OB Rag

By Regina Elling / San Diego Union-Tribune / September 4, 2024

Being able to watch some of the fastest powerboats in the world is one of the highlights of San Diego Bayfair. It is returning for its 60th year at Mission Bay and surrounding beaches. The three-day, family-friendly beach festival runs from Sept. 13 to 15. It has been hailed as the perfect way to end the summer for thousands in Southern California.

Stretching from Fiesta Island to Crown Point Park and East Vacation Island, in addition to powerboat racing, attendees can enjoy beach-based family entertainment, including extreme aquatic sports, live music, a car show, a cornhole tournament, beer gardens and local food vendors.

By Judi Curry

The Mission Bay Park Committee unanimously passed an agenda item that I have been working for for the past umpteen years!  They answered in the affirmative: “Shall the Mission Bay Park Committee take a position and submit letters to the City of San Diego and the California Coastal Commission supporting the cessation of fireworks displays in and over Mission Bay?”

They will draft and submit a letter in October supporting the cessation of fireworks since the Audubon Society showed a huge impact on the Least Terns  in the past years.  Dozens washed up dead  recently, and the main cause is the residue from the fireworks!

It’s the free, second annual Sunset Cliffs Auto Show coming to Point Loma Avenue on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Organizers expect 80 to 100 vehicles on display. Event founder Gavin Fleming of OB claimed:

“We’ve got everything from vehicles from 1910 to a new luxury Rolls Royce as well as trucks, motorcycles, and cars of all types. We’ve added more cars and a kids zone with Hot Wheels racing this year, and we’ll also be having food trucks, some merchandise vendors, and live music.”

As many know, the OB Rag is sponsoring a “Worst ADU in San Diego” contest.

Here’s just a sampling of some of the dozens of entries we’ve received. Have you seen them?

Shoshoni Ave, located in Clairemont Mesa, is facing the development of a 12+ unit “Bonus ADU” being built at the end of a very narrow cul-de-sac. Unfortunately, this development is being built by a Limited Partnership (LP), that has no concern for this single-family neighborhood, or the existing residents/homeowners.

They are only concerned about the profit they will be making. The infrastructure of this neighborhood cannot handle the scope of an apartment complex to be built on this street.

Shoshoni Ave. Residents and neighboring partners have begun the early process of obtaining legal counsel, to either stop this project or otherwise have it modified to a lower scale.

By Colleen O’Connor

In November of 2022, I wrote a column full of outlandish predictions that came true.

• First, that Kamala Harris would be named Vice-President. True.
• Next that Speaker Emeriti, Nancy Pelosi, would outlast Donald Trump. Ongoing.
• Third, that Kevin McCarthy would not last long as Republican House Speaker. True.
• Also, that Joe Biden would not be re-elected President. And neither would Trump. One down. One to go.
• Finally, that Liz Cheney would be the first woman to become the GOP leader in the House. In progress.

SanDiegoVille  / September 4, 2024

Opening this weekend in the space that long housed Cheswick’s West in San Diego’s Ocean Beach neighborhood is a new dive bar called Kustom Kulture. [Editordude: How can a brand new bar be a “dive bar”? Does not make sense.]

In 1983, Ocean Beach resident Dean Hall opened Cheswicks West, a tiny biker bar with a big window. Over the more than 40 years in business, the dive bar has hosted eclectic blend of patrons ranging from bikers, to surfers, to hippies and musicians, and everyone in between.The founder and owner for the past 40 years, Ralph Hall, passed in 2021 and he left the bar to his longtime manager, Michelle Driscoll, who due to illness had to retire.

The stairs at the foot of Bermuda Avenue in Ocean Beach are finally open. And they’re beautiful!

The $3.65 million replacement project was initiated in 2018, started construction in the spring of 2023, and was completed in July 2024. They were damaged during winter storms in 2015-16, and were closed due to tidal action that eroded the lower stairway foundation causing the lower stairs to collapse.

Tyler Becker, senior City spokesperson, stated:

“The original staircase, which was constructed in the 1940s, collapsed due to decades of exposure to the harsh coastal environment. The top landing and backfill eroded, concrete material broke down due to natural weathering and pieces of reinforcement corroded.”

Well, I guess we know where District 3 Councilmember Stephen Whitburn stands on a key issue for San Diego — short-term rentals.

An association of San Diego’s short-term rental owners is throwing a fundraising for him this week. Whitburn is running for re-election and the Short-Term Rental Alliance (SDSTRA) “is delighted to invite you to a special fundraising event.” Their invite states “Your support is crucial in ensuring that Councilmember Whitburn can continue his dedicated service to our community.”

Wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres and hobnobbing with the councilman are the draws and then you too can mingle with other owners of short-term rentals and learn how to keep local electeds at your fingertips.

Charles Langley, the Executive Director of Public Watchdogs is warning the public that once again, Southern California Edison is in radioactively “hot” water about another radiation leak involving the failed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). Langley is urging the public to learn about this shocking development this Thursday afternoon, Sept. 5th at an Edison-sponsored virtual meeting from 2pm to 5pm, September 5 (meeting details here).

Langley writes:

About the radiation leak:

The leak occurred during the transport of a 100-ton, thirty-seven foot high, “pressurizer.” Edison has claimed that the leak is below “background” radiation. A railroad worker in San Bernardino discovered the leak on or around June 30, during the pressurizer’s long journey from San Onofre to a disposal site in Clive Utah.

By Shelby Huffaker / San Diego Americans for Safe Access Newsletter / September 2024

On August 20, 2024, the Carlsbad City Council voted to adopt Ordinance No. CS-475 – 4/1 (Burkholder – No), prohibiting the smoking or vaping of cannabis and tobacco products in multi-unit residences. While the reasons underlying the creation of this ordinance may be well-intended, we at the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access believe that a prohibition on the smoking or vaping of cannabis and cannabis products in multiunit residences will result in numerous unintended consequences to patients, consumers, and the public at large. The reasons for this are outlined in detail

The National Park Service has just released a report that shows that 810,000 visitors to Cabrillo National Monument in 2023 spent $54.3 million in communities near the park. They also claim, “That spending supported 678 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $76.2 million.”

National Park Service Director Chuck Sams expressed his pride.

“I’m so proud that our parks and the stories we tell make a lasting impact on more than 300 million visitors a year. And I’m just as proud to see those visitors making positive impacts of their own, by supporting local economies and jobs in every state in the country.”