OB Rag

On initial perusal, our current SDG&E bill is a whopping 100% increase from our December bill! And we’re being told next month’s bill will be even higher.

So, how’s your SDG&E bill?

This is an open thread – which means we’re asking readers to give us thoughts and feedback in the comments section to this post.

There was an issue raised at the recent Midway planners’ meeting, as reported by Geoff Page, that was buried by the other larger issue of the homeless on Sports Arena Boulevard, that needs more of the light of day.

Two bicycling “experts” presented their views at the meeting, disparaged planning boards, and pushed the solution of the merging of different planning committees.

As Page reported:

During a discussion of the major changes the city wants to make to the planning boards, the Midway group heard from two members of BikeSD’s Board of Directors, Paul Jamason and Nicole Burgess. They did not, however, identify themselves that way.

by Ernie McCray

I was just reminiscing
in my mind
how on many
a day
I would curse
the blazing Tucson
summer sun
at noon
and then
kneel in awe
at its beauty
when it set,
and then marvel
at the rising
of a
bright Sonoran moon.

The OB Town Council Board of Directors begins its annual election tonight, Thursday, Jan. 27. There are seven candidates for the 7 open seats. Voting closes at midnight on Friday, February 4.

In order to vote, one must be a member. There’s several levels of membership, so go here for more info and how to join.

The candidates were presented at last night’s public meeting, zoom online. Here are their names and a very brief thing about them below, presented in the order from last night.

San Diego Reader writer, Thomas Larson, just had his cover article published under the title, “Where is San Diego’s local news going now?” Larsen interviewed publishers and editors at Times of San Diego, Cannabitch, Voice of San Diego, Union-Tribune, San Diego Community Newspaper Group, and the O.B. Rag.

Larson had generous things to say about the Rag and about yours truly. His last line is worth gold:

The kind of authentic local news groups that need support are those whose back-and-forth between producers and consumers help clarify the intentions of both, and, if possible, cast out the self-interested trolls. I don’t see where else such integrity will come from, except the hand-to-mouth, ad-avoidant, ethically-conscious alternative media.

The entire piece is well worth checking out. We repost Larson’s section on the Rag:

On Monday, January 24, the San Diego City Council voted 8-1 to make changes to the 2019 “inclusionary” housing law that requires builders of market-rate housing projects to include low-income units or pay steep penalties.

In 2019, the city council forced developers of 10 or more units to reserve low-income units for residents who make less money and roughly doubled the penalties developers must pay if they don’t build low-income units. A low-income unit is defined as one reserved for someone making less than 60 percent of the region’s median income, which is $72,720 for a family of four.

Most of the approved changes will affect only coastal neighborhoods.

Come inside and watch another of OBcean Michael Claisse’s videos. “Why deep sea creatures look so weird.”

January Public Meeting – January 26, 2022 @ 7pm

Join the Ocean Beach Town Council for their monthly Public Meeting tonight, Wednesday, during which a Candidate Forum will be held. Candidates are running to fill the empty seats on the Board of Directors. Also, there will be updates from elected officials and local organizations.

In light of the current status of the pandemic, the OBTC will be back online for their January meeting.

COME INSIDE FOR LINKS TO ACCESS MEETING, TO REGISTER AND FOR THE AGENDA

As the trial begins for three former Minneapolis Police officers who helped Derek Chauvin restrain George Floyd in May 2020, San Diegans can use the trial as a mirror to hold up and examine our own city’s legacy in police stops of African-Americans. And that legacy ain’t pretty – but we knew that because of all the reports and studies that have been made on racial disparities in San Diego police stops.

There have been many recent studies, and here’s a report on them by local media. A report of the studies, the many studies. The many, many studies.

In fact, how many studies do we need?

Recently, the San Diego Union-Tribune published a report based on a statistical analysis of reported crimes and San Diego Police stops officers made from 2019 through June 2021. It found:

Overall, police conducted more traffic and pedestrian stops per reported crime in areas where non-Whites make up the majority of the population.

by Kathy Blavatt

On a January morning, I happily to awoke to greet the rain that had soaked my thirsty yard. The Twisted Juniper outside my bedroom window literally looked like it was dancing with joy among sparkling jeweled droplets.

2021 was a drought year. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park was primarily full of dried brown plants.

Now as 2022 rolled in so did the storm clouds. The darkened sky dumped several weeks of rain on top of long awaiting seeds. New life pushed up through the rain-drenched soil sprouting green.

Fraud by Former Owner of Surf Rider Pizza, Which Started in Ocean Beach, Makes National News

By Chris Pomorski / Bloomberg Business / January 21, 2022

In late 2012, Kim Peterson, a San Diego real estate developer and lawyer, got a call from a friend and colleague named Gina Champion-Cain. Peterson was in his 60s; in 1982 he left behind a high-profile criminal defense practice in Chicago to build shopping centers, pharmacies, and luxury homes. With his wife, Laurie, he lived in a stylish Mediterranean villa with views of the Pacific and traveled on his own plane.

By Geoff Page

The regular monthly meeting of the Midway-Pacific Highway Planning Group on Wednesday 19 was dominated by the homeless problem in the Midway area that is badly out of hand. There was also a stealthy visit by a couple of cycling advocates who argued in support of the city’s plans to gut planning groups because they believe the groups stand in the way of their cycling agenda.

Homeless

The mess on Sports Arena Blvd., by the Goodwill facility, kicked off a major discussion about the homeless problem in the Midway area. That large encampment is only the worst face of the problem, the problem with the homeless is everywhere in the Midway area.

This piece of Sports Arena Blvd. may not be familiar to everyone. It is on the south side of Rosecrans at the big Rosecrans-Sports Arena Blvd. intersection.