OB Rag

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / Feb. 13, 2024

San Diego cracked down Tuesday, Feb. 13 on “rogue” sidewalk vendors in downtown and other vendors in parks and beaches who use free-speech claims to skirt city restrictions on where they can operate.

The City Council unanimously approved a complex and comprehensive enforcement framework that city officials say will help restore the look and feel of many popular tourist areas flooded with vendors in recent years.

By Rick Reilly / Washington Post / Feb. 5, 2024

Are you bummed you weren’t around when the Stasi ruled? Do you wish you could’ve been one of Mao Zedong’s millions of neighborhood snitches? Maybe watch the Red Guards drag off your least favorite aunt?

Not to worry, the bad old days are back — thanks to Nextdoor.com.

On Nextdoor all you have to do is sign up, log in and start profiling everyone on your block. Teenager in a hoodie walking on your street? Lock your doors. Black guy with a backpack standing on the corner? Call the cops.

After a big, two-year much-hallooed process by the City of San Diego to “diversity” the 42 existing neighborhood planning groups, only two neighborhoods have had rival groups emerge to contest the re-recognition of the existing group. La Jolla and Uptown.

But not the other 40 neighborhoods — where panels made up of volunteers from the community toll away and make advisable recommendations on housing projects and infrastructure to the city.

By Julie Johnson / San Francisco Chronicle /Jan 25, 2024

Building housing is difficult virtually anywhere in California — but especially along the coast, where there can be an extra layer of permitting. One of the Legislature’s strongest advocates for more home-building is trying to change that — and he’s starting with the coastline of San Francisco.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation this month that would chip away at the authority of the California Coastal Commission, the state agency charged with preserving public beach access and evaluating coastal development, over neighborhood areas along Ocean Beach [San Francisco].

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