OB Rag

By JW August / November 25, 2024

It’s been 27 years since I interviewed Chauncey Marvin Holt in a Lemon Grove home. Over the intervening years, what Holt revealed in his intriguing  life story has bedeviled me.

A documentary I would produce from the interview included many details on his role with organized crime, in San Diego and elsewhere, and how it played out in the most dramatic murder of the 20th century — the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

A more recent interview with attorney Michael Aguirre, former City Attorney for San Diego, about the confidential arrangement he had with Holt reignited my decades of interest in the late Holt’s story.

Just this past July, President Joe Biden released documents related to the JFK assassination, three decades after Congress ordered papers related to the murder to be released, although not all of the documents. With 4,684 documents still to be released, the final chapter of the murder has not been written, and there probably is a chance it never will be.

At the time of the June 4, 1997, initial interview with Holt, I was an investigative producer with 10news and was asked by friends and colleagues of Holt to “do his story.”

Save Our Access Asks Appellate Court to Invalidate 2022 Ballot Measure That Lifted Height Limit in Midway District

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 26, 2024

A year after the city appeared victorious, the battle of over building heights in San Diego’s Midway District wages on in appellate court.

[Please see original for important links]

In recent weeks, environmental group Save Our Access and the city of San Diego have sparred in opening briefs filed with California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, both arguing that their application of California’s Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, is correct.

At issue is the legality of the 2022, voter-approved ballot measure that lifted the 30-foot height limit for the entirety of the Midway District. The measure also cleared part of the regulatory way for the Midway Rising development team to remake the city’s 48-acre property along Sports Arena Boulevard.

Save Our Access, which sued successfully to invalidate a similar 2020 ballot measure, views the issue as an existential threat to public access in coastal areas.

by Ernie McCray / November 26, 2024
 
The other night,
after I had laid my head down to sleep,
I transitioned into that stage
where one loses consciousness
before their dreams kick in
and then
a sign above a lab door appears
that reads
“Mad Scientist at Work”
and I cautiously tip-toe through the portal,
to music with an eerie unsteady beat,
and before me
a Frankenstein-looking-dude
puts the final touches on
a spine-chilling orange-faced man

By Ella Boyd / The Inertia / November 25, 2024

When San Clemente’s Measure BB failed to pass by less than 3 percent of the vote, I began to wonder: what are the pros and cons of sand replenishment on surfing?

Measure BB was a ballot initiative that proposed a half-cent sales tax increase to fund sand replenishment for various beaches, battle coastline erosion, and maintain the Beach Trail and pier. Since research points to almost 70 percent of California’s beaches disappearing by 2100, surely there must be reasons people oppose sand replenishment besides the minute change to their sales tax.

To seek answers, I reached out to San Diego Surfrider Executive Committee member Tom Cook. Tom is a researcher with an MS in Physical Oceanography with over 20 years of experience in coastal ocean current and wave observations. He’s been involved with Surfrider since the late 1990s, starting with revitalizing the South Florida (now Miami) chapter to address beach litter and coastal erosion. After moving to San Diego in the mid-2000s, he co-chaired the Beach Preservation Committee and led efforts like Surf Spot monitoring during SANDAG’s 2012 Regional Beach Sand Project II.

My first question for Cook was simply: what are the pros and cons of sand replenishment as it pertains to surfers? Without beating around the bush, Cook said, “traditional coastal management practices are rarely aligned with surfing interests.”

By Kristina Houck / San Diego Patch / November 25, 2024

The holidays are in full swing at San Diego’s Belmont Park.

Winter Wonder at Belmont Park is back and brighter than ever at the beachfront amusement park in Mission Beach. The park has been decorated with a million twinkling lights and festive decorations for the seasonal event, which runs through Jan. 5. The park has been decorated with a million twinkling lights and festive decorations for the seasonal event.

Popular rides and attractions have been sprinkled with holiday cheer, including Peppermint Putt Putt at Tiki Wonderland, Sweet Escape at Escapology and Polar Plunge at Plunge Pool.

By Mexico News Daily Staff / November 19, 2024

United States President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Monday [Nov. 18]  that he plans to use the U.S. military to carry out his proposed mass deportation operation, an initiative that could result in millions of immigrants being sent to Mexico.

On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump shared a Nov. 8 post by the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, who, citing “reports,” wrote that the incoming Trump administration is “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.” Above the post he shared on his personal account in the early hours of Monday morning, Trump wrote: “TRUE!!!”

The former and soon-to-be president of the United States stated during the presidential election campaign that he planned to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history,” but until Monday he hadn’t indicated that he would use the military to execute it.

By Paul Krueger

I’m a serial loser and misplacer.

I’ve lost my car keys and misplaced my wallet more times that I can remember. If I had a dollar for every time a server ran after me with the sunglasses, books, or credit card I’d left behind, I could buy us a wagyu steak dinner at Cowboy Star.

Still, forgetting things has its advantages. I’ve met many courteous people who’ve helped find and  return my belongings. Among them a local political activist who flagged me down three blocks from my home.

I thought she wanted to talk about the upcoming election — which she did — but not before alerting me that my coffee cup was balanced precariously on the roof of my car.

After repeatedly misplacing my wallet, a friend suggested I keep just my driver’s license and a credit card in a sleeve on my iPhone.

That worked, until it didn’t, on a recent trip to the Bay Area.

Here are the plans for Ocean Beach in the Coastal Resilience Master Plan (without edit) — graphics to follow:

The Ocean Beach – Dog Beach project site is approximately 13 acres comprising open space beach and shoreline, a developed parking lot and a small portion of native dune and scrub habitat in the eastern portion of the site. The project site includes a portion of the San Diego River Bikeway and adjacent areas; however, it is located outside of the San Diego River Levee footprint. If the project footprint changes and it is determined that the project may impact the levee, continued coordination with the City’s Stormwater Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be required.

Nearly 200 San Diego residents — mostly from Pacific Beach — gathered Saturday morning, Nov. 23, to protest the 22-story “pencil tower” being planned for 970 Turquoise Street in north PB.

The controversial project has garnered a wall of opposition — not only residents but a number of high-profile politicians have come out publicly against the tower.

It is supposed to have 139 hotel rooms on 9 floors and 74 housing units on the other floors, including a whooping 10 units as affordable (5 very low income and 5 moderate income). It proposes 7 floors (2 below ground) of parking alone. If built, Project “Vela” would be a little over 238 feet.

The developer, Kalonymus, told CBS 8 it would have 213 units total, with market-rate units, 10 affordable rent-restricted units and visitor accommodation units. Kalonymus said there would be 300 on-site parking spots.

By David Helvarg / The Progressive Magazine / November 21, 2024

For those of us committed to protecting the ocean, it’s always been clear that restoring healthy seas will be the work of our lifetimes, and that of others who’ll come after us.

Unlike the majority of Americans, I believe the Biden Administration did a decent job, particularly in responding to the climate emergency we’re currently living through. During his term, Biden signed into law two major pieces of legislation: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Nonprofit groups including Blue Frontier, which I founded, created an “Ocean Climate Action Plan” which helped in adding $10 billion to the IRA law, with a focus on coastal resiliency, including $3 billion for greening ports.

By Steve Anderson / The Point of PLNU / Nov 13, 2024

Steve Anderson is a fourth year journalism major and opinion editor for The Point. Anderson grew up in the christian church and is a self proclaimed follower of Christ.

Similarly to just about half of Americans, I was disappointed in the results of the 2024 presidential election. I found it hard to believe that the country thought Donald Trump was the more qualified leader. I don’t write this as a rebuke or to convince you that I’m right and you’re wrong but rather, I’d invite you to simply hear me out.

Editordude: The following is but the beginning of a more longer piece by Peter Bohmer, a good friend of the Rag and former OBcean who now lives in Olympia, Washington.

by Peter Bohmer / November 21, 2024

Trump’s victory is a serious loss for most people in the United States and globally. I disagreed before the election and now, that it didn’t matter who won the Presidential election. Let us mourn and grieve but not give up. Elections matter and this one certainly does but being political means building and gaining power, being active to further what you believe in, much more than voting or supporting a candidate.

I don’t know if any campaign would have caused a Kamala Harris victory.