OB Rag

By Geoff Page

The two highlights of the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s first monthly meeting in 2022 were clearly a detailed presentation of a Sports Arena redevelopment proposal and drastic changes involving Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs.

The regular monthly meeting, that takes place the first Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m., was held on-line. The OBPB and most planning boards have not gone back to live meetings yet. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube here.

Land Use Code Changes

The city is planning on implementing the requirements mandated in Senate Bill 9, the bill that calls for relaxing building codes to help allegedly solve the housing shortage in California.

By Amie Hayes / SOHO January-February 2022 Newsletter

The Navy’s Old Town Campus Revitalization project at NAVWAR has the distinction of being the only newly added site to SOHO’s 2021 Most Endangered List. This ill-advised, gargantuan project proposes to build a dense wall of high-rise buildings at 4301 Pacific Highway (known as OTC Site One) and the complete demolition of the Consolidated Aircraft Plant 2 Historic District.

Previously known as Convair, this plant was once a massive manufacturing aircraft production complex that employed thousands of San Diegans during World War II and the Cold War.

by Paul Armentano / Times of San Diego / Jan. 9, 2022

The majority of Californians in 2016 cast votes to displace the illicit cannabis market with a taxed and regulated marketplace — one that would be controlled by licensed businesses, not by criminal entrepreneurs.

Five years later, voters’ desire has yet to become a reality. And while many folks are quick to point fingers at Sacramento and the state’s high tax rates, in many cases, local elected officials are largely to blame. That’s because more than half of the state’s cities and counties prohibit the operation of licensed cannabis businesses.

What’s Up with the Mayor’s App? Problems: “Around Every Corner”

By Colleen O’Connor

Every day, in every way, San Diegans are witnessing the crumbling of their once stable neighborhoods; in their once enviable designation, “Camelot by the Bay.”

Omnipresent homeless camps; vacant store fronts; trash overflowing onto unsafe, often filthy streets; decaying parks, pools, libraries and public spaces; spikes in inflation; a buckling health care system amid a pandemic all exacerbated by new tax 17% tax hikes for water/sewer, and new bond initiatives in the pipeline.

The City of San Diego is seriously considering closing coastal parks and parking areas in OB and Point Loma – as well as in other beach communities. They say it’s all about the crime, gang activity, late-night parties, illegal bonfires and unauthorized camping.

David Garrick at the U-T reports:

The parks and parking lots, which span from La Jolla to Ocean Beach, would either be physically closed by installing new security gates or posted with signs announcing the overnight closures. They would be added to several coastal parks and lots that already have overnight restrictions in place, some for as long as 20 years.

The list of new areas proposed for overnight closure is

The City of San Diego and Mayor Gloria were recently showcased in the parody/ satirical website, the Onion, which has a readership of 11.7 million readers on Twitter – many more than our own San Diego Union-Tribune (which many San Diegans called “The Onion” over the decades, ironically).

Here it is:

New Initiative Decreases Stigma Against Homeless By Making Majority Of People Homeless

SAN DIEGO—In an effort to decrease the widespread social shaming often associated with being unhoused, a new city initiative unveiled Thursday reportedly aims to decrease stigma against the homeless by making the majority of people homeless.

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / Jan. 5, 2022

Warning: this commentary is standing on its head and starting with its conclusion:

The aftermath of San Diego’s 2020-21 Redistricting process may prove to be more destructive to good government in San Diego than any monetary loss from past Ponzi schemes and political heists.

The parties of interest in this latest con game colluded to divide and conquer the San Diego public. They were willing to shred and tear at San Diego’s civic and moral fabric for their own economic and political gain.

He’s back in the news again. OB’s own “Whistler” Matt Baker who gained national attention and derision when videos of him at the County Board of Supervisor whistling and ranting went viral.

This time, Baker has made an art piece commemorating the OB woman who was killed trying to storm the Capitol on January 6. The woman, whose name the OB Rag will not repeat, was a QAnon supporter and harbored fascist views of Biden and trump. She lived in OB a very brief time and was mainly from the East County neighborhood of Spring Valley.

By Geoff Page

January 6, 2021, was the final act of everything that had occurred in the previous four years. It was an orgy more than anything else. It was a day when all internal restraint of any kind was ignored. It was a day when a large number of idiots believed they could have an orgy devoid of moral or legal obligations because the White House Idiot had told them, and shown them, this was OK.

We had a person in the White House who showed the world just how unaccountable a President could be when he never suffered any consequences for any of his many outrageous actions. Those of us who care were horrified. But, after four years of this, a huge number of Americans saw it as permission to do whatever they wanted to, regardless of the law or morality.

January 6 Vigils for Democracy – 338 vigils planned across nation

There are two Vigils for Democracy planned for today, January 6, in San Diego. The first is at 1pm in the park next to the San Diego County Administration Building. The second vigil is at 7 pm at Union Street and West F Street. Across the nation, 338 vigils are planned as of this writing.