OB Rag

Surfrider Summons Ocean Lovers to Paddle Around Ocean Beach Pier for the 30th Year

Event offers a mass display of solidarity for the protection of our coastline.

Ocean lovers and beach enthusiasts from throughout San Diego County can make a statement – wet or dry –  in support of clean water at Surfrider Foundation San Diego County’s 30th annual Paddle for Clean Water, starting at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2 at the Ocean Beach Pier.

Peninsula News from PLA

The waterway beside NTC Park is ready to transfer from the Navy to the City. Finally.

We checked our archives and found a story about the process in our newsletter on January 11, 2018. Here is a direct link to that story, which we thought would be the first of many about this inviting inlet. But there’s been little news until now. The waterway is included with the land transfer from the Federal Government following their 1993 closure of Naval Training Center San Diego.

The ad hoc group of local residents who formed recently to campaign for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 30 foot height limit, has just launched their website.

It’s at keepthecoast30.org and is in its beginning stages of having material and news. One of their slogans is:

Vote No on Measure C, the Repeal of the 1972 Citizens’ Initiative

Here is its introduction:

A spaceship-themed Tiki bar opened in May at Killowatt Brewing’s taproom in Oceanside.

The “Space Pad,” a small hidden speakeasy, was inspired by the late Ocean Beach artist Clinton Cary, better known as the “Spaceman of OB,” who died in 1993.

Pam Kragen, at the SD Union-Tribune, recently wrote about the thematic connection between the bar and Spaceman:

In 1957, Cary began writing and painting about his personal encounters with aliens from a planet he called Rillispore.

In fact, Spaceman talked openly to anyone who would listen about Rillispore. And those who knew him were given “space numbers” which would save them once the aliens landed. Mine was XIB/20 (I think). (I have 3 of his paintings – one of which is a blacklight marvel.)

Join the Ocean Beach Town Council at their September public meeting — Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7pm.

The meeting will be LIVE at Water’s Edge Church (1984 Sunset Cliff’s Blvd) AND broadcasting/interactive on Facebook/Zoom.

CA State Assemblymember Chris Ward will be in attendance and speak to the group.

From City of San Diego:

Starting on Monday, Oct. 3, at noon, hosts can apply for a short-term residential occupancy (STRO) license to operate a dwelling unit in the City of San Diego for short-term rentals. The STRO license will be required starting on May 1, 2023.

The Point Loma – OB Democratic Club held a panel discussion on the 30-foot height limit over the weekend, and after a “lively discussion” club members voted unanimously to: “Support championing the 50th anniversary of this historic landmark – by voting No on measure C.”

Panelists Mandy Havlik, Geoff Page, and Linda Lukacs led the discussion during the Zoom meeting, and pretty much all agreed on the bottomline to save the height restriction in building.

There’s at least 3 Ocean Beach restaurants currently up for sale. That seems like an incredibly high number of eateries on the market for a small neighborhood like OB.

But then you realize, they all have liquor licenses that are also part of the deal. All of them.

What does it all mean? It appears that a significant number of restaurants and liquor licenses are about to trade hands — and with no public input, apparently. One of them is a secret as the establishment is not being disclosed except to potential buyers.

By John McNab / OpEd San Diego Union-Tribune / Sept. 26, 2022

On Nov. 8, San Diego voters will be asked to lift the 30-foot building height limit in the Midway District and clear the way for a massive redevelopment of the city’s 48-acre sports arena property.

A similar ballot measure was approved in 2020 only to be thrown out after a legal challenge that argued the city had failed to adequately assess the measure’s environmental impacts. Here are two views on the new effort.

by Ernie McCray

This democracy
of ours
is seen
as an experiment,
one where every citizen,
more or less possesses
the right to life and liberty
in a pursuit for happiness.
But one would be negligent
not mentioning that this experiment
has lacked a hypothesis
by which
America could test
probabilities for success,
this neglect
leaving some people,
from the beginning,
behind the rest

By Judi Curry

Yes, I am old.  Very old.  The chances that I will ever need an abortion in this lifetime are almost nil.  But I have daughters, and granddaughters, and great-granddaughters that may, some day, find they are in a predicament where an abortion is the answer to their problem.

And that is not between that female and her Congressman; her Supreme Court Justice; her representative.  No! That decision should be between her and her physician.

I remember, as a young child, maybe 4-5 years old, overhearing my parents talk about “Patsy” – the young teenager next door that “died because of a hanger abortion.”

This Could Be a Sea Change for Plastic Pollution

By Mario Aguilera / UC San Diego Today / September 22, 2022 

Plastics, now ubiquitous in the modern world, have become a rising threat to human and environmental health. Around the planet, evidence of plastic pollution stretches from grocery bags in the deep sea to microplastics in our food supplies and even in our blood.

Seeking solutions to counteract the rise in plastic trash, scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed new biodegradable materials that are designed to replace conventionally used plastic.