OB Rag

In a letter addressed to Mayor Gloria and Councilmember Campbell on November 16, the Peninsula Community Planning Board came out and endorsed the controversial Sunbreak Ranch plan for the region’s homeless.

Here is the text of the letter:

The Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) endorses Sunbreak Ranch’s innovative plan to address the homelessness crisis in our community. Sunbreak Ranch, a nonprofit organization, aligns with our community values and offers a comprehensive solution to make a lasting positive impact on the lives of unhoused individuals in the City of San Diego.

Next Tour is Sat., December 9th

I’ve known John Noble since the hey-day of the 1970s in OB. He was part of that green wave that swept through the village back in the early to mid-seventies, a wave that birthed a whole array of “self-help” alternative institutions to the establishment ones.

Now, John Noble, the owner of Coastal Sage, a sort of more-than-your-usual landscaping business at 3685 Voltaire St, has announced his environmental group for kids, -Botany for Kids, has launched a Nature Tour series at the Point Loma Native Plant Garden on the second Saturday of every month. The next tour is December 9.

By Anna Novelo / The Point – Lomabeat.com / Nov. 29, 2023

It was the start of September and I walked into Home Depot for some home essentials when I saw a jolly smiling Santa blow-up animatronic nestled right next to the Halloween decor. I stared in disbelief then proceeded to ask, “Why does it seem like every year the start of the Christmas season inches closer and closer?”

OB’s Holiday Tree for 2023 goes up at the foot of Newport Avenue, Tuesday, November 28. A short vid by Charles Landon.

A 37-year-old woman training to become a firefighting by swimming at night has gone missing from Dog Beach, her mother says, as reported by 10News. Amy D’Angelo texted her mom, Becky Obayashi, Wednesday night that she was going swimming at Dog Beach.

She took an Uber to Dog Beach with her black lab Charlie the night before Thanksgiving. The next day, Becky says police only found only Charlie and her sweatpants waiting at the shore. “He was half in the water at the shore, looking at the ocean,” Obayashi said of D’Angelo’s dog, Charlie.

ABC10News / Nov. 27, 2023

A recent study ranks San Diego to be the worst city in the U.S. when it comes to parking availability.

FINN, a car subscription service says that the city has the lowest parking score because there is limited amenities at the parking lots in the city, including charging stations for electric vehicles and wheelchair accessibility.

According to the study:

by Ben Christopher / CalMatters / November 28, 2023

In the minds of most Californians, accessory dwelling units — ADUs, short — bring to mind words like “small,” “subtle” and “cute.”

None of which describe the side-by-side ADU duplexes on E Street.

Perched at the edge of San Diego’s desirable Golden Hill neighborhood, there’s nothing dainty or diminutive about these three-story structures. “Backyard cottage” is another term used to describe accessory dwelling units, but these are out front, practically hiding the five-unit multiplex to which they are technically “accessory.”

SanDiegoVille reports that Lighthouse Ice Cream on Newport in OB was forced to close following an electrical fire on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. No one was injured but the well-known parlor suffered substantial smoke and water damage and two of the parlor’s freezers melted in the blaze.

Carol Ladiges, the owner, hopes her place will re-open in early to mid-December. Known for its hot waffle ice cream sandwich, Lighthouse Ice Cream is located at 5059 Newport Avenue, Suite #102.

Here is background on the parlor:

To help with in-water rescues and hopefully cut the time it takes lifeguards and dive teams to find a swimmer in need, the San Diego lifeguard service announced it has acquired two AquaEye scanners designed to use ultrasound and artificial intelligence technologies to point rescuers in the right direction.

The scanners, unveiled Wednesday at the lifeguard headquarters at Mission Bay, where Lt. Rick Romero, San Diego lifeguards dive team leader, compared the device to a flashlight or a thermal detector used by firefighters in that it emits a beam that can register information with the device.

On Wednesday, November 22, nearly 50 Loma Portal residents surrounded an historic lamppost in the middle of the street, linked hands and chanted, “Save our street lamps!” At one point, the protesters began moving around the street lamp. They formed up for a brief rally and a couple of people spoke.

Earlier, locals had noticed city crews taking down lampposts near Poinsettia and Lotus. Some are older than 100 years. And the call went out to gather – by phone and email and Nextdoor.

And gather they did. People like Elaine Burrell helped organize the protest. She shared her sentiment and those of her neighbors with CBS8:

The Rose Creek Native Plant Garden has some very good friends, the nonprofit Friends of Rose Creek who judiciously maintain it and support it by being its custodian.

Friends accomplish this task, in part, through hosting work parties on the second Saturday of every month.

PB social activist and environmentalist, Karin Zirk, is the founder and current executive director of Friends of Rose Creek. If you’re lucky, you’ll get on one of her conducted tours of the native plant garden where she’ll explain the origin of the garden, its purpose, and the joys – and challenges – of keeping it properly tended.