Articles by Source

Source has written 4897 articles for the OB Rag!

San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front – OB Historical Society Presents – Thurs., Jan.20

January 19, 2022 by Source

Jan. 20, 2022- San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front

On January 20, 2022 at 7 pm, Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society as they present: San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front presentation by Linda Canada.

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Neighborhood Group Dissatisfied With Lack of Support from San Diego Council on ADU Reforms, Changes Strategy

January 19, 2022 by Source

Statement from Neighbors For A Better San Diego

Where the Road Leads…

First of all, our thanks to all of you who made your thoughts known to the city council’s Land Use and Housing Committee during last Thursday’s [January 13] hearing on proposed changes to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

Throughout this process, we have made a rational and compelling case for aligning San Diego’s ADU policies with state law. This would have little or no impact on San Diegans’ ability to build ADUs and minimize the adverse impacts that the city’s ADU density BONUS program has on our neighborhoods.

We have also given clear and repeated testimony that using Transit Priority Areas (TPAs) to determine the number of ADUs that can be built on a property is counterproductive – the city’s current definition of a TPA “as the crow flies” will not significantly increase public transit use and will not help San Diego meet its climate action goals.

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A Short Writer’s Rant: ‘Where Are the Masks? And Where Is Everybody?’

January 19, 2022 by Source

By Paul Krueger

I recently spent a week in San Francisco, where every restaurant, coffee shop and bakery politely requested proof of my vaccinations before showing me to a table or preparing my take-out order. Some employees even politely asked for my ID, to make sure the names matched.

Everywhere I went, everyone was masked, and took pains to socially distance.

Back here in San Diego, not a single dining establishment has asked for my vaccine card.

I see too many people inside stores without masks.

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Biden’s Reboot: ‘But, Wait for It.’

January 19, 2022 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

President Biden’s first year anniversary numbers look bleak.

According to the Morning Consult-Politico poll, 68 percent of respondents said that the country is going down the wrong path, while only 32 percent said the U.S. is heading in the right direction.

Once holding positive approval ratings in the 60 percent range, this collapse is significant.

Chief among the concerns are inflation (seen at the gas pump daily); and COVID (seen in the news and neighborhoods daily) and still climbing.

Add to that, Israeli health authorities have found that even the third “booster” shot is insufficient to beat Omicron and any fourth shot is near worthless.

However, the original Omicron huge wave that quickly overwhelmed South Africa, Europe and New York has begun to recede just as quickly, offering some hope. However, most of the U.S. is still weeks away from that reversal, with breakout cases increasing and some states (read: Florida) have ceasing to even track the numbers.

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Teacher Complaints, Burn-Out and Turn-Over Roil High Tech Charter School in Point Loma

January 18, 2022 by Source

We’d heard things weren’t going well at High Tech High charter school and network in Point Loma for the teachers or students. And today’s San Diego Union-Tribune article by Kristen Taketa confirmed it.

6th grade teacher Ryan Luz spoke with Taketa and explained the teachers’ view. Here, in brief, are those complaints and issues:

  • High Tech’s ideals have been overshadowed by chronic issues of under-staffing and teacher burnout that were only exacerbated by the pandemic.
  • Until last fall High Tech High did not provide substitutes for teachers who were absent, so teachers had to cover for them — having to teach as many as 60 kids at once or to use their planning time to cover a class.
  • High Tech Middle didn’t have enough special education staff, so some students whose disabilities required the use of a one-on-one educational aide were not getting one, or they had to share one with other students.
  • Teachers feel exhausted and some have resigned; four teachers and the school principal left the middle of December.
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Hey San Diego! Time to Recycle Your Organic Waste

January 18, 2022 by Source

Public Service Announcement: New Food Recycling Program Aims to Curb Waste, Help Environment

By Karen Austin / Peninsula Beacon / Jan. 16, 2022

The ringing in of 2022 has begun a new era of food waste recycling by residents and the increased sharing of edible food surpluses by certain food-related businesses.

California Senate Bill (SB) 1383 aims to reduce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions known to cause global warming and drastic weather conditions by reducing the amount of organic material going to landfills. To help curb the problem, we are now required to separate out food scraps and food-soiled paper products from regular trash and take them to the curb in green recycling containers.

According to CalRecycle, the state agency responsible for the regulatory standards of SB 1383, Californians throw away 5-6 million tons of food waste every year and throw away 1.8 billion unsold (still edible), meals annually.

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A Satirical Take on San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s ‘State of the City Address.’

January 17, 2022 by Source

The “Real” 2022 State of the City Address

By Mat Wahlstrom

Good evening.

Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and select members of the City Council, City Attorney Mara Elliott, Underboss Jay Goldstone, City of La Mesa Councilmember Colin Parent, and Don Jerry Sanders.

I’d also like to welcome our local and transnational representatives of global capital and our outstanding City of San Diego political appointees from the previous administration.

My fellow San Diegans of means…

This will be my second State of the City address this year: the one that really counts. I’m also delivering it without public notice — thanks again, Mara! — so I can be totally honest with you, the donors who are my real constituents, and my fellow beneficiaries of your largesse.

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Developers Exploit ‘Granny Flat’ Rules

January 17, 2022 by Source

By Paul Krueger / Times of San Diego / January 13, 2022

Eric Rosenzweig won’t ever know if good fences really do make good neighbors. That’s because the law won’t let Eric build a 23-foot tall fence to protect his family’s privacy from the three “accessory dwelling units” that will soon loom large over his backyard.

Eric recently learned that a local investment firm purchased the property that abuts his home on Manchester Street, near 70th Street, in the College East area. That neighborhood is zoned for single-family homes, but our city’s ill-conceived ADU ordinance allows the investors to fill their property with three two-story ADUs.

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How to Identify and Survive a Rip Current – Video

January 14, 2022 by Source

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OB’s Christmas Tree Has an ‘Afterlife’

January 14, 2022 by Source

By Tyler Faurot / Pt Loma-OB Monthly /

For 41 consecutive years, the shores of Ocean Beach have been the backdrop to a gargantuan pine tree, decorated and lighted to commemorate the holiday season. Historically, once the holidays came to an end, many of the trees were carried away to landfills for an unceremonious demise. In recent years, however, the holiday trees have been given new life as sought-after crafting material for local woodworkers.

The tree for the 2021 holiday season was a star pine donated from the yard of Ocean Beach resident Catrina Russel.

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Key Sierra Club Committee Unanimously Endorses Greenery Revisions to City’s ADU Code

January 14, 2022 by Source

The Sierra Club’s Conservation Committee has unanimously endorsed sensible, environmentally-friendly revisions to the city’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) code and urges the city council to maintain shade trees and other greenery on properties slated for multi-unit ADU construction.

Committee chair Peter Anderson stated:

“The Sierra Club supports housing, especially affordable housing. But we must preserve the trees that provide shade, absorb greenhouse gas and cool our city.”

The local chapter’s endorsement adds to a long list of support for changes to the ADU code championed by Neighbors For A Better San Diego (NFABSD). The City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee debated the issue Thursday (no news from that debate is available).

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‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ : The Last Speech of Martin Luther King – The Full Text

January 14, 2022 by Source

(Originally posted here on Jan 15, 2018)

The day before Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, he gave his final speech, known as ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech. Here’s the full text.

By The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., MEMPHIS, Tenn./ April 3, 1968

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.

Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn’t stop there.

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Table Talk: OB’s Max Goransson of Golden Mushroom Co. In His Own Words

January 14, 2022 by Source

by Sal Mineo (@snackdiego)

Hello again, OB. As faithful readers of Table Talk, I’m sure you all remember what we are about here – getting personal with those in our community keeping us well-fed and quenched. Our local food celebrities but before they get huge and have a publicist. Sometimes it’s the restaurant owner; but sometimes it’s the guy, behind the guy, behind the guy.

This is my neighbor, Max. I first met him one average OB day as I rode up the alley to the back entrance of our place, and came upon Max and his friend Talia taking some glamour shots using our fence as a backdrop (it has a cool viney thing growing on it – influencers, come check it out).

The subjects of the photographs were these utterly stunning mushrooms, which even in OB you just don’t see every day. Naturally, I said something brilliant like “what’s that?”, we got to chitter chatter and that’s when I learned I have a neighbor that cultivates these absolute specimens in his grow room right across the alley.

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PL Nazarene’s Annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea with Nadia Bolz-Weber, Cornel West, and David Brooks – Feb.22-25

January 13, 2022 by Source

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Study Finds Cannabis Compounds Prevent Infection By Covid-19 Virus

January 12, 2022 by Source

A Public Service Announcement

By A.J. Herrington / Forbes / Jan.11, 2022

Compounds in cannabis can prevent infection from the virus that causes Covid-19 by blocking its entry into cells, according to a study published this week by researchers affiliated with Oregon State University. A report on the research, “Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants,” was published online on Monday by the Journal of Natural Products.

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How Big Oil Lies to You

January 12, 2022 by Source

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Navy Project Would Demolish Consolidated Aircraft Historic District

January 10, 2022 by Source

By Amie Hayes / SOHO January-February 2022 Newsletter

The Navy’s Old Town Campus Revitalization project at NAVWAR has the distinction of being the only newly added site to SOHO’s 2021 Most Endangered List. This ill-advised, gargantuan project proposes to build a dense wall of high-rise buildings at 4301 Pacific Highway (known as OTC Site One) and the complete demolition of the Consolidated Aircraft Plant 2 Historic District.

Previously known as Convair, this plant was once a massive manufacturing aircraft production complex that employed thousands of San Diegans during World War II and the Cold War.

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Marijuana Is Here to Stay, But Local Sales Bans Drive it Underground

January 10, 2022 by Source

by Paul Armentano / Times of San Diego / Jan. 9, 2022

The majority of Californians in 2016 cast votes to displace the illicit cannabis market with a taxed and regulated marketplace — one that would be controlled by licensed businesses, not by criminal entrepreneurs.

Five years later, voters’ desire has yet to become a reality. And while many folks are quick to point fingers at Sacramento and the state’s high tax rates, in many cases, local elected officials are largely to blame. That’s because more than half of the state’s cities and counties prohibit the operation of licensed cannabis businesses.

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San Diego: ‘So Little Goes Right, So Little Gets Fixed and So Much Disarray’

January 10, 2022 by Source

What’s Up with the Mayor’s App? Problems: “Around Every Corner”

By Colleen O’Connor

Every day, in every way, San Diegans are witnessing the crumbling of their once stable neighborhoods; in their once enviable designation, “Camelot by the Bay.”

Omnipresent homeless camps; vacant store fronts; trash overflowing onto unsafe, often filthy streets; decaying parks, pools, libraries and public spaces; spikes in inflation; a buckling health care system amid a pandemic all exacerbated by new tax 17% tax hikes for water/sewer, and new bond initiatives in the pipeline.

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San Diego Makes It to the Parody Website, The Onion

January 7, 2022 by Source

The City of San Diego and Mayor Gloria were recently showcased in the parody/ satirical website, the Onion, which has a readership of 11.7 million readers on Twitter – many more than our own San Diego Union-Tribune (which many San Diegans called “The Onion” over the decades, ironically).

Here it is:

New Initiative Decreases Stigma Against Homeless By Making Majority Of People Homeless

SAN DIEGO—In an effort to decrease the widespread social shaming often associated with being unhoused, a new city initiative unveiled Thursday reportedly aims to decrease stigma against the homeless by making the majority of people homeless.

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Scamming San Diego in 4 Easy Steps

January 7, 2022 by Source

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / Jan. 5, 2022

Warning: this commentary is standing on its head and starting with its conclusion:

The aftermath of San Diego’s 2020-21 Redistricting process may prove to be more destructive to good government in San Diego than any monetary loss from past Ponzi schemes and political heists.

The parties of interest in this latest con game colluded to divide and conquer the San Diego public. They were willing to shred and tear at San Diego’s civic and moral fabric for their own economic and political gain.

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The Choice for Republicans

January 6, 2022 by Source

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One Year On, No Prosecution of Anyone for Plotting Coup, Let Alone for Conspiracy or Treason

January 6, 2022 by Source

Thoughts on the Capitol Riots One Year On

By Mat Wahlstrom

Most people respect authority because they believe it to be justified by objective criteria, such as scientific evidence, transparent electoral processes, or the rule of law. For them, reason is the basis of power. Only when authority is exercised in the absence of these principles do they question it.

The crisis we are in is due to a minority who demand obedience to authority in itself, even or especially when it lacks any objective justification, and for which they are willing to say or do anything to claim. For them, force and fraud are the basis of power, and they deny any appeal to something greater that would deny it to them.

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After Watching Jan. 6 Attack on Capitol, San Diego’s Donna Frye Has ‘Advice’ for Would-Be Politicians

January 6, 2022 by Source

By Donna Frye / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / Jan. 5, 2022

While much has changed since I last ran for office, there are some behaviors by candidates, their supporters and those who engage in political protests that must never be normalized for reasons that should be obvious to anyone with one wit of common sense. These behaviors should not require an explanation about why they are morally wrong, are mostly illegal and can result in people being hurt or killed. It should go without saying.

But after witnessing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the many out-of-control political protests over the past few years, it’s a discussion that is probably long overdue. I never thought I would be writing a list of things like this, but here we are. The following guidance is especially helpful to candidates and their supporters.

  • Do not wear a fur hat with horns, paint your face and go shirtless while carrying a spear into a government office to disrupt a political proceeding.
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Most Americans Are Not Crazy and Blame Rioters and Trump for Violent Attack on Capitol

January 5, 2022 by Source

A new Associated Press-NORC poll shows results similar to other major polling. They show that the vast majority of Americans have not lost their minds, are not crazy and blame the rioters and Trump for the violent attack on the US Capitol one year ago.

Here are other major points:

  • Most Americans recall a very violent day and support Congress’ investigation.
  • Eighty percent of the public consider the individuals involved mostly responsible,
  • but 57% also say former President Donald Trump deserves a great deal or quite a bit of blame for the attack on the Capitol, more than said so at the end of January 2021.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland to Speak Wednesday on DOJ Prosecution of Those Responsible for Jan.6 Capitol Riot – 11:30 am Pacific Time

January 5, 2022 by Source

Attorney General Merrick Garland will give a speech Wednesday about the Justice Department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, remarks that come as the country’s top law enforcement officer is facing calls to do more.

In announcing the address, scheduled for the day before the anniversary of the attack, the Justice Department said Garland would “update the American people on the Justice Department’s efforts to hold accountable those responsible” and “reaffirm the department’s unwavering commitment to defend Americans and American democracy from violence and threats of violence.”

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Is Apple Pie Next?

January 5, 2022 by Source

By Joni Halpern

I was taking a little inventory of paramount American values that are still viable after the onslaught of the last few years of intractable divisiveness among our people. I thought my list would be long. It wasn’t.

I started out listing a value Americans have always cherished. We insist we are the architects of our own destiny, that the lowliest members of society can reach the stars if they work hard enough to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. However, if we look closely at this “bootstrap” value, we can see it appears to be crumbling at its foundations.

The “bootstrap value” has become something of a fiction for many people who have been trying to keep themselves and their families fed, housed and clothed, let alone managing whatever it takes to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Even in what remains of the middle class, there is great uncertainty about how to prepare children for economic stability.

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The Risk of a Coup in the Next US Election Is Greater Now than it Ever Was Under Trump

January 4, 2022 by Source

Republicans are busy undermining the next election. But giving up on democracy isn’t an option. We must fight back, and here’s how

By Laurence H Tribe / The Guardian / Jan. 4, 2022

Only free and fair elections in which the loser abides by the result stand between each of us and life at the mercy of a despotic regime – one we had no voice in choosing and one that can freely violate all our rights. So everything is at stake in the peaceful transfer of power from a government that has lost its people’s confidence to its victorious successor. It was that peaceful transfer that Trump and his minions sought to obstruct and almost succeeded in overthrowing when Joe Biden was elected president.

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Massachusetts Congressman: ‘The Coup Is Still Underway’

January 4, 2022 by Source

Here is an excerpt from a Jan. 3, 2022, Op-Ed by Jim McGovern, a US representative from Massachusetts –and not by some aging radical hippie:

A year later, a fundamental question remains: Will the Jan. 6 insurrection be swept under the rug, or seen for what it could be — the beginning of the end of American democracy as we know it.

Many of the people who failed to overturn the election are now using the levers of power at the state level to rig future campaigns.

They’ve introduced more than 440 bills across 49 states designed to hijack the election process and suppress the right to vote.

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House Panel Investigating Jan. 6 Insurrection Ready to Go Public

January 4, 2022 by Source

By Mary Clare Jalonick / LA Times – SD Union-Tribune / Jan. 3, 2022

They’ve interviewed more than 300 witnesses, collected tens of thousands of documents and traveled around the country’ to talk to election officials who were pressured by Donald Trump.
Now, after six months of intense work, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is preparing to go public.

In the coming months, members of the panel will start to reveal their findings against the backdrop of the former president and his allies’ persistent efforts to whitewash the riots and reject suggestions that he helped instigate them. The committee also faces the burden of trying to convince the American public that their conclusions are fact-based and credible.

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