OB Rag

By Tony de Garate / San Diego Reader / March 25, 2022

At the Ocean Beach library, March 13 marked an occasion no one wanted nor expected to see: the beginning of its third year of complete closure.

It’s a status shared by only two other locations (Clairemont, Mountain View/Beckwourth) in the city’s 36-branch system. Library officials point out that, while the community’s historic, 1928 building at Santa Monica and Sunset Cliffs has been shuttered, services for OBceans have continued.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / March 23, 2022

A Petaluma Argus-Courier headline read, “Petaluma could soon welcome charter school.” Local prodigy, Gianna Biaggi, had come home to establish the Magnolia Global Academy for Leaders (MGAL). Biaggi had spent the previous year as a New School Creation Fellow at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. She was exited to use her new training to establish a High Tech High inspired school where she grew up. Petaluma is a unique community with a lot of appeal.

By Mike James

Twenty five years ago on April 1, 1997, legislation became effective that would rip families apart, disregard fundamental human rights and send once honored individuals into exile.

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, there was an uproar for new immigration laws. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 was the result. Signed into law by President Bill Clinton, he, like many other politicians, wanted to pass immigration legislation that emphasized enforcement prior to the run-up of the 1998 national elections.

Long-time readers of the OB Rag know that each year, we pause to remember March 28, 1971 – the anniversary of the infamous Collier Park Riot. Last year, we celebrated its 50th anniversary.

This year we want to use the occasion to honor and acknowledge DC Collier, the true founder of Ocean Beach, whose name and achievements for our seaside community are passing quickly out of our collective memory. Collier is whom the parklet in northeast OB is named after – and for whom a local junior high school was also named after.

Who is DC Collier?

This is what Ocean Beach looked like 2 years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic.

So, lets jog down ol’ memory lane, from the Spring of 2020. A photo gallery to remind us all of the way we were.

Could Mayor Become Fall Guy as Tide of Opposition Rises Against Circulate San Diego Playbook

By Mat Wahlstrom

What is it about our electeds’ obsession with cringe-making videos?

Announced in the ‘State of the City’ address in January, but details not released until a few weeks ago, Build Better SD is a root-and-branch overhaul of the linkage between development impact fees (DIFs) and capital improvement projects (CIPs),

Monetary Incentives to Private Homeowners Could Help Solve Crisis

by Mark Powell/ Times of San Diego / March 26, 2022

There are thousands of homes in San Diego that have empty bedrooms. Given the right financial incentives, many homeowners could be open to renting out a room to those who are experiencing homelessness.

Housing First advocates believe that the most effective solution to homelessness is permanent housing and that housing for the homeless should be provided immediately, without any preconditions.

Over the weekend, unions representing grocery workers announced that their memberships had voted to authorize their Locals to strike against major grocery employers.

Members and their leadership of United Food and Commercial Workers are fed up with the tactics employed by Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions during the current contract bargaining process and are ready to strike against them if agreements are not made. The major employers’ tactics became so onerous that the seven union locals filed unfair labor practice complaints

Editordude: Judi and her friend Steve stopped by Wendy’s on Midway Drive on their way to a Gulls’ game the other night. They wish they hadn’t. Judi submitted this as a “restaurant review,” but it’s hardly that – Judi only ordered a Vanilla Frosty (which they didn’t have) but Steve got his order. Here, then, are Judi’s thoughts:

By Judi Curry

I have only reviewed a fast food restaurant once in my career of being a food critic. That was because of exceptional service at the Jack in the Box on Voltaire and I felt they needed to be recognized. The other night, on the way to the Gulls Hockey game, Steve and I decided to stop off at Wendy’s

In what was called “a quick roundup!”, the Ocean Beach Town Council leadership sent out a report on its late March public meeting. We repost it here with a few comments.

First up, the meeting heard stump speeches from the various candidates running to unseat Jen Campbell in District 2. Joel Day, Lori Saldana, and Mandy Havlik were there, as was Bev McCalla – but McCalla didn’t make the filing deadline, so it’s unclear what she had to say. The primary is in June.

In other news:

San Diego labor is divided over which proposed redevelopment for the Sports Arena – Midway area is best. Five developer teams have stepped forward and as we enter the elimination phase, endorsements from groups like unions and labor councils are extremely important.

Yet, only two teams have received laudatory praises from San Diego labor.

It’s all official now. We’re reached the filing deadline for San Diego City Council races and we now know who is running for District 2.

In what the San Diego Union-Tribune is calling “a major showdown in District 2”, former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña “is mounting a late Democrat-versus-Democrat challenge to incumbent Councilmember Jennifer Campbell ….” Saldana is joined in the Democrat field trying to unseat Campbell by Joel Day, Mandy Havlik. Linda Lukacs is the sole Republican .