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Articles by Source

Source has written 4263 articles for the OB Rag!

Reader Rant: 3 Remedies for the Stupid Wednesday Night Crowds – How to Prevent It From Happening Tonight

August 5, 2020 by Source

By Pissed Off

I used to get a warm feeling seeing the drum circle and people juggling on the village green after the OB Farmers Market on Wednesday nights. It was quite a unique and friendly sight.

But now with the outrageous, irresponsible behavior of the crowds that gather during the Pandemic those nights – no masks, no social distancing – I find them stupid. And they’ll probably gather tonight, Wednesday, after the market and do it all again. Some guy has a DJ playing loud music and it’s a party-party-party.

So, here are three remedies for OBceans to take in dealing with the stupid crowds.

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San Diego County Moves to Enforce COVID-19 Health Orders – But Is It Too Little and Too Late?

August 5, 2020 by Source

By Gary Warth, Morgan Cook / San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 4, 2020

The county is beefing up its enforcement of its health orders to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and is putting more money toward child care and food services to help people struggling during the pandemic.

Under a plan approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the county will spend $1.8 million over the next six months for 22 staff members to respond to businesses violating the public health orders. The move is part of an effort for the county, rather than law enforcement, to take the lead in enforcing its health order.

The violators targeted in the new effort are separate from those considered egregious violators, defined as a willful and sustained disregard of the county health order, posing a significant risk of spreading the virus.

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Giant Kelp Forests Off Point Loma and La Jolla Stressed by Climate Change

August 4, 2020 by Source

By Erik Anderson / KPBS / August 4, 2020

The warming climate is putting environmental pressure on California forests that have towered over the Golden State for thousands of years.

They are not the only forests being stressed by climate change, the region’s iconic underwater forests are also facing challenges. Those forests are populated by giant kelp, and there is one located just off the La Jolla shore. The giant kelp forests off the coast of La Jolla and Point Loma can be spectacular. Biologists have compared them to an underwater forest of sequoias, but unlike the giant trees which can live for hundreds and even thousands of years, kelp grows fast and dies fast.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Ed Parnell didn’t have to walk far from Scripps Pier to find strands of giant kelp washed up on the beach. “The root system is called the holdfast, it holds the kelp plant to the bottom, right there you can see that,” Parnell said.

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5 Reasons Why Biden’s V.P. Search Demeans Women

August 3, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

The Biden campaign’s search or the right woman to be his Vice-Presidential nominee has dragged on for over 5 months. He first committed to selecting a woman on March 15th.

Why no decision, yet? Not for any discernible rational reasons. Here are five unpleasant reasons that come to mind.

First, after declaring his intentions to name a “woman” to the ticket, Biden then named a man; a 76- old white, male and one-time Connecticut Senator, Chris Dodd to lead the search. The biggest reason given, “trust.” They have been bosom buddies for 30 years.

Herein, lies the problem. The country has changed. Connecticut is not representative. Chris Dodd is not representative. Even Joe Biden is not representative.

Women make up the majority of the Democratic voting base and Republican women have swelled those ranks with cross-over voting evidenced by their 2018 contribution to the Democrats historic House gains.

Women are the majority of voters now. Biden can count. But, which woman?

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August 2020 Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

August 3, 2020 by Source

Here is the August 2020 Calendar from the Ocean Beach Green Center – 4862 Voltaire Street, Ocean Beach 92107 – oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com 619-613 5616

Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. August 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th Keep up-to-date on climate issues and Climate Action events. To register email Jon Findley at jon@climatemobsd.org. More info: https://www.facebook.com/SDClimateMobilization

August 6th Thursday 5:30 pm – 7 pm Arab American Studies in Ethnic Studies: a racial justice issue for the Jewish community

August 6th Thursday The Peace Resource Center will be at an online vigil with Campaign Nonviolence on the 75th tragedy of the Hiroshima bombing.

August 7th Friday 4 pm First Friday Monthly Meeting Green New Deal at UCSD On Zoom –

August 8th Saturday 12 pm – 3 pm March to Free Them All- Shutdown Otay Mesa Detention Center Waterfront Park 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego 92101 A rally and march to bring home the injustices of immigrant incarceration as a first step to shutting down the Otay concentration camp and abolishing the carceral state.

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More ‘Reader Rants’ on Sports Arena, CirculateSD, Campbell and Mayor’s Race

July 31, 2020 by Source

Editordude: We couldn’t help but elevate the following comments by Paul Webb and Roy McMakin into full-blown “reader rants”. Their writings are worthy of more attention and touch on the Sports Arena redevelopment, the 30 foot height limit, CirculateSD, Jen Campbell and the mayor’s race.

Regarding the Sports Arena Redevelopment ….

By Paul Webb

This is not a case of a developer buying a piece of land, formulating a plan and then going through the entitlements process. This is publicly owned land, and has been for a very long time.

There is absolutely no fundamental necessity for any uses other than public uses on this property. We live in a city, and, in the case of those of us in the Point Loma/OB area, a neighborhood that fails to meet any standards for parkland per 100,000 population put forth by any rating organization. If there is a need for housing, there is also a great need for increasing park land available to the public.

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Trump Cannot Postpone the Election – But Here’s Why We Have to Take his Tweet Seriously

July 31, 2020 by Source

Editordude: I met Erwin Chemerinsky when I took a bar-prep course from him back in 1996, and it was apparent quite quickly then that he had Constitutional Law down pat.

By Erwin Chemerinsky / LA Times / July 30, 2020

Once again, President Trump has shown his ignorance of the Constitution and federal law in raising the question on Twitter of whether the November presidential election should be delayed. To be clear, President Trump has absolutely no legal authority to do this. The date for the election is set by federal statute and can be changed only by Congress.

But that didn’t stop Trump from tweeting on Thursday morning,

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

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Trump’s Threat of Delaying Election Is a Coup in the Making

July 31, 2020 by Source

Trump’s tweet was a shocking display of his authoritarian impulses and his very serious consideration of means to de-legitimize the November election in order to maintain his grip on power, no matter what.

by Robert Weissman / Common Dreams / July 30, 2020

Earlier today [July 30], U.S. President Donald Trump floated by tweet the idea of delaying the November elections.

This is a coup in the making.

Trump’s tweet—now pinned at the top of his Twitter account—says that “Universal Mail-In Voting” means that “2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.” Thus, he asks, “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

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Cardiff Beach Protest Puts Us All at Risk

July 31, 2020 by Source

By Richard Riehl

Twenty years ago, Karen awakened me in the middle of the night to tell me she had a sharp pain in her stomach. When the pain became unbearable I drove her to the hospital. We discovered she was suffering from a twisted and blocked intestine that would need immediate, life saving, surgery.

I had never felt so helpless in the hours I spent in the waiting room, paging aimlessly through magazines, awaiting the results. Thanks to a very skilled surgeon, Karen was out of the hospital in five days. Today, after 130 days confined to our condo, I’m beginning to feel a little like I did that night, except for the mindless paging through magazines. But the feeling of helplessness is there, the spread of the virus giving no evidence of slowing down. The refusal, by the young and healthy, to wear face coverings and practice social distancing on beaches and in bars, is largely responsible.

The latest example of this occurred on Sunday, July 26, with an estimated 1,250 of the young and healthy gathered on Cardiff Beach

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The Lincoln Project – Why Can’t Democrats Be Like Republicans?

July 29, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

It didn’t start with Rex Harrison singing, “Why Can’t A Woman Be More Like a Man?” in My Fair Lady.

It didn’t even start with the classic PoliSci 101 debate between Hobbes and Locke. “Is man basically good or evil?” If “good,” government provides support. If “evil,” rulers deliver punishment.

Oddly, both of these examples of choice, have come together this election cycle.

How? Not just with the COVID-19 macho-mask debate, the President’s abusive tweets and appalling treatment of women, or his hyper masculine reliance on military solutions to all who dare challenge him.

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‘If You’re Not Terrified about Facebook, You Haven’t Been Paying Attention’

July 28, 2020 by Source

By Carole Cadwalladr / The Guardian / July 26, 2020

In 2016, we didn’t know. We were innocent. We still believed social media connected us and that connections were good. That technology equaled progress. And progress equaled better.

Four years on, we know too much. And yet, it turns out, we understand nothing. We know social media is a bin fire and that the world is burning. But it’s like the pandemic. We understand in outline how bad things could get. But we remain hopelessly human. Relentlessly optimistic. Of course, we believe there’ll be a vaccine. Because there has to be, doesn’t there?

In Facebook’s case, the worst has already happened. We’ve just failed to acknowledge it. Failed to reckon with it. And there’s no vaccine coming to the rescue. In 2016 everything changed. As for 2020… well, we will see.

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New Departure Procedure Would Provide Jet Noise Relief for Coastal Communities

July 28, 2020 by Source

By Anthony Stiegler / La Jolla Light / July 28, 2020

This is an update about the “Part 150″ study on commercial jet noise associated with departures from San Diego International Airport. On July 20, La Jolla representatives submitted comments and their proposal for coastal community wide noise mitigation. These are the highlights:

Quiet Skies La Jolla retained aeronautical engineering and noise consulting firm ABCX2 to offer noise mitigation opinions and a report. The core recommendation is to implement the “ELSO” procedure (equivalent lateral spacing operations), alternating three departure paths to disperse noise and keep flights farther from our coast and over the ocean.

Four central design principles underly this proposal:

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Faulconer’s ‘Complete Communities’ Plan Devalues Parks, Is Being Too Rushed in Nontransparent Process

July 27, 2020 by Source

Editordude: Deborah Sharpe, Howard Greenstein and Jeff Harkness are all landscape architects who retired from the city of San Diego with over 80 years of combined public service. Here they draw a line in the sand against Mayor Faulconer’s “Complete Communities” Plan in this post from Voice of San Diego.

By Deborah Sharpe, Howard Greenstein and Jeff Harkness / Voice of San Diego / July 24, 2020

The San Diego mayor’s office and the Planning Department are engaged in a frenzied attempt to overhaul land use, parks and transportation planning and financing policies and regulations before Mayor Kevin Faulconer leaves office. The “Complete Communities” initiative is the all-encompassing title given to this major effort. This overhaul is probably the most significant citywide planning effort since Mayor Pete Wilson’s 1979 tiered growth management plan.

Some of Complete Communities’ goals are good, especially its emphasis on equity; some of it is perplexing. We’re particularly interested in the changes to parks standards.

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Couple Maced by Woman at Dusty Rhodes Park in Ocean Beach

July 24, 2020 by Source

From SanDiegoVille.Com

A video is making waves on social media that appears to show a woman macing a man at Dusty Rhodes Park in San Diego’s Ocean Beach. Allegedly, the woman approached a young couple who was enjoying lunch with their puppy and harassed them for not wearing facial coverings before macing both them and their food.
“So this happened today at dusty rhodes dog park today in ocean beach,” wrote Ash Sherilynn O’Brien on her Facebook page.

“This is my husband getting maced by a random old lady. We had our 3 month old pug with us. We were just sitting down eating lunch and minding our own business. We were not wearing masks because we were eating. You can’t wear a mask and eat at the same time. She kept calling us idiots and flipping me off. Then she started saying more stuff and I told her to leave the park and stop harassing us. She then came right up to our table wear we were eating, pointed the mace at me first and got a little on me, and then my husband stepped in and took the entire can.”

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City Council Approves Moveable Tiny Houses in San Diego

July 23, 2020 by Source

The San Diego City Council Tuesday, July 22, unanimously approved an amendment to the land development code allowing moveable “tiny houses” to be permitted in the city as companion or junior units.

The amendment will allow the city and its residents to increase housing supply in space already zoned for residential use, said Councilman Scott Sherman.

“Moveable tiny homes are a great option that naturally increases affordable housing at no cost to taxpayers. It’s a win for the homeowner, it’s a win for the renter, and it’s a win for the taxpayer,” Sherman said. “I appreciate my colleagues’ support for this important housing reform. We must continue pushing for common-sense solutions that result in naturally occurring affordable housing.”

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San Diego Mayor’s New ‘Complete Communities’ Plan Is Gentrification in Disguise

July 23, 2020 by Source

By Howard Wayne / Times of San Diego / July 19, 2020

San Diego’s Planning Department, which works for the mayor, is going under the radar to rush through a dangerous land use change. Hiding under the innocuous name “Complete Communities Housing Solutions Initiative,” the scheme would radically and surreptitiously rezone large swaths of San Diego with minimal public participation and potentially reduce affordable housing opportunities in the City.

The premise of Complete Communities is that San Diego needs more housing. But what we really need is more affordable housing. Builders are generating lots of market-rate houses, but young people, first responders, teachers, and especially essential workers are being left behind.

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Why Is COVID-19 Hitting Some North County Cities Harder than Others?

July 23, 2020 by Source

By Richard Riehl

San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency issues daily reports on the number of Coronavirus cases in each city. Here are the counts for North County, as of July 21, indicating the rate of cases per 100,000 residents.

  • Carlsbad: 349
  • Encinitas: 374
  • Oceanside: 448
  • San Marcos: 513
  • Vista: 595
  • Escondido: 645

I searched North County city websites, looking for clues to explain the differences in cities in the rate of infection. Would it be caused by the quality of city leadership, the demographics of the city residents, or both?

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President Trump’s ‘Wishing Well’

July 22, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

What a day yesterday. Earthquakes everywhere.

No, not the 7.8 quake in Alaska. That is in the range of “normal.”

Not the confrontation between Florida Rep., Ted Yoho and New York Rep., Alexandra Ocasio Cortez. There, on the Capitol steps, the GOP congressman called AOC “disgusting,” “out of her freaking mind,” and a “f***ing b**tch.”

That, too, seems to be the new “normal.”

Yoho, in typical Trumpian fashion denied it happened, fudged some empty words, “apologized” on the House floor, where he accepted no responsibility, and instead defended his “passion,” and lassoed his wife and daughters into the mix.

All of which prompted AOC to righteously refuse to accept the non-apology apology. Trump’s promise to send more masked, unidentified, camouflaged troops into cities beyond Portland, into Oakland and Chicago doesn’t rank as an earthquake.

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Reopening Schools: Issues and Evidence

July 22, 2020 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / July 21, 2020

The President of the United States and his Secretary of Education have demanded schools open with in-person classes five days a week. Many parents are not confident their children will be safe and significant numbers of teachers are profoundly frightened. How does the rhetoric square with credible scientific evidence concerning the Covid-19 pandemic?

President Trump has tweeted,

“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”

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California Getting Ready to Overtake New York in the Most COVID-19 Cases

July 21, 2020 by Source

By Sara Sidner and Jason Kravarik / CNN / July 21, 2020

Nearly 12,000 New Cases in One Day

California looks set to surpass New York as the state with the most cases within days, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University. It has recently been reporting about 9,000 new cases each day for a total of 397,870 on Monday.

New York, meanwhile, has been adding a little more than 700 cases a day in the last week. Its total number of cases Monday was about 404,000.

It was the first state to impose a stay-at-home order on March 19. Less than two months later, on May 8, the numbers had fallen enough that the state started the first phase of reopening.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told his citizens,” You have bent the curve.” But then Memorial Day came around.

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Trump Threatens to Send Federal Law Enforcement to More (Democratic) Cities in Election Ploy

July 21, 2020 by Source

By David Smith / The Guardian / July 21, 2020

Donald Trump has vowed to send federal officers to several American cities led by Democrats in what critics say is an attempt to play the “law and order” card to boost his bid for re-election.

The president’s threat came after a federal crackdown on anti-racism protests in Portland, Oregon, that involved unmarked cars and unidentified forces in camouflage.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump identified New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland as places in need of federal agents, describing those cities’ mayors as “liberal Democrats”.

“We’re sending law enforcement,” he said. “We can’t let this happen to the cities.”

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Midway Planners Presented Sports Arena Area Proposals

July 21, 2020 by Source

By Geoff Page

The Midway-Pacific Planning Group held the largest planning board meeting this reporter has seen in over three years- and it was on-line. Approximately 65 people attended the meeting using the ubiquitous Zoom software. The meeting went well and there were none of the hacking attacks that Zoom users have experienced in the past, such as the OB planning board experienced.

The reason for the crowd was information about the redevelopment possibilities for the city property that includes the sports arena and lots of land around it. The current Salvation Army Store is the easternmost parcel of the property. To the west, and north, the boundary is Hancock Street.

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‘Shock and Awe’ in Ocean Beach – a Reader Rant

July 17, 2020 by Source

And Not a Sign of Government in Sight

Reader Rant by OB Joe

Living on the outskirts of Ocean Beach, I wanted to see for myself what was happening down on the beach and see how people were coping with the new restrictions and renewed dangers from COVID-19. So I drove by the beach going down Newport Avenue and then onto Abbott Street.

I was not ready for what I witnessed.

Shock and awe, is the only thing I can say. I was shocked at how cavalier everyone was taking it, not wearing masks, not practicing social distancing. People walking down the sidewalks, past bars trying to be restaurants, people crowding each other.

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More Blue Is Needed in the Democrats’ Green Plan

July 17, 2020 by Source

By David Helvarg & Jason Scorse / The Hill / July 15, 2020

The House Democrats’ report, “Solving the Climate Crisis,” is the most comprehensive response to the climate emergency in the history of Congress and no doubt was closely read by the Biden campaign before the release of their plan. The Democrats have taken up the mantle for what was once a bipartisan issue, reminiscent of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Acts of the early 2000s.

Unlike the original 2019 outline of the Green New Deal, this report takes coastal and ocean issues seriously. There are significant policy recommendations for electrifying U.S. ports, expanding offshore wind power and promoting living shorelines — like green infrastructure — in coastal areas, both to sequester carbon dioxide and promote climate resilience.

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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back – San Diego Returns to Closures

July 14, 2020 by Source

At his Monday press briefing, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California will be rolling back stay-at-home orders, citing continually increasing COVID-19 cases. San Diego County has had 18 community outbreaks over the past week, more than double the state’s acceptable threshold.

All indoor activities around the state now have to cease at

  • restaurants,
  • breweries,
  • wineries.

San Diego County Closures
San Diego is one of 30 counties that also must close additional sectors by midnight Tuesday, July 14 – tonight, including:

  • fitness centers,
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Why We Could Lose the War on COVID-19

July 14, 2020 by Source

By Richard Riehl

The day after the World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus a pandemic, President Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office.

“We’re all in this together,” he promised. “We must put politics aside. We must stop the partisanship and unify together as one nation and one family. Acting with compassion and love, we will heal the sick, care for those in need, and emerge from this challenge stronger and more unified than ever before.”

A week later, in his COVID 19 press briefing Trump declared, “I’m a wartime president. That’s what we’re fighting. It’s the invisible enemy. That’s the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy. And we’re going to defeat the invisible enemy.”

By July 3, when the number of cases in the U.S. had skyrocketed to 2,752,704. Trump barely mentioned the invisible enemy in his speech at Mount Rushmore.

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TV Show Filmed in Ocean Beach – ‘Terriers’ – May Finally Be Made into Movie or Revived

July 13, 2020 by Source

The return of Terriers in TV or film may finally be in the works according to one of the stars of the short-lived FX series, Donal Logue.

by Holden Walter-Warner / Screen Rant / July 12, 2020

The return of Terriers may finally be in the works, according to one of the stars of the short-lived series. The show was a comedy-drama that doubled as a crime program, airing for 13 episodes on FX a decade ago. Terriers couldn’t count an audience above a million viewers after the pilot and was subsequently canceled as a result. It was a critical darling, however, and interest in reviving it in some fashion has been rising for years.

Donal Logue, one of Terriers’ stars, is now confirming that a return to Ocean Beach, San Diego may be on the horizon.

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‘You Better Hike the Stowe Trail in Santee Before Fanita Ranch Is Built and It’s Too Late’

July 10, 2020 by Source

HomeFed Corp. Plans 3,000-Unit Development in Santee

By Colleen Cochran

The threat of bulldozers spurred me to hike the Stowe Trail in northern Santee. The stretch, that leads from Santee Lakes through Sycamore Canyon on Fanita Ranch, is one of the last havens for endangered Quino checkerspot butterflies, creatures that once fluttered abundantly throughout San Diego County skies, and for endangered least Bell’s vireo songbirds.

Because I had been hearing a lot of news about HomeFed Corporation’s plans to ravage the area by constructing Fanita Ranch, a development of 3,000 units of multistory townhouse boxes, I decided I better go on that hike before it becomes too late.

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Councilwoman Campbell Responds to Criticism About Her Plan for Short-Term Vacation Rentals

July 10, 2020 by Source

The following email newsletter was sent out to constituents by Councilwoman Jen Campbell’s office July 9.

By Councilwoman Jen Campbell

Last week, I announced guidelines to finally make progress on one of San Diego’s most vexing problems – short-term vacation rentals (STRs).

There have been a lot of misconceptions and falsehoods leveled at these guidelines. To cut through the clutter and speculation, here’s what you need to know –

  • These guidelines, once passed, will permanently reduce the number of STRs in San Diego by over 70%.
  • These guidelines create an actual enforcement mechanism to ensure there are repercussions for bad STR owners.
  • Each STR renter may have only one permit for one unit, whether or not it is home sharing or whole home rental.
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More on Faulconer’s ‘Incomplete’ Communities Plan

July 9, 2020 by Source

Editordude: Here’s the Voice of San Diego’s take on Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s latest “legacy-shaping” plan – which we’ll call the “Incomplete Communities” – by Andrew Keatts. For other takes, see OB Planning Board vice-chair Kevin Hasting’s post where he says the plan would bring high-density and eliminate OB’s floor-area-ratio, and San Diego policy-wonk Norma Dameshek’s view that the plan should be jettisoned altogether.

By Andrew Keatts / Voice of San Diego / July 6, 2020

In the waning months of his administration, Mayor Kevin Faulconer is proposing a set of policy changes aimed at delivering on his own previous promises and the city’s long-term goals, as well as reforms required by state law. He hopes the various pieces of the plan, dubbed Complete Communities, would make way for far more homes near transit, remake how the city funds parks and community improvements and change the way it measures the environmental effects of new development.

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