OB Rag

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

For the first time ever, the San Diego public has been awarded the Keys to the Kingdom.

The grantor of this unique gift to the people of San Diego is former councilmember Donna Frye and her Open Government project, developed during her three-month stint in the office of Mayor Bob Filner.

Finally, regular citizens and ordinary folk (you and I) have ready access to just about everything we wish to know about the ins-and-outs of City Hall.

New Study: Cancer decline since Rancho Seco nuclear plant closed over 20 years ago

by Michael Steinberg

Recently Southern California Edison asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to restart Unit 2 at its San Onofre nuclear plant. Units 2 and 3 at San Onofre have been shut down since January 2012 after radioactive steam escaped into the environment, and subsequent investigation found that steam generators installed less than two years before had suffered significant damage to large numbers of critical tubes in the generators.

Now Edison wants to restart Unit 2 in June, and receive permission from the NRC to operate that reactor for two years, despite failing to substantially address the damage to the steam generators or pinpoint the reasons for the problems, according to environmental group Friends of the Earth.

Ocean Spa Nails
4914 Voltaire St.
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-224-0498

I try to have a manicure and/or pedicure at least once a month but sometimes I find that something interferes with the timing and I may go longer without having one. Today my daughter Michele called me and told me she was going to have a pedicure and manicure at a new shop and wondered if I wanted to join her. Although I had a pedicure last week, I didn’t have a manicure and jumped at the chance of going with her for several reasons.

I have been trying different shops in the Ocean Beach and Point Loma area for several years. I have not found one that I have been real happy with, but have gone back to different shops more than once because they were better than some of the other places I have tried. Michele told me that “Ocean Spa Nails” had several very good reviews and we were anxious to try it.

By Beryl Forman & Sam Ollinger / San Diego Free Press / April 8, 2013

Last year, SANDAG began the work of implementing their Early Action Projects that are part of their 2050 Regional Bicycle Plan. Within the City of San Diego, SANDAG is currently working on the design of the Uptown and the North Park/Mid-City regional bike projects both of which are currently in the design phase of implementation.

By Judi Curry

As my subscriptions to five online dating sites comes to a close, I look back at some of the situations I have found myself in and can’t help but laugh hysterically. On the other hand, some of the time I found myself sad and depressed because things did not turn out the way I had hoped they would. Sounds like I might be bordering on bipolarism.

Some of the people that I have met have been wonderful and I consider them friends. Of course, I wasn’t looking for friends when I joined the sites; I was – and still am – looking for a companion, a lover, a best friend. I am thrilled that Joe, a man I frequently went out with has found a potential companion for life. I will always think of him as a friend and have also “friended” his new squeeze. Jim, I know I can always count on you if I need help; you have been there each and every time I have asked for some thing.

I have been amazed at the number of men that are married and are looking for a one-nighter.

Children born in Pacific coastal states in 2011 may be at greatest risk.

By Anne Hurley / msn Healthy Living / April 4, 2013

It’s already well known how devastating the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown was for Japan — dramatic spikes in radiation-related illnesses, an increase in likely cancer deaths over the next several years, and pollution which may never truly be cleaned up.

A new study suggests what many worldwide have feared — that the devastation from the traveling radiation has in fact sickened infants in other countries, including babies born shortly after the incident in Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Recently, the OB Rag ran a readers’ poll on the use of drones by the US government either in America and/or abroad. The results of the week-long poll are in: 82% of respondents oppose the use of drones in the United States.

36% of the respondents replied that they are okay with the use of the unmanned flying vessels in other countries by our government. 17% indicated that they are okay with their use in America.

45% of the 108 readers who responded specifically feel that the use of drones in America is unconstitutional or that they should not be used in our country. Another 37% replied that they specifically opposed their use overseas as well.

26% said that their use in America is “absolutely unconstitutional”. Another 19% were okay with their use in hunting down terrorists abroad, but opposed their deployment here in this country.

“Te Mana Café”
4956 Voltaire
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-255-9233

There are so many new restaurants opening in Ocean Beach it is difficult to get around to all of them in a few weeks. Today my friend Candy and I decided to have lunch at “Te Mana Café” on Voltaire. The physical restaurant is a restored 1924 Craftsman house. The Cruz family lived in it for years and as they remodeled it into the restaurant it is today, they continued living in all of the rooms – although they no longer live there now. It is beautiful; well furnished, and very warming to its clientele.

“The San Diego Nine” picked the perfect week for a hunger strike. They may not have known it, but the ghosts of Memphis were haunting the Mission Valley Hilton. What’s the connection?

Last week was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was murdered in Memphis where he had gone to support striking sanitation workers. As I noted in my column for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in January, the real MLK is frequently neglected in favor of a distorted picture of a vanilla saint who just wanted us all to get along. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed, King was a provocateur who wanted to disturb us about America’s hypocritical racial inequality AND its shameful class divide. King died fighting for the rights of poor workers of color because he thought nothing was a better example of what he wanted the Poor People’s Campaign to be than the sanitation workers’ strike. Their fight was a call not just for legal civil rights for black people, but a cry for economic justice for all.

Continuing my series of ‘random’ stories of Ocean Beach, I wanted to go somewhere besides my usual haunt of Newbreak Cafe, across from the Lifeguard station. So, I tried going over to the great new coffeehouse on Voltaire that just opened, TeMana Cafe, … but it closed at 3pm. I turned and headed up the block to Hungry Lu’s where they must have good coffee, related to the Grab and Go stores – but no, they don’t sell coffee. Kids, I tried, I really did, but it was back to Newbreak for me.

It was a windy, cool day in OB, so I was looking forward to a mug of strong French Roast, and once I settled in at a small, round table inside Newbreak I was not disappointed. As I try to keep my interviews gender balanced, I was looking this day for an OBcean woman.

I found Sophie Stephens studying at her laptop; she had purple hair, so I thought this person must have a story to tell, and again I was not disappointed. She jumped at the chance to be interviewed – and as she met my criteria (resident of OB or Point Loma, willing to be interviewed, and have photos taken), I asked her to join me at my table which was a little quieter than hers.

A local TV station has a report out today about how some OB residents feel that a section of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard is a “death row”.

10News quotes OBcean Daniela Rottigni terming the intersection of the boulevard and Cape May Avenue as “death row”, after dealing with the problem for a decade, she said.

Here is part of the report:

Rottigni says Sunset Cliffs Boulevard just is not safe, and speed is a huge part of the problem. … Runaway cars have caused major damage to private property, including Rottigni’s car, which was hit four different times.

“And to know that my car can get damaged, thousands and thousands of dollars for people not respecting or the city not even coming around and do something about it… it’s a disgrace to me,” she said.

For the first time, a major US poll has found that a majority of Americans support legalization of marijuana.

By Linda Feldmann /Christian Science Monitor / April 4, 2013

The Pew Research Center announced Thursday that 52 percent of Americans say that marijuana use should be made legal, versus 45 percent who say it should not. The trend line has been moving gradually in the direction of majority support for more than 20 years. In 1991, only 17 percent supported legalization, while 78 percent opposed.

As with gay marriage, which has also seen a sharp rise in support in the past few years, the Pew poll found major generational differences in views on marijuana. Among Millennials – those now aged 18 to 32 – support is at 65 percent, up from just 36 percent in 2008. Among Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1980, support has risen dramatically, from 28 percent in 1994 to 54 percent today.

Half of Baby Boomers support legalized marijuana today, and among the over-65 Silent Generation support has doubled since 2002 – from 17 percent to 32 percent.