OB Rag

by Jeffrey W. Forrest/ National Law Review / Feb. 12, 2024

On January 30, 2024, the San Diego City Council approved an ordinance implementing Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposal to establish an extensive project labor agreement (“PLA”), which is slated to impose various conditions and restrictions on most City-funded construction projects.

Most notably, the PLA establishes conditions of employment and minimum wage requirements, additional safety protocols, and other regulations imposed on contractors and their subcontractors.

From SOHO

Recently a missive from the mayor’s office in the form of an initiative to “modernize historic property regulations to preserve important places and streamline new home construction” was sent out as a press release.

The mayor and city council are advocating for reforms based on promoting new home construction and not historic preservation.

It is essential to dispel the misconception that historic preservation and development are inherently conflicting. In reality, historic preservation impacts only a small fraction of development projects, and importantly it plays a vital role in maintaining the unique identity of our city and its neighborhoods.

by Ernie McCray

One often hears
how dull life would be
if everyone was the same
but I beg to differ,
thinking non-braggadocious-ly
that it would be flat out cool
if everybody acted as I do,
like woke up everyday
and, no matter what else they did that day,
took time out to read,
to pet a dog,
and wrote some prose and poetry,
some of it for a progressive blog,
and listened to and danced to
some music that allowed
them to breathe in the day soulfully and deeply,

Residents of the 4600 block of Point Loma Avenue in Ocean Beach are feeling very frustrated.

They have found out that a developer plans to build 8 ADU’s on a back property of a single-family house on that block. This is happening on 4648 – 4650 Point Loma.

They do understand that adding a couple ADU units is normal, but to add 8 more units with one existing house – they consider “insane.” What was supposed to be a nice granny flat or a couple units in the back to help with income, has turned into a  plan for everyone to live in condos and not have any green at all. The developer is planning eight 2-story units.

Axios San Diego reports that on Tuesday, Feb. 13, hundreds of flight attendants, pilots and other airline workers will be picketing outside the San Diego Airport as part of a nationwide demonstration over their pay and working conditions amid ongoing contract negotiations.

They’re asking for raises and challenging their pay structure and will be joining picketers from multiple unions representing 100,000 flight attendants for Alaska, United, American, Southwest and other airlines who are expected outside 30 airports nationwide. The industry norm is they don’t get paid until the plane doors close.

T

Have We Got Some Stories for You!

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society on Thursday evening, February 15th at 7:00 pm as they celebrate their 30th year.

Teachers, writers, business owners, artists, designers, photographers, old time hippies, community activists, owners of historic homes, elves, gnomes, and similar unusual and splendid individuals

Another burger joint is moving onto Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.

Oh boy! Another burger joint at the beach. This one just doors down from Hodad’s.

Yes, it seems that Burger Kook is taking over the former ChickenHeadz spot at 5026 Newport.

The Pt Loma-OB Monthly ran a long piece by Steven Mihailovich less than a week ago about the scandal at the Ocean Beach Town Council. Since Mihailovich is a professionally -paid journalist — the Monthly is a publication of the Union-Tribune — his article had accurate quotes and more detail than the Rag’s report on the scandal, which all became public at the OBTC meeting of January 24.

Therefore, this is an attempt to provide our readers with some of those details — and clarifications that Mihailovich reported in his piece of Feb. 4 as a way to supplement our original post.
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It was another time, our friend George Janczyn wrote us, “when people thought nothing of going out on the pier when waves were splashing through the railing. We will likely never see that happen again!”

These photos of George’s are from January 2016.

Editordude: Local journalist Paul Krueger, a resident of Talmadge — and an occasional writer here – has objected to recent KPBS coverage by reporter Katie Hyson of a meeting of San Diego’s Historical  Resources Board on efforts by Talmadge residents to achieve historic designation by the state for their neighborhood.

Krueger was particularly disturbed by KPBS’ headline of “Residents seek to preserve former ‘whites-only’ neighborhood as historic district,” because it was “terribly misleading and needlessly inflammatory,” as he stated in a letter to KPBS, which he shared with the Rag and is posted below. 

Dear Katy,

I’m a resident of Talmadge, but don’t live in that portion of the neighborhood that’s the subject of your story.