OB Rag

Any Expansion Could Also Squeeze San Diego Fishermen

By Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 6, 2024

A proposal to expand one of San Diego’s 11 marine protected areas would make it the largest in the county, and could help wildlife off Point Loma thrive. But miles gained would be miles lost to some local fishermen. Two environmental groups want to expand Cabrillo State Marine Reserve from less than half a square mile to nearly 16, extending it westward and northward to an area of Sunset Cliffs. The reason? Kelp, long a chief concern of scientists, fishermen and other ocean-goers.

The Callen Report

By Kate Callen

City Hall has an innovative solution to the plight of flood victims still struggling to meet basic needs: Let them build accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

South East San Diego residents came to an August 5 community forum at the Jackie Robinson YMCA looking for help with lingering flood damage. What they got instead was a 25-minute slideshow on the bewildering arcana of ADU construction.

It isn’t news that the Todd Gloria administration has no interest in hearing what constituents want. And it’s no surprise that his Development Services Department (DSD) will seize any opportunity to push his ADU development crusade.

Still, the disconnect between what flood victims needed to know and what city officials preferred to discuss was staggering.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

San Diego city crews went to work Monday, August 5, on a portion of Sunset Cliffs that has noticeably eroded. A small section of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard near Guizot Street was shifted east by about 5 feet.

The construction work is scheduled all this week from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. causing portions of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to be closed to traffic during those hours.

The city of San Diego identified it as urgent work to protect visitors and infrastructure.

Street crews removed the deteriorating guard rail and shifted the walking path, road markings and both travel lanes. Attached to the new guardrail is wood fencing to limit access.

by Ernie McCray

It wasn’t much more
than a week ago
when a presidential race
was burdening me with woe,
but ever since Biden,
who goes by Joe,
let Kamala Harris
step into the spotlight’s
bright glow,
I’ve gone loco
with giddiness,

National Night Out — Tuesday, August 6, 2024
By Judi Curry

Neighbors in South OB and around Sunset Cliffs are having a ‘Meet Your Neighbors’ ice cream social.

Plus, the Fire truck is coming to town! Come meet your neighbors at our Ice Cream Social being held at St. Peter’s by the Sea Lutheran Church parking lot on Tuesday.

By Patty Ducey-Brooks / Presidio Sentinel / August 3, 2024

We continue to see news stories about how unaffordable is to live in San Diego County due to the cost of housing.  Many of us have come to realize there are several factors causing this to occur, including the significant increase in vacation rentals and corporate landlords.A recent report found San Diego County is short 134,537 affordable rental homes.

To emphasize this point, this past month, advocacy groups the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) published an analysis of private equity giant Blackstone’s profit-seeking practices in California as residents suffer amidst one of the nation’s worst housing crises. “Helter Shelter: How Blackstone Contributes to and Profits from California’s Broken Housing System,”

The City of San Diego is inviting the public to a community event they are hosting where staff will speak on City of San Diego operations. For this upcoming session, the Development Services Department will highlight Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

Topics will include:

• Where ADUs are being built.
• Overview of City ADU regulations, including recent changes.
• ADU resources and zoning information.
• Answers to frequently asked questions.

Date: Monday, August 5, 2024 — 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Check out this brief video by Charles Landon of the Waterfalls of Point Loma. Charles and friend David Helvarg were diving off Point Loma on Sunday, Aug. 4, and saw them

By Geoff Page

Judging by the size of the crowd and the overall positive vibe from everyone, the cleanup effort at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Saturday, August 3, noticed here in The Rag last Thursday, August 1, was a big success.

The event was organized by a partnership between two civic-minded groups. One a 501(c)nonprofit called Cans4Books , the work of Tisha Goolsby. The other group is a creation of OB’s own Tracy Dezenzo, a familiar face in local civic endeavors.

Tracy is a past director on the OB Town Council and has been on the OB Planning Board for years. She is also a commissioner on the City of San Diego’s Arts & Culture Commission.  Tracy’s new group is called “Desborder:Together for a Cleaner Environment.”

By Edward Carver / Common Dreams / Aug 01, 2024

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday introduced legislation that would establish that the president and vice president don’t have immunity from prosecution—an effort to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Trump v. United States that grants presidents broad immunity when they break the law.

The No Kings Act, which has 34 co-sponsors from the Senate’s Democratic caucus, would stipulate that Congress, and not the Supreme Court, determines whom federal law applies to. It comes as the latest Democratic response to the July 1 ruling, decided 6-3 along ideological lines, that gave former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump “absolute immunity” for “core” presidential duties and “presumptive immunity” for other official acts.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Editordude: The information in the following U-T article by Jennifer van Grove is too important to be hidden away from San Diegans who don’t subscribe to the U-T.

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / August 1, 2024

An otherwise routine loan morphed into a flashpoint of contention between a council member, Pacific Beach community members and two affordable housing developers.

That’s because the money, to be doled out by the city of San Diego to the nonprofit developers of the proposed Rose Creek Village project, was the last thing standing in the way of a mid-rise residential building that promises to skirt a voter-enacted law that keeps building heights at 30 feet or less in coastal neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, San Diego City Councilmember Joe LaCava, who represents the Pacific Beach community, sought to kill the loan — and, by association, the project. The developers, he said, were initially dishonest with community members about the project’s planned height. What’s more, taxpayer funds should not be used to override the will of voters, he said.

By Mark Powell / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / July 30, 2024

[Please see original for the many links]

To effectively support our city’s climate action goals, San Diego needs more electric vehicle charging stations, not bike lanes. The funds currently allocated to converting traffic lanes into bike lanes would be better spent on installing these stations.

San Diego’s “Better by Bike” initiative has proven to be a failed climate action experiment, and city government should start converting underutilized bike lanes back into traffic lanes and halt any further conversions to make roads more accessible. You don’t need a doctorate in urban planning to realize that replacing traffic lanes with underutilized bike lanes is impacting traffic flow and commuting time.