OB Rag

By Barry Hager – Mission Hills Heritage/ SOHO May-June 2023

For the last 110 years, the Craftsman bungalow now affectionately known as the “Red Bungalow” or the “Red House,” has graced the northeast corner of Fort Stockton Drive and Goldfinch Street near the eastern entrance to the Mission Hills neighborhood.

The bungalow at 850 Fort Stockton Drive was built in 1912 for Perry and Olive Griswold, whose family lived there for more than 20 years. The Red Bungalow is unusual in that it was originally built as a duplex with two full-size porches, one facing Fort Stockton and the other facing Goldfinch.

By Jeff McDonald / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 7, 2023

Last month, La Mesa Vice Mayor Colin Parent signed a public disclosure acknowledging he solicited a $5,500 donation from a major developer to Circulate San Diego, the charity for which he serves as chief executive officer.

It was the 68th time in the last five years that Parent reported seeking cash contributions to his employer …. Since April 2018, the La Mesa Democrat has disclosed almost $700,000 in what are called behested payments —

Local San Diego TV media politics might soften up a bit.

The most right-wing news station in San Diego, KUSI, will be bought by media conglomerate Nexstar Media Group, the owner of “The CW.” And KUSI may turn into the CW channel for the area. Or may be merged with Fox5, another TV station here owned by Nexstar. Or maybe both. The purchase of KUSI was for $35 million.

Barry Bahrami, the man whose livestream caught two Navy ships nearly colliding in the San Diego Bay has been ordered to take the cameras down.

It was Bahrami’s video that showed the near collision of two Navy ships at the San Diego Bay back in November 2022, an incident commonly referred to as “Warship Chicken” which now stands at the center of a new controversy. The Navy Criminal Investigative Service says the camera’s livestream shows military activity in the area, but Bahrami calls, “bologna,” and that he has the right to film.

Is this guy an artist … or a vandal? Or a graffitist?

The individual was seen down at the cliffs between Del Monte Ave. and Narragansett Ave.

Hundreds of San Diego residents rallied across a wide swath of  the city on Saturday, May 6, to protest Mayor Gloria and the city’s housing policies, as well as Senate Bill 10 (SB-10).

From University City to Hillcrest, from Mission Hills to the College area, from Clairemont to North Park and in Normal Heights, people stood on street corners at major intersections holding signs that decried the direction Gloria and the City Council were taking their neighborhoods. Councilmembers Steven Whitburn and Kent Lee were also targeted for supporting Gloria’s policies.

It’s a conservative estimate that 600 people took part in the 7 different rallies. Two small counter-demonstrations were also held.

By Geoff Page

Most people would agree that weeds growing in pavement cracks are a pretty good indication that a street needs work. Weeds. That is what Bacon Street looks like today, has for some time, and will continue to look that way for the foreseeable future..

By Frank Gormlie

For at least an entire generation of Americans, the day May 4, 1970, will always be associated with the shootings of unarmed students by National Guardsmen on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Four students were killed – two had nothing to do with the protests, one was an ROTC cadet – and nine others were wounded, including one permanently paralyzed. The shootings will be eternally remembered as a grim stain upon US history.

By Katie Hyson / KPBS / April 25, 2023

Nearly everyone passing through Chicano Park calls out to the park’s cofounder Josephine Talamantez, who squeezes them tight and asks after their families. Highway pillars surround them, covered in colorful murals. From the time of Spanish conquistadors to the present, they depict a single message of Chicano resilience and self-determination: “Aquí estamos y no nos vamos.” “We’re here, and we’re not leaving.”

The space was born from this refusal.

By Benji Jones / Vox / May 3, 2023

A few miles west of San Diego is a stretch of ocean that’s rather unremarkable from the surface. The water is cold and blue. There’s some green seaweed peeking out.

Sink below the waves, however, and a whole other realm appears. Under the sea here, near Point Loma, is a forest as beautiful as any other. It’s made not of trees but of strands of giant kelp, a species of algae that can grow taller than a 10-story building. Tethered to the seafloor and buoyed by air-filled chambers, the kelp strands undulate with the current,

From Protest Organizers

The May 6th “Citywide Protest Against the City of San Diego’s Reckless Housing Initiatives” will draw hundreds and potentially thousands of residents from 16 communities across the city, kicking off at 10:00 a.m. in University City, which alone is expecting around 300-400 people. (Go here for the 6-neighborhood rally schedule.)

“Our city officials have been rolling out one high-density housing initiative after another, without regard to the supporting infrastructure that would be needed,…”

During a 90-minute STRO Zoom community briefing on April 27 by the City’s Development Services Department Code Enforcement Division on their plans to enforce regulations of the City’s new Short-Term Residential Ordinance which took effect May 1, not all went well.

Also, not all is going well with Mission Beach short-term rental hosts, as it turns out over 50 may have lied on their license applications (see below).