OB Rag

By Roma Chang / Hoodline – Fox5SanDiego / December 21, 2023

It’s lights out for the Ocean Beach Playhouse. The cherished San Diego theater is taking its final bow this Saturday, Dec. 23, after seven years of operation. Citing crushing rent hikes, owners Bill and Jennie Connard have to wave goodbye to their dual-concept space, which houses both OB eBikes and the intimate 50-seat stage.

In a city where gentrification is as common as the sunny days, small business owners are finding to barely keep up with the deep-pocketed retail chains. “The rent just too high for what we’re doing and way too high for a community theater,” the Connards told FOX 5 San Diego.

By Thomas Fudge / KPBS / December 15, 2023

There are still taxi drivers in San Diego despite the storm of changes to the industry brought by ride-hailing companies. You can still call a dispatcher to get a ride from drivers with the United Taxi Workers of San Diego (UTWSD). But now those taxis also have an app, just like Uber and Lyft.

“You can go to your Apple App store, your Google Play store and just search for Ride United. You’ll see ‘Ride United (Passengers)’, and just click download like with any other app,” said UC San Diego communication professor Lilly Irani.

Surfer Today / December 19, 2023

Progress and technology are often associated with quality of life and happiness, but they sure come with more or less various downsides.
Throughout the history of surfing, beach surf cameras have always been the subject of love-hate discussions and some serious attacks on private property.

By beach cams, we mean video cameras installed near beaches and surf spots seldom pointed toward the best wave peaks.

Back in the day, in the pre-Information Age (roughly before the 1950s), apart from tides, surfers knew little about what to expect from the ocean.

By Jennifer Ludden / NPR / December 15, 2023

Homelessness in America spiked last year, reaching a record high, according to an annual count that provides a snapshot of one night in January. The report, released Dec. 15 by the department of Housing and Urban development, found more than 650,000 people were living in shelters or outside in tents or cars. That’s up a whopping 12% from the year before.

To advocates, it hardly comes as a surprise.

ON Monday, December 18, the city published the “notice of preparation” for the sports arena area redevelopment — inviting the public and others to help craft what’s studied in the environmental analysis of the proposed development.

As we all know, the Midway Rising re-development team was selected in 2022 by the city council to remake the property in the Midway District. And as we all must know by now, the re-development team was headed up at the time by Brad Termini, head of housing developer Zephyr, who – along with his spouse – were the biggest contributors to Mayor Gloria’s campaign for mayor.

The mayor was the biggest fan of Midway Rising and convinced the city council to select it for one of the most massive redevelopment projects in modern San Diego history.

Point Loma Nazarene University’s inaugural class graduates 28 students.

By Paul Sisson / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 18, 2023

They came to the stage one at a time, trailing parents, siblings, spouses and significant others who took white coats from a rack, holding them up as the graduates shrugged into them, getting a feel for a new level of responsibility in the medical world. And just like that, Point Loma Nazarene University minted its first 28 physician assistants Friday,

By  Colleen O’Connor

Remember the timeless holiday poem by Dr. Suess., aka, Theodore Geisel.

The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

Familiar?  As in current political events?  Global mayhem and sadness?

By Paul Sisson / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 17, 2023

Four months into a church disciplinary process, the possibility of reinstatement looks remote for Selden “Dee” Kelley, the San Diego pastor who lost his job after writing 1,218 words that called for a broader dialogue on same-sex marriage in the Church of the Nazarene.

Kelley, who led San Diego First Church of the Nazarene for 17 years before his dismissal on Aug. 14, said last week that a regional church court denied his initial appeal on Nov. 20.

Here’s the link to the City of San Diego’s website on the OB Pier Renewal – and here is how it begins:

Ocean Beach Pier Background

The Ocean Beach (OB) Pier first opened on July 2, 1966. Conceived as a sportfishing pier, the facility enables the public to access and interact with the ocean. There is no fee for walking out onto the pier and fishing licenses are not required.

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 17, 2023

Mayor Todd Gloria’s re-election bid may have become more complex with a challenge from social justice advocate and former district attorney candidate Geneviéve Jones-Wright.

So far, the former public defender mostly has kept a low profile as a mayoral candidate, with no formal announcement speech or extensive media interviews to talk about running for the region’s most powerful local government office.

J