OB Rag

Well-known OBcean Mike James is at it again. The man who once convinced the OB Merchants Association back in the 1980s to bring back fireworks on July 4th at the pier, is now moving on finding alternatives to the annual event.

Mike – and others – have organized a community meeting for this Thursday, August 25 at the Newbreak Church on Ebers. To look at options for Ocean Beach, recognizing that the beloved pier can no longer stage fireworks.

A steering committed has been formed, currently headed by Mike James and Tricia Tellier Gaut.

Today, August 22, Mayor Todd Gloria announced his choice for the redevelopment of the Midway District: Midway Rising. It is one of three finalists to create a “do-over” for the Sports Arena area.

It is only a “recommendation,” however and Gloria’s choice– on September 8– will go before the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee in a special meeting. Then it’s slated to go before the full council on September 13.

The Midway Rising plan features:

• 4,250 new homes — 2,000 affordable, 250 middle-income, and 2,000 market rate;
• A 450,000-square-foot arena with capacity for 14,500 to 16,500 people;
• 200-room hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail space;
• More than 11 acres of park and open space along with a 9.4-acre public plaza.

In troubling news for those opposed to the new ballot measure that would lift the 30-foot height limit in the Midway, the group that originally went to court and successfully blocked the former measure, has now aligned itself with the most Trumpian, right-wing politician in San Diego County: Carl DeMaio.

The group, Save Our Access, purports to be an environmental organization. It filed the original lawsuit that forced Measure E, the former effort to eliminate the height limit in the Midway, to court for a favorable ruling. SOA argued — and the judge agreed — the city hadn’t prepared adequate environmental reviews on the effects of tall buildings. Now, with a new review in its pocket, the San Diego City Council — in an unanimous vote – in mid-July of this year,  placed the measure to eliminate the 30-foot height limit in the Midway back on the upcoming November ballot.

Our Third Summer Appeal for Donations During the Pandemic

Keep the Press Local and Free and Healthy

Today begins the OB Rag‘s third Pandemic Annual Summer Fundraiser!

We hold one fundraiser a year these days, usually in August. This week our goal is to reach $2,000 in donations and contributions from our readers and supporters. While we do provide local OB and Point Loma news and a discussion platform that is unrivaled among local news websites, we also do stand for something.

Go fly the Ocean Beach Airways, says Charles Landon. This is his video.

Stay Informed!
Community Conversation
Sports Arena Redevelopment Finalists
6-8pm – Wednesday August 24
Liberty Station Conference Center
2600 Laning Road 

Part 1 in an intermittent series on the Growing Problem with Physician Burnout

By Joni Halpern

Drive along any major freeway in San Diego County, and you will come upon towering structures of glass and steel advertised as being among the nation’s best medical facilities, each one part of a different health care system whose doctors, nurses and other health care workers are portrayed as happily delivering optimum medical care to all of us.

But what if the public could peer through the reflective glass of these health care temples and see what has really happened over the past several years to doctors and other health care workers who toil on our behalf?  What if we discovered that our doctors were exhausted by growing workloads, inadequate support, and a losing battle with work-life balance? 

Every now and then we step back and gaze at our seaside village through the lens of time.

Today, we view what was happening in Ocean Beach one decade ago in August of 2012. Here are some of the stories from the pages of the OB Rag that month.

OB Planning Board Takes on Variances

August 1, 2012 The Planning Board was taking on the issue of the “Variance Dilemma.” After some discussion, the Board unanimously agreed to request an immediate moratorium on variances in the RM 2-4 zone,

The third annual World Surfing Championships came to sleepy Ocean Beach in the late summer of 1966. And Eric DuVall, head of the OB Historical Society, has just compiled a wonderful remembrance of that event and those early days of surfing in OB and Southern California.

Here are some quotes from DuVall’s latest historical piece in the Pt Loma – Ocean Beach Monthly:

A Reality Check

Supporters of the elimination of the 30-foot height limit consistently point to the passage of Measure E in 2020 with 57% of San Diego voters supporting it. The same measure is again heading to the ballot this November after the original vote was invalidated by a judge, ruling the city needed to fulfill the required environmental impact study.

Wow, 57% — that’s a huge majority. The people have spoken! The will of the people demands that the height limit should be eliminated in the Midway area / Sports Arena zone. And they will speak again come the fall.

But wait.

Andrea Schlageter, Chair of San Diego’s volunteer Community Planners Committee, has alerted her fellow planners of Mayor Todd Gloria’s plan to issue a second housing “package.”

In a brief email to planners (reprinted here with her permission) Schlageter states, “… there is something I would like everyone to keep at top of mind. Early next year the Mayor is planning on pursuing a second housing action package. As of right now there are no firm policies, but there are goals and rough ideas which you can review …” (Andrea provided a link to Gloria’s city website).

Schlageter ended:

By Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times / Aug. 16, 2022

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant lies on the coast near San Luis Obispo within 20 miles of four active earthquake faults.

The faults were apparently unknown to the plant’s owner, Pacific Gas & Electric, which certified during the construction period that no such faults existed within that distance. Unit 2 was built in accordance with flawed blueprints.

There have been efforts to close the plant for years, gaining intensity as PG&E’s atrocious safety record came to light.