Author: Source

By Chris Roberts / SFWeekly.com / February 01, 2010

Though less famous than its San Diego–area namesake, San Francisco’s Ocean Beach is anything but unknown to surfers: Its three miles of coastline provide “a world-class surf spot,” says surfer Josh Berry. Its rip current and big winter waves mean it’s for experienced riders only, and those riders come from “all over — not just [locally] — to surf here,” Berry adds.

However, the recent spate of storms means surfing at Ocean Beach could soon get shitty — as in, 10 million gallons of raw sewage shitty.

Editordude: Channel 10 News is raising the issue of public drug use in Ocean Beach, – on the beach itself, in the parking lots – in the following piece. It raises the thought that there’s been an increase in young people in the neighborhood, panhandling, selling and doing drugs. Some local residents are upset. (Our local photog Jim Grant is quoted.) All these allegations shouldn’t surprise old-timers – these are the same kind of accusations – true or not – that have been made about the kids in OB since the late sixties. And if it is all true, it’s not surprising at all – given the nature of the Great Recession. How many jobs are actually out there for young people? By the way, if there are more homeless – kids or not – why are there no homeless services in OB? Here’s the post:

PUBLIC DRUG USE UPSETS OCEAN BEACH RESIDENTS

Channel 10NEWS / February 2, 2010

Ocean Beach residents are upset about what they said is dangerous activity and aggressive panhandling. It’s a coastal community known for its sunsets and unique local shops, but it’s what’s selling on the sand that has some residents and business owners fuming.

The Voice of San Diego, an online news publication, has begun a series on the dismal nature of San Diego County’s safety net. It is too excellent to pass up. Here is an excerpt and links to the original article byKelly Bennett and Dagny Salas:

San Diego County’s safety net is riddled with gaps ….

A voiceofsandiego.org investigation has found that the county government’s historical resistance to provide social welfare programs has left a wide chasm between last-resort aid and those on the bottom rungs of economic survival.

By the looks of what happened at the foot of Newport Avenue on Saturday afternoon with the nude swimmer, you’d think that police-community relations in OB had returned to the 1970’s.

Reports of up to twenty police cars roaring into OB, speeding down residential streets – to deal with one nude guy and the commotion that resulted when police and lifeguards tried to cite him – has made my blood boil.

It’s apparent that the San Diego Police Department has not learned a single thing in all the decades of its “troubles” with the citizens and youth of Ocean Beach.

The California Senate approved creating a government-run health care system for the nation’s most populous state on Thursday, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Supporters said it is time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration’s national health care proposal falters in Congress. “If it’s not to be done at the national level, let us take the lead,” said state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. The move in California comes after Massachusetts voters changed the calculus in Congress by electing a Republican to the Senate who opposes the pending plan.

Democrats are the majority in both houses of the California Legislature. The 40-member state Senate passed the single-payer plan on a 22-14 vote, sending it to the Assembly. One Democrat voted against the measure.

In San Diego’s surfing turf wars, tempers heat up as the waves become more crowded. Are the skirmishes a solution or a symptom?

By Adam Elder / San Diego Magazine / January 2010

I’m not violent, but I have had some times where we’ve had to do some breath-holding exercises, me and another guy,” deadpans Nate Cintas. “That’s just part of it.” Part of waterboarding? No. Part of surfing? Yes—if you surf at Cintas’ spot at Sunset Cliffs and don’t obey the locals’ rules.

Cintas, known to many as Irate Nate, has for years been one of the heaviest enforcers at his home break—a wave surf magazines won’t run photos of, much less mention—solid, powerful, with close-cropped hair and in great shape for a man in his 40s. Born and raised less than a mile from the Cliffs, he’s a local in every sense of the word.

Editor: I received this email from a good friend this morning after he had watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech:

…. For me, an Obama supporter who contributed hundreds to his campaign – well, tonight I removed my Obama bumper sticker. Based on his speech, he’s a 20th century president in the 21st century, looking backwards into the future. Nuclear power, capital gains cuts, and a health care bill designed by the greedy for the greedy – insurance companies, he’s as much a republican as he needs to be. Just better looking with a better presentation. His approval rating is sinking not because he’s losing the right – he never had them. He’s losing everything left of center.

Here’s an analysis of the Speech:

by John Nichols

Say what you will about Barack Obama. But don’t accuse the president of veering from the course he charted at a point when his term was new, his popularity ratings were high and Americans took seriously all that talk of “hope” and “change.”

by Dave Zirin / Huffington Post / January 28, 2010

Howard Zinn, my hero, teacher, and friend died of a heart attack on Wednesday at the age of 87. With his death, we lose a man who did nothing less than rewrite the narrative of the United States. We lose a historian who also made history.

Anyone who believes that the United States is immune to radical politics never attended a lecture by Howard Zinn. The rooms would be packed to the rafters, as entire families, black, white and brown, would arrive to hear their own history made humorous as well as heroic. “What matters is not who’s sitting in the White House. What matters is who’s sitting in!” he would say with a mischievous grin. After this casual suggestion of civil disobedience, the crowd would burst into laughter and applause.

Originally published Jan. 27, 2010

We here at the OB Rag have been complaining for awhile now that even though we live in a coastal desert, there is no wide-spread effort to collect the rainwater that falls on our parched paradise. There is no government encouragement for it, our culture doesn’t support it – and we waste the opportunity every time it rains – and floods like it did last week.

Well, there’s a woman in Point Loma who is showing us how to do it. Cielo Foth has installed huge storage tanks and 44-gallon trash cans in her backyard to collect rainwater – which she uses for her garden.

Since Thursday, January 21, 2010, the internet, newspapers and people around kitchen tables across the country have been ablaze with outrage over the Supreme Court’s action to open the floodgates to corporate money in our elections.
Over 40,000 of you have joined with us in launching a long-term campaign to amend the Constitution, and others have begun to follow your lead.

Scott Lewis of voiceofsandiego.org recently interviewed the director of research at the Center for Policy Initiatives Murtaza Baxamusa about San Diego and its economy. The Center is a labor-friendly think tank, a rare entity in this town, at least. Here is part of the interview:

If there was one, simple misconception among San Diegans that you could clear up in 2010, what would it be?

The last decade saw a well-orchestrated campaign by the blame-the-government privatizers at federal, state and local levels. San Diego was one such target, in which public employees were repeatedly demonized as over-paid and over-benefited, even when independent studies show that the city of San Diego compensates its workers much less than others for comparable work. But the work needs to be done, be it cleaning our streets and picking up our trash, to policing our neighborhoods and fighting fires.

As a former government worker myself, I can understand the food stamp worker’s lament to not be blamed for the program regulations she/he has to deal and the stress she/he deals with having heavy caseloads and not enough workers, BUT it sure sounds like there is an attitude problem also, as many have already mentioned.

The worker blames federal regulations but doesn’t seem to be aware that California, and San Diego County in particular, goes far beyond what the federal regulations require to PROCESS the applications, and someone has already mentioned that maybe the fact that our County Board of Supervisors is made up of all Republicans has something to do with that.