OB Rag

It’s Thanksgiving week and lots of progressives are still feeling giddy about the near clean sweep in the recent election. But, I’m going to take a break from politics this time and focus on what we have to be grateful for here in San Diego other than our new political landscape. Despite the historically problematic origins of the Thanksgiving holiday, it never hurts to take stock. So here’s a random list of some cherished things ranging from the profligate to the profound:

A reader has contacted us with the following complaint about being woken up Thursday night, Nov. 15th, by what sounded to her like explosions and gunfire off the cliffs. She says she lives a block from Sunset Cliffs.

Here is her communication to us (her identity at this point is confidential, but she may wish to disclose it if someone else heard similar noises):

I was wondering if more people reported gunfire late Thursday night just before midnight. Just before going to sleep, I was shaken up by loud explosions, followed by shots and automatic machine gun fire.

The owner of the property that the Apple Tree Market sits on was kind enough to return my call yesterday. I had left a couple of messages at the office of Elliot Megdal and Associates, up in Los Angeles. And Elliot Megdal called me back himself.

We had several minutes of a polite conversation, with me asking questions about whether he could confirm or not that a Foodland grocery store was going in, as had been rumored recently, whether or not another market was going in at all, and what his general plans for the property were.

Passage of Prop 30, Defeat of Prop 32 and Bilbray, Filner and Roberts Victories All Are Cause to Celebrate

By Lorena Gonzalez

San Diego’s progressive community has a lot to be thankful for this November. We passed Proposition 30, defeated Proposition 32, took down Brian Bilbray and elected Bob Filner our next mayor! And for good measure, we elected Dave Roberts as the first Democrat and first fresh blood of any kind on the county Board of Supervisors in two decades.

UPDATE: Protests aimed at disrupting Black Friday sales events at Walmart stores around the country began yesterday, Nov. 15th, with walk-outs at a number of stores. Employees at six Seattle area Walmart stores walked off the job protesting what they say is low pay, too few hours and retaliation by managers against workers who speak out. Go here for more.

WASHINGTON (The Global Edition) — At a jointly held press conference today, Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch announced that they would be organizing “The Million, Billionaires march on Washington.”

After selling their list of demands to the reporters present, Trump spoke up, “There is no ‘affirmative action’ for billionaires. I went to vote, I couldn’t even get a cocktail with it.

The OB Rag has just heard from residents of the apartments at Abbott and Saratoga – they have until January 2, 2013 to move out, as the 10 condo units of Ocean Park Villas will be constructed soon after.

The 10 units will be condos in a 3 story building, 29 feet high, once the existing four buildings are demolished. Three of the buildings are apartments with a total of 15 units, …

In a graphic reminder that not all assaults that occur in Ocean Beach are directed at women, we have a report that two men were assaulted and injured on Newport Avenue Saturday night, November 10th, in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

A young OBcean named Ross was speaking to a Mexican friend in Hodad’s parking lot around 11:30 pm Saturday night. Ross was speaking in Spanish and had his back up against the brick wall. As they were talking, a man walked by and as he passed, …

Editor: Point Loma High School Alumni are responding to a plea for help from a 2010 graduate, Will Barton, recently injured by a random act of violence.

Will Barton: 2010 graduate of PLHS needs our help

Will Barton was critically wounded on Monday night the 29th of October when a fugitive on a rampage shot him in the head while he was walking to his father’s house after getting off work.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents:

V.O.T.E.— Founders of the People’s 30 ft. Height Limit Initiative

40 Year ANNIVERSARY of the 30 Ft. Height Limit

Wonder what helps keep Ocean Beach a beach town verses Miami? Most people answer is “its activist’s community”. But equally important is the “30-foot Coastal Height Limit Law”, which is celebrating it’s 40th ANNIVERSARY of being voted in as a people’s initiative in 1972.

Editor: The following was sent to us by Gail Powell, an OBcean and occasional contributor here at the Rag. This could be good news – it’s just a rumor now, and we’re trying to track down its validity.

By Gail Powell

This could be GOOD NEWS for OB residents: My niece and I shopped at Apple Tree market,located at 4949 Santa Monica Ave. on Monday, Nov. 12. She saw someone she knew from high school who is employed there. We all started talking and discovered that, according to this unidentified employee of Apple Tree, after the aging store closes in late November, a Foodland Market is coming in.

The election is over and the dust really has finally settled. By the way my candidate lost, but it isn’t easy being Green. The 47% and then some spoke up and now, maybe, just maybe, WE can get to work and do the good things we do well, fix the good things we use to do well, and set aside the bad stuff which has been gnawing at our insides for so long.

WE proved the Koch Brothers, et al. could not buy an election, and Karl Rove is as superfluous as a dead rat on the floor just waiting to be swept up and thrown out with the garbage. WE, with the help of Donald Trump and Ted Nugent, proved that just because you have money and a forum, does not preclude you from being as crazy as a three-dicked goat. WE proved that even FOX News has to concede something to the other side every once and while.