OB Rag

By JW August / June 27, 2024

At a recent San Diego Association of Governments meeting last month, board Vice Chairman Sean Elo-Rivera became angered over a number of public speakers questioning  information in a report exploring the removal of tolls on State Route 125.

The report — “Process for removing toll roads on State Route 125” — was prompted, in part, by recent revelations that drivers were incorrectly charged for using the 10-mile long toll road. It was authored by four SANDAG staff members who had evaluated several options for the future of San Diego’s only toll road.

Elo-Rivera halted the May 24 board meeting following questions by several speakers. 

By Judi Curry

We moved to San Diego in 1966 and rented the second floor of a duplex at 1474 Pescadero Drive (I think that was the address.)  Pescadero Drive is the alley-like street that parallels the ocean for a block or so — not Pescadero Avenue that travels east/west.  The owner of the duplex, Maria, lived on the bottom floor and had a patio and clothesline outside her living room.

The view was spectacular because there was nothing that blocked the view for 180 degrees.  We watched the seals forage for food; the fishermen standing on the rocks fighting the seals for the very same food.  We ran down the steps often to grab the boxes of butter and other things the Navy ships threw out before they returned to port.  We sometimes took our surf boards and went out to sea just footsteps from our home.  Our three daughters had a fantastic life living and learning about the ocean in the first person.

Colleen O’Connor’s views do not necessarily reflect those of  the OB Rag.

By Colleen O’Connor

Uniformly, pundits, (yes even on MSNBC) called Biden’s weak performance in the Trump-Biden Presidential Debate “disastrous.” It took only five minutes of watching to understand the real perils the country faces.

He walked on stage struggling, coughed repeatedly, slurred, misspoke and ominously looked more aged and feebler than any thought possible. The Democrats are “in panic mode” as more than one liberal pundit remarked.

by Marisa Kendall /CalMatters/ June 28, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted cities more power to arrest, cite and fine people who sleep outside in public places — overturning six years of legal protections for homeless residents in California and other western states.

In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the court sided with Grants Pass in a 6-3 decision, ruling that an ordinance passed by the Oregon city that essentially made it illegal for homeless residents to camp on all public property was not unconstitutional. 

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels famously said that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth. We’ve definitely seen how this has played out at the national level with Trump denying he lost the 2020 election. But it also happens at the local level.

And this is what has happened since mid-June when the developer-aligned group Circulate SD issued a report claiming the California Coastal Commission is worsening the housing crisis.

The so-called “report” which is full of half-truths and exaggerations was picked up by several other local media as gospel,

The Aratina Solar Project is about to BULLDOZE Nearly 4000 Ancient Joshua Trees! Who Approved THIS???

Sign the petition at Change.org here.

I Thought They Were Protected!

Ancient Joshua Trees are going extinct, and we must save them. The Aratina Solar Project in Boron, California, is approved to destroy nearly 4000 ancient Joshua Trees in this forest (Each Blue Dot on the map represents an old growth Joshua Tree). These iconic trees have stood for centuries, providing habitat for numerous species and contributing to the unique biodiversity of our region.

[Editordude: Here’s a re-post of a Reader article from January 2024 about the state of San Diego’s ocean cliffs. The video of Sunset Cliffs shows the exact same cracked bluff that Charles Landon’s drone video from yesterday has.]

Sunset Cliffs December collapse part of a series

By Mike Madriaga / January 16, 2024

Right before Christmas Eve, 619newsmedia shared a video taken at Sunset Cliffs of a cliff that had just split. The recent sighting was the third sheared cliff reported in the county in 2023.

It appears that a final vote by the San Diego City Council on the redevelopment deal the city has with Midway Rising won’t occur until early 2025. And this is mainly due to the city shoring up a consultant to ensure that Midway Rising gets government financial assistance to build its pledged affordable housing units.

Just this past Monday, June 24, the Council got the latest developments in an update from Christina Bibler, head of the city’s real estate division spearheading negotiations with Midway Rising.

The Rag finally heard back from the Liberty Station Community Association, which is responsible for maintaining the grounds at Liberty Station, about the removal of at least 20 large trees last week.

Sarah Olsen, property manager of Liberty Station Community Association c/o Reliable Property Management Services, sent us the following email:

Please see the following regarding the Landscape Renovation project at Liberty Station:

Residents of Clairemont, San Diego, are protesting the construction of a 12-unit apartment complex in their neighborhood, citing zoning violations and concerns about traffic, parking, and fire safety. See this video by realtor David Demangos.

More than 50 people turned out on Saturday, June 22 to protest a 12 unit “Bonus ADU” being built on one single family unit property in Clairemont. The project at 4578 Jicarillo Ave off Moraga Ave in Clairemont/Bay Ho will have no parking, has had no community input, is being built on a very severe fire zone canyon, and none of the units will be low income.

Organizers with Neighbors for a Better San Diego who helped organize the event object to the city’s transparently false rationale that no parking is needed because new residents will walk up to one mile to a transit stop.

Based on other similar projects, the “affordable” one bedrooms will probably rent for $2700+ and the market rate units for $2900+, with no parking and no yard.

The company building the 12 units is SDRE Homebuyers, who advertise they know “how to decisively bring in a top-dollar offer for our real estate opportunities.”