Category: History

Originally posted in February 2013

By Brittany Bailey

Frank Gormlie, Editor of the OB Rag and one of the editors of the San Diego Free Press, gave a presentation at Thursday’s meeting – Feb 21 – of the Ocean Beach Historical Society. Gormlie, who was raised in Ocean Beach and has been a community activist for years, gave insight and firsthand knowledge about the history of the Ocean Beach Planning Board- the first democratically-elected planning board in the State.

The meeting was held at 7pm at the United Methodist on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. The house was packed with many standing at the back. There was a brief introduction by Pat James, the chair of the OB Historical Society, and then Gormlie took the stage with a skit – complete with props and funny voices–

The tragedies of 9-11 were several years away when Obceans who knew that patriotism was consistent with the community’s laid-back, do-your-own-thing ethic decided it was high-time to do something big.

An idea to honor those who have served our country in the armed forces took hold and, with the help of the since-vacated Ocean Beach VFW, the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association (OBMA) and others, the idea came to fruition.

In a nutshell, that’s how the Veterans’ Plaza at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue – with two its flagpoles, 6 ½-foot-high piece of granite rock and adorning plaque, and dozens of inscriptions engraved onto a brand-new, concrete sidewalk – came to be in the mid-1990s, organizers say. Ocean Beach was ahead of the curve.

Originally published Feb. 21, 2013
Editor: Here is a series of articles about the history of community planning in Ocean Beach going back to the Sixties and Seventies. It is not a complete history, but does offer up an early history of the OB Planning Board, the Ocean Beach Precise Plan, the planning crisis that faced the community in the early 1970s, and OB’s response – which by the middle of that decade – made California history.

The Battle Over the Ocean Beach Precise Plan- how urban planning became a democratic process and how OB was saved (here)

• an introduction to the story about OB’s historic battle over the Precise Plan and about the fight to make urban planning a democratic process – which in the end directly saved Ocean Beach from over-development, enabling it to be the quaint village it is today.

From the OB Historical Society’s website:

A Historical Perspective of OB’s Planning Board

Frank Gormlie, Editor of the OB Rag, will give a program on the history of the Ocean Beach’s Planning Board and the importance of O.B. residents taking part in their community groups. Frank was a member of the fist O.B. Planning Board, which was also one of the first San Diego Community Planning Boards. Frank will talk about the importance of a good community plan that reflects what the residents want, and how they want to shape their future. Frank will stress the participation of residents in running for the board, going to meetings and voting in the election.

Conservationist David Helvarg – a former OBcean and writer on the original OB Rag – talks about his book, “The Golden Shore,” a tribute to California’s beautiful and iconic coastline, and the Navy’s and San Diego’s roles in shaping it.

By Serge Dedina / Wildcoast

No one has done more to educate the public on ways to preserve our coast and ocean than David Helvarg. Author of six books and the founder and Executive Director of the Blue Frontier Campaign, Helvarg will be speaking about his newest book, The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair with the Sea at the Birch Aquarium on Tuesday Feb. 26 from 6:30-8 p.m.

Introduction: This is the second part of my series on the 30 foot height limit. This would have been published earlier except for a medical issue, so I offer my apology.

At the risk of encouraging the critics of the height limit by continuing the discussion of the effects and value of the 1972 citizens’ initiative, this is meant then to demonstrate to those same critics the tunnels that have already been dug in and around and under the 30 foot standard, as well as informing the fairly new generations of citizenry and those uninitiated observers of San Diego development.

In Part One, I discussed how some of these tunnels have been dug underneath the height limit on San Diego’s coastal areas over the decades,

Former OBcean Happy to Hear that 35 Years After Fight With Developers and City Hall, Planning Board Still Operating

Editor: We liked the comment to a recent post about Jane and Tom Gawronski so much that we decided to post it – So, here it is, by Doug Card, a former OBcean who was instrumental in the early days organizing for the first OB Planning Board back in the mid-1970’s..

By Doug Card

It was refreshing to hear the old Red House has been saved and revitalized, for we have many a memory of happy days there organizing to save the community or just hanging out with Frank Gormlie, Tom Kozden, and the rest of those incredible folks who made OB the dynamic community that it was.

Editor: A celebration of Rose Creek was held just recently, organized by Friends of Rose Creek and San Diego Earthworks. Rose Creek is one of the actual, live creeks that pours into east Mission Bay. Rose Creek runs down Rose Canyon, the canyon that I-5 travels, and enters the bay in its northeast quadrant, flowing right by Mission Bay High School.

The celebration was called “Love Your Wetlands Day and Rose Creek Festival: It’s Our Nature”, and was hosted by Campland by the Bay on Saturday, February 9, 2013. It was :

a celebration get-together of dedicated environmental groups in a children and family oriented festival of fun and nature discovery in honor of Rose Creek Watershed and Mission Bay Park, one of the largest sea water aquatic parks in the world.

By John Lawrence/ San Diego Free Press

As of January 1, 2013, the cap-and-trade portion of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32, went into effect. Over 300 major polluters in California will face emissions reductions obligations, and in 2015, the program’s size will double to include transportation fuels and natural gas. These companies were given an allowance as to how much carbon pollution they can dump into the atmosphere. They can buy additional “allowances” from the state which held its first sale November 2012. There are more auctions scheduled.

Eventually companies will be able to trade allowances among themselves. So a company that emits less CO2 than they are allowed to can sell the remaining portion of its allowance to a company that exceeds its allowance. As years go by, the allowances will be reduced thus reaching California’s goal to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020.

Charlie Rose of CBS This Morning (on Tuesday 2/12/13) dragged former VP Dick Cheney out of mothballs to provide a pulpit for his opinions on National Defense and Obama’s ‘plans’ for the military. I know Cheney’s credibility in this area is non-existent so I was left to speculate why CBS would give this fossil a stage? Shared interests?

Cheney talked about Obama intentions to do “serious damage to the military”. He would like us to think John Brennan for CIA and Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense are the issues. I think not.

Sierra Club – for first time – to participate in civil disobedience that includes RFK Jr

From EcoWatch / February 13, 2013

Fifty American leaders—including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Waterkeeper Alliance), Michael Brune (Sierra Club), Bill McKibben (350.org), Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. (Hip Hop Caucus), civil rights legend Julian Bond, actress Daryl Hannah, and others —will risk arrest today in front of the White House to demonstrate the depth of their support for decisive action against climate change. For the first time in its 120-year history, the Sierra Club will participate in this civil disobedience action to convey the severity and urgency of action on climate.

As I mounted the few steps to Tom and Jane Gawronski’s front porch of their house on Coronado the other day, I wondered who of the two had the green thumb – as the modest front yard was sprinkled with succulents, small palms and other drought-resistant plants and landscaping .

I was also wondering just which questions to ask them, as they both had agreed to be interviewed before they left for their hiking trek later this month – an incredible trip to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. My god, they’re both in their 70’s, I thought, as I was hobbling up the walkway and steps due to a swollen left foot.