OB Rag

By Kathy Blavatt

All photos by Kathy

A little more than a stone’s throw away, to the north, is O.B.’s groovy sister, Encinitas. Like Ocean Beach, this colorful little beach town loves its palm trees, pines, native plants, exotics, and succulents.

Within Encinitas, borders are some of the best public and private gardens in San Diego County. These include the renowned San Diego Botanical Garden and Swami’s Meditation Gardens.

When in law school years ago, we were taught in a Legal Ethics class that the attorney-client privilege was very strong. Yet, the privilege would not stand up if it was being used to hide criminal activity. That rule is well-accepted. Attorney-client communications cannot be used to conceal crimes by the client.

And that is exactly what lawyers for the House panel investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol argued in a federal court filing Wednesday. Former president Donald Trump and key allies were involved in potential crimes. Therefore, Trump lawyer John Eastman’s claim of privilege is voided by the “crime/fraud exception” to the confidentiality usually accorded attorneys and their clients.

What were the potential crimes?

From Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO)

Affordable Housing

Within San Diego and across the country, skyrocketing housing prices and the loss of naturally occurring, or unsubsidized, affordable housing plague our communities.

One important solution is to reinvest in and preserve older buildings for housing. This would alleviate some of the pressure for three compelling reasons: existing buildings are inherently more affordable and sustainable, enable less costly housing and more of it to be produced faster, and don’t contribute to the landfill.

Obviously, older buildings can play a significant role in meeting affordability and housing challenges.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune /March 1, 2022

San Diego cracked down Tuesday on thousands of street vendors who have dramatically changed the look and feel of many popular city locations, including Balboa Park, Ocean Beach and areas near the Convention Center.

The City Council voted 8-1 to approve legislation that partially bans street vendors in parks and such pedestrian-heavy areas as Little Italy and the Gaslamp Quarter. It also requires vendors to obtain city permits and institutes fines and possible impoundment for rules violations.

Supporters call it a balance between fostering vendors as a new class of entrepreneurs and preventing them from damaging the character of parks, beach areas and business districts. Merchant groups mostly praised the new law, which takes effect June 1. But some lobbied unsuccessfully for more restrictions, such as banning vendors in more areas and requiring them to have insurance.

Check out this brand new video by Charles Landon.

This is a story about a local man doing his part to uplift and improve the Ocean Beach community. His name is Francis and he is a homeless man cleaning up and maintaining parks all across Ocean Beach
Come inside to view the video

by Ernie McCray

When I see various “banned books” lists
I can only sigh
a “My, my, my”
because

I see,
for one,
Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”
and I remember
the journey of Pecola, the mysterious protagonist
in this brilliantly crafted spin,
who suffers the deep stabbing pains of “less-than-ness”
due to the color of her skin.
Everyone should know that such as this
can exist

I see
Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

By Colleen O’Connor

Who knew this was a veritable dust storm?

Two sports fighting for space in a City renowned for its athletics and for its champions.

Yet, here we are. Pickleball enthusiasts (a growing sport among those capable with playing without years of rigid rules and practice) moving to takeover former Muni tennis courts (or, at least) paint the ionic tennis courts with different lines.

Tonight at 6 pm, the OB Planning Board meets and will take up the Pickleball push to take over tennis courts.

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

EarthFair is coming Sunday April 24th Our annual EarthFair in Balboa Park is the largest free annual environmental fair in the world. Each year, the EarthFair draws around 50,000 visitors looking for ways to live a more sustainable life and support a clean, healthy, prosperous environment – and have a great day in the park!

*** Every Saturday 10:30 am. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. March 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.
*** March 3rd Thursday 3 pm The State of Biodiversity 2022
*** March 4th Friday 4:30 pm – 6 pm Join the movement to push UCSD to address the climate crisis
*** March 4th Friday 7 pm – 8 pm Sierra Talks – Strength From Nature Event by Sierra Club
*** March 5th Saturday 10 am – 11:30 pm Community Mobility Roadmap Southeastern San Diego

It’s becoming all the more apparent to critical observers in San Diego, that here in our town, the homeless don’t count. The numbers of the houseless are surging and local government seems just to sweep their encampments from place to place, never really dipping into the real crisis or affecting the real numbers of our fellow humans who don’t have a shelter over their heads.

Lisa Halverstadt at Voice of San Diego peered into the abyss and wrote:

Street homelessness and the misery tied to it appear to be surging to new highs across San Diego.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry, in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

On February 26 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that “Russian forces have taken control of” the Chernobyl nuclear plant site of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe, when the now former Soviet Union owned and operated the facility.

Come inside for more details about your local CPG and how to participate.