Category: San Diego

Jim Carroll’s death on September 11 brought back a lot of memories. His burst into popular consciousness in the early 1980s with The Jim Carroll Band happened when I was living in San Francisco.

Ronald Reagan was just coming to power, and would soon axe my job as a tenant organizer. This job been funded by the federal government though a program created by the Carter administration.

by Lane Tobias

Picture this on a beautiful fall afternoon: Live art and in-motion clothing design on the sidewalk. A mural in progress. Wine, cheese, and make-your-own cupcakes to whet your appetite. A DJ spinning beats as beautiful women clamor over swapped (and now shared) clothing. A curly-haired, bearded reporter amidst the madness.

Nothing about my presence at the OB Centric “Women Only” Clothing Swap made sense; in every respect, I was the outlier. There was rule “# 5 – No Boys Aloud”.

by Sunshine / November 9, 2009

I feel privileged to have just witnessed this man, Sinh Tho Nguyen, conclude his walk across America right here in OB on November 8th. He left the east coast’s Atlantic Shore on June 10th and literally walked across this fine country of ours.

As we freely approached him on the shores of the Pacific, he was shaking from the cold. Some kind OBcean took off their jacket and gifted it to him. His demeanor is kind. He appeared awed and exuded gratitude for all of America.

by Ernie McCray

Once upon a time, at the outset of World War II, Japanese American students at CaIifornia State Universities were rounded up and shipped off to internment camps.

Now those Institutions of Higher Learning would like to grant honorary degrees to the students who suffered such indignities.

And I guess that although an honorary degree might not be as profitable as getting a home to replace the one you might have lost or as powerfully emotional as being reconnected with an old pal you were separated from and have never seen again – it’s never the less a nice gesture, a needed touch, perhaps, in making the world a better place.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. I met Sheldon Dorf back in the mid-seventies here in Ocean Beach. The OB resident passed away on Tuesday, November 3rd, to diabetes complications. He was 76. Sheldon was perhaps one of the most culturally influential OBceans as he was a co-founder of San Diego’s now infamous Comic-Con.

Comic-Con – now the convention that draws tens of thousands every year to San Diego. The City jumps hoops just to keep the event local.

POINT LOMA, CA. About three months ago – in August – a homeless man who sat on a bench in Point Loma for 15 years died. No one knew his name, or where he was from, and the County was about to “dispose” of him when a community member found his family members and contacted them.

It turned out his name is – was Jeff Pastorino, and that he has a twin brother named Chris, and had three other brothers, and was from a good family in Pennsylvania and disappeared from them27 years ago.

SAN DIEGO, CA. A scary crowd gathered outside Blue Shield’s Mission Valley offices last night, Monday, Nov. 2nd. It was part of a three-day protest against the giant health insurance company held by local San Diegan activists.

On-the-scene friends reported that about 75 people were at the 6pm demonstration.
OB photographer Logan Marcus was there and took these shots. (See gallery inside)

Meanwhile … protesters are arrested earlier in the day at Blue Shield ….

by Gail Madsen

Who else is tired of our public officials ignoring our best interests, cutting our services, going forward with their pet projects regardless of cost and our current finances and expecting us to obligingly pick up the tab?

Well, thanks to Proposition 218; (yes, one of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association propositions); we have a chance to fight the water increase planned for November 17th.

From what I understand, the reason for the rate hike is because we have done such a good job of cutting back on our water consumption; the city is trying to make up for the loss in revenue.

“Is there anything scarier than thinking you might need medical care, and getting canceled by a health insurance corporation who spent your premiums on TV ads and lobbying?” asks San Diegan Mike Copass, co-organizer of a 45-hour haunt of Blue Shield’s office at 2275 Rio Bonito Way in Mission Valley.

The actions are part of a national groundswell of civil disobedience at health insurance company offices by people seeking to end insurance abuse and win health care for all. So far, 115 people have been arrested in 18 cities demanding “real health care reform that treats health care like a human right, not a commodity,” according to a press release issued by event organizers.

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for others when called upon to help and today was no exception. This morning I got to meet Jim Dent, the Point Loma electrician who was compelled to help an elderly gentleman who had called him needing some electrical work done. Jim discovered that was just the tip of the iceberg… A call for help went out and the community answered. There is much more work to do and I have no doubt that call will be answered too, but I have to tell you about what happened today.

The group of people that came together this morning was as diverse as it was courageous. Jim had warned everyone in his emails and comments leading up to today’s cleanup that the conditions were bad and he was well prepared, providing everyone with respirator masks and sturdy gloves. As folks showed up he asked that everyone sign in so we could keep track of who had volunteered (we’ll do a more complete report later) and we passed out supplies. Shovels, mops, brooms, trash bags…

For nearly the entire past year a panel of marine experts have been putting together proposals for redesigning California’s system of marine protected areas along the southern coast. The areas include Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs, and other parts of San Diego County. The OB coast is considered one of the chief areas of contention.

The experts have come up with three proposals for marine sanctuaries – and all of them would more than double the space to be set aside for protecting sea life on the Southern California coast. The trio of proposals would provide from 380 to 413 square miles of near-shore waters as safety zones for species — more than twice the current amount of 182 squares miles.

Crane works on jetty repair

Federal stimulus are being used to repair the Mission Bay channel entryway. The project, overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, includes fixing the channel’s south jetty – OB’s north jetty, which was reportedly damaged by an El Nino winter storm ten-eleven years ago. Go inside for link to our earlier post on this.