Category: Culture

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* Rumor: Locals Plan to Celebrate Herb Holiday on 4/20

* French Students Stuck in San Diego Due to Iceland Volcano Find OB Their “Favorite” Place Because of “the funny people there”

* Truesdail Posthumously-Produced- CD Release Party at Portugalia April 29th

* OB Town Council Plans Community Clean-Up on April 24th

* Fund-Raising Cross-Country Rollerbladers to Reach OB on April 24th – Barring Snow and Rain

* Rally for “No More Cuts In Education” on Saturday, May 8th

Editor: I know, I know, this has nothing directly relating to OB but … We posted this to demonstrate what is going on across the country. Here, on the 15th anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist incident in American history, armed vigilantes rally and spout violent rhetoric against President Obama, the Democrats and our country.

By Dana Milbank /Washington Post / Tuesday, April 20, 2010

They came in camouflage and ammunition vests, carrying AK-47s slung over their shoulders and pistols in their hip holsters. They were in Northern Virginia, on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, to stand on federal land and to voice violent thoughts.

They did this in a strictly nonviolent fashion, naturally.

by George / GrokSurf’s San Diego

“How your water rates subsidize golf courses” is the headline in a recent Voice of San Diego article by Rob Davis that will probably stir up some indignation around town. The article says that “475 businesses, homeowners associations, golf courses and public agencies” get a 78% discount on reclaimed water which is subsidized by regular water users.

The article cites Michael Shames, executive director of UCAN, who suggests that discounted prices for reclaimed water users may be illegal, and that “City Councilwoman Donna Frye called it “out-of-whack” and promised to hold a public hearing on it.”

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By Mike Lee /Union-Tribune / April 18, 2010

The goal: The owners of Architects wanted to showcase their passion for energy-efficient design when they moved offices in Ocean Beach last year. Their previous projects had included designing an eco-friendly building for the OB People’s Organic Foods Market a decade ago.

“When we had the opportunity to do our own office, we figured we better practice what we preach,” said Randy Hanna, a principal with the eight-member company.

The process: Hanna and his colleagues bought a 5,000-square-foot auto repair shop at Bacon and Santa Monica streets, intending to redo it as a green showpiece.

Coastal Commission Nixes Sanders’ Vision for Foot of Broadway – to Delight of Local Activists

By Pat Flannery / Blog of San Diego / April 15, 2010

One of the biggest mistakes Jerry Sanders made in his two mayoral terms was to fall for whatever slick sales talk Steve Cushman used to cajole him into backing this used-car salesman for a third term as Port Commissioner, despite term limits. Sanders’ strange fascination with Cushman raised eyebrows at the time. It may now have cost him his legacy – the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan (NEVP). It lies in ruins because of the cruise ships.

The Adopt-A-Fire-Pit Project Is Looking for a Few Good Local Volunteers

OB Fire Pits Before OB Town Council on April 28th

The eight remaining fire pits on OB beaches are fast becoming a burning issue. As you probably know, the City of San Diego, under the pretense of not having sufficient funds, plans on removing all 185 fire pits that ring the City’s beaches – including Mission Bay. And these include what’s left of the pits in our community.

The City’s plans of removal are said to begin at the start of the new fiscal year, July 1st, as the City does have the money for maintenance of the fire pits up through this June.

* Syringes Found Washed Ashore South of Dog Beach on April 14th
* OB Historical Society Presents “OB Coffee Culture” – April 15th
* “Save OB Fire Pits” on the OB Town Council Agenda – April 28th
* Changing of the Guard at the OB Planning Board
* Antique District Sales Event – April 17 – 18
* Clean OB Committee meeting – April 19
* Crime Prevention Committee meeting – April 20

One of the OB Rag’s more able bloggers is moving on and out of OB … to grad school … to be a writer. Although we protested – “Hey Mary! You’re already a great writer!” – she is ignoring our pleas to stay in OB.

Mary joined our staff one year ago exactly. Here is a sample of her posts since then:

* An Arch to Build a Dream On
* Keith Kifer – the Blues Wizard: “I’m always on stage.”
* The Kids – the Young and Homeless of OB
* OB Burners and Hoopers Get Busted
* The Hidden Garden of Ocean Beach
* Bars and Clubs of OB – a Review
* Who Was That Naked Swimmer Anyway?

The event was at Queen Bee’s in North Park, and it represented a coming-together of the County’s various Coffee Party chapters. There were reps from Ramona, Oceanside, Escondido, and from the various San Diego areas, “Coastal”, “eastern San Diego”, and “mid-city”.

Representative Filner stressed that the nation needed public financing of elections, in order to level the playing field. This issue has become one of the Coffee Party’s central issues.

by Jen Wilbur

We OBceans sure do love our animals. Not only do we have Dog Beach and Dusty Rhodes Dog Park nearby, but also many restaurants, bars and coffee carts have a fresh bowl of water readily available.

There are also no less than 5 veterinary hospitals within a less-than-5-mile radius. So it’s no surprise that folks are vocal about which vets they love, as well as those that made them miserable from time to time.

The San Diego chapter of the national Coffee Party movement is holding a kind of “coming-out” party in the late afternoon on Sunday, April 11th, and Congressman Bob Filner is the keynote speaker.

This private affair will be at Queen’s Bee, an entertainment venue/ coffee house in North Park from 3:30pm to 5. Stacy Taylor, one of San Diego’s most popular (ex-) radio personalities will also be on hand as a speaker. There is music and poetry, so this could be quite a gig.

The San Diego Coffee Party organization is not even one month old. Its first meetings were on March 13th, and there was so much of a turn-out of kindred spirits that it was organized into 3 to 4 groups. There’s also a chapter in Oceanside, one in Carlsbad, and a small one in Ramona. There are efforts a foot to establish one in the South Bay as well.

About a dozen OBceans are active in the “coastal” section …

SURVEILLANCE CAMERA AND POLICE WATCH TOWER COMING TO OCEAN BEACH

Big Brother is creeping into our lives, inch by inch, camera by camera, tower by tower. Recent posts on our blog have described plans by the City of San Diego to install surveillance cameras in and around Mission Bay, including one on the OB Pier, and that the San Diego Police Department dragged out their controversial mobile watch tower for this year’s first Floatopia.

Surveillance cameras, police towers … Big Brother is definitely creeping in … do you remember the origins of Big Brother? He is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the dictator with seemingly absolute control in Oceania, a society that is a totalitarian state.