OB Rag

By Colleen O’Connor

Historically speaking, whenever the world is about to spin off its axis, and “storm clouds are gathering,” a genuine leader springs up to “LEAD” their country. Not to rape, plunder, pillage, mock, or abuse their country, but to lead.

Think, Zelensky in Ukraine, Gandhi in India, Walesa in Poland, FDR in the USA, and Churchill in the U.K.

What do they have in common? Infinite courage. Drive. And a calling. Or as former First Lady, Rosalynn Carter offered: “A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

Andrea Schlageter, the chair of the OB Planning Board, has just been selected to lead the influential Community Planners Committee, a group that represents San Diego’s four dozen neighborhood planning groups at City Hall.

At 30, Schlageter is the youngest person ever to lead the CPC, the first woman this century to have the post and only the second renter. The chair of the CPC has been held almost exclusively this century by middle-aged white men who are homeowners from affluent neighborhoods. She’s also a local, having graduated from Point Loma High School in 2009.

In a now-viral video posted to Tiktok, two sea lions can be seen taking on a large crowd of La Jolla Cove visitors who were getting a little too close for comfort to the animal locals.

Charlianne Yeyna, a Riverside County resident visiting San Diego for the weekend, said she decided to pick up her phone and start recording after noticing a woman attempting to take a picture of one of the sleeping sea lions. The sea lion woke up mid-picture and began to chase the woman in the direction of the large crowd on the beach, Yeyna said.

People at least 18 and avid swimmers can jump off the Ocean Beach – San Diego Pier today, Monday, July 11 – after paying $150, which goes to a good cause.

From 8 am to 3 pm, people can jump 20 to 30 feet into the water off the pier, which was fully reopened to the public on Friday for the first time since 2019. Proceeds from the plunges will go to help raise funds for the Prevent Drowning Foundation

Reporter Rob Vardon at the Pt Loma – OB Monthly, published by the U-T, has some good news for OB and its new library. Vardon reported on July 7 that the OB Library expansion and renovation is just a step closer because of the $4.5 million in the state’s new budget for it.

The library’s plans are estimated to cost $8.5 million.

Plus there’s a $4 million request for federal funding Rep. Scott Peters (D-La Jolla) submitted to the House Appropriations Committee at the end of April. Vardon reports that the Appropriations Committee approved the project last week.

Ocean Beach’s Dog Beach was the top site of trash removal during this year’s Surfrider “Morning After” clean-up — compared to all other sites in the annual ritual on July. 735 pounds were removed from OB Dog Beach.

The second site with the most trash was Fiesta Island with 450 pounds. The OB Pier clean-up found 143 pounds.

By Geoff Page

The Rag found out the pier is open. Today. Friday, July 8.

At 10:13 this morning, the city informed the OB Pier Replacement Task Force that all repairs are complete and the that City has opened the whole Pier to the public today.

Here are the board members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, with bios and pics (and order) as displayed on the board’s website.

Anne Gorsuch’s brief, troubled tenure as EPA administrator had to have influenced the outlook of her then impressionable 16-year-old son.

By David Helvarg / Common Dreams / July 7, 2022

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court, in its latest rollback of precedent and law voted 6-3 to strip the EPA of its ability—under the Clean Air—to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants during a global heat wave and expanding climate emergency. While Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch,

Newer, better UV-blocking agents have been in use in other countries for years. Why can’t we have them here?

By Amanda Mull / The Atlantic / July 2022

At 36, I am just old enough to remember when sunscreen wasn’t a big deal. My mom, despite being among the palest people alive, does not remember bringing it on our earliest vacations, or hearing any mention of sun protection by our pediatrician. …

The preponderance of babies in rashguards and bucket hats that you now see at the beach shows how much has changed, and how quickly.

By Joseph Winters / Grist- Reader Supported News / July 5, 2022

California lawmakers declared a momentous victory against plastic pollution on Thursday when Governor Gavin Newsom approved a far-reaching bill to reduce plastic production, signing it into law just hours before a looming deadline.

The Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act, widely considered the “strongest” plastic reduction policy in the nation, requires a 25 percent reduction of single-use plastic packaging and foodware — both by weight and by the number of items — within the next 10 years. The bill zoomed through the California Legislature this week, passing the state Assembly by 66 to 1 on Wednesday evening before clearing the Senate without opposition on Thursday morning.