OB Rag

By Sonali Kolhatkar / Nation of Change / February 27, 2023

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, in a recent interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow, proudly showed off his newest invention: a tablespoon of olive oil added to a cup of coffee to bring out rich, complex flavors. The conversation took place in Italy and was meant to showcase Schultz’s commitment to the innovation and quality of Starbucks coffee as he gets ready to step down as CEO of the company for the third time.

GB Magazine — a cross-border online mag — has announced their choices for the “Top 4 Best Fish Taco Restaurants” in San Diego and two of them are right here in the Peninsula: The Brigantine and City Tacos (okay City Tacos hasn’t opened quite yet but they’re coming).

Here is what they have to say:

If there is one thing San Diego is known for, it is the much-coveted fish taco.

Annual elections for local planning boards are coming up fast – the Ocean Beach board has its election on Wednesday, March 1, while the Peninsula Community Planning Board has theirs on March 16.

But, OBceans and Peninsulans need to be aware that the City is making lots of noise these days to dismantle the volunteer citizen panels that have, for some at least, been around since the mid-1970s.

OB Rag writers, particularly Geoff Page and Mat Wahlstrom, have been sounding the alarm for weeks and months. The city of San Diego is coming for the community planning groups with schemes to make volunteering on the boards so onerous that no one will want to put themselves through the process.

This morning, Tuesday, February 28, the San Diego City Council voted on the final approval of the so-called “Sustainable Development Areas” (Item 57).

Despite deeply informed presentations by Neighbors for a Better San Diego, they passed it with the same 5-4 vote as taken on the first vote of the measure and “reforms” back on February 14.

Councilmember Jennifer Campbell joined councilmembers Joe LaCava, Marni von Wilpert and Raul Campillo in opposing the raft of “reforms” to the building code, including the very controversial rule that allows taller apartment buildings and more backyard units when a property is near mass transit — with that transit line being up to one mile away and which may not even be built until 2035. The previous measurement was a half-mile.

by Ernie McCray

At a time
when we
should open our eyes and hearts and minds
to ways
we can
learn the rich stories
that make up
who we are collectively
as subsets
in the vast world
of humanity,
along comes someone like
Ron DeSantis,
the governor of Florida,

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regular monthly meeting, Thursday, February 16, was a relatively bland affair.

Elections

The upcoming planning board elections was probably the most important topic of the meeting. The election information is posted on the PCPB home page here.

There are five board positions open for this election. Anyone wishing to run for a seat must fill out an application that can be found on the Elections page titled “2023 Board Member Application.” The titling is a bit odd as it was always was called a Candidate Application in the past.

Last week, La Prensa San Diego published an amazing story of how while testifying before the City Council Land Use Committee last September, Brigette Browning, the head of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, urged the Council to pick the Midway Rising redevelopment team, but failed to disclose that her husband, political consultant Daniel Rottenstreich, was being paid over $200,000 to promote the Midway Rising project.

Browning, as reported by Arturo Castañares, Editor-at-Large of La Prensa, “also directly lobbied City officials specifically in support of the project…”

By Colleen O’Connor

My grandmother and great aunts were all farmers in North Dakota.  Most were homesteading land in their own name.  They rode horseback while brandishing rifles to shoot their dinners.  Then plucked, hacked, and ate their game and grew farm vegetables and fruits.

These pioneer women would be shocked to learn that their granddaughter/grandniece has never grown anything edible yet made a living standing in front a classroom and talking.

This is a screen grab from Big Bear’s eagle nest.

The Mt. Laguna Lodge livecam was back up and working this morning. Here’s the view at 7:45 am.

Much of the snow around Julian has melted.

A tent is a tent, but for many it’s the safest, most private space someone may have while experiencing homelessness.

By Amy Denhart / SD Union-Tribune Op-Ed / Feb. 21, 2023

Imagine having everything you own taken from you at a moment’s notice and being forced to scramble to find a place to sleep night after night, week after week.

More and more of our unsheltered neighbors are subjected to this life as homelessness increases and housing costs skyrocket across San Diego. Our officials respond by ordering homeless residents to take down tents during daylight hours, a misguided policy intended to prevent encampments from forming.

Here are photos of the current conditions of San Diego’s “Million-Dollar Sidewalk” the city installed against everyone’s advice back in pre-pandemic days. They were taken by Geoff Page.

The OB Rag and writer Geoff Page covered this issue extensively, and Page was highly critical of its design. And yes, it is or was ADA compliant and did cost the city $1.1 million dollars.

Page warned us and the city that Nature and the sand would make short shift of all that concrete. And there wouldn’t be anybody to clean it up. The OB Planning Board opposed it and even went against the city on an appeal back in December 2019.