OB Rag

By Geoff Page

I am writing this today to express my extreme frustration with the lack of care or effort on the part of the Ocean Beach lifeguards when notified of a dangerous condition on the beach. The right rear skid of Tower 3 is bent into an upright position, sticking out of the sand like a knife blade where lots of people might encounter it.

Saturday morning, May 24, I sent an email and a picture of the condition to the lifeguard website. Because I was concerned the problem would not get attention quickly enough I called the weekend number. I knew the beach would be very crowded with families and children. I was dispatched through to the OB lifeguards.

Mayor Gloria is struggling against the pushback by residents from across San Diego and by City Council members in reaction to his proposals to offset a $258 million budget shortfall. He has proposed deep cuts to parks, libraries, recreation centers, youth programs, bathrooms during the off season, beach fire pits, and San Diego Humane Society’s animal services.

In the midst of all this, Voice of San Diego calculates that the city is headed “for its biggest budget showdown in the 20 years since the city adopted the strong-mayor form of government.” Gloria and councilmembers “not only disagree on top priorities, they are showing open contempt for one another.” Councilmember Henry Foster mused that perhaps it’s time to scrap the strong Mayor system. The Voice hits one of the nails on its head:

A major bone of contention is the Mayor’s insistence on retaining unclassified managers at City Hall while simultaneously seeking to cut park and library services and impose parking fees at Balboa Park while eliminating dozens of positions.

Meanwhile, The Times of San Diego (recently merged with Peninsula Beacon et tal.) questioned coastal residents whether they thought there was a better way for the city to address its budgetary woes. Several were quoted:

Sha Rose of Ocean Beach said: “Bathrooms, libraries, etc., it’s going cost more if they aren’t open. This isn’t the answer.”

Point Loma nursery owner Walter Andersen was quoted: “If they close the restrooms, it will be a huge mess. Mission Bay is a huge asset to the City and should be funded properly. This should include fire rings. I see the lifeguard stations need some attention, also. This should have been planned for, too. Who’s running the show?”

Michael Pallamary of Bay Ho Alcott said: “The mayor and City Council have created a new agency called DODGE. They advise our elected officials on how to dodge questions about where our tax dollars are going. Down the drain we go. A City in ruin.”

By Madison Beveridge / Pt Loma-OB Monthly SDUT / May 25, 2025

Three students at Point Loma’s Correia Middle School were rewarded for short documentary-style films they made for the C-SPAN network’s 2025 StudentCam competition.

Students, parents, teachers, administrators and C-SPAN representatives turned out to honor the young filmmakers at a gathering May 21.

The trio’s works were among nearly 1,700 student entries from across the country.

For the 21st edition of the competition, C-SPAN asked contestants to focus their films on the issue most important to them or their community as though they were presenting it to the president of the United States.

Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye, seventh-graders at Correia Middle School, won second prize and $1,500 for their video titled “One Pill Can Kill,” a look at the fentanyl crisis and how the San Diego-Mexico border plays a role in fentanyl and other drugs entering the U.S.

Deficits and a coming demolition threaten to shutter the Rosecrans facility that offers mental health services.

By Blake Nelson / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 26, 2025

The city of San Diego has nowhere near enough shelter for everybody asking. Yet an ongoing dispute between city and county officials has reduced the number of available beds even more.

The Rosecrans homeless shelter, a large tent in the Midway district that helps residents with mental health issues, has stopped accepting new people, leaving 14 spots open as of Wednesday, according to Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy. The San Diego Housing Commission has also halted intakes at 8 other programs in anticipation of Rosecrans’ possible closure at the end of June, and two staffers at the tent recently quit to take other jobs.

A mistrial was declared by the judge in a 2023 fatal stabbing case that occurred in the Midway District and a new trial date was set for August 5. The jury was deadlocked at 11-1 in the case of Armando Manuel Parras accused of murdering Joshua Goodman at a McDonald’s restaurant.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David Berry declared the mistrial after the jury deadlocked for four days in deliberations in the case of the stabbing the morning of Aug. 30, 2023.

The Peninsula Beacon reported:

Parras is accused of ambushing Goodman as the victim rode a bicycle in the parking lot of the Midway Drive restaurant. Police said the defendant was a passenger in a minivan that pulled into the lot, where he allegedly exited the vehicle and began chasing Goodman, before catching up and stabbing him.

By Samantha Mason

I’ve been a resident of San Diego for the last six years. I originally hail from Orange County, so I didn’t have to go far when I moved to the College area to attend San Diego State University in 2019. In the years since, I have had the privilege of exploring most of the neighborhoods of this wonderful county, until I finally landed in Del Mar in 2023.

Since then, I’ve rubbed elbows with the rich soccer moms and private school kids on the perfectly-paved roads of Carmel Valley. It’s an odd place to live as a 24 year-old postgrad, but when your partner’s dream job calls and tells you to head north, it’s what you do.

As a writer, I am not geographically bound to one area; I luckily can go wherever the wind takes me. That being said, I regret to admit that I rarely leave my North County bubble. Life gets busy, we need groceries, the dog needs a walk – rinse and repeat. By the time the work week is over, I’m too tired to do anything new, or we venture out to our tried-and-true Del Mar spots (shoutout to Monarch Ocean Pub and the Brewer’s Deck).

This isn’t to say I don’t love my neighborhood. It’s beautiful, safe and lush. However, I can’t say there’s much action. The lack of potholes does not make up for the lack of personality. I do find myself craving the party scene of Pacific Beach or the hustle and bustle of downtown. I want character. Carmel Valley is boring (at least in my experience). So, on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to explore San Diego’s crown jewel of character: Ocean Beach.

I’ve spent some days here and there in OB, but always to grab a quick beer or see Sunset Cliffs. Today, I wanted to take some time to revel in this lively community.

To start my journey, I headed south and made my way to OB Thrift. As soon as I got off of the freeway, I was met with crowded sidewalks and colorful, little homes. I appreciate the uniqueness of the neighborhood, with every structure telling a different story, just from its facade. It’s a nice change from the manicured suburbs.

In the heart of the action on Newport Ave., OB Thrift is regarded as one of the best thrift stores in San Diego.

Over the weekend, I spent some time watching documentaries about the Civil War and was reminded that Memorial Day remembrances began with that conflict that took the lives of 600,000 Americans and almost took American democracy with it. It was an appropriate lesson for these days in 2025 when the fate of American democracy is again in the balance because of the authoritarian want-to-be dictator in the White House.

The program spoke of how as late as 1864, the war and America’s future hung in the balance. The war had grown unpopular with some in the North and President Lincoln was being challenged in that year’s election by General George McClellan, running as a Democrat. McClellan had been Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 1862 until he was fired by Lincoln for not pressuring the Confederate army enough, prolonging the war.

McClellan became a severe critic of Lincoln and the war — and if he had won, the Emancipation Declaration would have been torn up and McClellan would have sought an agreement with the Southern states to end the war — allowing them to keep millions of Americans in bondage. The country would have looked much differently and it would have been the end of democracy here.

A miracle happened, however, and General Tecumseh Sherman won the battle of Atlanta, guaranteeing the end was in sight. Lincoln was re-elected in a landslide — the slaves were freed and democracy was saved. For a while at least. Reconstruction and freedom was only temporary for African-Americans and by 1877, Jim Crow and a new type of slavery had returned — which existed for another 90 years until the modern Civil Rights Movement.

To the OB Rag by Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) staff

In a win for historic preservation and community memory, the City of San Diego’s Historical Resources Board (HRB) voted on May 22 to designate two (of four) historically, culturally and architecturally significant residences at 4101 Lomaland Drive as official historic resources.

This includes the rare Corbin House, which includes the last two surviving sleeping cottages directly associated with the early 20th-century Theosophical Society, as well as one of three Mid-Century Modern Post-and-Beam residences designed by Master Architect Richard John Lareau.

The designation of the Rose Vollmer house among the Lareau-designed buildings under Criteria C and D represents important recognition of postwar coastal architecture and Lareau’s modernist vision.

Though SOHO, community advocates and several board members presented compelling arguments for the designation of all four buildings as a cohesive shared cultural landscape, along with the previously designated Ladera Street house, ultimately the board was forced to work within the city’s self-imposed limitations of segmenting the resources. For the record SOHO disagrees with segmentation — a practice frowned upon in the professional preservation and environmental community.

By Robert Reich / AlterNet / May 22, 2025

The old professor in me thinks the best way to convey to you how utterly awful the so-called “one big beautiful bill” passed by the House last night, May 22, actually is would be to give you this short ten-question exam. (Answers are in parenthesis, but first try to answer without looking at them.)

1. Does the House’s “one big beautiful bill” cut Medicare? (Answer: Yes, by an estimated $500 billion.)

2. Because the bill cuts Medicaid, how many Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage? (At least 8.6 million.)

3. Will the tax cut in the bill benefit the rich or the poor or everyone?(Overwhelmingly, the rich.)

San Diego U-T Editorial Board / May 23, 2025

Has San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria jumped the shark, to use the snarky phrase coined in the wake of a particularly ridiculous 1977 episode of the TV sitcom “Happy Days”? The possibility leapt to mind this week after one of the most confounding front-page stories in U-T history.

Here’s the background needed to appreciate this description: For decades, city voters have recognized the problem of compensation costs eating up the budget and crowding out needed services.

It’s why they decisively approved a charter amendment in 2006 that permitted the city to use independent contractors for services if they could do so more efficiently than city workers. It’s why they gave landslide approval to a ballot measure in 2012 ending costly defined-benefit pensions for most newly hired city employees. That the first measure was mostly ignored by elected city leaders and that the second measure was thrown out on narrow legal grounds didn’t invalidate what their passage said about voters’ wishes.

Meanwhile, the voters’ wisdom in trying to check pension costs has been repeatedly confirmed. In March, San Diego’s pension board unanimously approved a staggering $533.2 million annual pension payment for the city for the fiscal year beginning July 1. It was $44 million higher than the previous annual payment and $35 million higher than the pension system’s actuary forecast in 2024.

By Tom Watson / Democracy Docket – Reader Supported News / May 22, 2025

[See original for important links]

President Donald Trump began the week by threatening a quartet of accomplished musical artists who have dared to challenge his radical MAGA hegemony with federal prosecution. In typical unhinged fashion, Trump lashed out at superstars Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Bono (an Irish citizen legally beyond his reptilian reach) — demanding a major investigation into these “unpatriotic entertainers” who campaigned for Kamala Harris last year, musicians he accused of being “corrupt and unlawful.”

In reality, Trump’s rant was ignited by Springsteen’s acerbic comments on stage at two concerts in Manchester, England last week. Springsteen, who is 75 and has taken part in American political and social protests since he played the No Nukes festival at Madison Square Garden in 1979, spoke more directly than any major entertainment figure has since Trump’s inauguration. Before those words sink into the oozing quicksand of daily outrage and click-chasing Trump media coverage, it’s worth a closer look at the message — because I think it’s an important moment in the evolution of the growing opposition to this authoritarian gang.

First, it’s important to note that Springsteen’s words were scripted. I watched the videos from both nights, and the words were clearly on the lyrics prompter that major artists use on stage. This was no rant of the moment — it was intentional, targeted and as carefully crafted as any song off Darkness on the Edge of Town. Springsteen posted a video and a full transcript to his website. This was a plan.

By Jeff McDonald / The San Diego Union-Tribune / May 19-21, 2025

Citing what they call a litany of past failures by San Diego officials, five residents filed a lawsuit on Monday, May 19, seeking to stop a city trash pickup fee before it can be formally approved by the City Council next month. The legal complaint accuses Mayor Todd Gloria and others of violating Proposition 218, a state ballot measure passed nearly 30 years ago that prohibits government agencies from charging more for services than the actual cost of delivering those services.

It’s the first legal challenge to the city’s effort to begin charging single-family homeowners for trash pickup since the passage of Measure B, the 2022 ballot measure that allowed the city to charge for trash service.

San Diego voters narrowly approved the proposition, overturning a 1919 law that had given the city authority to collect residential waste but also called for the service to remain free to single-family homes in perpetuity.