June 30, 2022
by Frank Gormlie
We’ll certainly miss the OB Pier fireworks, which has been cancelled again for the third year in a row. Watching those blazing white sparkles flow off the pier into the ocean were a sight worth remembering. And holding your child up so they could see the colorful explosions illuminating the night sky over OB is a memory worth cherishing.
This year we’ve been told that the pier cannot handle trucks and other weight-causing activity.
But, you know, maybe it is time to move on. Something different. Did you see how Imperial Beach this July 4th is replacing its fireworks with a high-tech drone show?
Here in OB, we need to accept the reality.
The reality is that pyrotechnics from and over the Ocean Beach Pier cannot continue – for two main reasons:
Now, there are alternatives — see inside. In the meantime …
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June 15, 2022
by Source

Add Kensington Pepper Trees to Newport Ave. Palms, Liberty Station Eucalyptus, OB’s Torrey Pines, Normal Heights Tree Topping in Ward Canyon, etc
By Maggie McCann
Policy schmolicy. Or so said the judge.
The Kensington pepper trees’ day in court was merely for show. The judge had already made up his mind before the trial started, but let the show go on, albeit with his constant interruptions and arguments overshadowing anything that our attorney could say.
In the end, His Honor decided that the City does not have to follow Council Policy 900-19, the Public Tree Protection Policy, because he called it an “unfunded mandate.” He also made some noise about there being no case law to say that an official Council policy, for which a hearing was held, a vote taken, and the policy entered into the City’s Big Book of Policy Stuff, has the weight of an ordinance.
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