OB Rag

Gloria Did Make an Ash of Us All

By Mat Wahlstrom

In a city where corruption is standard operating procedure, the agreement approved Tuesday by the City Council on 101 Ash Street stood out as the most blatant screwing of taxpayers in living memory.

While in comparison the Chargers ticket guarantee and the pension fiasco were done in relative secret with the consequences only apparent later, our electeds proceeded in broad daylight under howls of protest to put their own interests above those of their constituents with immediate results.

Our friends at the Point Loma Association newsletter have finally released a story about the so-called “castle tower” that can be viewed from Cañon Street in Point Loma.
One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor. One man’s castle is another’s eyesore!

We never posted the story. We researched it. We teased it. But when the property owner told us he was negotiating to complete the project and requested no publicity, we agreed.

We asked for updates us on his progress. We got none.

A couple weeks back we left him a voice message asking about the castle tower. So far, no response.

There appears to be little (if any) progress on the project in the past three years. Not that there seemed to be much progress in multiple years before.

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board’s regular monthly meeting, Thursday, July 21, was not an exciting affair, but, as always, there were a couple of interesting moments. The Cañon Street pocket park item was the best and it calls for a review of this park’s weird history.

Before moving on to the park, it is necessary to note, again, that PCPB chair Fred Kosmo, again, opened the Zoom meeting by “warning” people that they were being recorded and “warning” them to be careful what they say. Admonishing people attending a planning board meeting in such a manner has a chilling effect on some people, which is the opposite of what these groups are for. Simply “informing” people that the meeting was being recorded would be sufficient.

By Judi Curry

There is one thing about the San Diego City Council that some people do not realize. The seats on the Council are bi-partisan. Whether the “owner” of that seat is a Democrat or Republican should not make any difference. They are elected to do the best for the community.

Suffice it to say that it is well known that the incumbent is a registered Democrat – and, in my opinion – a “do nothing” Democrat. Yes, I supported her and yes, I even voted for her. When she came out ahead in the most recent primary election I knew I would have to do some investigation into her opponent, because I knew that I would not cast my vote for her again.

The lone Torrey Pine at 4633 Long Branch, saved by local residents along with the OB Rag 11 years ago, now is dead and needs to come down.

After multiple “trimmings” and the cutting off of major limbs over the years by the city, the Torrey — which dominates the block — is now brown and is dangerous to residents and houses along the street.

By Geoff Page

Language School Rowdies

The Midway area sure has its share of problems, the homeless situation being foremost. At the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group’s regular monthly meeting, Wednesday, July 20, another less publicized problem was discussed: rowdiness at the EF International Language School on Kenyon Street.

The discussion started during the Non-Agenda public comment portion of the meeting when a Midway resident, Denise Vedder, who lives near the school, described a litany of woes involving the students. Mostly, it was the regular stuff like loud noise, late noise, and vomiting in the bushes.

Vedder described various efforts she has made to have something done, with little success. She said the campus only has one security officer who exercises no control at all.

Close observers of the issue knew it would happen. In its latest move on Monday, the San Diego City Council — in an unanimous vote — placed the measure to eliminate the 30-foot height limit in the Midway on the November ballot.

If approved by voters, the measure would wipe out the height limit in a 1,324-acre area of the Midway District that includes the sports arena and nearby city-owned land, and not to the entire Midway.

This is the latest chapter in a saga which Councilmembers Jen Campbell and Chris Cate began

Will the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Ever Shut Down?

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

We thought it was a done deal. The Diablo Canyon nuke plant, the last operating one in the state, located on the central coast near San Luis Obispo, was due to permanently close, one nuclear reactor in 2024, the second the following year.

In 2016, even owner Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to the deal.

But, as the Doors predicted Back in the Daze, “The future’s uncertain and the. end is always near.”

After the resignation of the chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party in early May, a former OBcean and former director of the OB Town Council was selected to become the new acting chair — and that was Rebecca Taylor.

Rebecca had been and still is the party’s Metro West Area Vice Chair.

Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, then-chair of the County Dems, took a leave of absence as the San Diego County District Attorney and Democratic party officials reviewed potential criminal allegations against him. Here is how Taylor is described on the County Democratic Party’s

By Colleen Edwards /Dead Foot Collective

Go outside and sleep on the streets. Sleep on the side of a dumpster. Sleep, but only where nobody can see you. Sleep, but with a knife because someone will rob you. Sleep, but with your children tied around your waist because someone will try and take them. Sleep, but only after having not eaten all day—hunger pains will keep you awake.

Welcome to the houseless experience. I have been volunteering and working within the homeless system for the past six years. I’ve volunteered in shelters and on buses, I worked with homeless youth for a year and then switched to working directly with case managers, clients, and landlords.

Thursday’s January 6 Committee hearing painted a portrait of “an out-of-control, criminal, seditious, mad president.”

By John Nichols/ The Nation / July 22, 2022

The dictionary definition of treason is straightforward. It is “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance.”

History provides a catalogue of illustrations of treasonous acts. But rarely have we gotten so precise a play-by-play of “overt acts to overthrow the government” as has been provided by the hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol.

Sheldon Dorf was one of the founders of Comic-Con and he lived in Ocean Beach for many years. He passed away at the age of 76 in 2009.

“Shel” has been the subject of numerous articles both in the local media and national outlets, like the Rolling Stone .

Currently the San Diego Reader has an article entitled, “In defense of San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf – Personal POV of the original annoying comic geek,” by Jay Allen Sanford. Near the end of the article, Sanford writes: