OB Rag

Thurs. Mar. 21, 5-7 PM- Celebration of Spring at the Wisteria Cottage Patio!

Please join the Ocean Beach Historical Society on March 21, 2023, from 5 PM to 7 Pm at the Wisteria Cottage Garden at 4761 Niagara

A storm sweeping into our region is forecast to bring Santa Ana winds through Friday, with rain countywide and gusts up to 70 miles per hour in high desert areas.

Mountains and deserts could have thunderstorms through Saturday, with snow down to 5,000 feet in elevation. The above photo was taken off the Mount Laguna Lodge live webcam today at 3:25 pm.

The big news coming out of City Hall that affects the beach is that San Diego is no longer allowing private companies to stage picnics, corporate events, large parties, bonfires or similar organized activities on the vast majority of city beaches.

According to David Garrick today at the Union-Tribune:

A city spokesperson said the crackdown, which comes as spring break is beginning and just before the busy summer beach season, was prompted by complaints from beach-goers and nearby residents.

About a week ago, the Union-Tribune issued its stance on the results of the just-held Primary and took swipes at Todd Gloria and gave props to the independent Larry Turner, all the while longing for the heavyweight pro who didn’t appear.

For Mayor Todd Gloria, the results are anything but a confirmation of voters’ faith in him.

And the editors rightly acknowledged that the incumbent mayor barely won half the vote, something the Rag did in our recent analysis; this is big; after 4 years a Democratic mayor in a Democratic city and all Democrats on the City Council barely won half the freaking vote!!??

In barely winning half the vote against well-meaning opponents with little mastery of basic issues,

Plastics-related concessions made from companies including Disney, Hormel, and Choice Hotels

By Joseph Winters / Grist / Mar 05, 2024

Wealthy investors and asset managers wield a lot of power over the major companies whose stock they own or control. Every year, shareholder advocacy groups hope to exert that power for good by filing shareholder resolutions — 500-word proposals that might ask companies to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, or to disclose more information on their resource use.

From Midway Rising:

The Midway Rising team is currently in the process of rescheduling the upcoming March 18 informational workshop update.

After all the ups and downs of the Midway Rising redevelopment team and its promises, San Diego residents now are being faced with subsidizing Midway Rising’s affordable housing part of the project.

For example, just last October Midway Rising dropped the middle-income family units from its redevelopment plan, which angered a number of City Council members.

Originally, in order to obtain the bid for the massive redevelopment of the Sports Arena area, Midway Rising pledged it would build 2,000 affordable housing units. As U-T reporter Jennifer van Grove stated in yesterday’s (subscriber only) article on the matter:

This is certainly a twist during apparently the late hours of the Primary season.

There was a flyer circulating around Pacific Beach last week about a coming development on the 2000 block of Beryl Street in that community. The flyer was appearing to either announce or warn PB residents about an affordable housing project coming to some church property for sale at 2088 Beryl Street. It states “The former church property 2088 Beryl Street at Academy is going to be used for up to forty-nine low-income housing units.”

Please take a moment to reflect on Japan’s Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima 13 years later, billions spent, unchecked meltdowns persist while contamination abounds with no end in sight.

Please watch this 12 minute video made especially for this somber occasion, and remember that it could still happen here too, with 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste 100 feet from the ocean at sea level, in a tsunami zone.

Advisories from County Beach & Bay Water Quality Program

Check in before you go in

Advisory: Ocean Beach – Dog Beach
Station: San Diego River outlet to 300′ South (FM-010)
Status Since: February 14, 2024
Bacteria levels exceed health standards. Avoid water contact in the advisory area. (See below)

Here’s the slide show presentation from the last meeting of the OB Planning Board on March 5 that explains the recommendations the planners are making to improve the short term residential occupancy ordinance (STRO). It was presented by Vice-chair Kevin Hastings.

James Soriano is accused of taking bribes from two defense contractors

Here’s 2 Sources:

From US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California

A former civilian employee of San Diego-based Naval Information Warfare Center and a former executive with a South Carolina defense contractor were charged in an indictment unsealed today with participating in a bribery scheme to trade expensive meals, jobs and a ticket to a premiere sporting event for help obtaining more than $100 million in government contracts.