OB Rag

By Donna Frye / Special to the OB Rag

When I read the campaign mailer for Measure C that proposes to eliminate the 30-foot height limit in the Midway-Pacific Highway area of the Coastal Zone, I kept hearing the words from Ben Sidran’s “Brand New Music, Same Old Song.”

Even though the ballot measure may be new, the smoke being blown is from the same old smelly pipe.

Proponents claim it will create affordable housing, help the homeless and veterans, add 20 acres of public parkland and millions in funding for San Diego schools to name but a few of the alleged benefits. Unfortunately,  Measure C is height exemption measure and delivers none of the things listed above.

It feels a lot like another ballot measure from many years ago that also proposed eliminating the voter-approved height limit in a portion of the Coastal Zone.

This list of ballot recommendations mainly encompasses races within the City of San Diego, a few County-wide but does not include most of the school board races nor all the state-wide candidates or measures. These recommendations were compiled after studying a number of other progressive and Democratic Party sources.

OB Rag Recommendations:

City of San Diego

San Diego City Council

District Two –  NO RECOMMENDATION
District Four –  Monica Montgomery-Stepp
District Six –  Tommy Hough
District Eight – Vivian Moreno

City Of San Diego Ballot Measures

Measure B:  YES
Measure C:  NO
Measure D: YES
Measure H: YES

Here are a series of screenshots from the October newsletter of OB Luminosity – the group that plans to bring an alternative to the traditional, but now outdated, annual display of fireworks at the OB Pier on July 4th.

From OB Luminosity

Come join neighbors, other residents of the beaches and across San Diego to celebrate the wonders of the half-century old 30-foot height limit and to oppose Measure C on November’s ballot. A rally and press conference will be held in PB on Thursday, October 20 at 11 am.

Measure C is the greatest threat to the height limit in 50 years. If passed, it would wipe out the height limit in the Midway planning area — a coastal wetlands area.

Winners Will Receive $100 – Deadline Is Monday, Oct. 31

The group Keep the Coast 30 is conducting a photo contest, starting today, Monday, Oct. 17, of the “Best” and the “Worst” views of San Diego’s coastal access.

The contest will run for two weeks and ends Monday, October 31. There are only two categories and the winner of each will be awarded $100.

By Mat Wahlstrom / Times of San Diego / October 15, 2022

It’s depressing because predictable that the attempted repeal of the 1972 citizens’ initiative in 2020, which was invalidated by the courts last year, was once again put on the ballot this November as Measure C.

Measure C is a verbatim repeat of the same ballot wording used in 2020, justified by the same flawed environmental review process, even as that decision is still being appealed by the city.

Measure C again proposes removing the Midway-Pacific Highway planning area from the 30-foot Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, allowing otherwise unlimited heights for all new buildings

City agrees to boost accuracy, but rejects proposal to join other big cities with 3-1-1 systems

A Public Service Announcement

By David Garrick, Elizabeth Marie Himchak / San Diego Union-Tribune / Oct. 12, 2022

A new audit says San Diego must improve the accuracy and clarity of its Get it Done! tipster app to reverse a recent dip in customer satisfaction with the app, which allows people to conveniently report potholes, graffiti and other problems.

The six-year-old app often gives customers inaccurate, incomplete or confusing information about when the problem they reported will be solved and w

by Ernie McCray

Black Lives Matter
recently asked
what Black joy means to me.
Well, Black joy just happens to be
in my DNA.
Passed along
through the ages
from Africa
as a way for us
in the diaspora,
to survive in a world
that would just as soon
do without us,

From Peninsula Newsletter of Pt Loma Association

One of the gems of Shelter Island is the Pearl of the Pacific Park. It’s classy, inviting, calming – and if you’re walking the full loop, arriving here means you’re half-way back to where you began.

By Olivia Rosane / Nation of Change / Oct. 13, 2022

Much of the movement to reduce ocean plastic pollution has focused on the single-use plastic bags used to cart purchases away from the supermarket.

But there’s another type of plastic bag that is ubiquitous in grocery stores across the country: the handleless plastic bags typically on offer by the produce or meat sections for shoppers to tear off and use to separate their apples or cold cuts from the rest of their haul.

In California grocery stores, however, these other plastic bags will soon be a thing of the past. The state became the first in the nation to ban them in grocery stores

Interested and concerned residents in San Diego County can learn about the public health crisis at the border during the community bike and van tour co-hosted by the Surfrider Foundation and the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (TRNERR), starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.

This tour, which starts and ends at the entrance to Border Field State Park (1250 Monument Road) is the last in a month-long series of education and stewardship events that are part of the 13th annual Tijuana River Action Month, organized by the Tijuana River Action Network.

By Geoff Page

The proponents of removing the 30-foot height limit in the Midway area – Measure C on the November ballot – are deliberately misleading San Diegans. That is putting it politely. The proponents are telling the public that redevelopment of the Midway area is doomed unless the height limit is removed.

That is completely untrue, evidenced by the previous redevelopment proposals the city received in 2020. The proposing firms each submitted two proposals, one showing development at the current 30-foot height limit and the other showing development if the height limit was removed.

Ta da. Proof positive development is possible with the 30-foot height limit.