Author: Staff

The County is still issuing a water advisory for Dog Beach in Ocean Beach due to high levels of bacteria and are advising people and pets to avoid water contact.

The advisory for Dog Beach has been in effect since August 3.

Station: San Diego River outlet to 300′ South (FM-010)
Status Since: August 3, 2023
Bacteria levels exceed health standards. Avoid water contact in the advisory area.

The OB Rag fundraising campaign which we began on Friday is over three-quarters to our goal of $1500!

Help us make the rest today.

And help us hold San Diego politicians accountable. Somebody has to keep pushing for transparency in our city government. And county.

By Geoff Page

On Monday, August 7, The Rag requested a tour of the city’s “hot lot” camping site at the City Operations facility as a follow up on The Rag’s two previous stories about the site. Some of the media had previously requested a site visit but had been rebuffed on privacy grounds. The Rag decided to try anyway.

Three hours after the email requesting the tour, the city responded informing The Rag about a media event scheduled for the next day, Tuesday, August 8. A link was provided that brought up an invitation for the media to tour the site. It was dated the same day as The Rag’s email, Monday, August 7.

The Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego is holding its second Ocean Beach Pier Jump Fundraiser – today, Monday, Aug. 7 from 7:30 AM to 4 PM. There is a $150 minimum donation/ticket purchase for each participant.

The public is invited to join the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego and the San Diego Junior Lifeguards at the OB Pier Jump!

Important Jump Information:

By Geoff Page

The clear highlight of the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s monthly meeting August 2 was the board, and the attending public, driving a stake into the heart of the Bacon Street roundabout proposal. If the city is true to its word, that idea is dead. We’ll see.

Bacon Street and Brighton Ave. Roundabout

The proposal for a roundabout at Bacon and Brighton came before the OBPB in May. It came back in June . The third time Wednesday was not the charm.

A cliff side retaining wall with concrete piers is being proposed for 1409 Ocean Front Street in South OB by the owners.

The city’s Development Services Department issued a Notice of Application on July 28 that an application has been filed with the city “for the construction of a secant pile retaining wall which would include placing concrete to form piers and a retaining wall for reinforcement.”

By Geoff Page

It has been three weeks since The Rag’s story on the city’s homeless encampment at the city’s Central Operations Station. The hot lot. A return visit was in order to see if the facility was doing any better after all of the criticism in the media. Sadly, not much better at all.

There have been changes. During the last visit, the facility consisted a large fenced area with one interior fence. There was a large area for tents and a small area for a trailer, restrooms and wash stands. The trailer appears to be an office.

The OB Planning Board has two action items on its Wednesday night agenda. The first one is a permit to construct 3 ADUs at 2171 Abbott Street over an existing commercial building, and the second one is a permit to demolish 2 units at 4732 Del Monte and construct 2 ADUs. That’s a total of 5 ADUs up for consideration.

Also on the agenda is an update on the OB Pier and on the proposed two roundabouts on Bacon Street.

The Board meets at 6 pm at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

The Ocean Beach Run Club is holding a 26.2-mile full marathon through the community on Saturday, July 29 starting at Dog Beach.

Their Club Instagram post stated:

“If you’d like to be part of the start, arrive at the OB Dog Beach parking lot at 6 a.m. The course is in four sections …”

Here’s the schedule:

The OB Rag is searching for a few local writers from Ocean Beach or Point Loma to take on assignments from editordude. We are able to pay a small fee for articles.

Please contact editordude at obragblog@gmail.com for more information.

We’re also looking for photographers and poets who’d like to showcase their talents.

It’s with sadness that we report that Keith Finley, 60, passed away peacefully on June 18, 2023.

Keith is remembered as a very prominent, if not soft-spoken, figure in Ocean Beach back in the late 80s and early 90s. In 1987, he began publishing The Beacon — a real community newspaper for OB and Point Loma — and later sold it to a small-newspaper publishing group that still prints it under the basic same name.

Keith also owned Ocean Beach Books, a secondhand bookstore

A leading member of the group, Neighbors for a Better San Diego, will be speaking tonight, Wed., July 5 on Senate Bill 10, at The Thursday Club at 1224 Santa Barbara Street in Point Loma.

The event is at 6 pm.

Neighbors for a Better San Diego has been leading the fight against Senate Bill 10 (SB10) and sponsored a string of neighborhood rallies in early May against the measure.

However, they have not been active in OB or Point Loma,