OB Rag

By Colleen O’Connor

As I predicted in an OB Rag column on December 12,  2022. “Thus, the big predictions.  Neither Biden nor Trump will be the U.S. President.” Simple reason two years ago. Same simple reason today.

As I also stated in another OB column. “It’s the Women, Stupid” who will decide in 2024. Despite all the chaos, the cruelty, the ignorance and the fear, good things have already happened and will continue. Credit women. The suffragettes.

By Patty Ducey-Brooks

Residents, business owners and homeless advocates from throughout the city of San Diego are meeting at 1 p.m., Monday, July 22 at City Hall, located at 202 C Street, to urge the City Council to fulfill its fiduciary duty by rejecting the flawed Kettner & Vine Homeless Shelter Lease because of the major operational, legal and financial risks it imposes on San Diego identified in the City Attorney and Independent Budget Analyst Reports to the City Council.

(1)  Lack of Adequate Protection for the City:

The Callen Report

By Kate Callen

Once again, Mayor Todd Gloria wants the instant gratification of a real estate deal that seems financially perilous and legally tenuous. This time, he may not get it. Like 101 Ash Street and Midway Rising, the Kettner and Vine homeless campus has been hurtling forward at Gloria’s insistence since he abruptly announced the project April 4.

The scenario is all too familiar: Gloria is exuberant about a land use proposal, and he wants it to happen fast. Maybe the estimated costs of tenant improvements seemed reasonable (101 Ash). Or maybe the winner of a bidding process was an unknown player with no track record (Midway Rising).

President Joe Biden just announced he was ended his candidacy for the 2024 campaign. He thanked Kamala Harris for being a good partner and endorsed her.

Here’s his statement to the American people:

My Fellow Americans,

Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.

Demler Brothers Egg Ranch site of a 2019 animal cruelty investigation

From Direct Action Everywhere

A large barn fire broke out Thursday, July 18, at Demler Brothers Egg Ranch, a factory egg farm in Ramona that confines approximately two million chickens and supplies eggs to Walmart, Smart & Final, and other chains.

Tens of thousands of birds inside the impacted barn burned to death,

Quisling Pride

By Mat Wahlstrom

Ever heard of “Cop City”? No, that isn’t the name for the unseemly rush to install surveillance cameras throughout Hillcrest before this coming weekend, in violation of the TRUST Ordinance — though there is a direct connection.

I don’t see that it’s been written about here before, so allow me to explain. Cop City is the nickname for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a project to bulldoze hardwood forest and historic structures to build a massive complex — the largest in the nation — for the sole purpose of training law enforcement as urban paramilitary, in a historically Black and unrepresented section of Atlanta.

By  Bonnie Kutch

Blame it on the “Strong Mayor System.”  With almost total administrative authority previously held by the city manager, and the power to appoint and dismiss department heads, one man alone has all but succeeded in pushing through what’s likely to be the most deceptive and destructive community plan update in San Diego’s history.

The University Community Plan Update, which goes before the San Diego City Council for a final vote on July 30th, would add 30,480 housing units to the existing 26,520 homes, swelling the population from 64,206 to 129,566 people – without adding the infrastructure needed to support such an enormous population increase.  The community, which already experiences heavy traffic congestion, has a limited traffic grid and sits within a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.

The OB Planning Board’s Transportation Committee wants residents’ input on two new, big ideas: a parking district for OB and a new link between OB and Interstate 8.

The Committee meets on Monday, July 22 at 6:30 pm at the OB Woman’s Club, located at 2160 Bacon Street.

We recommend anyone interested go to the OB Planning Board’s website and click on items for the meeting on 7/22/24.

Rebecca Taylor, the chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, died as a result of a motorcycle accident in Utah on Tuesday, July 16. “Becca” as she was known by many, was on a cross-country trip on a motorcycle and hit from behind by another vehicle, 10 News reported.

Taylor, 40, grew up in OB and at one point, served on the OB Town Council. (Go here for a Rag post about Becca from February 2023.) That’s where I first met her.