OB Rag

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.”

Things that start badly, end badly.

By Mat Wahlstrom

For those who live in or follow the news in Uptown, the scandal involving the dismissal of Uptown Planners as the elected community planning group (CPG) for the six neighborhoods directly north of downtown for over fifty years, has been a slow-motion disaster.

On May 21, the San Diego City Council voted to single out Uptown Planners from among the 42 city CPGs in favor of a handful of single-issue partisans hell-bent on promoting reckless development. Although couched in high-minded terms like “equity” and “inclusion,” the effort from start to finish has been to privilege plutocrats and exclude dissent.

Reason Magazine High-Lights Rag Contest

By Christian Britschgi / Reason / Sept. 3, 2024

A pair of two-story, two-unit apartment buildings. A skinny three-story block rising above the single-story homes around it. Rows of two-story complexes going up in the backyard of a low-slung bungalow.

These are allegedly examples of “monster ADUs” taking over San Diego since the creation of the city’s ADU Bonus Program. Now the local news outlet OB Rag is collecting reader-submitted images of these new homes as part of its “worst ADU” competition.

Enter OB Rag’s Worst ADU Contest, which attempts to give a voice to the vetoless.

We want to show the City how insane 1000 people would be at Kettner and Vine.

By Elsie Hammond / The Coronado Times / Sept. 1, 2024

A peaceful protest of the Tijuana sewage crisis was held at the Imperial Beach Pier on Friday evening, August 30. Toni Trinidad, a Coronado teacher, Emerald Keepers liaison, and long-time Imperial Beach resident, planned and spoke at the grassroots event. She represented residents in attendance from Imperial Beach and Coronado who are tired of having to deal with toxic waste in the ocean and on their beaches.

Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott Workers Spend Labor Day on the Picket Line Amid Strike Over Wages, Workload, COVID-Era Cuts

UPDATE AS OF SEPT. 3, 2024: 9,376 workers remain on strike in seven cities (Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose). Strikes have concluded in Baltimore and Seattle.

Baltimore, Md. – Thousands of U.S. hotel workers are on strike this Labor Day.

Approx. 200 hotel workers walked off the job in Baltimore this morning. After months of unresolved negotiations, over 10,000 hotel workers with the UNITE HERE union were on strike at 25 hotels in nine cities: Baltimore, Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.