Author: Staff

At their June meeting, the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board designated the Ocean Beach Pier as an historic resource.

Here is the description in the July-August newsletter of Save Our Heritage Organization:

Ocean Beach Pier, western terminus of Niagara Street, Ocean Beach, was the longest concrete pier on the West Coast when it was completed in 1966, after years of planning, fundraising, and construction.

What did you think of  OB’s first ever drone light show on the 4th? We’re looking for reactions and comments on OB’s Luminosity’s efforts to bring back a light show for July 4.

On Thursday, June 22, San Diego’s Privacy Advisory Board recommended that the City Council reject a police proposal to buy a new streetlight camera system and pair the technology with automatic license plate readers.

As Voice of San Diego reported:

The board members who were present at the meeting voted unanimously to pass along a 15-page analysis of SDPD’s proposal that challenges the department’s claim that the cameras don’t constitute an invasion of Fourth Amendment rights.

There’s a special election coming right up for San Diego County’s Fourth Supervisorial District — it’s a special primary on August 15, 2023.

And Monica Montgomery Steppe, who’s currently on the San Diego City Council, is running.

Wouldn’t you know it, but there’s a great fundraiser for her on Sunday, June 25. Plus, thePoint Loma & OB Democratic Club just recently endorsed her

The Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project Community Workshop  is occurring this Saturday, June 10th, from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Liberty Station Conference Center, 2600 Laning Road. This is the 2nd in-person Community Workshop on the pier held by the city.

The owner of Harry’s Coffee Shop has opened a new outpost of sister concepts Cass Street Bar & Grill and Harry’s Taco Club in Ocean Beach’s former Japanese restaurant, Sopporo at 5049 Newport Avenue. Sopporo was a favorite of locals and was the first Japanese eatery in OB to offer sushi.

Earlier this year, the space was taken over by the local hospitality group operated by John Rudolph, who owns Harry’s Taco Club and Cass Street Bar & Grill in Pacific Beach. The space briefly housed JJ’s Bar & Grill.

Breakfast Republic — the well-known eatery — is being sued by its employees for a swath of violations of California labor law.

According to the class action lawsuit, Breakfast Republic’s eight corporate entities, including its Ocean Beach site at 4839 Newport, allegedly violated California Labor by failing to:

(1) pay minimum wages;
(2) pay overtime wages;
(3) provide required meal and rest periods;

Michael Mills has a reputation in Ocean Beach among our renter population. He owns over 300 rental units exclusively within OB, and is purchasing more.

These are all multi-family structures ranging from 2 to 37 units.

He is a convicted slumlord, and was forced by the court to turn over management of his rentals to a 3rd party. (For more background on Michael Mills, see this Rag article from 2016.)  Here’s a quote:

Mills owns a lot of property in Ocean Beach – many rental units. And he has a long history buying up properties, raising rents, and maintaining sub-standard living conditions.

Wesley Hill, a 25-year resident of Ocean Beach, is upset. While riding the Ocean Beach bike path on his bicycle, after dodging trash and debris from homeless encampments along the pathway, he ran into a skateboard, crashed head first, cracking some teeth and costing him dental bills.

Hill told Brian White of CBS8:

“The bike path has been a mess for months, if not years. Encampments, other people using it to do drugs, it’s become a public toilet. Frequently, you see shopping carts all over the place.”

The father of a Point Loma teen severely injured in a hit-and-run incident led a “community-wide detective squad” to find and locate an Ocean Beach person suspected of causing the incident.

Tim Ash is the father of Alex who was wrapping up a ride on his E-bike on Catalina Blvd on a recent Friday night when he was hit by an SUV that then took off. Alex fractured his pelvis in 3 places and he had internal bleeding in his bladder which was life-threatening. After his son was injured and hospitalized Tim and other family members and friends went to work, in search of the SUV, believed to be a black Jeep Grand Cherokee.

By Geoff Page

There were two main items of interest at the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regular monthly meeting, Thursday, May 18: traffic and cell towers.

The PCPB has resumed in-person meetings at the Point Loma/Hervey Library the third Thursday of each month. Zoom meetings have been discontinued.

Voltaire Street traffic

The traffic issue on Voltaire drew a number of people to the meeting.

The Annual OB Kite Festival is this Saturday, May 20, at Robb Field. Plus there will be carnival and “Off” Street Fair of artisans, community booths, and food trucks.

It’s all from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Robb Field is officially at 2525 Bacon Street in OB 92107.) For those coming for the kites – fly your newly made kite, or bring a kite from home and show it off. You can make and decorate your own, and there will be free materials, and instructions, and help with kite making.