Author: Staff

Councilmember Raul Campillo, Chair of San Diego’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations (ED&IR) Committee, will docket the city’s proposed street vending ordinance for approval at the February 9th meeting.

The proposed ordinance includes licensing, permitting, and health standards for all vendors while also setting practicable limitations on where vendors are allowed to set up, balancing equity and access.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has confirmed that San Diegans are paying the highest electricity rates than any other city in the country.

San Diegans paid an average of 36.5 cents per kilowatt-hour last December. In comparison, Los Angeles residents paid 34% less (24 cents) and Riverside County paid even less, 23.8 cents per kWh.

San Diego even passed Hawaii, which is not even on the mainland. Hawaii’s average rate was almost 3 cents less per kilowatt-hour than San Diego’s rates.

Edward Lopez, Executive Director of Utility Consumers’ Action Network (UCAN) told CBS8

“The price per kilowatt is the highest in the country. San Diego is even out-passing Hawaii.”

The OB Rag has just heard that a developer is now cutting down 3 large owl nesting trees and one towering palm tree at 5074 Lotus St. in OB (9 am, Tues, 2-2-22).

The Ocean Beach Planning Board meets Wednesday, February 2 at 6 pm. (Wow! 2-2-22!) As they have consistently done throughout the pandemic, the board meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. You can register for the meeting here.

4751-53 Pescadero

The only development project up for review and recommendation is an application for a Coastal Development Permit for 4751 Pescadero. The permit is for the construction of a new 2-story single unit with an attached ADU (accessory dwelling unit) and for a new additional detached ADU. There is already a 2-story house in the rear of the lot at 4753 Pescadero.

By Geoff Page

Land use changes that are designed to destroy single family neighborhoods and planning board changes that are designed to destroy planning boards were the two main topics of interest at the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s monthly meeting January 20. Pretty depressing stuff. Accounts of how the PCPB’s last election went did not help.

Accessory Dwelling Units -Proposed Land Development Code Revisions

The PCPB discussed a draft letter it has addressed to the mayor and all nine city councilmembers providing its opinion of the proposed Draft Housing Action Package. The main subject of the letter was accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units and the new state law versus the city’s proposed “enhancements” of the law.

“Shoeshine Willie” – Willie Washington — passed on Saturday, January 22. Known for his iconic shoeshine shack on Newport Avenue in OB, Willie had become one of several unofficial mayors of Ocean Beach. He maintained his shoeshine business for over four decades.

At his own request, there will not be a funeral service, but some community members are still collecting donations that will be given to local veteran charities in his honor.

Willie was a legend and officially closed his business this past November.

Check out Charles Landon’s latest OB Rag video: an interview with Andrea Schlageter, Chair of the Ocean Beach Planning Board.

Her face was on flyers wrapped around signs and palm trees in Ocean Beach yesterday, January 18.

Serena Stevens, a 19-year-old woman reportedly missing after traveling to San Diego from New York late last week has been located in Ocean Beach.

By Geoff Page

This post is a pitch for a really great organization called Project Wildlife. For those who don’t know about them, here is what they do, based on an actual experience I had Tuesday morning.

My wife and I were walking our dogs at Dog Beach. She noticed a bird at the waterline she called a coot. It’s a black bird, sort of medium size. This one was by itself, we didn’t see any others nearby. My wife remarked that she had seen these birds along the river but had never seen one in the surf at Dog Beach. I had to agree.

Just as we were looking at the bird, a dog went after it in the surf.

By Geoff Page

The two highlights of the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s first monthly meeting in 2022 were clearly a detailed presentation of a Sports Arena redevelopment proposal and drastic changes involving Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs.

The regular monthly meeting, that takes place the first Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m., was held on-line. The OBPB and most planning boards have not gone back to live meetings yet. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube here.

Land Use Code Changes

The city is planning on implementing the requirements mandated in Senate Bill 9, the bill that calls for relaxing building codes to help allegedly solve the housing shortage in California.

By Geoff Page

January 6, 2021, was the final act of everything that had occurred in the previous four years. It was an orgy more than anything else. It was a day when all internal restraint of any kind was ignored. It was a day when a large number of idiots believed they could have an orgy devoid of moral or legal obligations because the White House Idiot had told them, and shown them, this was OK.

We had a person in the White House who showed the world just how unaccountable a President could be when he never suffered any consequences for any of his many outrageous actions. Those of us who care were horrified. But, after four years of this, a huge number of Americans saw it as permission to do whatever they wanted to, regardless of the law or morality.