OB Rag

By Katie Kepler / The Point / Dec 11, 2024

As the school year nears its end for students at Point Loma Nazarene University, the south side of Ocean Beach (OB) blossoms with new beginnings. On the corner of Narragansett Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, Ultreya Coffee and Tea opened its doors on Nov. 16 as the newest coffee shop in OB.

On the front of the shop, the corner cafe displays its catchy slogan: “Coffee + Cute Things.” [It’s located at 1785 Sunset Cliffs Blvd]

For co-owners Lianne Freund and Danielle Riggins, opening a shop has been a fulfilling but strenuous journey.

“We did everything ourselves,” Freund said. “[Riggins] built the whole bar, we painted the walls.”

By Rachel Dobkin / Newsweek / Aug. 28, 2024

United States wildlife officials finalized a plan in late August to kill a little over 450,000 invasive owls from the Pacific Northwest.

In a plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to significantly boost efforts to get rid of barred owls crowding out native owls in forests along the upper West Coast, trained shooters will target the invasive species over a period of 30 years across a maximum of about 23,000 square miles in California, Oregon and Washington.

U.S. officials hope to kill up to 452,000 barred owls, which in effect will stop the decline of northern spotted owls, a federally protected threatened species, and California spotted owls. California spotted owls were proposed for federal protection last year and a decision is still pending.

By Jake Johnson and Eloise Goldsmith / Common Dreams / Dec 19, 2024

The Teamsters launched what the union described as “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” on Thursday morning to protest the e-commerce behemoth’s unlawful refusal to bargain with organized drivers and warehouse workers across the country.

Workers in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, and other locations are expected to participate in Thursday’s strike, with more facilities prepared to join if Amazon’s management doesn’t agree to negotiate contracts with unionized employees.

The union said Wednesday that Teamsters locals are also “putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.”

By Arturo Castanares / La Prensa San Diego / December 18, 2024

A new lawsuit claims the City of San Diego is violating its policy to protect the public from over-reaching surveillance equipment deployed by police without proper approval or transparency.

Three privacy advocates -Lilly Irani, Seth Hall, and Mat Wahlstrom- filed suit after the San Diego Police Department used surveillance systems at the Same Diego Pride Parade and Comic-Con without disclosing their use locations as required by law.

The lawsuit also claims SDPD improperly invoked an exemption for “exigent circumstances” without demonstrating an imminent or emergency threat, as mandated by the City’s TRUST ordinance.

Ocean Beach pub and lounge hopes to open in early spring 2025

By Beth Demmon / San Diego Magazine / December 18, 2024

Ocean Beach has always existed in its own world. It’s precisely that weird, wacky, wild, and wonderful world that business partners Kyle Jaworski and Sebastian Widman want to invest in by opening The Jetty at 4934 Voltaire Street in spring 2025.

“We want to be a place for people in town,” says Jaworski. “Ocean Beach is a very unique community, and a unique market where it’s important that you cater to the locals.”

Jaworski says The Jetty is not a gastropub but is reluctant to define exactly what it will be. He calls it a beach pub-meets-lounge with an “eclectic menu”

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 17 – 18, 2024

San Diego could potentially deny the 239-foot-tall, mixed-use tower proposed for 970 Turquoise St. in Pacific Beach that has not only outraged community members but catalyzed elected leaders to seek reforms to state housing laws.

Last week, the city of San Diego received a technical assistance letter from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, that gives the municipality a little wiggle room during the staff-level approval process.

The letter, which makes the case for either approval or denial, states that the city can reject the height-limit-busting project on very specific grounds related to the application of State Density Bonus Law.

“The (State Density Bonus Law) permits the city to approve the requested incentive and associated waiver or to deny the requested incentive and associated waiver by making a written finding, based on substantial evidence, that the incentive does not result in identifiable and actual cost reductions to provide for affordable housing,” Shannan West, HCD’s housing accountability unit chief, wrote in the letter.

In other words, the city must be able to prove that some or all of the developer’s requested bonuses, waivers and incentives — collectively allowing the Turquoise tower to stretch well beyond the neighborhood’s 30-foot height limit — are not necessary to create the project’s 10 affordable housing units.

By Salvador Hernandez / Los Angeles Times / Dec. 18, 2024

A new immigration policy adopted by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors was supposed to stop jails from working with federal immigration officials, a move that would potentially hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.

But the county is now locked in a standoff in what could be a preview of local immigration politics after Trump retakes office in January.

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said her office won’t comply with the county’s policy and would continue to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials when some people not authorized to be in the country are released from county jails.

“The Sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the Sheriff’s Office,” the office said in a statement hours after the board approved the policy. “The Sheriff has the sole and exclusive authority to operate county jails.”

Opponents of Building in Famosa Canyon Once Characterized as ‘Racist’ NIMBYs

By Frank Gormlie

Is the battle over Famosa Canyon over?

The City of San Diego, the City Council and the Housing Authority believe so. The Housing Authority on Tuesday, December 17, approved the sale of Famosa Canyon to Bridge Housing Corporation, to build more than 70 affordable housing units. The vote was 9 to 0.

This clears the way for three affordable housing buildings, each three stories high.

Yet, this lot on the corner of Nimitz and Famosa boulevards has been at the center of controversy for years. Some saw it as a tug of war between the need to preserve open space and the need for affordable housing.

Local residents and neighbors have been fighting the sale of the land to … anyone … for many years. The lot is considered a community treasure and local kids use it as a bike track, crafted by neighbors for many a moon. People have circulated petitions, set up an opposition website, contacted their local councilperson, gone to the local planning board meetings — all seemingly in vain. At one meeting, Housing Commission members called opponents of any project there “racist” NIMBYs.

Head Commissioner Kelly Moden Reluctant to Meet With Neighbors of her 91-Unit Project

By Kate Callen

If you’ve ever wondered whether powerful developers like Kelly Moden have functioning moral compasses, Roy Machado can fill you in.

Moden is Chair of the San Diego Planning Commission, appointed to the panel by Todd Gloria in 2022. She also is President and CEO of cREate Development, one of two finalists for the lucrative city contract to redevelop the 101 Ash Street complex.

Given her prominence, you might think Moden would demonstrate a commitment to public interest and a willingness to engage with communities where she builds.

Not so, say Machado and other neighbors of The Minn, Moden’s colossal project at 1905 Broadway, in Golden Hill.

The 8-story monolith would be a blight in any part of Golden Hill, an older neighborhood of mainly modest homes and quiet streets.

On Tuesday, December 17, the San Diego Housing Authority approved the sale of Famosa Canyon, a vacant lot in Point Loma, to build more than 70 affordable housing units.

The housing authority voted 9-0 to approve the sale of this land to Bridge Housing Corporation, clearing the way for three affordable housing buildings, each three stories high. The 9 members of the City Council sit as the Housing Authority — which governs the San Diego Housing Commission.

The lot on the corner of Nimitz and Famosa boulevards  has been at the center of a tug of war between the need to preserve open space and the need for affordable housing.