OB Rag

Now, for something lighter …. from our friends at Peninsula News

San Diego Police have announced that following an extensive investigation, detectives have made an arrest in a 2023 Ocean Beach homicide.

Andrew Restrepo, described as a 36-year-old Latino, was arrested as the suspect for the murder of Sean Glenn. Glenn was slugged by a man while standing at 5000 Newport Avenue on May 10, 2023, at approximately 10:51 p.m and knocked unconscious.  Glenn was transported to the hospital for his injuries and remained hospitalized until he succumbed to the injuries on August 5 that year.  He was 35.

The Callen Report

By Kate Callen

The meeting started with a snoozefest.

Christian Hoppe from the Development Services Department (DSD) led off by mechanically reading Ocean Beach’s appeal to block The Pointe (that’s with an “e”), and DSD’s responses. The department’s reasoning came out of a vortex: You have no grounds to appeal our decision because we say you have no grounds to appeal our decision.

The Craigs took command.

Craig Sherman, attorney for appellant Patricia Lewis, challenged DSD on due process grounds for refusing to release supporting materials. He said the City was ignoring the protected status of OB’s Cottage Emerging Historical District – “It has geographical boundaries that are not subject to dispute” – and he rebuked DSD for giving developer Takeoff Capital inexplicable waivers and incentives.

OB attorney Craig Klein, speaking for the community, delivered a clear message: The Pointe is Too Much, Too Quick. “This community has worked so long to preserve its historic location as the last real beach town south of Point Concepcion. This is the first project that has attempted to extend Complete Communities into Ocean Beach. If this passes, do you think other developers aren’t watching?”

Today, August 29, the San Diego Planning Commission unanimously rejected “The Point” project slated for Point Loma Avenue in south Ocean Beach.

To a person, the Commission agreed with OBceans and their lawyer that the property where the ADU apartment complex was proposed was or is within the Ocean Beach Historic Cottage District and is therefore exempted from the rules of the so-called Complete Communities housing policy of the city.

At 12:25 this afternoon, the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously to grant the appeal of the 20 apartments proposed for Point Loma Ave. This means the project, as is, will not be built.

In a stunning consensus, Commissioners agreed with the people who brought the appeal of the project in the historic district argument — that the subject property is within the Ocean Beach Historic Cottage District, and therefore is ineligible to be used with the Complete Communities policy of the city.

Live Streaming of Hearing Available

The San Diego Planning Commission is taking up the issue of the 20 units of the proposed ADU apartment for Point Loma Avenue in Ocean Beach.

12:12 Commissioners begin making comments and asking questions.

12:10pm public comments have concluded.

There aren’t too many in favor of the project.

1201 Rep from YIMBY Democrats who supports the project called the appeal “frivolous.”

12:00 Speakers continue to argue against the project and in favor of the appeal.

9:54 am; staff is now presenting the project; this is an appeal by the community of staff’s decision to allow the project.

Editordude: Here’s some good news for San Diego renters: San Diego County is set to welcome 3,226 new rental units by the end of the year with 2,016 of those in the City of San Diego, 369 in Oceanside, and 414 in Chula Vista. Plus, the County of San Diego City has a “New Affordable Housing Mapping Tool” here.

By Brian White / CBS8 / August 28, 2024

Apartment construction is set to break records this year nationwide as more than half a million new rentals hit the market. CBS 8 takes a closer look at what this means for San Diego County.

Public Service Announcement

By Esmeralda Perez / CBS8 / August 27, 2024

San Diego County is receiving about $4 million in ‘Beverage Container Redemption Innovation Grants,’ by CalRecycle to help start 20 recycling sites in either mobile recycling or reverse vending machines at select Smart and Final stores.

“So reverse vending machines look a lot like regular vending machines except the difference is that you’ll put your bottles or cans into the vending machine and then you’ll get nickels or dimes back,…

From The Coronado Times / August 28, 2024

Shelter Island is the home of America’s Cup Harbor, which is one of the few harbors in San Diego Bay that offers a diverse range of restaurants, boat rentals, yacht rentals, and a bustling neighborhood. The amount of yacht rentals in Shelter Island, San Diego has effectively doubled this year.

There are now over 10 yacht rental businesses in a span of only 1 mile.

The Uptown group that is holding elections for the local community planning group has just sent out notices that in-person voting will continue on Friday, August 30th. As you may recall, the election was halted due to computer glitches in the midst of in-person balloting. One can imagine all the frustrated and angered residents who were waiting in line.

Here is the bulk of their new notice:

Online Voting to Resume

In any new process using a new (to us) system there are opportunities to learn, but overall we are happy with the online voting approach. …

For those who closely watch the Rag, here are detailed results of our annual summer fundraising from earlier this month.

It’s a breakdown of numbers of donors and total donations by zip code.

• 92107 (OB and part of Pt Loma); 22 donors / $2,205
• 92106 (Point Loma): 3 donors/ $250

The City of San Diego has finally conceded that no bandaid can fix the Ocean Beach Pier and it — as is — will never reopen.

The Union-Tribune announced it was “the end of an era for a crumbling Ocean Beach icon.”

The 58-year-old pier won’t reopen, after an engineer’s report found that stabilizing recent damage would be too costly. Instead, the city will keep moving forward with efforts to reimagine the pier’s future in the longer term and hopefully replace it.