NBC7’s Amazing Report on Legal Scam by Michael Mills: Mills, OB Planning Board Members, Evicted Tenants and ‘Hosts’ Interviewed

June 8, 2023 by Source

Editordude: NBC7 just published an amazing investigate report by Alexis Riva on the “host” loophole that has allowed Michael Micky Mills to have 114 licenses for short-term rentals in Ocean Beach alone. It’s such an excellent report that we are compelled to repost it in its entirety and urge readers to watch the NBC7 video that accompanies it.

By Alexis Rivas, Mike Dorfman, Meredith Royster and Jay Yoo / NBC7 / June 7, 2023

On May 1, San Diego’s short term rental occupancy ordinance took effect. The goal was to regulate an industry that’s accused of reducing the number of places people can live and decrease quality-of-life issues that can arise between vacationers and locals. But it appears at least one property owner in Ocean Beach has discovered a loophole that bypasses the spirit of the ordinance.

Each short-term rental license requires a “host.” That person must have the legal right to occupy the unit. A host isn’t allowed to hold more than one license at a time.

But a host isn’t the same thing as the property owner, and NBC 7 Investigates found a single property owner named Michael Mills is connected to 114 short-term rental licenses in Ocean Beach.

NBC 7 Investigates spoke with three of Mills’ tenants at 5188 West Point Loma Blvd, who recently found a letter on their doors giving them 60 days’ notice that their month-to-month leases would not be renewed.

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Large Brawl Involving Bikers Outside Ocean Beach Bar Results in Stabbing and Man Knocked Unconscious – 1 Arrested So Far

June 7, 2023 by Source

San Diego police arrested a motorcycle rider Tuesday night in connection with a large brawl outside a bar in Ocean Beach that ended with one man being stabbed and a second being knocked unconscious.

The incident began when three men — ages 19, 20 and 21 — got in an argument with several bikers outside a bar on Newport Avenue near Bacon Street. The argument turned physical and more people jumped into the fight, with 30 to 40 involved, said police Officer John Buttle said.

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The Story Behind Point Loma’s Main Street: Rosecrans

June 7, 2023 by Source

In most major U.S. cities you will find common street names like Broadway, Market, Oak, Elm, First, Second, etc. But in Southern California, one unique street name found in two cities transcends real history and hip-hop history: Rosecrans.

Rosecrans Avenue is a major, 27-mile thoroughfare in Los Angeles and Orange counties. It is also a bustling street in the Point Loma area of San Diego.

So where does the name come from?

William Starke Rosecrans was born in Delaware County, Ohio in 1819. He was a brigadier general for the Union during the American Civil War and, according to the National Parks Service, “was largely responsible for the Union’s early victories in northern Virginia at the Battles of Rich Mountain and Corrick’s Ford.”

Rosecrans’ military success, however, abruptly came to an end at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863 – the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War behind Gettysburg.

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Medical Staff at Kaiser Zion Call for Suspension of Surgeries Due to Contaminants in Surgical Trays

June 7, 2023 by Source

By Paul Sisson / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 6, 2023

Employees at Kaiser Zion Medical Center in Grantville are calling for the suspension of all surgeries at the facility due to what they say is visible contamination of the trays that hold sterilized surgical instruments.

“There are black/gray/brown particles of an unknown substance dusting the interiors of our surgical trays, in addition to black greasy smears of a known, but not surgically-approved substance,” said Elizabeth Haynes, a surgical technician at Zion who provided a copy of a petition signed by more than 70 employees asking for the suspension.

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City Scales Down Wetlands for Northwest Mission Bay in Response to Recreation-Minded Groups

June 7, 2023 by Source

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 1, 2023

Backlash against San Diego’s plan to transform much of northeast Mission Bay into marshland has prompted significant revisions, including a 10 percent boost in land devoted to golf, tennis, youth sports and other recreation.

City officials have also added new language to the plan promising to minimize disruptions if fields get relocated. It also requires replacement recreation sites to be created before existing recreation sites are turned into marshland.

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June 2023 Events from the Ocean Beach Green Center

June 5, 2023 by Source

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise

* Every Saturday 10:30 am. Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings  June 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th
* June 8th Thursday 6 pm -9 pm Queens Night Out Event by California Innocence Project
* June 8th Thursday 5:30 pm Community Choice Energy: Updating the Vision
* June 8th Thursday 6 pm – 7 pm Green@Home: Planning for Electrification
* June 8th to June 11th  End the Era of Fossil Fuels
* June 8th – 11th Blue Water Film Festival 
* June 9th – 14th Animal Liberation Conference.
* June 10th 9 am – June 13th 7 pm   The 2023 Climate Lobbying Reboot | CCL’s June Conference
* June 10th — the second Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project community workshop
* June 10th Saturday 11 am – noon Your Home’s new Green Bin workshop
* June 10th Saturday 10 am – 2 pm 25th Annual Conference on Raza Prisoners and Colonialism
* June 10th Saturday 3 pm Amnesty International Group
COME INSIDE for details

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Chemicals in Artificial Sweetener Splenda Damage Human DNA

June 2, 2023 by Source

By Delaney Eyermann / WRAL / Jun. 1, 2023

A new study discovered that a chemical found in sucralose, which is sold under the trade name Splenda, damages DNA.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found sucralose-6-acetate, the chemical that forms when we digest Splenda, is “genotoxic,” meaning it breaks up DNA.

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Our Land of OZ at the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park

June 1, 2023 by Source

By Kathy Blavatt

Did you know Sunset Cliffs Natural Park has its version of a Yellow Brick Road? It is a sight to behold. Instead of the land of Oz’s Yellow Brick Road, the park’s walkways are dirt pathways that meander the cliffs and the hillsides.

The Sunset Cliffs Natural Park paths are devoid of fields of OZ’s poppies, but instead paths are lined with countless yellow daisies that blanket the landscape. The cliffside pathways lead to magical views.

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‘The OB Pier Is Rising’ — A Video by Charles Landon

June 1, 2023 by Source

Enjoy this brand new video of “The OB Pier Is Rising” by Charles Landon.

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A Small Miracle — Part II: Video of Portuguese Festa in Point Loma

May 31, 2023 by Source

A Small Miracle: International Film Crew Meets Portuguese Festa in Point Loma Part II: Video

By Colleen O’Connor

Come inside for the Portuguese Festa Video, edited by Danny Cheng–the small miracle.

No need to sign on. Just click on link and wait a few seconds.

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OB Elementary Will Be Launch Site for Luminosity’s July 4th Drone Light Show

May 31, 2023 by Source

Ocean Beach Elementary School has been selected as the venue for the upcoming Fourth of July Drone Light Show. The Luminosity Steering Committee, in collaboration with the City of San Diego, is finalizing details to launch 300 drones from the school premises for the performance.

Initially, Dog Beach was the intended launch site. However, because of nearby sensitive habitats, the location required permits, studies, and applications from multiple government agencies, which caused the group to pivot to OB Elementary for this year.

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Circulate San Diego’s Undue Influence at City Hall and Lobbying for Legislation Violate Non-Profit Rules

May 31, 2023 by Source

By Geoff Page

This piece is an examination of a “non-profit” organization named Circulate San Diego, referred to as CSD here. It claims to be a nonprofit, public benefit corporation doing good for the community by advocating for “active transportation” and walkable neighborhoods.

Research into CSD’s affairs clearly shows a very close association with the San Diego development industry, which is gleefully in lock step with the YIMBY urbanists because they advocate building with no restrictions. CSD is also in lockstep with the current crop of politicians in city hall and it exercises an outsized influence in the affairs of this city.

The problem is that CSD’s operations appear to potentially violate IRS rules governing a tax-exempt organization and California rules for a nonprofit corporation.

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Action Alert: San Diego Residents Urged to Contact Planning Commission by Thursday, June 1

May 30, 2023 by Source

From Neighbors for a Better San Diego – May 30, 2023

The Mayor’s Planning Department continues its push with the Housing Action Plan (HAP) 2.0, which includes the SB 10 opt-in. The next opportunity to push back against San Diego’s proposed SB 10 implementation is the Planning Commission meeting this Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 9 AM.

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Coronado Residents Protest Sewage and Contaminated Water

May 30, 2023 by Source

By Megan Kitt / The Coronado Times / May 29, 2023

This year, Memorial Day kicked off a “summer of misery” – at least that’s how Laura Wilkinson Sinton, who is fed up with beach closures related to ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis, describes it.

“What do we want? Stop the poop!” chanted more than 50 people at a protest on Saturday. “When do we want it? Now!”

The protest was organized by Wilkinson Sinton and Marely Ramirez, who pulled it together in just three days after researching the extent of the sewage problem.

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A Small Miracle: International Film Crew Meets Portuguese Festa in Point Loma

May 30, 2023 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

Want some positive news with a great cast of characters?

It was all there in full, glorious color Sunday, May 29, with wonderful moments, and two distinct cultures sharing the sights and sounds of Point Loma’s Festa De Spiritus Sanctus and on full display during the parade route on Avenida del Portugal to St. Agnes Church in Point Loma

A 700-year old tradition that commemorates Portugal’s Queen St. Isable, who (during a famine) promised the Holy Spirit to give her crown to the Church, “if sent a miracle, so my people will be relieved of their hunger.”

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Disappointing Turnout for OB Town Council’s Pier Update — No Word on Pier’s Repair or Re-opening

May 26, 2023 by Source

By Geoff Page

The event noticed here in the OB Rag on Tuesday, May 23rd, titled the “OB Pier Update & Discussion” came off as advertised. It was sponsored by the Ocean Beach Town Council and held at the Point Loma/Hervey Branch Library. As noted in The Rag “(and there’s plenty of parking),” was accurate, but plenty went unoccupied.

The advance notice for this gathering was, unfortunately, not well done as evidenced by the attendance. There were 12 people at the live event and three more attending virtually. While the OBTC’s effort was well-intentioned, the result was a missed opportunity, not a total loss, but underwhelming.

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Transforming NTC Building 178 Into a Performing Arts Center – A Photo Gallery

May 25, 2023 by Source

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County Joins City in Plan to Buy Ocean Beach Apartments, Ramada Inn and 2 Other Hotels

May 24, 2023 by Source

By Gary Warth / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 23, 2023

A divided county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to authorize up to $32 million in loans toward the city of San Diego’s potential purchase of four residential properties that could be used to house more than 300 homeless people.

The city’s Housing Commission is considering buying the properties with money from the state’s Project Homekey program, and the purchases are contingent on receiving the grants.

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‘Why I Founded the California Innocence Project’ — OBcean Justin Brooks

May 23, 2023 by Source

By Justin Brooks / SD U-T OpEd / May 19, 2023

In 1995, I read a newspaper article about a young woman in her early 20s named Marilyn Mulero. Marilyn was awaiting execution in Illinois after being convicted of a double homicide.

The article said she was sentenced to death on a plea bargain, but I didn’t think that could be accurate. How could anyone be sentenced to death on a plea bargain? A plea bargain is supposed to be a bargain — meaning you give up your right to a trial in exchange for a lesser sentence. Death is the most severe punishment the government can dole out.

At the time I read about Marilyn, I was a law professor teaching and living in Michigan.

I felt a deep need to find out more about her case, so I set up a meeting with her and drove hundreds of miles to the prison where she was housed in rural Illinois.

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‘It’s All About the OB Pier’ at Ocean Beach Town Council Meeting — Wed., May 24 at Pt Loma Library

May 23, 2023 by Source

Everyone’s invited to the “OB Pier Update & Discussion” at the Ocean Beach Town Council meeting, Wednesday, May 24th at 7 PM. The meeting will be held at the Point Loma/Hervey Branch Library, at 3701 Voltaire Street –(and there’s plenty of parking).

The public May Town Council meeting will be “a session wholly dedicated to discussions surrounding the future of our beloved OB Pier,” as an announcement for the meeting stated.

The agenda will cover:

  • an update from the City of San Diego about the current status of the pier,
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Kudos to Senator Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and Her Daughter

May 22, 2023 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

All your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day for which we waited; (From the Bible: Lamentations 2:16)

But, they have not swallowed her up.  Not Senator Diane Feinstein, not Nancy Pelosi, her neighbor of 30 years, and not Pelosi’s eldest caregiving daughter, Nancy Corinne Prowda.

For months, the GOP, many self-important, ineffectual politicians and op/ed columnists have railed against Senator Feinstein, demanding her resignation and heaping scorn on those who protected, sheltered, and cared for a woman who is elderly, recently recovering from shingles and its maladies.

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New Art Gallery in Mission Hills Debuts Sat., May 20

May 19, 2023 by Source

SD Art Advisory, a new art gallery, will soon debut in Mission Hills — a project from fine artist and gallerist Alexander Salazar and local interior designer Darcy Kempton.

Their 4,200-sqft space will feature two levels of works by both local and world-renowned artists, plus a salon where collectors can purchase NFT art in partnership with dealer Chris Trueman.

The curators hope the gallery shines a spotlight on the San Diego art scene while also benefiting the arts communities across SoCal and Baja California.

SD Art Advisory opens at 12 p.m. this Saturday May 20 at 3977 Falcon St

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Eric DuVall: The Story of ‘The Beach News’- Pt. Loma Assembly Tuesday, May 23

May 19, 2023 by Source

Please join La Playa Trail Association for a presentation by Eric DuVall on the “Story of The Beach News” at the Point Loma Assembly, Tuesday, May 23 at 5:30 pm.

Point Loma Assembly is located at 3035 Talbot Street. DuVall is the president of the OB Historical Society – and one of  the best writers on the Peninsula.

The Beach News was an early community newspaper for Ocean Beach and eventually morphed into The Peninsula News in the 1950s. Eric will present some of the great features, funny old ads and shameless boosterism that characterized the early The Beach News.

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Cannabis Advocacy Groups Launch Citizen Survey to Gauge Level of Support for Inner-City Access

May 18, 2023 by Source

Roll Up for Cannabis Equity – a Monthly Column

By Terrie Best

Three of San Diego’s oldest cannabis advocacy groups have launched a survey titled Roll Up For Equity, the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, San Diego Blue Dream Democratic Club and San Diego NORML have printed citizens survey cards for community members to fill out which gauge feelings about cannabis proximity to neighborhoods, social equity and consumption lounges.

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10 Minutes to Think

May 18, 2023 by Source

The bean counters of medical establishments have figured out how to keep our doctors busy

By Joni Halpern

Take a good look at your doctors the next time you go to see them.  They don’t have time to do more than glance at you, so you can give them a good going over while they engage in cyber-course with computerized algorithms that now dictate every moment of their working life.

You’ll notice a growing number of your doctors look tired; they have bags under their eyes, regardless of their age. 

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‘Spike’ the Sea Lion Learns How to Play Video Games Off the Coast of Point Loma … for the Navy

May 16, 2023 by Source

by Domenick Candelieri / Fox5 / May 12, 2023

“Spike” the sea lion is making waves in the science community, learning how to play video games on the deck of a sea pen in the San Diego Bay off the coast of Point Loma.

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program cares for the branch’s sea lions and dolphins, aiming to keep marine mammals happy and healthy longer. “His (Spike) ability to understand the concept of controlling a cursor on a screen,

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Now Is the Time to Comment as FAA Evaluates Jet Noise Standards and Mitigation for San Diego Airport

May 16, 2023 by Source

By Dr. Matthew Price, Chris McCann, Anthony Stiegler / La Jolla Light / May 15, 2023

The FAA recently opened a public comment period on its Noise Policy Review for the San Diego International Airport, which will evaluate:

• Whether the current use of the “day-night average sound level” (DNL) should be the primary noise metric for assessing cumulative aircraft noise exposure

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The OB Pier: ‘A Requiem for an Icon’ — A Video by Charles Landon

May 15, 2023 by Source

Join Charles Landon and his short brand new video of the Ocean Beach Pier. “A Requiem for an Icon”

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Election 2024: A Cautionary Tale — Look Beyond Trump and Biden

May 15, 2023 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

Last December, I wrote a column and predicted that neither Biden nor Trump would be the next President. Then it was an outlandish suggestion. Much less so now.
Why? Things are exponentially worse. Trust is lacking. Solutions non-existent.

Increased anger over gun violence, immigration surges, abortion restrictions, financial corruption, inflation, homelessness, war, a pandemic, climate change, the dark web, and global rise of dictatorships, etc., has unleashed a rare form of political and social near-insanity

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A Return to the Cradle of Bitchin – OB Historical Society Thursday, May 18

May 15, 2023 by Source

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society and Point Loma High Alumni Association, Thursday evening, May 18, at 7:00 pm, at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., as we return to the Cradle of Bitchin with author A. Lee Brown and sculptor Richard Arnold.

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