Author: Staff

By Geoff Page

The centerpiece of the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s regularly monthly meeting on June 1 was a city presentation on the Pier, it’s current condition and the future. The meeting was held at the New Break Church. Attendance was not outstanding. One District 2 candidate, Lori Saldaña, attended.

James Nagelvoort presented for the city’s new Strategic Capital Projects Department. Nagelvoort explained that this new department was formed by the city to oversee large and complex projects like the Pier. This by itself was news.

A homeless man was apparently stabbed in the chest while he camped in an Ocean Beach parking lot early Friday, and his wounds appear to be life-threatening.

After the 34-year-old man called 911, medics arrived to find him with a two-inch deep chest wound and rushed to a hospital and into surgery. Police said he is expected to survive.

OB’s “annual” Fourth of July fireworks celebration off the Ocean Beach Pier will not be happening – again for the third year in a row.

And because of the state of the pier itself, whether fireworks will be held ever again is in doubt. .

Denny Knox of the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) told The Beacon the pier cannot handle the trucks and other weight-causing activity. She said:

“We don’t want to be responsible for (the pier) crumbling into the ocean.”

By Geoff Page

A District 2 city council candidate community forum was held Tuesday, May 31 at the Masonic Hall in Ocean Beach. One notable no-show was the incumbent Jennifer Campbell. The other no-show was Joel Day.

Campbell never responded to the invitation. Day said he would be there, but, so far, no reason has been offered as to why Day did not show up. Mandy Havlik, Lori Saldaña, and Linda Lukacs did participate.

Below is a copy of an anonymous ethics complaint against Gil Cabrera, chair of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority and the source of hit piece mailers against Lori Saldaña. It appears that it may have been generated by The Rag’s exposure of Cabrera as the source of the mailers, containing outright lies and distortions about Saldaña, that people are finding in their mailboxes.

The complaint alleges that Cabrera violated the Airport Authority’s Code of Ethics. The complaint says that Cabrera accepted contributions to Cabrera’s PAC from three people who do business with the airport.

This month’s Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting on Wednesday, June 1, will be held at Newbreak Church at 2069 Ebers Street, at 6 pm.

The big agenda item is a presentation about the future of the OB Pier by James Nagelvoort, the city’s Director of Engineering and Capital projects department. The Board is expecting a good turnout for the much-anticipated presentation — which is why the meeting will be held at the church on the corner of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Ebers.

There are also two projects for the Board to review.

By Geoff Page

The regular monthly meeting of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Board, Wednesday May 18 contained two informative presentations, one by by County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and the other by District Attorney Summer Stephan. Both were about the homeless issue.

Homelessness in the Midway

Homelessness is a problem everywhere, but it is especially visible and acute in the Midway area.

San Diego’s new eviction moratorium just went into effect Sunday, May 22, and is now the rule that prevents landlords from removing tenants for ‘no fault’ reasons. It applies to renters who are up-to-date on their rent payments and abiding by the terms of their leases.

With the moratorium in place, if a landlord or family member wants to move into the unit, they need to provide the tenant with 90 days-notice. If they want to take the property off the rental market, they now must provide six months-notice.

The ‘no fault’ eviction moratorium is set to expire September 30 — or 60 days after the pandemic state of emergency ends, whichever comes first.

By Geoff Page

The founder and sole member of the New San Diego political action committee that is publishing smear mailers about Lori Saldaña is none other than Mayor Todd Gloria’s friend Guillermo “Gil” Cabrera.

Confirmation that Cabrera was the founder and only member of New San Diego came from Cabrera himself during a phone call May 17. A call was placed to his office and a voice message was left asking for a call back. The message was clear that the call was about the New San Diego PAC.

So, who is Gil Cabrera? His name may be familiar because he is the new chair of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Board.

The Ocean Beach branch of the San Diego Library opened today, May 16, and currently has a limited hour schedule and is only open for 4 days a week. But it’s open and it has opened even before it was “scheduled” to reopen.

Here are the new hours:

Monday and Tuesday: Hours are 11:30 am to 8 pm.

Wednesday and Thursday: Hours are 9:30 am to 6 pm.

Shadowy Group “New San Diego” Backed by Republicans, Developers, Some Labor Accuses Saldaña of Being in Big Oil’s Pocket

By Geoff Page

Dark money in the District 2 San Diego City Council race appeared in this writer’s mailbox on Monday, May 9. It appeared in the form of a hit piece on District 2 city council candidate Lori Saldaña.

The only clue regarding who put it out was at the bottom of the second page where it stated:

“Ad paid for by New San Diego – Not Authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.”

It took some effort to find out more about this group, but first the flier. The front page of the mailer has, in big font, “Lori Saldaña Showered By Big Oil.” Below that were three claims. The first stated: