OB Rag

You might have heard this: BP is so well connected in Washington that even after being cited for 760 different safety and environmental violations, the company still got environmental waivers for the Deepwater Horizon rig that’s now destroying the Gulf.1

But BP’s not alone in using its DC influence. Check out the list below of other companies’ outrages—then pass it along. And be sure to sign the new Fight Washington Corruption Pledge to support 3 key measures that will protect our democracy from corporate lobbyists!

Originally posted July 10, 2009

by Lane Tobias

With the economy forcing people to spend more time focusing inward, some are becoming more in touch with the little things that make daily life so interesting. For many people, including myself, daily routines start to become a comfort that blocks out stress.

Even a commute home from work can be a reminder of the joyous simplicity of the community you live in.

It’s been one year since OBcean Chris Bowd was knocked unconscious on July 4th, 2009, and left in a pool of his own blood. He was found leaning up against a telephone pole near the corner of Newport Ave and Bacon Street before midnight. An ambulance took him to the hospital where he remained in a coma for weeks. Upon his revival, he had no memory of what happened to him or who his assailant was.

We met Lane Tobias during the fight to save the Ocean Beach branch library back in the fall of 2008. He enthusiastically joined our staff as the youngest blogger at the time and wrote for us for a year and a half. One of his posts about the lack of food stamps in San Diego County remains one of our most popular articles of all time.

Alas, Lane, originally from New Jersey, and his partner Carianne, had to permanently return to their roots …

If there were ever any doubt about the extent of waste and ineffectiveness in private contracting, San Diego City Council member Carl DeMaio has just given us more proof.

Since his election to City Council, DeMaio has been relentless in his attempts to privatize San Diego’s city services, including the city’s drinking water and wastewater systems. In the latest attempt, DeMaio paid over $160,000 for contractors to gather signatures from San Diegans in support of a proposed ballot measure that would have required the city to take bids from private contractors for services. The measure would have also allowed the city to directly privatize services without taking a public bid and would have eliminated the city’s living wage and domestic partnership benefits ordinances.

Two groups that have long advocated public financing of elections plan to spend at least $8 million this year to prod Congress to vote on proposed legislation aimed at reducing the influence of big donations in politics.

The joint effort by Common Cause and Public Campaign, called the Campaign for Fair Elections, will launch its first wave of advertising this week aimed primarily at Democrats who have yet to sign on in support of the bill. The legislation would give candidates $4 of public financing for every $1 dollar raised through contributions of $100 or less. Participation would be voluntary, and candidates could opt out from the system.

by Dave Rice

In a proposal originally scheduled to run from 6:10 to 6:30 at the Ocean Beach Planning Board this Wednesday evening, Kevin deFreitas, a local architect based in Point Loma, delivered a nearly hour-long sermon on his vision of blending local landscape, culture, and . . . feces.

North OB has been without public facilities since late last year, when the original bathrooms constructed in 1964 were demolished due to concerns about the structural integrity of the roof.

YUp, another one, just now at 4:54 pm.

The livingroom here twisted. Patty felt it even before the big shake. She still has a sick feeling in her stomach.

Epicenter is our close desert, probably another one in a series of aftershocks from the Easter big one.

5.4 – (downgraded from a 5.9) 13 miles north of Borrego Springs.

Pat Abbott, PhD, a geologist interviewed by NBC local TV says this could be a brand new earthquake. On the San Jacinto Fault Zone – the Coyote Creek Fault.

Finally, we’ll get to see what the future public restrooms at the foot of Brighton Avenue will look like. There will be a public presentation of the new designs and plans of what the City calls the Brighton Avenue “Comfort Station” at Wednesday night’s OB Planning Board meeting.

The Planning Board will be determining approval or denial of the project’s conceptual design during the July 7th meeting at the OB Recreation Center, located at the corner of Santa Monica Ave and Ebers Street. The meeting begins at 6:00 pm.

by Peter Callstrom / Regional Task Force on Homeless / Special to the OB Rag

Kudos to Ocean Beach! This progressive community held a forum last night to proactively address homelessness in their community. A diverse and overflow crowd gathered to constructively dialogue, listen, and find common ground. A number of persons who are homeless were in attendance and actively participated in the discussion. There are no easy answers, but dialogue is so critical: to build understanding, empathy, and ideas. Wisely, more forums are planned.

Editor: Our blogger OBCindi attended last night’s community meeting on Homelessness in Ocean Beach at the Sacred Heart Church on Sunset Cliffs. She volunteered to be a scribe for one of the “peace circles” so was deeply involved in enunciating the results of her circle’s ideas and thoughts. Here’s her report:

As I walked to the meeting, I was met by a neighbor who wanted to hear the issues on homelessness in OB, but was specifically interested in aggressive panhandling. My neighbor shared with me his concern with the growing threats of violence, a need for clean streets, more police, and decreasing theft/break ins.

The church-sponsored community forum last night (Tuesday July 6) drew as many as 250 residents, merchants, homeless, and property owners to a discussion on OB homelessness.

Volunteers signed people in as they lined up entering the lengthy hall, some homeless guys played music on the front lawn. Reporters mingled with attendees on the sidewalk. Many of OB’s active residents and business-owners were there – this was the place to be in OB on July 6th. Town Council members, the community relations police officer, the woman who feeds homeless people every Monday, OB Rag bloggers, seniors, middle-aged property owners, church volunteers. Christine Shames, a homeless advocate, brought a half-dozen young people who were homeless to the forum.