OB Rag

The Callen Report

By Kate Callen

You may see Ocean Beach as a beloved coastal village with a timeless Main Street and a storied history.

Shawn DiMartile and Mike Tighe see it differently. To them, OB is a cash machine. And they intend to pull as much money out of it as possible.

OB has dealt with aggressive builders before. But the battle over the 4705 Point Loma Avenue project, which goes before the San Diego Planning Commission next Thursday, August 29, is particularly insidious because it has been fueled by Todd Gloria’s grab-it-and-sell-it land use policies.

DiMartile and Tighe are the founders of Takeoff Capital, the real estate investment firm behind the project. In a one-hour investor webinar available on Vimeo, they sang the praises of Gloria’s “Complete Communities” program, and they commodified the many charms of life in OB.

“The Point” will be a 3-story, 20-unit complex.

Earlier this week, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow issued a warning to America that those Republicans on election boards across the country could refuse to certify the 2024 election results if Trump loses in November.

In an op-ed in the New York Times (behind paywall) Maddow wrote:

“Election boards across the country now include Republican officials who have not only propounded Mr. Trump’s lies about the last presidential election being ‘stolen,’ they have tested how far they can go in denying the certification of the vote.”

The spread of what Maddow called “refusenik Republicans” started back in 2020, she argued, when Trump and RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel pressured two election officials to certify vote totals in a key Michigan county. As The Hill stated in a recent article about this:

Since then, a number of election officials across at least eight states have been charged for alleged efforts to interfere with the certification of the 2020 election and 2022 midterm results, Maddow noted.

The Project Review Committee of the OB Planning Board meets Tuesday night, August 20, at the OB Rec Center at 6pm. It has two projects up for review. They will be meeting again in the Activity room at the end of the hallway on the left.

The sub-committee of the full board does a first review of a project and then usually makes a recommendation to the board

Bunt Residence, 4711 Del Monte Ave.

This is a Process 2 review of a permit to construct a 2-story dwelling unit over a subterranean garage and construct a 2-story “companion unit”.

by Shi Bradley/ Times of San Diego / August 20, 2024

The OB Rag is holding a contest and inviting submissions from the public to identify the “Worst ADU” in San Diego county [ Ed: actually just the City of San Diego]

Until Friday, Aug. 23, The OB Rag is looking for the worst accessory dwelling units (ADU) in the city. Winners will receive gift cards to a variety of local restaurants.

The contest is an effort to raise public awareness about the real-world impacts of what critics call predatory construction of ADUs, including the construction of multi-story apartments and large-scale home projects crammed into tiny areas of a neighborhood.

By Pam Kragen / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 19, 2024

A public memorial to honor the life of the iconic local artist, naturalist and and humanitarian James Hubbell will take place Saturday at his Pearl of the Pacific park on Shelter Island in San Diego.

Hubbell’s artwork and organically inspired designs can be found in buildings and galleries throughout California and beyond, but he was best known for his other-worldly “habitable sculptures” home and art compound in Santa Ysabel that’s listed in the San Diego County Register of Historic Places. Hubbell passed away May 17 at age 92.

The journalist and TV show host, who died Sunday at the age of 88, made his mark on our society. He fought for the underdog. He did it with style and grace and a wonderful sense of humor. He changed my life and the lives of so many others.

Jeff Cohen / Common Dreams / Aug 19, 2024

Phil Donahue passed away Sunday night, after a long illness. He was beloved by those who knew him and by many who didn’t.

He started as a local reporter in Ohio, was a trailblazer in bringing social issues to a national audience as a daytime broadcast TV host, and then he was pretty-much banished from TV by MSNBC because he—accurately, correctly, and morally—questioned the horrific U.S. invasion of Iraq.

By Jennifer Van Grove / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 18, 2024

Tom Driscoll’s commercial fishing wharf at the north eastern tip of America’s Cup Harbor in Point Loma is falling apart. The marina’s four, fixed piers — home to as many as 120 fishing boats in their prime — appear to be on the brink of collapse. The business model gave way long ago. The substandard conditions will remain suspended in time until the Port of San Diego assumes control of the facility at some future date.

The agency is pushing Driscoll out of the marina that has held the family name for 32 years — but also forcing him to stay put for now.

Before we round out this week, we must note that it was 50 years ago that Richard Nixon resigned as president. The first and only president to resign in disgrace.

It was on August 8 and I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Isla Vista, next to UC Santa Barbara, taking a dinner break in my drive from the Bay Area back to Ocean Beach. All of a sudden, there was a grave tone from an announcer, and Richard Nixon appeared on the eatery’s TV which was mounted on a wall. His visage appeared and he announced he was resigning the next day, August 9, 1974.

I was full of joy! He deserved to go and I in fact had been involved in the movement to get him to either be impeached or forced to resign.

He was very bad — and whether he was worse than Trump is up to history (as Trump is not done with us yet). But Nixon in his own way tried to be a dictator — and the American people stood up to him — as did the Supreme Court — and their representatives forced him out.

The U-T ran a piece over this last week about the City updating its blueprint for Balboa Park and reviving Starlight Bowl. And a couple of the published responses were noteworthy, especially since one of them was from our friend Roger Showley, a San Diego architectural historian and former longtime writer for the U-T (and fellow PLHS Class of 66 member):

The plan to save our crown jewel needs more to creativity when it comes to food

Mayor Todd Gloria listed many worthy to-do items in his “State of Balboa Park” presentation. One proposes the long-shuttered Village Grill at Old Globe Way. But we need a lot more imagination to satisfy our thirst and growling stomachs when visiting San Diego’s “crown jewel.”

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

To all our readers and supporters who have given the Rag our best fundraiser ever! It’s been amazing.

We asked our community for $3,000 and you gave us $5,000! Incredible.

by Ernie McCray

The joy I’ve been feeling of late
was brightened
by our athletes’ performances
at the
Olympic Games,
as I’m still wearing
a smile
from watching