OB Rag

by Chris Jennewein / Times of San Diego / December 20, 2021

Three decades ago, when America’s local newspapers were at their peak, I attended a dinner for publishers at a mid-sized chain. After dinner, the president rose to speak and asked everyone to clap for one publisher whose newspaper had exceeded a 50% profit margin in the previous month.

At a 50% margin, half of every dollar from subscribers and advertisers went directly to the bottom line. Sure, there was depreciation to account for, and some taxes to be paid, but overall that’s a level of profitability that would make a pharmaceutical company blush.

By Manu Agni / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 13, 2021

The Mid-Coast Extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley rolled into campus for the first time just a few weeks ago, but it’s already making a huge impact.

For decades, UC San Diego has been a sleepy hollow for students — up on a mesa in La Jolla, isolated from the rest of San Diego. Since the founding of campus, the way to get up to the mesa was always to meander up La Jolla hills on old roads that date back to the time of Camp Matthews and when “biotech” wasn’t in San Diego’s lexicon. More recently, this has meant spending hours in a car, stuck in crippling traffic congestion, or crawling along on a bus subject to the very same traffic.

The City of San Diego has just announced that “emergency repairs will begin this week on a section of the Ocean Beach Pier,” and that once the repairs have been completed over the next four months, “the pier will fully reopen for the first time in more than a year.”

Here is the news release, without edit or comment:

City of San Diego to Begin Emergency Repairs on Ocean Beach Pier

PIER EXPECTED TO FULLY REOPEN AFTER REPAIRS ARE COMPLETE

By Colleen O’Connor

Yes, unbelievable, but follow the clues.

Oddities in politics are not rare. They just hide in plain sight.

For instance, the new “bromance” between the Machiavellian GOP leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell and President Joe Biden, speak volumes.

Both agree Biden won the election fair and square. Both agree that Trump is not just a menace, but a serious threat to democracy. And both agreed to up the debt ceiling to avoid a default. Both also agree that Trump led, orchestrated, cheered on and caused the Jan. 6th storming of the Capital. McConnell even took to the Senate floor to put that on the record.

Here’s the article in a legible format:

New trolley extension to San Diego International Airport would open up future extensions to Point Loma, Liberty Station and beach communities

By Lauryn Schroeder / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 17, 2021

A Metropolitan Transit System study released Thursday, Dec. 16, has determined that the long-desired extension trolley to the San Diego International Airport is possible and can be completed within the next decade. According to a press release issued by the Metropolitan Transit System, or MTS, transportation experts from the international consultancy company Mott MacDonald presented multiple construction options to the MTS board of directors as part of its preliminary feasibility study.

By Michael Blood / Yahoo News / December 17, 2021

Leading California cannabis companies warned Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday that the state’s legal industry was on the verge of collapse and needed immediate tax cuts and a rapid expansion of retail outlets to steady the shaky marketplace.

The letter signed by more than two dozen executives, industry officials and legalization advocates followed years of complaints that the heavily taxed and regulated industry was unable to compete with the widespread illegal economy, where consumer prices are far lower and sales are double or triple the legal business.

By Paul Krueger

A new definition of “affordable housing”: $2,000 monthly rent for 480 square foot, 1 bedroom/1 bath ADU.

Building industry consultant admits it’s “absurd, from the stand-point of affordability.”

The permit application for a multi-unit rental complex on a single-family lot confirms that two of the apartments will be reserved for an affordable rental program administered by the San Diego Housing Commission.

In return for that set-aside, the city gave the developer a two-unit “bonus.” Instead of building just four units, he and his investors can cram a total of six rental units on this average-size residential lot in San Diego’s Talmadge neighborhood.

by Ernie McCray

Just for fun, on a kickback lazy kind of day, I responded to the 15 questions Stephen Colbert, of the Late Show, likes to ask his guests.

Like what’s the best sandwich? And the answer to that, of course, is a BLT.

Exercise worth it? Yes-siree.

What number is Stephen thinking of? I have no guess because numbers are from zero to infinity.

Apples or oranges? I like both but I’m partial to fruit that sounds crunchy when I take a bite – generally.

Submitted by Gilbert Field

The “Compassion Campaign” of the San Diego Veterans For Peace is again giving out free sleeping bag sets to the many homeless folks downtown who have no sleeping gear whatsoever. Each set consists of a new Coleman polyester sleeping bag and a nice nylon stuff sack to put it in when the client wakes up each morning.

Three (3) outreach trips took place in the last two weeks and they gave out 60 bag sets to folks who they personally confirmed had nothing at all to sleep under in these colder temperatures. Another outreach trip is scheduled soon, and they hope many, many more trips downtown at night will follow this winter, based on the continued support of the generous folks in San Diego.

The new trolley does not go to the beach or La Jolla. What it does do is to impact surrounding neighborhoods.

By Michael Pallamary / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / December15, 2021

I relocated to San Diego in 1976 to work on what was then a political hot potato — engineering the so-called “Tijuana Trolley.” I moved here because of my expertise as a railroad engineer, in Boston, where I was responsible for the field engineering and layout of many essential elements of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, one of the nation’s oldest rapid transit systems dating back to 1897.

By Kathy Blavatt

Happy birds make for a Happy Holiday Season. Pelicans, seagulls, and cormorants dance among the shore-break, diving and feasting on critters in the floating kelp.

Ocean Beach’s front yard is an ocean garden full of kelp, seaweed, and seagrass. Like any garden, it is brimming the small critters hiding and feasting on the plants. The larger animals eat them and so on. The food chain continues.

Our deeper water kelp bed forests are vital to the health of the ocean and animal life.