OB Rag

Ocean Beach Businesses Suffer Raft of Burglaries

Up to half a dozen OB businesses have suffered break-ins and burglaries of late. California Wild Ales, at the corner of Newport Ave and Cable, has had 4 burglaries or break-ins since they opened about 18 months ago, and the owners are asking for help from the community. The Joint and Blondstone also were victimized, as were others.

Paul Bolton Hospitalized

We are saddened to have to report that Paul Bolton — former co-owner of the well-known Electric Chair — is being hospitalized. He suffered a heart attack Dec. 19. Well wishes and prayers are being sent to Lynne Bolton and their family.

By Jack Hamlin / December 25, 2012

It is Christmas, 2012, and I sit in the sunlight of the early morning and welcome the day. For many years I have been alone on Christmas morning; my children, parents, sister and I celebrate Christmas on its eve. My children spend the day with her mother and later in the day, my parents, sister and I have dinner at my cousin’s home. As a result, the gift I receive Christmas morning is time. Time to sit and reflect, time to meditate, time to just be.

As a Catholic Christian of the Franciscan brand, and a student of Buddhism and the Tao, I spend much of my time thinking about the concept of compassion;

Here is some OB nostalgia. December 2012 — one decade ago exactly – in Ocean Beach. What was going on? What was happening back then? Here’s a look:

OB Planning Board Calls for Immediate Moratorium on City Granting Variances to West Point Loma Block, Dec. 11, 2012

Old Town, a Photo Survey, Dec. 12, 2012

Point Loma High Christmas Tree Vandalized, Dec. 12, 2012

Gay Student Group Denied Charter at Point Loma Nazarene University, Dec. 13, 2012

SDFD and SDPD responded to a House Fire on Cape May Ave in Ocean Beach. Engine 15 was just 1 minute away doing their daily exercise on the beach.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol voted today, Monday, Dec. 19, to send to Justice Department prosecutors a recommendation that the former president Trump be charged with four crimes:

By Gary Wonacott

In 2018, a a few days before there was to be a vote on then Mayor Faulconer’s proposed short-term rental regulations, I met with then Councilmember Chris Ward.  In the meeting, I expressed concerns about the mayor’s proposed approach resulting in a huge wave of STRs in Mission Beach, but Councilmember Ward said that he was more concerned that there may not be a sufficient number of applications to pay for enforcement, and without enforcement, the program was doomed.

And here we are again. After being assured by Councilmember Jen Campbell and her staff going back to the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU), we find that once again Councilmember Ward’s prediction has come true.  There are too few applications to ensure that the program can fund a strong enforcement plan.

Let’s Hear It for the Team

By Joni Halpern

There is a little team of five of us — two in San Diego, one in Palm Springs, and two in Washington State – who work hard all year long to keep a roof over the heads of one small local family headed by a single, disabled parent.  It’s a struggle, but our team has triumphed over homelessness that has threatened this low-income family for many years.

Occasionally over the years, our efforts have faltered, as in this year when rents have climbed so high, and everyone’s costs have  increased so much that our treasury for assistance has been rendered insufficient — temporarily at least.

With our friend now residing for a short time with relatives while she tries to find another place,

The question has to be asked: given the unexpectedly low numbers of short-term rental applications the city has received, is San Diego’s much-vaunted short-term rental program on the verge of collapse?

We now know that from today’s U-T piece by Lori Weisberg,

“In all, the city received 3,110 whole-home vacation rental applications from throughout the city, excluding Mission Beach, said San Diego Director of Communications Rachel Laing. For whole-home rentals in just Mission Beach, the application submittals totaled 1,291, she said.”

The annual Christmas Bird Count headed up by the San Diego chapter of the National Audubon Society will mobilize a team of nearly 150 volunteers to count every bird they can within a designated area for the annual Christmas Bird Count.

It all happens on Saturday, December 17, and the Society is doing this to document bird species which help track the response of birds to a changing planet.

Last year, San Diego’s count recorded 211 species and helped California to lead the US

by Ernie McCray

Had so much fun
the other day
with my offspring
at a nice café,
with one brief
moment
when I had to
wipe a couple
of tears away,
as I shared a story
about one of my two
children who passed away

The first arrest has been made in the November 18 assault and battery of an OB man on Newport Avenue.

Dajour Hardaway, 24, was arrested by Murrieta Police on just after 10 p.m. on Sunday, December 11 on felony assault charges stemming from an incident where Woody Boethel was attacked by four people as he walked his dog in the 5000 block of Newport.

By Lori Weisberg / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 14, 2022

Restaurants in San Diego’s beach areas are facing a tough new regulation for outdoor dining that will now require them to replace any lost parking they occupy on public streets.

The new requirement, approved Wednesday by the California Coastal Commission, threatens to upend plans by beach-area restaurateurs looking to retain outdoor seating areas they had erected in the street during the pandemic, when mandated indoor dining closures sharply curtailed business.