Articles by Staff

Staff has written 2395 articles for the OB Rag!

OB Artist or Vandal?

May 9, 2023 by Staff

Is this guy an artist … or a vandal? Or a graffitist?

The individual was seen down at the cliffs between Del Monte Ave. and Narragansett Ave.

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OB Planners Angered by City’s Delay on Re-Surfacing Bacon Street and Puzzled By Who Decided to Install Roundabouts

May 5, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

Most people would agree that weeds growing in pavement cracks are a pretty good indication that a street needs work. Weeds. That is what Bacon Street looks like today, has for some time, and will continue to look that way for the foreseeable future..

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2 Proposed Roundabouts for Bacon Street on OB Planning Board Agenda — Wed., May 3

May 2, 2023 by Staff

A major item on the agenda for the Ocean Beach Planning Board Wednesday night is the city’s proposal to install 2 roundabouts on Bacon Street, one at Voltaire and the other at Brighton. The board will review the proposal and make recommendations.

Another item is a review of the “Housing Action Packages Proposals” and recommendations from the Community Planners Committee (CPC) — the city-recognized body of community planning chairs.

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Opposition Grows to So-Called Proposed Tenant Protections – San Diego Council Votes Tuesday, April 25

April 25, 2023 by Staff

The San Diego City Council will vote Tuesday, April 25th at 2 pm on an ordinance proposed by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera to provide protections to renters from eviction as long as they continue to pay rent and comply with their lease.

But opposition to the proposal is growing and residents are being rallied to call in or attend the meeting to show or voice issues they have with it.

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Earth Day Clean-Ups Around Ocean Beach and Point Loma

April 21, 2023 by Staff

Saturday, April 22nd is of course Earth Day and there’s a number of clean-ups and other events in and around Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

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OB Planning Board Meets Tonight, Wed., April 5 and They’re Back at the Rec

April 5, 2023 by Staff

The OB Planning Board meets tonight, Wednesday, April 5, at 6 pm — and they’re back at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave.

Much of tonight’s agenda is focused on important internal board matters, like certifying the results of the March board election, electing a chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary, and appointing members to the 3 standing committees (Project Review – the vice-chair usually chairs this, Transportation and Parks).

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New Deep Dish Pizza Restaurant Taking Over Mr. Moto’s on Cable in Ocean Beach

April 4, 2023 by Staff

SanDiegoVille, an online site, has reported that a new pizza restaurant will be replacing Mr. Moto Pizza House at 1929 Cable Street.

The new eatery will be The Shop Pizza + Wine, a restaurant concept specializing in West Coast deep dish pizza. Brothers Brett & Cole Herring are now

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San Diego’s Styrofoam Ban in Effect

April 3, 2023 by Staff

The city of San Diego’s ban on styrofoam went into place this past weekend. This styrofoam ban includes food containers that most restaurants use for take-out orders and utensils, egg cartons, and even meat trays.

It’s the city’s single-use plastic reduction ordinance going into effect. The law was delayed for 3-4 years by lawsuits from California grocers.

Retail stores can no longer sell these products, and residents can’t use them at city parks or beaches.

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Report on the City’s First Workshop on the Ocean Beach Pier

April 3, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The OB Pier Renewal Community Workshop, held Saturday, April 1 at the Liberty Station Conference Center, 2600 Laning Road, drew a good-sized crowd of people interested in the future pier. Apparently, the advertising outreach was well done.

Around the perimeter of the room a series of easels and tables were set up for the workshop portion of the event. There was a model mock up, to scale, of the pier and downtown OB.

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Tonight’s OB Town Council Meeting Only on Zoom and Facebook Live – Wed., March 22

March 22, 2023 by Staff

The word has gotten out that the venue for the OB Town Council meeting tonight, Wednesday, March 23, Water’s Edge, has sustained damage from the storm and won’t be available to host the OBTC Monthly Meeting.

The meeting will still take place on Zoom and Facebook Live, as always.

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Row of Large, Shady Trees in Midway District Removed by City

March 16, 2023 by Staff

Take a good look of the trees in this photo. They’re fairly large, provide lots of shade — and now ….

Take another look at them — they’re all gone and dead.

The massive chop down was discovered by Rag writer Geoff Page today, and here is a brief report:

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Speak Out Now About SDG&E Rates to Calif Public Utilities Com. Virtual Hearing – Wed., March 15

March 15, 2023 by Staff

How would you like to sound off on SDG&E about your high bills?

Right now — today, Wednesday, March 15 — the California Public Utilities Commission is holding a virtual public hearing. It starts at 1pm.

So, how can you get involved with the upcoming hearings?

The March 15th meeting is virtual and starts at 1pm.

You can access it by phone or computer.

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San Diego Police Want 500 More ‘Smart’ Streetlights Plus License Plate Readers – Public Meeting in Midway Today, March 7

March 7, 2023 by Staff

On Wednesday, the San Diego Police Department said it wants access to 500 of its Smart Streetlights that need to be restored — and they want to add another crime-solving tool to the network: automated license plate readers.

Because the Smart Streetlight cameras had not been well maintained over the years, the city would need to install new cameras. Adding the license plate reader technology would mark the first time the city of San Diego would have the readers in fixed locations.

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Voting Begins for Ocean Beach Planning Board; Runs through Wednesday, March 1

March 1, 2023 by Staff

Voting for the eight seats up for election at the Ocean Beach Planning Board has begun and will run through Thursday, March 1 at 8pm. Online voting began on Wednesday, February 22.

In person voting will take place at the OB Recreation Center on March 1 from 8am-10am, then again from 4pm – 8pm. Mail-in and drop off ballots will also be accepted. The drop box will be at the OB Business center.

Results will be announced Thursday, March 2, 2023 via OBPB email and social media.

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Candidate Forum March 9, Election March 16 for Peninsula Community Planning Board

February 28, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regular monthly meeting, Thursday, February 16, was a relatively bland affair.

Elections

The upcoming planning board elections was probably the most important topic of the meeting. The election information is posted on the PCPB home page here.

There are five board positions open for this election. Anyone wishing to run for a seat must fill out an application that can be found on the Elections page titled “2023 Board Member Application.” The titling is a bit odd as it was always was called a Candidate Application in the past.

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Midway Planners Blindsided by Housing Commission’s Purchase of Ramada Inn for Homeless People

February 23, 2023 by Staff

City Outlines Planned Destruction of Community Planning Groups
By Geoff Page

The reactions of some Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group members, at its regular monthly meeting on February 15, resembled nothing less than a kick to the groin. That and the clear news that MCRD is not going anywhere anytime soon were the highlights of the Zoom meeting, but some idiocy involving the Community Planning Group changes came in a close third.

San Diego Housing Commission Surprise

The San Diego Housing Commission was there to make a presentation that clearly took the group by surprise,

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Peninsula Crashes on Sunday Take One Life, Injure One and Trap Two

February 20, 2023 by Staff

Traffic accidents on Sunday, Feb. 19, around the Peninsula, took one life, injured another and trapped two.

Around 4 pm, a 60-year-old motorcycle rider died in a crash that occurred on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard near West Point Loma Boulevard. The as yet unidentified rider was headed south on a Harley-Davidson Softail Slim motorcycle when he maneuvered onto the right shoulder to pass vehicles. Instead he hit the curb and was thrown off the motorcycle.

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Recent Snow in San Diego Mountains Is Going Fast

February 15, 2023 by Staff

Live cam at Mt. Laguna Lodge. Shot taken at 10:35 am this morning, 2/15/23. Two hours earlier the roof top in the foreground was all white.

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Suspicious Balloon Discovered Near Escondido

February 15, 2023 by Staff

Alien life forms emerged from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon this past weekend near Escondido. More to follow!

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Report From Midway Rising Public Meeting

February 9, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The meeting was held in the EF Language School as advertised. The first floor of the building is a very large open area, much of which is dedicated to a cafeteria, and the meeting area appeared to be a sectioned off part of it. It was separated from the eating area by some cloth partitions on stands. The partitions were mainly delineators and did not form a solid wall. A lot of noise filtered through from the many young diners.

There were 50 to 75 people in attendance. It is difficult to judge how many attended from the public as opposed to the various groups of professionals there to show the project. The room was set up in five stations where people could talk about what that particular station was set up to show.

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Peninsula Planners Told By City It Will No Longer Review Proposed Accessory Dwelling Units

January 31, 2023 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regularly monthly meeting, Thursday, January 19, was relatively unremarkable until a certain piece of very remarkable information popped up, almost routinely.  It appears the evisceration of the planning board system has begun.

About one hour into the meeting, the PCPB reached the point in its agenda called “Applicant-Initiated Action Items.” Board chair, Fred Kosmo, pointed out that there were no projects on the agenda and explained why. Kosmo said that the PCPB’s Project Review subcommittee chair, Joe Holasek, informed him of a change at the city.

The planning boards will no longer be reviewing projects involving accessory dwelling units or ADUs. So, how does removing projects – the most common and of numerous projects these days – from planning board review square with the following?

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Ocean Beach Library Will Be Last to Fully Re-Open

January 20, 2023 by Staff

As the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today, “The long-awaited return of Sunday public library hours in San Diego could come this spring as library officials say they’ve made significant progress filling a rash of 275 employee vacancies spurred by the pandemic.”

Some branches will reopen on Sunday over the next two months. But not the Ocean Beach Library.

As the U-T stated: “San Diego was also relatively slow to reopen its branches on days other than Sundays, with four branches remaining fully or partially closed until last year and with Ocean Beach still not fully re-opened.”

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‘Bigger Than Roe’ Women’s March in San Diego — Sunday, Jan. 22

January 19, 2023 by Staff

This weekend, beginning on Friday, Jan. 20, there will be Women’s Marches across the country.

Here in San Diego, there’s a march on Sunday, Jan. 22, from 12noon to 2pm at Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego 92101.

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Is a Temporary ‘Ranch’ on Empty Land at Miramar Air Base San Diego’s Solution for the Unhoused?

January 18, 2023 by Staff

Let’s have this discussion. San Diego needs to have it.

Bill Walton — probably San Diego’s most famous personage — and George Mullen, the CEO of Sunrise Ranch, have just penned an opinion showcasing their vision of a solution to San Diego’s unhoused.

They offer up something called Sunrise Ranch to be built as a camp for unhoused people on 2,000 acres of empty land at the Miramar Marine Corps Station, the former Camp Elliot weapons range.

They write:

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Thousands of Stoned California Elders Are Heading to Emergency Rooms

January 13, 2023 by Staff

According to researchers at UCSD, 12,167 California elders — people over the of 65 — made trips to emergency rooms in 2019 for cannabis-related issues.

Reporter Eric Page at 7SanDiego cited the study conducted by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine that “just 366 Californians over the age of 65 visited ERs in 2005 for cannabis-related concerns. By 2019, that figure had skyrocketed nearly 3200%, when 12,167 seniors made trips to emergency rooms for that reason.”

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It’s Friday the 13th for Sidewalk Vendors

January 13, 2023 by Staff

The Sidewalk Vendor Ordinance goes into effect in Ocean Beach and other beach and shoreline neighborhoods today, Friday the 13th.

Beginning today, Jan. 13, 2023, vendor permits are required throughout San Diego. There will be about a two-week grace period as permit enforcement will not begin until February 1.

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OB Planners’ Committee to Decide Rules of Next Election for Board — Interested Candidates Encouraged to Attend Zoom Meet — Jan. 16

January 12, 2023 by Staff

Details on Voting and Being a Candidate for Planning Board

Next week the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s Election Committee will be holding a Zoom meeting to decide the rules of their upcoming board election held from February 22, 2023 through March 1, 2023 at 9:00 pm. (See details below.) The meeting is on Monday, January 16th at 5 pm. You can register for the meeting here.

Anyone interested in running is encouraged to attend this meeting or the next regular meeting of the board on February 1st (Attendance however is not required).

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‘Wild Things Pizza’ Is Gone, to Be Replaced by Specialty Dessert Shop

January 12, 2023 by Staff

For some of those who’ve recently walked or driven by Wild Things Pizza & Beer at 2163 Abbott Street have noticed that the business has vacated the property. Commenters to the Rag noted in early December that the pizza place had been closed since December 1 (without giving the employees — many of whom were local OBceans — any notice).

SanDiegoVille in a Jan. 10 article has confirmed that Wild Things “has suddenly ended its short run in San Diego’s Ocean Beach neighborhood …”

The online local eatery guide also announced that a specialty dessert shop named SugaLab has already taken over the space with plans to open in February.

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San Diego Residents Urged to Oppose One-Mile Transit Proposal at Land Use and Housing Council Committee – Thursday, Jan.12

January 10, 2023 by Staff

It has been confirmed that the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee will discuss the proposed “Sustainability Development Areas” zoning change at its Thursday, January 12, 2023 meeting.

This ill-conceived proposal would allow high-density, high rise, and multi-unit ADU projects within one mile of an existing or planned bus or trolley stop. The planning department claims — without any evidence and in the face of contradictory facts — one mile is a reasonable “walking, riding, rolling” distance from a residence to a transit stop. (The widely accepted definition of “transit-friendly” development is one-half mile from a major transit stop.)

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San Diego Rally to Demand Accountability and to Mark the 2 Years Since the Assault on Our Freedoms – Friday, Jan.6

January 6, 2023 by Staff

San Diegans have organized a rally today, January 6, to demand accountability and to mark two years since the January 6th attack on our Capitol.

It’s from 2 to 4 PM at Balboa Park’s Bea Evenson Fountain (between the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the Natural History)

It’s part of events nationwide that will raise our voices for accountability and broad democracy reforms.

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