OB Rag

By Daniel Martinez HoSang / The Guardian / September 9, 2024

… First come the firings. Thousands of federal, non-partisan civil servants –environmental and food safety regulators; authorities in disaster relief coordination; attorneys overseeing anti-discrimination policies in housing, education and employment; medical and scientific researchers – receive immediate layoff notices.

By Arturo Castañares – Editor-at-Large / La Prensa / September 4, 2024

San Diego State University has blocked a statewide university official from testifying under oath about his knowledge of an offer for a free-to-taxpayers sports arena in Mission Valley that was kept secret from the public for over two years and could have impacted the City’s current proposal for a taxpayer-subsidized arena in the Midway area.

Jack McGrory, a Trustee on the 25-member California State University (CSU) system Board and former City Manager of the City of San Diego,

By Lynne Miller

ZEN

My Dad’s leather covered portable radio is on the porch playing the background to my summer days. Luke Easter just hit a homerun, and I hear my Dad shout softly, “That’s my boys.” The 6’4” first baseman ran the bases at Lane Field and the Padres, circa 1954, took the lead. That year, with Lefty O’dule as their manager Padres were first place in their league.

My summer days were quiet and I was often alone.  I loved to wander the many vacant lots that sat at the top of Santa Cruz Avenue.  The lot to the east of our house was owned by a friend.  My dad, who was a transplanted Missouri farmer, grew turnips, blackberries, a variety of tomatoes, and corn, not quite as high as an elephant’s eye.

From California Surf Museum 

This latest announcement means San O is safe, at least for another few decades. “California just signed a new deal with our federal partners to keep San Onofre open as a state park for another 25 years,” wrote California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday night. “San Onofre’s beaches, hiking and biking trails, and campgrounds will continue to welcome visitors for years to come.”

By Blake Nelson / The San Diego Union-Tribune / September 9, 2024

A real estate developer is suing to block San Diego from creating a shelter by the airport, arguing that a decades-old agreement between the city and federal government prohibits homeless services at the H Barracks site.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in San Diego Superior Court by McMillin-NTC, a limited liability company and an offshoot of Corky McMillin Cos. which remade the local Naval Training Center into the business and cultural hub known as Liberty Station. McMillin believes plans to use the empty lot as a place for hundreds of homeless people to sleep imperils a new hotel.

There Will Be Blood

Over this past weekend, Donald Trump threatened violence if he didn’t win the election and if he won, he would jail political opponents, Democratic political lawyers and donors and enact the substance of that Project 2025.

“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” Trump wrote on Saturday on his Truth Social platform. “We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T!”

This was on Reddit by an anonymous letter writer “drinksomesand” – it and the responses are choice — in a good way.

by drinksomesand

I just spent a week in San Diego and stayed in Ocean Beach and I can’t really express what it all meant to me. I went to visit a friend who is spending the summer out there, I hadn’t been to the US for about 10 years and tbh went without really knowing what to expect.

I picked a hostel in OB because it was close to where my friend was staying, read some horror stories online about the area, figured it was gonna be exactly my kind of place.

What I wasn’t expecting though was how insanely friendly literally everyone was. I can’t remember a single time I locked eyes with someone in the street and they didn’t smile. So many strangers on the beach or sat at nearby tables would just strike up a conversation. Everyone seemed so down to just interact for the sake of interacting.

Trolley-to-airport skepticism clouds transit tax

By Andrew Keatts / Axios San Diego / September 9, 2024

An airport-transit connection is one of the big ticket items in a ballot measure to increase sales taxes for transit, but the plan for that project is as uncertain as it’s been in recent memory.

[Please see original for vital links]

Why it matters: The lack of an airport connection to the region’s Trolley system has confused and frustrated residents for years, but an emerging consensus on how to do it ran into a significant delay earlier this year and is now at risk of falling apart completely.

by Ernie McCray

I’m so enjoying
these joyous moments
I can’t stop
going on and on
about it
with no apologies for it
for the reason that
for years an ex-president
who is seeking the presidency again
has been in our face
since way back when
day after day after day,
acting, literally, in the most melancholic
ways,

Coffee Cycle opens at 4856 Voltaire

By Candice Woo / Eater San Diego / September 9, 2024

A coffee company that got its start as a mobile business has just opened its second storefront in Ocean Beach.

Working in the coffee industry since age 16 and never owning a car, Coffee Cycle founder Chris O’Brien combined his lifestyle and interests into building a tricked-out coffee cart on the back of a tricycle, which he pedaled around San Diego for several years before finding a permanent spot to park in Pacific Beach. Operating out of a small cafe on Grand Avenue since 2017, Coffee Cycle previously did its roasting at Point Loma’s Accento Coffee Roasters.