OB Rag

Local TV station CBS8 sent a couple of reporters out to Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa to check on the new bike lanes the city just installed a couple of weeks ago.

What the station found was not pretty. The crew was there for 2 hours and witnessed a total of 5 bike riders in the bike lanes, including one on an ebike and another who jumped onto a sidewalk to ride.

They also found that the plastic barriers used were ineffectual – several already damaged — and that because the barriers prevented street sweepers able to clean the gutters, the bike lanes had trash, rubble and shopping carts clogging them.

By Paige Turner

For those of us living in Point Loma and other communities near San Diego International Airport, the constant roar of planes is something we’ve come to expect—day and night. But recently, the noise has been worse than usual. Due to bad weather, planes are landing in the middle of the night, creating a disturbance that’s hard to ignore, especially for residents trying to sleep or focus on their daily routines.

While San Diego International Airport imposes fines on airlines for violating curfew restrictions on takeoffs, the reality is that these measures do little to comfort those of us living with constant noise pollution. Shouldn’t the residents most impacted by this disruption be compensated for the toll it takes on our quality of life?

A lot of OBceans know Matt Beatty. He was the librarian at the OB Library for years. Now Matt is in the news.

Matt is a resident of Mission Beach and goes for daily swims in the ocean off his home beach. But on Friday, September 20, he was attacked by a sea lion while swimming — and injured and had to be taken to a hospital for his wounds.

And he wasn’t the only person attacked by a sea lion. Jessica Linares was snorkeling with a friend earlier in the day, around noon on that same Friday when she too was attacked and had to go to the hospital.

Matt, 61, told ABC10News that he was halfway done with his daily ocean swim near the lifeguard station Friday night at Mision Beach when he felt more than just a tug on his leg.

By David Helvarg / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / Sept. 20, 2024

Just up the road from Oakland and Berkeley, the city of Richmond is a minority and low-income community of 115,500 people — mainly Latino, Black and Asian American — with a major Chevron refinery whose pollution has been an ongoing source of conflict (the city just reached a $550-million settlement with Chevron to mitigate health and lifestyle effects of the refinery). It’s also home to an active port and soon — finally — a world-class park.

By Esmeralda Perez / CBS8 / September 20, 2024

San Diego is known as America’s Finest City with its beaches, weather and attractions. It’s also a city driving investors to purchase homes.

In the second quarter of 2024, 23.7% of homes sold in San Diego were purchased by investors according to a Redfin Analysis. That is second in the U.S. Metro areas only to Miami where investors bought 28.5% of homes that sold.

ENDORSEMENT: It’s Time to Fire Todd Gloria!

La Prensa / September 22, 2024

San Diego is at a crossroads, and those roads are littered with potholes, homeless encampments, and a string of broken promises made by a career politician who already has his sights set on another job while still asking to be re-elected to his current one.

After nearly 18 years of failed policies, it’s time to fire Todd Gloria and replace him with competent real-world leadership: We endorse Larry Turner for San Diego Mayor.

Voters have given Todd Gloria several chances to lead but he has failed to deliver on his promises and, worse, has abused his power to benefit campaign donors and special interests.

by Ernie McCray

I look at the rocks
my young granddaughter, Marley,
has been painting
as one more thing
during these
extremely distressful times
that makes my heart sing,
that help me get through it.

By Danna Givot

A 70-year-old male bicyclist was riding his bike east on Canon Street in Point Loma Saturday afternoon when a car driven by a 92-year old going west on Canon Street made a left turn at Evergreen Street. The 2018 Chevy Volt went right into the path of the bicyclist and struck him. It was 2:48 pm.

Public Service Announcement

By Tyler Faurot / San Diego Union-Tribune / September 19, 2024

As the city of San Diego seeks public input on conceptual designs for a proposed aquatic center in NTC Park at Liberty Station, it held the first in a series of community meetings Sept. 12 at the Point Loma/Hervey Library.

Plans for a community swimming complex at NTC Park date to a 2001 redevelopment plan following the closure in 1997 of Naval Training Center San Diego, which became the Liberty Station commercial and cultural center.