OB Rag

By Blake Nelson / San Diego Union-Tribune / Jan. 14, 202

The number of encampments along the San Diego River has risen repeatedly since officials set new limits on where tents are tolerated in the city, complicating efforts to reduce how many people sleep outside. There were 122 active camp sites at the end of last month, according to surveys by the San Diego River Park Foundation. Five months ago, before San Diego’s camping ban took effect, there were 95.

An encampment can include a single tent or several hand-built structures throughout a 25 meter area, meaning multiple people often live at each location.

Please join the Ocean Beach Historical Society on Thursday evening January 18th as they kick off their 30th year of our free monthly lecture series.

Ocean Beach photographer Randy Dible will present a program of his own wonderful photos mixed with the great historic photos of his grandfather, San Diego photographer Robert Thompson, from his travels around the world in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s.

OB Playhouse Being Rebranded as Wildsong Theater & Art Collective

By Perla Shaheen / abc10News / Jan 14, 2024

Navigating Newport Avenue, the Ocean Beach Playhouse may easily slip under your radar. Despite its modest 3,800 square foot size, this venue hosts powerhouse performers, including Cody Ingram, who considers the theater his home.

“This is a very special place for me,” Ingram said. Since 2022, Ingram and a group of other performers have graced the OB Playhouse stage, delivering musical numbers like Cabaret and Secret Garden.

Anthony “Tony” Fleming founded The Harp Irish Pub 20 years ago as a pub and eatery on OB’s main commercial drag, Newport Avenue.

Tragically last October 2023, Tony tried to break up a fight outside the pub but in the process, suffered a heart attack. He subsequently passed away on October 18, 2023, at the young age of 63.

As usual, Colleen’s opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the OB Rag.

By Colleen O’Connor

Odds are against either Biden or Trump being sworn in as President in January 2025. Why?

Already, a majority of voters do not want either Trump or Biden in a 2024 redo.

Put bluntly, Americans want someone, almost anyone, else. The reality is omnipresent.

A notice is attached to the Ocean Beach Pier gate from the City of San Diego’s Development Services Department – and it appears to end the “argument” over the future of the iconic structure — it’s a notice of the “historic designation, demolition and replacement of the Ocean Beach Pier ….”

The date of the notice is February 6, 2024.

Here is a close-up of the text:

Trump Echos Nixon’s ‘If the President Does It, It’s Legal By Definition’

On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, Donald Trump’s lawyer argued a preposterous and frightening legal point in front of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel: the president could order the assassination of a political rival and get away with it as long as he wasn’t impeached.

Before the three justice panel — incidentally, all women — Trump’s attorney John Sauer was asked if the president would be persecuted if he ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival. Sauer’s response made history — as it was the first time such an argument had ever been made inside a high level American court.

By Paul Krueger

Given Mayor Todd Gloria’s current bid for re-election, his 2024 State of the City address was more notable for what he omitted than for what he discussed. These omissions raise doubts about the mayor’s willingness — or ability — to deliver on past promises, and if he understands that voters do have memories.

Hopefully, his election opponents and the media will remind the mayor of his previous commitment to these issues,

As the war between Israel and Hamas hits the 100th day, it has come time for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The historical irony is that the calls for a cease-fire and claims of genocide coincide with a drastic expansion of the conflict by our own country.

The numbers from Gaza are horrendous.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, there the more than 24,000 killed —with more than 23,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank and 1,200 deaths in Israel.

Here’s the latest about the Ocean Beach Pier from the City of San Diego — dated Jan. 10, 2024.

With high surf and king tides in the forecast, the City of San Diego is asking that residents and visitors looking to catch a glimpse of the weather event take extra caution when near the damaged Ocean Beach Pier. In late December 2023, the combination of high surf and king tides caused significant damage to the pier, which is beyond its useful life. It lost one pile, a portion of a pile cap and large sections of railing.