Jim Bell, a well – known local ecologist, is at home receiving hospice care.

His friends would like you to come join them for one of Jim’s great parties at his home at 4862 Voltaire St in OB this Saturday, July 13th at 5 pm.

Come and share your memories and good times with Jim.

by Bob Edwards

Imagine you are a resident of inland San Diego in the Summer of 1926. Seeking relief from the 90 degree heat, you and some friends pile into a buddy’s Model A Ford and head down to Ocean Beach to spend the weekend at a cottage another friend has rented at the Camp Holiday Auto Court, adjacent to the Silver Spray apartments.

The cute white cottages on the cliffs are a bit small for your group but you’re spending most of the time on the beach anyway, so it really doesn’t matter. The rental cost, $10 a month, is a little steep, but what the heck, it’s a vacation. Each morning you head down to Benbough’s Ocean Beach Bath House and rent a scratchy, saggy, woolen “bathing costume” for 10 cents and spend your day swimming in the ocean or in the saltwater pool next to the Silver Spray.

Throughout the day you pig out on hot dogs and cotton candy and in the evening you toss back a few brews at one of the bars on Newport. After dinner, you walk down to the New Ocean Beach Dance Pavilion at the foot of Newport where you and a thousand other patrons flirt and foxtrot the night away to the sounds of a live band.

By Geoff Page

The highlight of the June 26 OB Town Council meeting was supposed to be a presentation by the Peninsula YMCA detailing its plans to basically rebuild the existing facility adjacent to Correia Middle School. There was some information about that but it seemed to be only a small part of the Y’s presentation.

The news is that the existing buildings, built in 1977, will be wholly replaced. The Y is showing its age after 40 plus years so folks who use the Y will be happy about the improvements. The slide presentation had only three renderings in it and two seemed to be the same picture. What was shown looked very much like what is there today except for the third slide showing a new entrance.

By Geoff Page

An appearance by District 2 Councilperson Dr. Jennifer Campbell was clearly the highlight of the Midway-Pacific Planning Group meeting on June 19. As recounted in the last article about this group, the regular monthly meetings are now held at the Bay City Brewery, courtesy of the brewery owners. The location presented some audio challenges on the 19th but Dr. Campbell seemed to take them in stride during her appearance.

Yet, the meeting room has a large garage-style roll up door and a regular door to the outside. And the noise from large trucks on Hancock Street, from young guys revving up dirt bikes in the parking lot, probably from a repair shop next door, barking dogs, and delivery trucks, made it difficult to hear or be heard. This was the noisiest of the three meetings the group has held at the brewery so far and it seemed to be noisiest when Dr. Campbell was there.

There’s only 5 days left – from today – to apply to the Ocean Beach Town Council for one of their yearly grants to local organizations, groups, and individuals that promote the general betterment and beautification of Ocean Beach and the welfare of its residents.

The deadline to apply is Sunday, June 30. Community Grants funding amounts range from $200 to $1,500.

To apply for an OBTC Community Grant, complete this ….

By Geoff Page

A very clear demonstration of how the legal system can be used to intimidate people, especially people who have had little exposure to the system, was apparent in the cancelled Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) meeting last Thursday, June 20. A board member filed a lawsuit naming the PCPB and the City in an alleged violation of his right to free speech. Here is what the PCPB posted on its website:

Due to the PCPB named as defendant in a Civil Rights Action case, Board and committee meetings may be adjourned until further notice. Please check the committee and board pages to see if adjournments have been posted. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to be back to normal operations soon.

OBceans celebrating Independent Bookstore Day found themselves at Run for Cover, OB’s only bookstore, on Saturday, April 27.

Besides the usual fare at a bookstore, the band ZZYMZZY Quartet played for customers – and passersby – of the storefront. Here they were caught by Judith Starker.

The Book Crawl celebrating the small bookstores continues today, Monday, April 29.

The OB Rag received the following from Joe Flynn, a retired City Planner who worked with OB Planning Board long ago:

Going through some papers, I found a poem by LoVerne Brown that I had copied down some years ago. I know this lovely lady is long gone, but her poetry and smiling face lingers on.

Who was LoVerne Brown?

San Diego poet LoVerne Brown was a resident of Ocean Beach for 50 years (1950-2000).

Although she first won recognition for her poetry as a college student, her most productive years came after her retirement from the City of San Diego in 1974.

In 1976, she founded the Ocean Beach Poetry Circle, which for years published the anthology Zip Code 92107.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board will hold its 2019 General Election on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

Polls will be open 4-7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. Mail-in ballots are also available upon request.

COME INSIDE FOR SAMPLE BALLOT, Voter Registration form and Instructions

Join the Ocean Beach Town Council and the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club for “A Conversation with Jen Campbell”, our newly elected Councilwoman for the 2nd District.

It’s all happening Friday, February 15th at 7:00 pm at the OB Woman’s Club at 2160 Bacon Street. There will also be light refreshments provided.

Your questions can be submitted

The Ocean Beach Planning Board has recently added something special to its website: photos and short bios of most of the Board members. The full Board meets monthly on the first Wednesday, 6pm at the OB Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. There are 7 Planning Districts within the OB Community Planning Area.

And here we present them – verbatim, so, check it out and meet the members.

Andrea Schlageter, Chair
District 7

Andrea Schlageter was born and raised in the Ocean Beach Point Loma area. A graduate of Point Loma High School Class of 2009, she went on to study Political Science and International Relations at Boston University (’13). …

Kevin Hastings, P.E., Vice Chair
At Large

Kevin Hastings was born and raised in California, from the beach to inland Los Angeles, and in the small mountain town of Tehachapi. He graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a mechanical engineering degree and has worked in the profession for 15 years …

The annual election for the Ocean Beach Town Council Board of Directors is coming right up. Voting will take place from Monday, January 28th to Friday, February 8th.

Anyone member considering running as a candidate for one of the 8 seats open must submit their Candidate Statement by Monday, January 21st.

A Candidate Statement is a Letter of Intent stating one’s reasons for wanting to join the OBTC Board and describing any relevant experience or skills

Here is the statement from the OBTC website: