OB Rag

At the beginning of the city council budget hearing on libraries on May 5th, every city council member proclaimed his or her support for libraries and expressed a personal commitment to restore the funds which the mayor has proposed to rip from the library budget- 7.4 million dollars. They emphasized that libraries are core city services! Peace has broken out my friends! But…

NBC San Diego reports: Two surfers who overheard calls for help near Sunset Cliffs helped rescue a man trapped by…

From ThinkProgress.org

As ThinkProgress has repeatedly noted, crucial services and public investments for Main Street America are being gutted as taxes on the richest Americans are the lowest they’ve been in a generation. Yet many Americans may not know exactly how unfair this is, as the country has grown increasingly unequal at the same time. Using data from the CIA Factbook based on the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality within a society — ThinkProgress has assembled the following graph, which demonstrates that the United States is now about as economically unequal as Uganda and more unequal than countries like Pakistan or the Ivory Coast.

This Saturday, May 7, San Diego marijuana supporters will meet at 11am and march together from Crystal Pier (Pacific Beach) on the boardwalk to the lifeguard station at Mission Beach and back again in support of the marijuana movement.

This event, co-sponsored by California Cannabis Coalition, is part of a worldwide march taking place on the same day in over 300 cities across the United States as well as many other parts of the world. It is expected that hundreds of San Diegans will participate in this worldwide effort to show support for the marijuana movement.

by Livia Borak

Two months. Exactly two months remain until the 4th of July holiday. We’ll take time off to enjoy the company of our friends and loved ones, fly our American flags and light the barbeque. And then the fireworks. What’s more American than buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fireworks from China, watching their explosive display, and then sitting in traffic for an hour? Sarcasm aside, 4th of July fireworks are, for most people, synonymous with the holiday. It’s tradition.

“Newport News” is our occasional newsy update on what’s happenin’ on Newport Avenue, the main business street in Ocean Beach. Who’s opening? Who’s moving and who’s closing? We feel that a business district reflects and represents the soul and spirit of a community. We encourage shopping locally and we support businesses who give back to their community. So come on inside and take a look around….

New Salon – “Smart Clips” – to Open Saturday May 7th

George Wolf and Rima Salloum, a husband and wife team, are opening Smart Clips – a new salon for Newport where the old Paladin Video stood. I caught George as he was sitting on the shop’s floor, finishing up some last-minute painting. (Much more inside ….)

As I passed the Electric Chair and the neighboring tattoo shop, I noticed Paul Bolton up on a ladder putting some finishing touches to the fresh paint at the front of the old thoroughfare, that breeze way that took you from Newport to the Apple Tree parking lot.

But no more. It is now – or will be – the lavish entryway for Electric Ladyland – the new music and art center – and music venue that Paul and Lynne Bolton, owners of the Electric Chair, will be opening on June 1st.

New Restaurant to Alter Famous OB Corner

Three good buddies – two of them brothers – are about to change a whole corner on OB’s main street. CJ and Joe Gladstone and Mike Lowe are close to opening “The Joint” – their new sushi and tapa bar and brewery at the corner of Newport and Cable. They’ll open ASAP over the next several weeks. Right now, newspapers cover all the windows. But wait till you see inside.

The new interior is literally stunning – you won’t believe what these guys have done to the old restaurant, that once was the site of the Little Chef, OB’s iconic greasy spoon of decades.

If you are not at the table you are on the menu.

Tomorrow, Thursday May 5th, the San Diego City Council will listen to public testimony about the library budget. This hearing, at 10:30 am in the commission chambers, will be the only opportunity to provide input solely on the library issue. Even if you signed a petition, attended a rally or called your councilmember, it is important to attend this hearing!

Mayor Sanders has proposed gutting the branch libraries by reducing branch hours to 18.5 hours a week. That means branches would be open two short days and alternate Saturdays. At last week’s rally in OB, Obceans clearly saw this as an attempt to close their library and they were not buying it.

May 4, 1970: Four students murdered, nine wounded by National Guardsmen, on the campus of Kent State in Kent, Ohio.

Allison Krause, William Schroeder, Jefferey Miller and Sandra Scheuer were killed in the 13 second fusillade of 67 shots fired by the Guardsmen, after an order to fire was given.

(Originally posted May 4, 2010)
I was sitting on my porch this afternoon pondering the meaning of Kent State. I had more tears last year when I wrote a post about it. Yet – here it is – the 40th anniversary. Kent State, hmmm, OB, hmmmm. Something was there.

And then I figured it out! I figured out how Ocean Beach is connected to the Kent State massacre of May 4th, 1970. Or vice versa.

I was in college when it happened. I was attending UCSD and in my senior-year when it all came down. I had been involved in the campus anti-Vietnam movement and was deeply affected by Kent State,

On Sunday night, we learned that U.S. forces killed Osama Bin Laden. After 10 years of war, it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

Please sign this petition immediately which will be presented to the White House to begin a swift withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. (Come inside for links to the petition.)