Grassroots and Progressive views on local, national and world news

Tragedy struck Saturday morning, Sept.8, when a 73-year-old scuba diver drowned while diving off the tide pool area near the sewage treatment plant in Point Loma.

Apparently the as-yet to be identified man became separated from his dive partner. The dive partner called 911 and just before 11 a.m. emergency crews responded by boat after they received reports of a scuba diver in distress. One news report had a bystander pull the unconscious guy out of the water by the time they arrived.

By Judi Curry

Being a widow for 9 years has changed the way I think; the way I live; the way I respond to others.

I have tried to discuss what is going on in the world with “Shadow”, my 6 ½ year old Golden Retriever, but his responses are less than satisfactory and leave me frustrated and angry a great deal of the time.

As I embark on this new facet of my life – a “weekly” column – not be considered a “weakly” column, I probably will impart my pent-up feelings to you and cause some of your great consternation and anger. I am happy to say that the “scars” from previous encounters have healed sufficiently, and I am ready to step into the arena again. Ready? Here goes!

I am boycotting In and Out Burger.

Here are four things you need to know about the Torrey Pine at 4633 Long Branch Avenue in northeast Ocean Beach.

One. The tree is not moving. There is at least 1 pin in the tree (possibly 2) placed by the city as an intersect to measure movement; a city engineer told a local resident there has been no movement by the tree, and its not falling. This means the city has data about the tree that demonstrates it is not going to collapse or that it has even moved.

Two. The City wants to chop the Torrey Pine down. This was evident on July 5 when a crew showed up to do just that. If they hadn’t been deterred by local residents, they would have removed it. Plain and simple. And thank you Matt Madruga.

Meeting last night before a packed crowd in the OB Rec Center, the OB Planning Board – once it obtained a quorum – appointed two new board members, approved the proposed 2 condo project on Froude and agreed to send letters to the City regarding safety issues on OB streets.

2 New Board Members

Two individuals who qualified to be members of the Board were appointed to fill 2 of the 6 open seats on the Board. Kevin Hastings was appointed to planning area district 6 and Tracy Dezenzo was appointed to district 1.

Kevin Hastings

Board member Craig Klein introduced Kevin – who is well known in planning board and town council circles – by stating Kevin “single-handedly provided a huge amount of data [on short term vacation rentals] to help the City Council, to give residents ammunition.”

The Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach had a hard time hanging their latest sign on the Ocean Beach Pier this morning, September 6.

Some crazy guy was screaming that the Sisters

Residents of Ocean Beach know about the “OB Pause” – or the “Point Loma pause”. People who live under the flightpath of the San Diego International Airport (no longer called Lindbergh Field) know to stop all conversation when planes fly overhead.

Now, however, there’s a new invention called AirNoise which can give those tired or sickened or bothered by the noise from jets to file a noise complaint with just a click of a button, and it goes directly to the San Diego Airport Authority. The button can be carried in your pocket, purse or on a keychain.

When a user clicks AirNoise’s button,

Matt Madruga has lived on the 4600 block of Long Branch Avenue in Ocean Beach for 16 years – he still lives in the house his grandparents bought back in the mid-1950s.

So, Matt – who runs a small diving and yacht services company – knows about the large Torrey Pine that towers over the eastern end of his block. It stands in the right-of-way next to the narrow street near his property line with his nextdoor neighbor. In fact, one can see a portion of its trunk through a crack in Matt’s concrete patio.

This is the same Torrey that was saved by the community 7 years ago from the city wanting to chop it down and is the same Torrey that was almost cut down this past July, and it’s the subject of an upcoming Urban Forestry Commission meeting.

Matt has been watching the tree for 25 to 30 years now, he told the OB Rag recently. He knows how it lives, he knows what lives in it, he knows how it blows in the wind,

The Ocean Beach Planning Board will take a look at a project proposed for the northwest corner of Froude and Del Monte, plus possibly appoint new board members and take up a slew of recommendations coming in from the board’s transportation sub-committee.

The board meets Wednesday, September 5 at the OB Rec Center, 4726 Santa Monica Avenue, starting at 6pm. (The official agenda is posted below.)

1750 Froude Street

Richard Harmon, new owner of 1750 Froude, has a Coastal Development Permit and tentative map for his proposed project for the board to review

On Thursday, August 30, proponents of over-turning last month’s San Diego City Council vote establishing limits on short term vacation rentals turned in – what they say – is more than 62,000 signatures to the county Registrar of Voters.

In order to force a public vote on the restrictions, Airbnb and Homeaway representatives need 36,000 valid signatures of registered voters. They and their consultant, PCI Consultants, employed an army of signature gatherers across the city who in turn employed aggressive tactics to wrest signatures from unwary residents.

by Joaquin Antique

It’s been six months since the OB Rag first published an article about the CannaBus shuttle service to urbn leaf dispensary in Bay Park.

Monday through Friday the bus still departs from the foot of Newport near the pier parking lot but weekend service to and from Ocean Beach has been cancelled.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the shuttle now services Pacific Beach,