OB Rag

By Geoff Page

By now, most folks have probably heard about the tent camping site the city set up for the homeless. The reviews have not been favorable. The Rag decided to have a look.

The site is located at the city’s Central Operations Station, 20th and B streets. This is a long facility as can be seen in the photos. The camping site is at the far northeastern end, 1,145 feet from the front entrance. That is how far a resident would have to walk just to reach B St.

The OB Rag is searching for a few local writers from Ocean Beach or Point Loma to take on assignments from editordude. We are able to pay a small fee for articles.

Please contact editordude at obragblog@gmail.com for more information.

We’re also looking for photographers and poets who’d like to showcase their talents.

More of “A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Words”

By Colleen O’Connor

The Neighborhoods of the Traveling Sign. OB, Point Loma, Shelter Island, Mission Hills — everywhere one looks.

Ocean Beach corner vacant for years…and now a hazard…or a future High Rise.

By Brian Hofer / The Voice of San Diego / July 6, 2023

I’ve sat through a lot of chaotic city meetings, and the San Diego Privacy Advisory Board, or PAB, meeting on June 22 was no exception.

Public commenters accused law enforcement of acting in bad faith for not sharing more information about a new proposed street camera and automatic license plate reader project. Board members were visibly frustrated by the San Diego Police Department’s refusal to answer questions about the project.

From Ocean News

Blue Frontier’s newly updated Blue Movement Directory is a powerful tool that empowers ocean action worldwide. The online directory simplifies the process of finding like-minded individuals, organizations, and their activities to amplify the collective impact of the blue movement.

It links to more than 1,000 U.S. ocean and coastal organizations with user-friendly features and a geo-map based interface.

By Peter Lucas / The Intercept / July 11, 2023

On May 5, as Chancellor Pradeep Khosla began his opening remarks at the 44th University of California, San Diego Alumni Awards at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, some 60 academic worker activists took the stage carrying a cardboard sign.

They were there to present him with UC’s “Most Overpaid Worker” award; Khosla had received a $500,000 raise while, the union says, the university was simultaneously refusing to fully implement their recently ratified collective bargaining agreement.

By Lori Weisberg / SDU-T/ July 10, 2023

Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has sold The San Diego Union-Tribune to an affiliate of the MediaNews Group for an undisclosed amount, it was announced on Monday.

MediaNews Group is owned by Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that owns roughly 200 publications, including the Chicago Tribune.

By Richard Schulte / Cool San Diego Sights

At the corner of Shafter Street and Avenida de Portugal, in San Diego’s historic Little Portugal neighborhood, you’ll find this delightful street art. Four electrical boxes were painted last year by students attending Warren-Walker Middle School.

It’s with sadness that we report that Keith Finley, 60, passed away peacefully on June 18, 2023.

Keith is remembered as a very prominent, if not soft-spoken, figure in Ocean Beach back in the late 80s and early 90s. In 1987, he began publishing The Beacon — a real community newspaper for OB and Point Loma — and later sold it to a small-newspaper publishing group that still prints it under the basic same name.

Keith also owned Ocean Beach Books, a secondhand bookstore

Today, Monday, July 10 there is an OB Pier Jump fundraiser — “Jumping to Save Lives” — to support the San Diego Junior Lifeguards — the largest fundraiser of the year for the sponsor, Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego.

Jump times are

• 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and
• 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• The event is for San Diego Junior Lifeguards, parents, and the general public.

Proceeds from this event benefit the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego’s efforts to provide SDJG scholarships and free swimming lessons for underserved youth in San Diego. #obpierjump

by Ernie McCray

Sometimes when
I need to momentarily free
myself from humanity
and all its insanity,
I’ll listen to my man, Ahmad Jamal,
tickle the ivories
as only he can,
captivated
with the way|
he can finger the keys
in a tinkling fashion

OB Tenants Claim they were given illegal rent hikes and eviction notices from slumlord Michael Mills

By Roxana Popescu and Lori Weisberg / San Diego Union-Tribune / July 6, 2023

An Ocean Beach landlord who was able to get more than 100 short-term rental licenses via proxy hosts is now the subject of a lawsuit by two of his tenants.

The tenants are accusing their landlord, Michael Mills, of breaking state housing law and engaging in unfair business practices. Chief among the accusations is that Mills failed to provide a reason for the evictions, a clear violation of the law.