OB Rag

On Wednesday night, August 4th, the Ocean Beach Planning Board will consider requests by San Diego City Planners to loosen construction restrictions that apply to OB multi-unit properties. The City is interested in eliminating the more restrictive requirements for floor area ratios (FAR) and for parking. Currently, OB properties are limited to a .7 FAR with 25% of the floor area reserved for parking.

by Jon Christensen / Originally posted Union-Tribune / August 1, 2010

Why is selling the Miramar Landfill a good idea? Like a used car with 150,000 miles, it’s mostly used up, at least according to the campaign for a new landfill in Gregory Canyon in the North County. Miramar’s life as a landfill can be measured in months rather than years. So it must be a good idea to sell it now. Once filled up, there’s limited commercial value; you can’t build on a landfill. Parks, playgrounds, parking lots or just open space is their destiny.

ALL DETAILS AND LINKS INSIDE:

OB Library Gets a New Rug
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“Terriers” airs on September 8th
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World War Two Weather ?
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3 Out of 4 Readers Against Publicly Funded Downtown Football Stadium
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Police Praise OB Heathens
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Woman Jogger Hassled Along Sunset Cliffs
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Ground-breaking on New OB Entryway in October
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$7000 From Supervisor Cox for Abbott Street Trees
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Who were Dusty Rhodes and Bob Kenny anyhow? (Help us out.)
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OBMA Historical Tour – Online
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OB Town Council to hold elections in August
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Planning Board General Meeting August 4th
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OB Centric: Creating community – one art project at a time – August 5th, 17th and 23th
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Pepe’s Annual Tomato Contest – August 15th
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Historical Society: “Hot Curl” Cartoonist Michael Dormer – August 19th
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Get Ready for the Jazz 88 OB Music & Art Festival! – September 11th

By Susan Wormsley / Comment to Sign On San Diego / Originally published July 23, 2010

I read with extreme consternation the article last week in the Union-Tribune regarding the unanimous decision by a San Diego City Council committee to move forward with a plan to raise revenue by expanding corporate sponsorships to lifeguard towers, beaches, benches and walkways at city beaches.

Over the last 20-plus years, I have been able to stop the illegal use of corporate signage in and around San Diego’s beaches and bays.

Nearly every chair was filled last night at the OB Town Council monthly general meeting. Many of the some thirty folks in the audience had come to hear Scott Himelstein speak about his group’s “reform” plans for City schools.

Himelstein had invited himself to deliver another spiel about “San Diegans 4 Great Schools” and was the night’s guest speaker. The group is going around town in an effort to get their message out to community groups. OB was the second stop on Himelstein’s rounds. Last week he had been in Tierrasanta.

Editor: The City broke ground yesterday on construction of the new Central Library in downtown San Diego. On hand for us as witnesses were Anna Daniels- a former City librarian – and her hubby Rich Kacmar toting a camera. Anna filed the following observations:
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To be honest, I never thought I’d live long enough to see a much needed new central library in this city. The City Council gave the green light last month to its construction but it wasn’t until we were all invited to this morning’s groundbreaking that I felt it was truly going to happen.

ALL LINKS AND DETAILS INSIDE:

Federal Judge blocks parts of Arizona’s new immigration law
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Antiwar Left Grows in Congress With Latest War-Funding Vote
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Michael Moore Is Right About Obama
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Bernie Sanders: No to Oligarchy

The San Diego City Council voted to award a $6.6 million contract to build a demonstration plant that will treat recycled wastewater and turn it into safe drinking water. This historic turn-around for the Council reflects a shift in their and the public’s thinking about recycled water. The Council voted 4 to 2 for the project, with Councilwoman Sherri Lightner and Councilman Carl DeMaio voting ‘no’.

Water treated at the demonstration facility, to be built at North City Water Reclamation Plant, will be added to the city’s graywater system and not be added to the drinking water.

On July 22nd, a meeting of the Dusty Rhodes park board was held and numerous locals attended with complaints of the recent rash of small dog mauling and deaths from larger dogs (see here for our earlier coverage). Monica Honoré 0f the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department was in attendance.

Finally, the local board voted to approve a separate fenced area for small dogs. The city has obtained bids for the fencing. Enough money is available in the dog park reserve fund plus a recent allocation of $3,000 from Councilmember Faulconer’s office for fencing, a fountain, labor and the associated requirements of ADA compliance. ….

by Amanda Van West

I’m a 24 year old filmmaker from Santa Clara, California, currently finishing my MA degree in International Broadcast Journalism at Westminster University in London. I’ve worked on short documentaries in California, Mexico, Nicaragua, and London.

“California’s Cannabis Culture” is a short documentary that was created for my final MA project. I filmed everything around Northern California between May and June, and finished the documentary in London. It’s an exploration of the marijuana scene in California, in light of the upcoming possibility of Proposition 19 passing in November. California has long had a reputation of being marijuana-friendly, so I wanted to showcase a bit of the culture and investigate what changes might happen, if any, should it become fully legalized in November.

My wife and I arrived at Dusty Rhodes Park at about 6pm, to a friendly dance party that had apparently been underway for at least a couple hours. Close to 200 revelers — most in joyfully psychedelic costumes, were mingling and dancing enthusiastically under the overcast skies. A DJ spun energetic house music along with an occasional light-hearted, humorous track, like a remix of Surfin’ Bird (“The bird is the word”) featuring Peter from Family Guy.

Ocean Beach’s Miscellaneous Heathens were at it again.

The Revolution will be televised — or, rather, streaming live online.

Antiwar demonstrations in the Vietnam era were a regular feature of the nightly network news on NBC, CBS and ABC.

Today, protests against the war in Afghanistan are just as likely to be online as on TV, and in the form of damning documents or videos shown on WikiLeaks.

And lacking a Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck — figures that have rallied the nation’s Tea Party movement — peace activists are taking a different tack. They are connecting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and our sagging economy and poor jobs outlook.