OB Rag

By Lisa Mortensen / April 7, 2024

Dear Councilmembers:

In a few weeks’ time, you will be thrown a political football and it’s called Vine and Kettner.  Now, I know the local news media and the current city hall lobbyists will refer to us as NIMBYs but I hope you will see through the smoke and mirrors and make an educated decision on this fast-moving project before giving it a dutiful approval to satisfy Todd Gloria’s political intentions.

I will provide below a summary of bullet points that should be your guide to this very complicated project. 

Dear Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell,

By Vance Murphy

PLEASE, this must stop!

The proposed CCHS (Complete Communities Housing Solutions) is apparently proceeding without sufficient evidence of mitigating its potential detrimental impacts and ‘peer reviewed’ examples of successful implementations that serve as models for deployment.  I must therefore presume that this is an ‘experiment’ without appropriate oversight.

I feel that the Mayor, City Council and all involved parties must expose and explain this plan to the entire affected population with sufficient time to perform a validation of intent, impact and avoidance of ‘unintended consequences’.  

Year-old law isn’t strong enough on Tier 2 rentals, hosts, enforcement, density and impact on long-term housing.

By Trudy Grundland / La Jolla Light Op-Ed/ April  ,2024

The first anniversary of the city of San Diego’s short-term vacation rental ordinance is May 1. The ordinance is good but has several gray areas that need fixing sooner rather than later:

• Tier 2: the cheater’s tier [home-share rentals where the owner lives onsite]. It’s impossible to regulate and enforce. In my opinion, this is what hosts will use. San Diego has 650,000 housing units. Hypothetically, they could all become Tier 2’s. There is nothing to prevent this from happening. Tier 2’s are not counted in the quotas. They can be rented full time as STVRs for nine months of the year. There’s no way to enforce.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 17, 2024

The San Diego Library Foundation says proposed budget cuts to the city’s 36-branch library system would be crippling and worsen a track record of chronic underfunding.

Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year wouldn’t close any branches or reduce hours of service, but it would slash money for events, technology, employee training and donation matching. The reductions in events and technology funding would hit branches in low-income areas particularly hard,

If the current Board of Directors of what was the Ocean Beach Town Council hold to their plan, they will do a rebrand and morph into the “Ocean Beach Town Council Foundation” and allow the group and name “Ocean Beach Town Council” to dissolve and fall by the wayside.

There’s a subtle difference in the names, but more importantly for the Board, it will allow them to carry on as a valid non-profit.

In a newsletter sent out via text, the Board explained,

“The future direction of the organization is to operate from the 501c3, rebranding as the Ocean Beach Town Council Foundation and eventually dissolving the 501c4.”

Yesterday’s Rag announced the upcoming meeting of the Project Review Committee of the OB Planning Board — Wed., April 17 — and recounted how the committee only had one project to review. (Usually, the committee makes recommendations on proposed projects to the full board.)

Yes, the Committee only has one project to review — but what a dousey!

What’s being proposed at the corner at 4705 Point Loma Avenue is a 3-story, 20 unit complex — but only 3 of its units will be “affordable” and it will only provide 9 parking spaces. The density that is being proposed in way out of whack with OB’s normal density limits. But the developer can bypass local community plans as long as it’s complying with Mayor Gloria’s so-called Complete Communities.

By Carolyn Chase

Why are our energy bills so high?

The Energy Industrial Complex is picking your pocket. The EIC in California consists of:

• The three for-profit monopolies: San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison
• The CPUC – misnamed as the California Public Utility Commission – has ceased responsible oversight needed by ratepayers
• Politicians and appointees that fail to ask critical questions and go along with unnecessary rate increases.  They accept project designs that are the most profitable instead of designs that prioritize affordability and climate progress.

Every year, the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists hosts an event called “Walls and Windows” in order “to honor those in our community who have worked hard to expand the public’s right to know by fighting for transparency — and hold accountable those who have stifled these efforts.”

This year, they awarded the “Sunshine Award” to Will Carless — a former San Diego journalist — who works for USD Today. The award “goes to a journalist or community member who went above and beyond to make the government more transparent and hold elected officials accountable.”

And the Society awarded the “Wall Award” to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, and here’s why:

[Editordude: This 5-month old article by Shannon Handy and Dorian Hargrove at our local CBS affiliate deserves resurfacing.]

By Shannon Handy and Dorian Hargrove / CBS8 / November 16, 2023

Sea levels are rising. That spells trouble for low-lying areas throughout the region, none more so than in San Diego’s Midway District and surrounding areas.

By Dorian Hargrove / CBS8 / April 12, 2024

The future of San Diego’s push to build a new sports arena is in flux after a new report recommended that the San Diego Sports Arena, built in 1966, be considered historic.

In an April 11 staff report to the city’s Historical Resource Board, staff found the San Diego Sports Arena qualifies for all three historical designations and that demolition of the currently named Pechanga Arena will create “significant” historical impacts.

Roll up For Cannabis Equity – A monthly column

By Terrie Best

Saturday is 420. I love a good party tip and the all-things-cannabis EventHi.io platform is a great one. It’s a one-stop for cannabis events nation-wide so you can search for your cannabis community wherever you are in the US. Except not Boise, don’t expect to find any real canna-culture on display in places like Boise. Still, the site has a way to make clear the event is a non-consumption affair if cannabis-free Boise did want to get involved.

EventHi was born out of necessity. When folks tried to use that other platform, Eventbrite to sell cannabis event tickets Eventbrite had thoughts. Being a total buzz-kill, they deleted many weed-related events