OB Rag

Union grocery workers are rallying today for a new contract at Ralphs on Sports Arena Boulevard today, Feb. 28 at noon. The union contract for almost 9,000 San Diego workers expires on March 6 and the rally is to show the companies and public at large that these workers continue to be essential and that they deserve a new union contract that reflects the service and sacrifices that they have made.

The union that represents the workers is United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 135, and the contract that expires covered workers at Albertsons, Gelson’s, Ralphs, Stater Bros, and Vons in San Diego County. The union contracts covered approximately 60,000 workers in Southern California.

Julie Anderson, an artist and resident of Point Loma, has won the second-place award in the continually competitive February 2022 San Diego Watercolor Society (SDWS) Member’s exhibition “Simple Pleasures.”

It’s an in-gallery show of the SDWS at 2825 Dewey Road in Liberty Station, San Diego, CA.

Anderson’s painting entitled “Surveying the Scene” was selected by prominent local artist and juror Thomas Franco for this honor, out of over 200 entries.

Restaurant Review

Ketch Grill and Taps
2614 Shelter Island Drive
Point Loma, CA 92106
619-814-8080

By Judi Curry

Almost three years ago to the day I had dinner at the Ketch and did a review of the restaurant. At the time I was impressed with the menu and when I had out of town guests I took them there for lunch. But that time I was very disappointed – the menu had changed – and the food was only fair. That surprised me because the other restaurants in the chain are so good. (Miguel’s, Brigantine, etc.) I have not been back since. Things were about to change.

If you have ever been to the Ketch – the old “Red Sails” restaurant, you know that it is difficult to determine what is the bar and what is the seating area for the restaurant. There was some confusion as to where we could sit; when our table would be ready, etc., and it later turned out that we were comped for our drinks because of the confusion.

The Peninsula Community Planning Board will be holding its annual election to its Board on March 17, 2022. The election this year is to fill five (5) three year seats.

Requirements for those interested in becoming a Board Member:

• Board terms are for three years.
• A candidate must be 18 years of age,
• must reside, own property, or operate a business within the PCPB boundaries, and
• have attended one regular zoom meeting within the past 12 months. Attending the Candidates Forum would also qualify for this requirement.

GO INSIDE FOR THE LINK

The Point Loma – Ocean Beach Democrats did not endorse any candidate for their San Diego City Council District 2 endorsement last Sunday and ended up choosing both Lori Saldaña and Joel Day as “Acceptable.”

From their newsletter:

By Sheila Pell /’ San Diego Reader / Feb. 22, 2022

Street life is coming back, and with it, scooter critics.

Motorized scooters are often touted as a first or last mile link in the transit chain, and the city counts them among its mobility choices – but some say they’re making it harder for others to get around.

Last month, 561 complaints about scooters were lodged with the city’s Get It Done app for sidewalk blocking and other misuse. The previous January, mid-pandemic, there were only 263 reports.

by Ernie McCray

Dorothy Smith,
a friend
and hero of mine
passed away the other day,
leaving me wishing,
in my sadness,
that she could have seen
“Still, We Rise,”
a poetry and jazz show
featuring Yolanda Franklin
a brilliant local thespian,
and I
reading our poems
and those of
Amanda Gorman
who mesmerized a nation

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / Feb. 22, 2022

Did you know that San Diego has a dance fetish? Our obsessive routine goes something like this: We take one step forward, then two steps back… one step forward, two steps back… one forward, two back….

Year in and year out, the city makes a bit of progress toward the common good and then pulls back– undermining and diminishing the quality of life in our communities. To jog your memory, here are some random past examples of how we step on our own toes:

Once (circa 1980s), the city had a deal with SDG&E: we permitted them to exact surcharges on customer bills. In exchange, they were to bury the overhead power lines that crisscross our city.

By Geoff Page

The Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group’s discussion about its own yearly elections was the most serious topic by far during the February monthly meeting. A group that should consist of 12 people will have 9 or 10 seats up for election. The problem is – and it is chronic – trying to find enough people to volunteer just to fill all 12 seats.

Elections

After attending these meetings for several years, this writer can attest to the challenge the group has always faced sitting 12 people. The board previously was to be made up of 15 people, they reduced it to 12 because of the difficulty getting volunteers. There always seem to be a few empty seats.

This year, COVID complicated things because they did not have an election last year and sort of agreed to just postpone until 2022. It created problems for all planning boards.

By Craig Jones

Both things are true: The US military empire invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, attempting to justify it with lies; and now the Russian military empire is invading and will occupy Ukraine, attempting to justify it with lies. In fact, both these atrocities are purely the outcomes of military-industrial-state complexes.

Military empires can be depended upon to perpetrate atrocities.

There is historic context to what is going on.

It has been clearly documented that the “West” with the US in the lead made promises via Glasnost that NATO would NOT expand further towards Russia; but those promises were demolished precisely by NATO expansion, with military forces, year after year moving ever on, right up to Russian borders.