OB Rag

A funny thing just happened about local lifeguard stations. Not funny funny, but odd funny and something that disparages Ocean Beach — again.

All of a sudden, the San Diego Fire-Rescue department — the city department in charge of the lifeguards and their stations — is insisting on an emergency $1 million in repairs to the Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower. And a city council committee, the Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will be having Fire-Rescue make its case for the necessary repairs at the at 1:00 p.m. Thursday City Hall meeting. And Jen Campbell, who also of course represents Mission Beach is on board for the emergency monies — despite the city’s funding crisis.

They’re all saying that the Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower is facing serious structural issues that demand immediate attention, and is showing significant signs of wear and tear, prompting concerns about its ability to withstand further deterioration. San Diego Fire-Rescue is calling for these emergency repairs to address the building’s failing condition, with the possibility of falling debris becoming a serious hazard. Channel 8 reports, “According to an inspection by the City’s Development Services in November, the situation is so severe that without immediate action, the structure could become unsafe for lifeguards and the general public.”

This could all be accurate and good.

But, hey, what about the Ocean Beach lifeguard station? It’s been falling apart for years and the community has been requesting for repairs or a replacement. For years.

Now, comparisons are rough. The Mission Beach station is one of the busiest in the city. Mission Beach also has a town council that speaks up for the community’s needs and wants.

It’s been totally underplayed by local media, but last week on Friday, March 14, the United States Geological Survey sent out an alert for a magnitude 4.6 earthquake in the Salton Sea area.

The USGS report included details about the epicenter, the depth and how widespread the impact was.

The problem is that it never happened and the earthquake report was pulled down from the agency’s website.

USGS Public Affairs Specialist Paul Laustsen conceded the earthquake never occurred. He said:

“The message was sent in error during a system testing. There was no earthquake of that magnitude at that time or at that depth. We are still looking into what happened. This is definitely a rare occurrence.”

By David Helvarg / Los Angeles Times Guest Opinion / March 11, 2025

Last month, close to 1,000 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration workers, including weather forecasters, were fired. The Trump administration has now told agency leaders to fire another 1,000 people. Along with 300 resignations to date this will approach 20% of its workforce.

The White House’s Department of Government Efficiency also informed NOAA that its lease on the Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Md., will soon be canceled. The center is essential in creating accurate computer models for everything from the next severe weather front to hit farmers in the Midwest to the long-term costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change.

A fire in a carport broke out late Monday night, March 17, and caused an estimated $350,000 worth of damage to an Ocean Beach home.

Just after 11:30 p.m. Monday the fire erupted and then spread into an adjacent residential garage that had been converted into living quarters, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society celebration of Spring at the Wisteria Cottage patio, under the century-old Wisteria vines, Thursday, March 20, 2025, 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM,at 4761 Niagara Ave., in O.B.

By Kristen Taketa / The San Diego Union-Tribune / March 16, 2025

San Diego college faculty and students say they fear the Trump administration’s plans to investigate UC San Diego and other universities, and its attempts elsewhere to deport student activists and assert control over academic programs, mark the start of a broader erosion of civil and human rights.

Last weekend, federal agents detained and tried to deport a Columbia University student for his role organizing pro-Palestinian protests. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education said it was investigating 60 universities for alleged antisemitism amid such protests. And on Thursday, the Trump administration threatened to withhold all future funding from Columbia unless it cedes control of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department to the government, on top of other demands, and  intensified an ongoing effort to deport student protesters.

To many academics, students and free-speech advocates in San Diego and beyond, more than individual free speech is at stake. They say such moves by President Donald Trump and his administration represent an attack on everyone’s academic freedom and First Amendment rights.

By Howard Bryman / Daily Coffee News /  March 18, 2025

While most specialty coffee shops promote their rarefied high-end arabica coffees, a new coffee business in San Diego called Excelsa Coffee Company is promoting a separate species altogether.

The company just opened the Excelsa Cafe in the heart of Ocean Beach, offering tastes of excelsa coffee, a variety of the liberica coffee species that — unlike arabica or robusta — has not been widely commercialized in the United States.

The cafe is the latest in a series of excelsa awareness initiatives undertaken by the San Diego company. In addition to brewing freshly roasted excelsa, the company is cultivating excelsa plants through its own farm in Nicaragua, while creating a nonprofit global network for excelsa production.

Like the commercialization of excelsa itself, the new coffee bar is being presented as something of a work in progress.

With the library’s expansion project moving forward, here’s a look back at its evolution, beginning in 1916

By Eric DuVall / Pt Loma-OB Weekly SDU-T / March 18, 2025

On a weekday afternoon last fall — it might have been a Wednesday in November — five San Diego city officials visited the venerable little library in Ocean Beach. What the heck was up with that, you might be wondering? I’ll tell you.

The folks from downtown were met by a group of locals including library staff, several Friends of the OB Library and representatives of the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, Woman’s Club, Community Foundation, Community Development Corp. and Historical Society. We all sat in a circle around the rug in the children’s section on those little chairs to hear a heartwarming rendition of “Go Dog Go!”

OK, I made up that last part, but it was almost that exciting.

The good news was being revealed to the Ocean Beach community that the OB Library expansion project was finally being fully funded. The long-languishing project is a go, and if that isn’t a good excuse for a crazy dog party, I don’t know what is.

From San Diego Americans for Safe Access

Dear Esteemed Members of the City Council,

As the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, a national non-profit dedicated to advancing safe access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the proposed increase in San Diego’s cannabis business tax.

Within the City of San Diego, consumers already pay over 30% in taxes at the final point of sale—including an 8% cannabis business tax, a 15% cannabis excise tax, and a 7.75% sales tax. In addition, the cannabis excise tax is currently set to increase another four percentage points this summer. If both tax increases are adopted, San Diego consumers could soon be required to pay up to 6 percentage points more for legally acquired cannabis products—almost 40% in total taxes. This increase will impact all cannabis consumers but will place a particular strain on both patients and small and mid-sized cannabis businesses, threatening equity in access and cannabis business ownership while undermining public health goals and sustainable revenue generation.

By Paul Coogan / An Injustice

The City of San Diego is confronting a projected budget deficit of approximately $258 million for the upcoming 2025/2026 fiscal year. Is that the real number and how did this happen?

First off, the $258 million is the shortfall on the operating budget. The real price tag needs to include the deferred maintenance and upgrades to infrastructure totaling $11.87 billion — with a ‘B’. The city has less than half the money to pay for that work and comes up $6.51 billion short over the next five years. Assuming the operating budget is balanced for the next five years, the total need is $6,788,000,000.

Now that Mayor Todd Gloria is saddled with the financial disaster he promoted, he is initiating several measures aimed at mitigating the shortfall: Reassessing office space leases, a hiring freeze, higher parking meter fees, new trash collection fees, and eliminating the position of Chief Operating Officer. Removing the CCO of the city is consistent with the mayor eliminating the City Manager position thus concentrating more power in himself. Authoritarian rule has far less overhead and pesky oversight.

Our friends at Peninsula News have put together some history about the issue of “paid parking” in Balboa Park — now that the City of San Diego wants to balance its budget by installing paid parking in the “crown jewel” of the city (and other places like  Mission Bay). Links in the original do not work but see them at the end.