OB Rag

Pandas have returned to the San Diego Zoo.

By Joni Halpern

It was almost as if he had been sleeping at some points during the debate.  Here he was, Barack Obama, one of the greatest public speakers among all presidential candidates in our history, with his head down, his lips tightly closed and skewed a touch to one side, his expression uncomfortable and disengaged.

Across from him was the affable, smiling challenger, Mitt Romney, who spoke in simple terms with very few filler-words, treating the debate as if he and Obama were old Senate buddies having a brandy while sitting across from each other in overstuffed chairs in front of a fire.

Obama supporters were deeply depressed by his performance in that first debate of 2012. 

By Trudy Grundland / San Diego Reader / June 27, 2024

The death of a neighbor ended an era on our peaceful street. For sale signs are not allowed in La Jolla, but news spread fast of the sale: $2,175,000 for the 3 bed, 2 bath California ranch-style stucco home, west of La Jolla Boulevard. It was re-painted white, and a realtor told that us a quiet, mature man would be our new neighbor. But no one moved in. Then the garage got converted into a “sleeps eight” dormitory bedroom outfitted with four queen beds. That raised eyebrows. Months passed. Finally, in May of 2021, on garbage pick-up day, I saw a young man on the property. He identified himself as a host. Host? Airbnb, he said. Gave me his cell number.

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.