OB Rag

By Nicole Arthur – OBE PTA

Mark your calendars! Two important events are occurring March 10, 2024. The start of Daylight Saving Time, and Ocean Beach Elementary’s 12th annual Skate for the Kids Fundraising Event.

The OBE PTA and Ocean Beach Surf and Skate Shop have partnered up to make this a family-friendly event to remember, with plenty of fun for kids and adults alike. Kicking off at Robb Field on Sunday, March 10th at 12pm,

Roll up for Cannabis Equity – a Monthly Column

By Terrie Best

To say the city of Vista likes weed is an understatement. To say Vista likes weed so much they want a strain named after them is more accurate.

I listened in and gave a virtual public comment on an agenda item at their City Council meeting held on February 27th. Afterward we were treated to some very promising public discussion around cannabis social equity by the council. I’m not kidding, they want a cannabis strain. They wouldn’t mind a handful of consumption lounges, a shared cannabis workspace and don’t even think about limiting cannabis events in Vista either. They don’t want that.

The agenda item was a presentation by Kyle Tankard, Lead Researcher at SCI. SCI has been winning many contracts in California municipalities. These contracts are for licensing outlets and social equity assessments – the preliminary findings report necessary to begin giving priority licenses to individuals harmed by the war on drugs.

(For Ongoing Events, see below)

March 4th Monday 6 pm – 7:30 pm   Envisioning an Environmentally-Just City

March 5th Tuesday – California Primary – Go vote if you haven’t already.

March 5th Tuesday 4 pm Silver Screen War Machine: Decoding the Military-Entertainment Complex

March 6th Wednesday 11 am  Petroleum 238: A Seven-Year Investigation of Oilfield Radioactivity

March 6th Wednesday 6:30 pm – 8 pm Connecting Creatures, Climate, and Communities

March 7th Thursday 6:30 pm Meeting of San Diego Chapter of BDS movement 

March 8th Friday — International Women’s Day

On Saturday, March 2, a woman in her 20s suffered serious injuries after falling 25 feet off Sunset Cliffs onto the jagged rocks below.

The as-yet unidentified woman fell from street level at about 2 p.m. at 900 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

In at times a frustrating, exasperating, cantankerous and ultimately gratifying meeting, the new leadership of the Ocean Beach Town Council tried to put its best face forward at Wednesday night’s monthly public get together.

Before a small crowd of 40 at the not-very accessible club house of Park Point Loma, vice-president Shelly Parks opened the meeting by welcoming everyone, including those on zoom, the live stream of the website and “the live audience,” meaning those in attendance.

Here is a very brief basic summary of the high-lights of the meeting.

More Than 100 Cameras Have Already Been Installed

Since late December, more than 100 of the 500 cameras that the San Diego Police Department will be installing and using has begun. These are the Smart Streetlight cameras and Automated License Plate Recognition technologies, and nearly every day brings new installations.

Installation of all 500 cameras is anticipated by June, weather and other infrastructure issues permitting. It’s unclear how the new city budget restrictions enacted by Gloria just recently will affect the rate of installation.

Meet at the end of Ladera Street at the blue tent, 9 to 12 am.

By Joel Reynolds and Tom Soto / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / Feb. 26, 2024

If the coast of California is a state asset worth trillions of dollars — and it is — why is the state agency that has successfully protected that asset for 50 years under assault? The answer — “unnecessary permitting delays” — is unfounded. Yet California’s exceptional history of coastal protection is in greater jeopardy today in the halls of our state Capitol than it has been for generations.

Like water flowing downhill, California’s incomparable coast has always been a magnet for development. In 1972, with this in mind, the voters of California overwhelmingly approved Proposition 20,

The Ocean Beach Woman’s Club has just celebrated its 100th anniversary — and here are some excerpts from Regina Elling’s touching account of their celebration in a recent Pt Loma – OB Monthly:

For 100 years, the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club has stood for friendship, philanthropy and sisterhood. The club is well-known across OB for its community advocacy, and it was honored recently with an official proclamation from San Diego Mayor

By Brian Ritter

The California open primary voting for U.S. Senator is upon us and it will send the two top vote-getters to a final showdown in November. The four major candidates are Adam Schiff (63), Steve Garvey (75), Katie Porter (50) and Barbara Lee (77).

Schiff is a pro-corporation Democrat; Garvey is a Trump supporter; and Katie Porter and Barbara Lee are progressive Democrats. Schiff is currently polling the best. Garvey and Porter are neck-and-neck vying for second place, and Lee trails. Second place continues to be uncertain, but it’s possible the Senate runoff in November might be between two older, white males — neither of them progressive. Californians deserve a better choice.