OB Rag

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.

Helen Fricker is a geophysicist at UC San Diego who studies ice sheets such as the ones in Greenland and Antarctica. Back in August, she stated:

“The amount by which the ice is being added to the ocean is increasing. And we know that from satellite monitoring as well. What we are seeing is we’re actually tracking the high end of the worst case scenario of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) projections.”

Residents of San Diego will see the effects of rising sea levels in their lifetimes, as coastal flooding becomes more frequent and longer in duration, she said. Fricker pointed out that some low-lying areas will soon be underwater, specifically the area around San Diego’s Sports Arena, known as the Midway District.

In a report on their Politifest event held last weekend, the Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis highlighted an apparent flip by County Assessor candidate Barbara Bry on the 30-foot height limit in the Midway District.

Bry supports height limit exemption…: When she ran for mayor, Bry was an outspoken opponent, in 2020, of Measure E, which would have allowed developers to construct buildings higher than 30 feet in the Midway neighborhood.

In the midst of a fentanyl epidemic in San Diego, an Ocean Beach man was sentenced recently to 150 months – or 12 1/2 years – for selling fentanyl to another Ocean Beach man who died of an overdose in 2020.

Anthony Souza, 47, was sentenced to federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel for causing the death of Chad Stevens, 28, who worked for two years at the Wonderland Ocean Pub, a well-known OB restaurant.

Join the OB Town Council and Point Loma Association in their:

Virtual Voter Information Forum – October 17 @ 6:30PM

On Tuesday, October 11, the San Diego City Council approved an $8 million contract to start working with a consulting firm to replace the Ocean Beach Pier.

Moffat & Nichol will now begin the process of planning for a brand new pier with the city’s engineering team. The firm was approved back on September 14 by the council’s transportation and infrastructure committee for additional services needed for the OB Pier improvement project.

The consultation company expect to begin an evaluation of the pier this year and to have construction begin on the new pier by 2026.

Numerous groups oppose Measure C on November’s ballot, not only Keep the Coast30. Here’s a recent Op-Ed in the Presidio Sentinel from the group “Save San Diego’s Character”:

Save San Diego’s Character, an organization created in response to the U.S. Navy’s proposal to redevelop the NAVWAR/SPAWAR site, opposes San Diego County Measure C. This Measure would remove the 30-foot height limit on construction in the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan area. It would affect approximately 1,300 acres stretching from Interstate 8 south along Interstate 5 to the San Diego International Airport currently included in the Coastal Zone of the City of San Diego.

From Global Security

According to H.R. Haldeman, the President’s Assistant, Nixon intentionally planned to signal to Moscow and Hanoi that he was a “madman” capable of any irrational deed, up to and including using nuclear weapons, to end the stalemate at the negotiating table and bring about an end to the war.

The so-called “madman theory” was first suggested in Haldeman’s memoirs, published in 1978.

Nuclear Shutdown News October 2022

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

At this writing in early October, much of Florida is still devastated by Hurricane Ian. Little reporting mentions the role of global warming in this disaster. Less refers to the threat of the state’s nuclear power plants.

The Turkey Point’s two reactors started up in the early 1970s, making them a half century old now. Located in the greater Miami area, they represent another catastrophic threat to Floridians. Nuclear reactors are designed to run only 40 years. But as many US nuke plants approach or surpass that age, their owners have been applying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend their operating lives for 20 years or more.

By Colleen O’Connor

Do you miss the civility of political conversation? Or the green of the forests? Or even just the rain?

Here are some photos to cheer you up. An actual Rain Forest in the Pacific Northwest. Olympic National Park and Forest, to be exact.

By Judi Curry

In today’s world there is much going on that does not cause laughter. Well, of course, there are many different kinds of laughter, some of which is fun, some of which is nasty, some of which is sarcastic, etc.

I might have a little bit of laughter for YOU – (certainly not for me.) Here is my story.

Several years ago I wrote an article for the OB Rag about the new residents of Ocean Beach/ Pt. Loma.  Namely the rats were moving in. And I don’t mean the two legged kind – I mean the true, four-legged rats.  At times one could stand on Sunset Cliffs Blvd and watch the rats run across the street.  That was then.  Let me get you current. Those damn rats found that Sunset Cliffs and its environs were a perfect place to raise their families,