OB Rag

by Anna Daniels

The reduced hours schedule for our libraries went into effect Saturday (March 20). The Central library is now closed on Saturdays because of the draconian 10% mid year budget cuts exacted from the library budget by the mayor and approved by the city council this past December.

That 10% cut was more than any other General Fund Department had to sustain. Think about that- our largest library which supports your branch, and serves all citizens- is now closed on Saturdays. And the hours have also been cut at our branches, which I will address further on.

We should all be asking “Why is the mayor balancing the budget on the back of our library system?” I suspect the answer is because he can. We didn’t stop him.

by Nate Hipple

Let it be known: The first Floatopia of 2010 occurred yesterday on Mission Bay!

Apparently, nobody got the memo that Spring has only barely sprung and hence it’s still a bit nippy to be rafting with an ice chest of beer. But never ever underestimate the indomitable spirit of the people’s will to party, even when all signs tell them to behave.

When the city banned alcohol on the beach, Floatopia was the natural reaction. (It’s sort of a cross between ‘Jersey Shore’ and the movie ‘Waterworld’).

The end result of the ban is pushing public drinking …

by John Williams

So far, I’ve commented on Saudi society with the intent of relating how different it is from the US. I haven’t intended to be critical. It hasn’t been my intent to elevate one system over the other. I haven’t wanted to choose. Now, though, I want to say some things about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) that I think are positive.

First, these people walk the walk when it comes to the question of hospitality. For example, as I’ve said, I live in a hotel. One afternoon, I was near the entrance having a smoke when a youthful Saudi man was also in the lobby (you are allowed to smoke inside of buildings here), pacing, apparently deeply in thought. At a point, his route brought him close enough to me for me to remark, “You seem to be thinking very seriously about something.”

by Ernie McCray

A little while ago I was asked if I would be willing to co-emcee a celebration of Helen Chavez’s life and it was one of those requests that make you go “Who, me? Cesar’s sweet Helen? You kiddin’ me? Well, uh, hey, by golly gee. Yessiree.” Talking about being honored. Whoo! Whee!

I mean, how could I not leap upon the opportunity to share a stage with a woman who took care of a man I loved, enabling him to stretch his wings as he heeded Gandhi and Martin’s call, understanding innately at deep soulful levels the “Why” of it all – as she, too, could not resist the call to change a world.

San Diegans and Americans across the country are showing that many of us have not forgotten there’s two wars going on at this minute. This is at a cost of $400,000,000 EACH DAY for these wars and occupations – while our schools decay, homes are foreclosed, healthcare costs choke families into bankruptcy, and workers go without jobs –

We’re showing up at anti-war actions coast to coast. Here in San Diego, there’s an entire afternoon devoted to showing we haven’t forgotten. There’s a Car Caravan here in San Diego from 3 to 5 pm, and rally from 1 to 3, bannering downtown, and an Arlington West. Read on.

Originally posted April 21, 2009

by Gary Gilmore

Any artist with the moniker of EZ is going to have to live up to the nickname. Isauro Elizondo does that in the first 30 seconds of conversation. Owner of Falling Sky Pottery on the corner of Abbott & Santa Monica, EZ is one of those individuals who makes you feel like a friend as soon as you walk in the door.

by Ernie McCray

Nothing has helped me get back into the swing of things more, after losing my sweetheart, than getting up on stage and giving life to a delightful old goofy character named Wilmer in a play called “Funny Little Thing.”

Wilmer, like I have been in real life, is crazy about his wife, Paula, and she feels the same about him as my Nancy loved me – in spite of the little “things” that come along in a marriage, the irrelevant minutia that Wilmer and Paula, like Nancy and I did, zip by with healthy “Don’t sweat the small stuff” attitudes.

What a fun role and it was just what I needed to discover if I could ever, again, focus my attention, for any reasonable length of time, on something other than the nagging emotional pain that for so long was caught up in my heart and soul like a cat entangled in a sack full of yarn.

by Kristin Condon

The building with Ace Tattoo and El Rodeo is looking spiffy – it has gotten a new paint job and new banisters and signs, including the new “L Rodeo” sign.

Ciao Bella Ristorante e Pizzaria at 4953 Newport opened at the end of February, and appears to be doing a brisk business. Their extensive menu features soups, salads, antipasto, pasta, panini, risotti, pizzas, and handmade desserts. They have a very nice dining room, and also will take phone orders to go….

SEE MORE INSIDE…..

People started showing up early. I was standing outside Lestat’s – the famous Adams Avenue coffeehouse in Normal Heights twenty minutes before the noon meeting was to start. A half dozen older folks had joined me in front. I joked, to laughter: “Is this going to be a gray-haired movement?”

One woman replied “And I spent all this money trying to hide my gray.” Even though I had been joking, I did have the thought that the meeting would consist of fifty and sixty-something year olds only. But I was wrong. By the end of the meeting two hours later, my joke was answered with a resounding ‘no’.

It was March 13th – the national coffee party meeting day – hundreds of meetings were going on across the country, most in coffee houses. And it was the very first time anybody in San Diego had met under the new grassroots banner of java.

We had a wonderful turnout – 75 people signed in and signed the civility pledge! It was wonderful to see the packed house, it was standing room only.

Lots of people stood and attested to why they had come, many saying they were frustrated the way the media was portraying the average citizen and that they felt we needed a voice, a sane and civil voice, to be heard on the issues that matter to us all.

San Diego’s Coffee Party Movement officially forms up this Saturday, March 13th, as its first “kick-off” meeting is being held at a local coffeehouse – of all places. This initial gathering – organized for the City of San Diego – will be at LeStat’s coffee house on Adams Avenue at noon. There’s also chapters forming in North County and Ramona.

And there’s hundreds of such meetings occurring across the country this Saturday. Of course, the meetings are at coffee houses. It’s the Coffee Party Movement.

Yesterday the 11th of March, we heard from Ted Caplaneris, the owner of The Old Town House Restaurant on Newport Ave, that the television production “Terriers” is coming back to film at his restaurant.

Ted wanted us to know and to help spread the word that:

The Old Town House Restaurant will be closed on Tuesday March 16th to facilitate this production. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Last time the production crew was in OB, they used Ted’s restaurant.