OB Rag

The California Coastal Commission is meeting today, Wednesday, July 13, and will be deciding the fate of a new development in Ocean Beach that will demolish two cottages at the very end of Cape May Avenue.

Local OBceans are understandably concerned that coastal access will be negatively impacted and understand that the area does flood.

The problem is the Commission is meeting in Ft. Bragg in Northern California – and they’re meeting today. OB residents want folks, however, to participate in the meeting by remote testimony on Permit #6-20-0375 at 5162 Cape May Ave.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

The tragedy of modern school “reform” is that it stopped education improvement. Politicians from the Democratic and Republican Parties agreed that government-run organizations were inferior to privatized ones and market forces were the path for lifting all boats.

Their economic theories led to charter schools and vouchers for private, mostly religion sponsored schools. Moguls and legislators, with no education training or knowledge decided that standards, modeled on business practices were, required. It has become a tool for privatizing public schools, controlling classrooms by politicians in capital cities, and is making learning dreary.

It is wonderful to learn of professional educators standing up to this folly and implementing practices promising to undo some of the damage.

An unidentified body was found on the rocks at Sunset Cliffs Wednesday morning, July 13.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m., lifeguards were notified about the body that was located at 1287 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

The first call came out as a rescue before it was changed to a body recovery effort. And now the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating.

The following is the text of a petition begun by San Diego folks who want to save Park Boulevard and who are demanding “better government communication and transparency:”

City of San Diego continues to make drastic changes in our neighborhoods without thinking of the impact of the whole community not just the few and always in the best interest of the developers!

San Diego’s Mayor Todd Gloria, his staff and Chief of Transportation have gone into neighborhoods like North Park, Mira Mesa, Pacific Beach, Point Loma and Rancho Penasquitos

In a post published yesterday, Monday, July 11, Geoff Page outlined the content of an anonymous ethics complaint filed on June 17, 2022 with the San Diego Ethics Commission, that named the New San Diego PAC and the man behind it, Gil Cabrera, chair of the San Diego Airport Authority, as well as Mayor Todd Gloria.

They were alleged to have violated San Diego Election Campaign Control Ordinance (SDMC section 27.2901 – 27.2991) in improperly forming a PAC that campaigned against District 2 candidate Lori Saldana in fliers delivered to D2 doorsteps, full of falsehoods.

Here is the text of the complaint:

by Ernie McCray

Brittney Grinder.
WNBA superstar.
Sits in a Russian lockup far
from where she displays
her hoops wizardry
on the court with the Phoenix Mercury,
and to her predicament her coach says
“If this was LeBron James
he’d be home, right?”
to which I say
“Not likely,”
not with all that’s going on
in these moments in time,
a war of a kind,
between two arch enemies,

By Geoff Page

During the District 2 city council primary election, The Rag exposed two political action committees, or PACS, working on behalf of incumbent Jennifer Campbell by slinging mud at challenger Lori Saldaña. The two PACs are New San Diego and Community Voices – SD.

The tactics that New San Diego used during the campaign has earned the PAC an Ethics Commission complaint. The June 17, 2022, anonymous complaint names the New San Diego and the man behind it all, Gil Cabrera, chair of the San Diego Airport Authority. Gloria’s personal appointment.

The complaint was very long, almost 1200 words. Much of the wording was not necessary to make its points, so this accounting is a summarized version.

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.