

New Year’s confetti and the champagne glasses used celebrating the end of 2012 – a year that marked the 40th anniversary of the 30 foot height limit in San Diego – had barely been cleaned up when the assault on that height limit began. It all started in a January 3rd Voice of San Diego article questioning any positive attributes of the 30 foot limit.

Not exactly like a “D-Day” type assault, but more like a tunnel being dug – a tunnel designed to undermine the coastal height limit of 1972, writer Andrew Keatts questions the basic character of the height limit, declares that its essential rigidity will be necessarily and periodically questioned by a city yearning to break free, and gives voice to its critics. The critics believe that because of the 30 foot height limits, all kinds of problems plague San Diego, with rents and property values at the coast being too high.

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