OB Rag

It seems we’ve been hearing for months now that San Diego will move on SeaWorld for not paying back rent and penalties of over $12 million it owes the city. And now we’re told that if SeaWorld missed its midnight deadline, the city will sue for breach of contract. Here’s the latest by U-T reporter Jennifer van Grove in Wednesday’s edition.

By Jennifer van Grove / SDU-T / Sept. 6, 2023

The city of San Diego will Thursday move forward with a breach-of-contract lawsuit against SeaWorld San Diego if the theme park fails to meet a midnight deadline to pay $12.2 million in outstanding rent and penalties, the city attorney’s office said Wednesday.

by Ernie McCray

We seem to be a country
that looks at its most pressing
social and political problems
with mystified eyes
and shoulder shrugs
that say
“Oh well.”
Like we dismiss
the nation’s propensity
for mass murders
that break hearts in two
with a prayer or two
and get right back
to whatever it is we do.

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / Sept. 6, 2023

Ten years after Greenpeace saw one of its ships seized by Russia, the same 166-foot icebreaker is docked at San Diego’s Broadway Pier.

The mission of the Arctic Sunrise is less dangerous this time.

Colleen O’Connor’s views are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the OB Rag.

By Colleen O’Connor

In December of last year, I posted a prediction: “Neither Biden nor Trump will be elected the U.S. President in 2024.”

I stand by those postings.  Now some very prominent politicians and strategists are beginning to agree. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said, “there’s a ‘good shot’ neither Biden nor Trump will be on the 2024 ballot.”

Add Senator, Tim Kaine (D-Va.) who declared that there is a “powerful argument” to be made that the 14th Amendment disqualifies former President Trump from even running in 2024.

Parents of students at Correia Middle School threatened a “sit-out” for Thursday morning after they were dissatisfied with the response by school officials over an alleged gun threat and allegations of sexual harassment of girl students by a group of boys, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

3 Design Alternatives for OB Pier Replacement to Be Presented at Public Workshop Sat, Sept. 9

The city of San Diego says three initial design alternatives for a planned replacement of the Ocean Beach Pier will be presented during a public workshop Saturday, Sept. 9.

Summer Moratorium on Vendors Lifted: Vendors Allowed on Newport Between Abbott and Sunset Cliffs Blvd

At tonight’s OB Planning Board meeting, the board will consider a number of drastic recommendations being made by an ad hoc sub-committee. The sub-committee was established to figure out how the Board can comply with the city’s new draconian demands and to make suggestions for changes to the Board’s rules, their bylaws.

The bylaw recommendations, to put it mildly, if implemented, would be the most radical shake-up of the Ocean Beach Planning Board since its inception in 1976.

On Sunday, Sept 3, our good friend Byron Morton visited the House of Ukraine at Balboa Park’s International Cottages for the Ukraine Festival. It was “a celebration of culture, with dance, music and food,” he told us in an email with attached photos of the festival.

House of Ukraine has its own small cottage in the heart of Balboa Park furnished and manned by members of their organization. It presents exhibits about their culture, history and traditions. All work is done by unpaid volunteers. The cottage is open on Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Roll up for Cannabis Equity

By Terrie Best

10 years ago, a party celebrating the 17-year anniversary of medical cannabis proposition 215 was held at SeedleSs in Ocean Beach.

At that gathering, hosted by the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, SDASA, our city’s current cannabis retail permitting ordinance sprouted into life.  A few years before that, city cannabis retail operators had already stopped one ordinance by way of an arguably misguided peoples’ referendum petition. By city charter, we had to wait at least a year to try again for permission to use city land to sell cannabis.