Category: Labor

This latest politicization of President Obama’s speech that he gave to school children this morning was way over-the-top. It is the latest round of extreme partisanship being carried out by elements within the Republican Party, led by right-wing radio pundits and and being promoted and propagated by the mass corporate media.

They mobilized people to call schools and administrators to cancel the address – or organized a boycott of schools or kept their children out of school for the day. This was ridiculous. The flap they caused was outrageous and clearly unacceptable.

by Lane Tobias

Anyone who works in human services knows that these are lean times. Budgets have been cut, while the services we provide are in higher demand.

This goes across the board, from government agencies to non-profits, and while the services provided to the community may not be lessened in terms of effectiveness, there is certainly an emotional effect on both those seeking services and the providers themselves.

There are more people seeking help, and just as many people to help them as before…

Labor Day, to most people, is little more than the end of summer. Labor Day commemorates the labor union movement, the demand for an eight hour work day, better working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor.

Originally posted August 21, 2009

by Frank Gormlie

No other corner in all of Ocean Beach has had as much attention and been the point of so much contention and conflict within the community as has the corner of Voltaire Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The northwest corner to be exact.

The Point Loma Actors are at it again, and this time they are bringing the classic French playwright Moliere’s “The Forced Marriage” to Ocean beach on Sep. 5th and 6th!

Residents of Ocean Beach appear to be divided on the issue of having film and video crews in Ocean Beach. We have recently heard a number of complaints about the loss of parking, the rudeness of the security guys for the film crews, and so forth.

So, for a week, starting on August 21st, we ran a poll:

by Dan Allemeier

It has been well over a year since we started this effort to slow down traffic on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, but we are still here and working to get something done to calm the traffic and provide more safety to all OB residents that try to cross Sunset Cliffs whether by foot or car.

by Concerned Muir Resident:

I’m a Muir Ave resident here with my two cents on the current shoot of ‘Terriers.’

We received a hand delivered notice about the upcoming filming 2 weeks before production began (a nice courtesy indeed). Listed on the one page letter was the name of the Production Co’s contact who welcomed contact from local residents with any concerns they may have.

One day while sitting out front, …

Here’s the scoop on the film crew that’s been seen around OB lately. They are shooting for an upcoming pilot for an hour long comedic private-eye show.

The project, from Fox21, centers on two PI partners with maturity issues who solve crimes while trying to avoid danger and responsibility.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. As litter never ends and graffiti tagging seems endless along sections of Sunset Cliffs, another clean-up happened on Friday, August 14th.

As this one was organized by a group calling themselves “The Cliff Dwellers”, and headed up by long-time local and cliff expert, Larry O’Brian, a bunch of us OB Ragsters joined them after work at the foot of Santa Cruz Avenue.

by Frank Gormlie

There is an insurgent reform movement within the union that represents most of the County of San Diego’s employees. The candidate for president on the reform slate is Monty Kroopkin, an old friend of ours.

SAN DIEGO, CA. Monty Kroopkin appears to be an unlikely candidate for president of SEIU Local 221. With his salt and pepper beard and pony-tail, and glasses tipping off his nose, he appears to be more suited for some intellectual post at a local university, or perhaps polishing and working on his Harley.

Yet he and his fellow reformers are running against the status quo in Local 221 …

Editor: OB Rag blogger Jon Carr and local photographer Jim Grant are heading up a clean-up of the Veteran’s Memorial at the foot of Newport Ave this Saturday morning. The Memorial was grossly soiled by marshmallows thrown two weeks ago on July 4th.

The clean-up is at 1:00 pm and volunteers are asked to bring appropriate cleaning implements.