Category: Environment

We got an email from a student at High Tech High International, Sam Hargrove, asking us to spread the word about a candlelight vigil that is happening this weekend. The following is from the message he sent to us. ~ Editor

THE SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY JOINS THOUSANDS OF CANDLELIGHT VIGILS TO DEMAND A REAL DEAL AT THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE TALKS

As climate negotiators gather in Copenhagen, local residents will hold a candlelight vigil throughout San Diego on Sunday night to demonstrate public support for an agreement strong enough to actually slow climate change. This local action will join thousands of coordinated vigils happening in more than 100 countries as part of “The World Wants a Real Deal” campaign to demand a fair, ambitious and binding climate agreement.

by bodysurferbob

I’m telling you right now, if you allow the City of San Diego to remove OB’s fire rings and pits, you will live to really regret it. Maybe not this summer, but a summer or two down the pike. Or maybe the next time your kids ask you to take them to the beach for a marshmallow or wiener roast. Or the next time you have guests from out of town, and you want to do a beach party.

I’m telling you right now, if you let the City take the fire pits out, part of beach culture goes with them. Part of our beach culture will die.

You’re saying, hey, they’re closing libraries, they’re talking about cutting out school sports and music, the City is laying cops and lifeguards off. These are really dire economic times. How can we worry about fire rings?

Editor: It flooded in OB on Monday with the water lapping the doorsteps of a number of Abbott Street businesses, like Falling Sky Pottery, Newbreak, across from the Life Guard station. It does this everytime there are major rains coupled with high tides. It’s not that unusual. Well, the developers of the condos slated for Saratoga Park better be prepared for this level of nature. Here’s a back-ground piece from the San Diego Reader several weeks ago:

By Stephen Scatolini / San Diego Reader / Originally published Nov. 16, 2009

City plans for the development of the parcel of land at Abbott Street and Saratoga Avenue have been approved by the California Coastal Commission, but one important consideration seems to have been given short shrift.

By Mike Laude / North County Times / December 4, 2009

I love searching the ocean for fish and other good things to eat. But the ocean has been changing, and so have I.

My addiction began on a day when the surf at Windansea was, at best, knee high. I swam from Windansea to Bird Rock, gawking at halibut, lobsters, abalone, moray eels, starfish, urchins, garibaldi, schools of sargo, barracuda, opal eye, and bait fish. From that first day, some 30 years ago, I was hooked.

I grabbed abalone and lobsters, pole-speared perch, calico bass, sheephead, and halibut, then started using a speargun for yellowtail and white seabass.

Diving in a kelp forest on a clear day is magic.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. There may be a Santa Claus after all – if you like fire pits and rings at the beach. The California Coastal Commission has just informed the City of San Diego that it will need a permit from the state to remove the the fire rings in Ocean Beach, and the other beaches – Mission, PB and La Jolla Shores.

Mayor Jerry Sanders has proposed removing the 186 fire pits in order to save bucks on their maintenance as he grapples with a 179 million dollar deficit.

[Editor’s Note: I have published this list – followed by a progressive critique – as a counter-pole to the anguish progressives and leftists feel right now, on the eve of President Obama’s announcement of additional US troops being sent to Afghanistan. Some progressives are ready to throw Obama out of office because of his Afghanistan “surge.” This is basically a list of positives and there are many items on this list that progressives will disagree with, will consider to be cosmetic, or will fault for a lack of follow-through — and there are without doubt a lot of negatives not included. But we think this is an impressive list just the same.]

By Robert P. Watson

I am always being asked to grade Obama’s presidency. In place of offering him a grade, I put together a list of his accomplishments thus far. I think you would agree that it is very impressive. His first six months have been even more active than FDR’s or LBJ’s — the two standards for such assessments.

OB Elementary Selected as Grand Marshall of Holiday Parade – Convertible Wanted
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Point Loma school cluster wants in on District budget discussions
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Library hours, beach clean-ups, 200 workers and cop horses to be cut in Mayor’s budget
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Food and Toy Drive for local families gears up – Volunteers welcomed
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Jetty Project manager claims boulder placement key to jetty repair
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Anna Daniels nominated to have room named after her in new Central Library

by Larry OB

I recently attended the Road Warrior Weekend up in the Mojave Desert. It was a costumed campout for fans of the Mad Max movie trilogy. Sort of a post apocalyptic renaissance fair. The costumes and vehicles spanned all three movies. We had the good cops of the MFP (Main Force Patrol), and the bad cops of the Gay Boy Beserkers. The wearing of a metal-studded cod piece was usually a good way to quickly judge the threat level of an approaching cop.

The gathering was generally well behaved. The event organizer prudently forbade live ammunition, but there were enough real homemade weapons to give things an element of danger. Axes made from sprocket gears, and knives welded to steering wheel clubs.

by Frank Gormlie

The dilemma of the disenchanted progressive has come full circle. If the progressive is disenchanted and deeply puzzled, what about the progressive community – what about a place like Ocean Beach?

This then is the third and final part of the series. In Part 1, I presented what I see as this dilemma for disenchanted progressives: as people on the political left we are disenchanted about the tempo and types of changes that President Obama has ushered in to date. And yet, as I discuss in Part 2, this country is facing a mass movement that represents an American brand of fascism, and it’s gunning for President Obama.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Many of the respondents in our recent poll about the Swine Flu expressed doubts about vaccinations and believed it was much to do about nothing. 73% of those who voted either felt it was not important for them to be vaccinated or the whole thing was “a lot of hype and hysteria.”

34% stated that it was not important for them to be vaccinated. And even more, 39%, …

San Diego’s new head of the Fire Department, Fire Chief Javier Mainer, has been tasked by Mayor Jerry Sanders to cut $34.7 million from his budget, which includes fire departments, medics, and life guards. In a recent interview with KPBS he indicated that”beach closures” are on the table.

Chief Mainer said San Diego citizens may see less fire engines and fewer lifeguards. This could mean beach closures.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. For some reason, Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs were cut out of the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s recommendations for Southern California coastal marine sanctuaries.

We had reported earlier that Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs had been included in proposals for redesigning California’s system of marine protected areas along the southern coast, as well, of course, other parts of San Diego County. Marine experts have been putting together proposals for a year. The OB coast had been considered one of the chief areas of contention.