One of the greatest social events of the year in Ocean Beach is coming right up next Saturday, September 21st. It’s the annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast hosted by your OB Town Council. It’s actually the 21st Annual gig.

For the price of a ticket, you get a wonderful breakfast and nosh it down right over the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Plus it’s an event that mainly locals attend and you’ll get to chat with people who love this town. Not only that – but given that this is an election season – there will probably be a number of politicians showing up to show their shiny faces as they know this an important social get-together.

And there’s more! The proceeds from this breakfast go to benefit the OB Food and Toy Drive,

Flowers have been left near the site where a young, 15-year old boy from Sweetwater High School died Wednesday, September 11 at Sunset Cliffs. The teenager was pulled from the ocean after he had reportedly been underwater for nearly an hour.

Anthony Womack had been jumping with friends at the cliffs between Adair and Osprey streets, a favorite jumping spot, popularized on social media. The jump is at least twenty feet.

Rescuers responded after being called at 10 a.m. with a report of a teenager struggling in the water. Womack was finally found in the water after lifeguards searched on a boat and watercrafts for almost an hour.

If you’ve ever been to one of the breakfasts that the OB Town Council puts on at their annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast event, you know how wonderful the food is and what a social scene it is. It’s definitely one of OB’s great social events of the year. Plus – you’re having your food while sitting over the ocean.
This year’s event on September 21 – actually the “21st Annual Pancake Breakfast” – is on schedule. But you know what – the folks who are organizing this gig, your town council board members – need help. They need volunteers.

When it came time for the applicants of a Coastal Development Permit to construct a new 3-story residence with decks and a new detached 2-story guest quarters on an empty lot at 4744 Cape May Avenue to appear before the OB Planning Board at Wednesday night’s meeting – planners had a case of deja vue.

The applicants – Alan and Nancy – had appeared before the Board earlier – they were in front of the Project Review Committee (a sub-committee of the entire board, which usually makes recommendations on projects), back on December 19, 2018. Here is our report from the Project Review Committee’s review of that project:

Owners of 4744 Cape May Ave Requested to Return to the Drawing Board

Thank you Ocean Beach and Point Loma! We made our fundraising goal of $2,000 – thanks to all the donations. The OB Rag is assured to be able to operate for another year.

We had 35 donations come in since last week – 25 of them from Ocean Beach and Point Loma residents.

Early September – after Labor Day is when Ocean Beach gets back to “normal” and locals breathe a sigh of relief; the tourists and visitors are gone and the community returns to some kind of normalcy.

And it has returned – the Seasonal “ahhhh”.

This morning, the parks and fields were empty. The streets were mellow – no long lines of cars at the stop signs. Less pedestrians with cameras around their necks, less people packing up their vehicles from their short-term vacation rental stay. I saw only 3 plates from out-of-state and one of the cars had an OB sticker on the back windshield.

10 Reasons to Support the OB Rag

It’s that time again – time for the annual OB Rag fundraising campaign to begin.

Now in our 12th year as an online newspaper for the Ocean Beach and Point Loma communities, we’ve largely been able to continue publishing because of donations from readers and supporters.

So …. we’re asking readers to go to the top of the home page and click on the PayPal logo and make a donation. We’re aiming to raise $2,000 over this next week. If achieved, that will enable us to continue to be “the conscience of OB” as that TV muckraker Michal Tucko once said for another year.

O you can donate to us the traditional way, by mailing it to us at our post office box (OB Rag, PO Box 7012, Ocean Beach, CA 92167).

Here’s Ten Reasons to Support the OB Rag:

Red flags are being raised by neighbors about what is going on at the “rehab” of the Ebers – Greene project.

The most noticeable thing there is the three-layered monstrosity is gone and all that’s left is a concrete slab and part of a section of the wall – and the old house on the lot, of course.

Neighbors could not help but notice workers in the old house – which has asbestos according to long-time observers of the saga of this project. The workers were without masks or other protective gear. Why should they wear anything? Reportedly, the asbestos expert the contractor hired says there’s no asbestos inside the old building.

The plans are to tear into the old place and convert it into a garage off the alley. The other red flag is

We’re now in our third day of our annual summer fund-raising campaign and we’ve raised $885 – which is just a smidgen from the half-way point of our goal of $2,000. We do this every year because we do have bills to pay – and obviously we’re not part of the mainstream media.

But we have been the online newspaper for Ocean Beach and Point Loma and now we’re in our 12th year. And we’re funded by our readers and supporters, primarily.

So, dear Reader, we’re asking you to go to the top of the home page and click on the PayPal logo and make a donation. Or you can donate to us the traditional way, by mailing it to us at our post office box (OB Rag, PO Box 7012, Ocean Beach, CA 92167). Besides the 10 Reasons to donate to the OB Rag we posted on Monday, if you still a reason, consider these:

The 2020 Census is right around the corner. Our community has to be ready to be counted in order for us to receive our fair share of federal funding and representation.

Join the OB Town Council at their Public meeting on Wednesday, August 28th at 7:00pm and come ready to learn, ask questions, and interact with Alex Aguilar, a Partnerships Specialist from the U.S. Census Bureau.The Ocean Beach Town Council holds it monthly public meeting from 7:00 – 8:30pm. The meeting is held at the Masonic Lodge at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Regular speakers include representatives of local, County and State politicians, reps from fire fighters and life guards and law enforcement.

A brand new network of local OBceans called the Save Bermuda Beach group held their “kick-off” event this past Sunday, August 25 – down at – of all places – the foot of Bermuda Street, where the stairs have been damaged.

The goal of the group is to mobilize neighbors and other locals to pressure the City of San Diego to repair the stairs that lead to a small, popular beach.

The access stairs to the beach were damaged by a winter storm in early 2016 and the public access has been closed since then.

A special meeting has been called by the Peninsula Community Planning Board to review the future of the property at Famosa and Nimitz Boulevards and to allow a community discussion. The meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 28 at the Point Loma Library / Hervey Branch Library located at 3701 Voltaire Street. The meeting will be from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Background from the PCPB:

Famosa and Nimitz Boulevards Property (Site 428)

The San Diego Housing Commission released a memorandum on July 2, 2019 regarding the Feasibility study completed for the property and furthermore stated they will release an RFP (Request for Proposals) within 60 days to obtain proposals from developers for a potential affordable rental housing development at the site.