OB Rag

By Geoff Page

While the regular monthly meeting of the Ocean Beach Planning Board February 2nd was short and relatively uneventful, some useful information was shared with the community. This function of the planning boards is as useful, if not more so, than the central task of reviewing projects.

Vendor Ordinance, city budget, and stairs

The vendor ordinance is a big one for OB and District 2 council representative, Teddy Martinez, provided an update. A draft of the proposed ordinance has been released for review by anyone who wishes to see it and provide comments. Just go here.

by Ernie McCray

There’s no single sound
in basketball
sweeter to this old hoopster’s
ear than the sound of “Swish,”
the ball
hitting nothing but net.
It’s a sound
that’s enabled
me to forget
things that have had me down,
like
“Swish”
and Sister Mary Benedict
swatting my knuckles
to Kingdom Come,

Councilmember Raul Campillo, Chair of San Diego’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations (ED&IR) Committee, will docket the city’s proposed street vending ordinance for approval at the February 9th meeting.

The proposed ordinance includes licensing, permitting, and health standards for all vendors while also setting practicable limitations on where vendors are allowed to set up, balancing equity and access.

By Jacob Aere / KPBS / February 2, 2022

The National Football League has awarded $1 million to two medical research teams — including one at UC San Diego — to research the impact of cannabis and CBD on pain management and recovery from sports- related injuries, it was announced Tuesday.

UCSD and the University of Regina in Canada were selected among 106 submissions for research proposals executed by the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee, with UCSD’s team to assess the therapeutic potential for cannabis for “relief of post-competition soft-tissue injury pain in elite athletes.”

The study will be done on professional rugby players.

Zoom Event Regarding San Diego Community Planning Group Reforms

On February 4, nonprofit think tank Circulate San Diego will host a zoom event with Community Planning Group members to discuss new reforms proposed by San Diego City Councilmember Joe LaCava.

When: Friday, February 4, 12:00 p.m.

Where: Zoom link available here.

Who:

Dear Councilmember Raul Campillo and Mayor Todd Gloria,

I was born and raised here in San Diego. I grew up with a single mom, who struggled to make ends meet and was too proud to take any help. Sometimes we had only plain noodles for food. Sometimes we were cold. Sometimes we had to move out late at night.

I went to a lot of schools, some of them South of the I-8, including Garfield and Morse High School.

I walked and rode the city bus. Everywhere.

I have been working since as soon as I could get a work permit.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has confirmed that San Diegans are paying the highest electricity rates than any other city in the country.

San Diegans paid an average of 36.5 cents per kilowatt-hour last December. In comparison, Los Angeles residents paid 34% less (24 cents) and Riverside County paid even less, 23.8 cents per kWh.

San Diego even passed Hawaii, which is not even on the mainland. Hawaii’s average rate was almost 3 cents less per kilowatt-hour than San Diego’s rates.

Edward Lopez, Executive Director of Utility Consumers’ Action Network (UCAN) told CBS8

“The price per kilowatt is the highest in the country. San Diego is even out-passing Hawaii.”

Are you interested in running for a seat on the Ocean Beach Planning Board? Here’s how.

Board Member/Candidate Eligibility & Instructions for Elections March 2022

Eight seats will be up for election this year (2022), one from each of the seven Districts in the OB Community Plan Area and one At-Large seat. (View OB Planning Area.)

View current incumbents.

If elected, members will serve a two-year term. Board members are volunteers and receive no compensation.

All persons who meet the eligibility criteria below may apply for a seat on the Ocean Beach Planning Board.

From Lori Saldaña Campaign

Retired Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña has announced her candidacy for San Diego City Council, to represent the newly created District 2 in San Diego’s vibrant, diverse, and oldest established communities, from the tip of Point Loma, up to Mission Beach, and inland to Loma Portal, Midway, Old Town, Bay Park, Clairemont, and Linda Vista.

Lori represented all of these communities for 6 years in the California Assembly. In 2022 she is running to continue providing leadership for San Diegans in the communities where she has lived and worked all her life. She recently retired from teaching Business and Information Technology for the San Diego Community College District, and serves on the Board of Protect Our Communities Foundation, to promote sustainable and affordable energy.

Public Service Announcement

The San Diego City Council voted Tuesday, Feb. 1, to delay new rules for short-term rentals, such as Airbnbs, from taking effect until the California Coastal Commission reviews the changes.

The council voted after listening to staff recommendations. City staff says the delay would allow the California Coastal Commission to review and certify the ordinance, reduce costs for onboarding and training of staff and give proper notice to short-term rental hosts that accept advance bookings.

The short-term rental ordinance, approved last year, limits vacation rentals to just 1% of the city’s housing. In Mission Beach, 30% of homes can be rented short-term. A lottery system will determine those properties and their owners.

By Andrew Morgan / Progressive City / February 25, 2020

As a planning consultant, I was intrigued when my colleagues labeled residents who opposed a development project as “NIMBYs”. Sometimes the label was appropriate; in fact, planners often encounter people who are stubbornly against any kind of development in the area where they live.

It is also common to encounter a more perverse xenophobic NIMBY reaction to certain kinds of development, like mosques, transitional homes, or low-income rental housing. These cases represent the conventional understanding of “the NIMBY syndrome”. But as I saw in practice, NIMBY is also used as shorthand for any local opposition to development,