OB Rag

Residents on Abbott Street in OB have been complaining for a long time about broken and non-working street lights. At least for a year.

Neighbors are worried about crime and accidents at night on the darkened street.

Take Jon Carr, for instance. The Abbott Street resident and former vice-president of the OB Town Council (and former Rag writer) told News8 that he’s filed many complaints on the city’s “Get It Done” app and has written Councilmember Campbell’s office about his complaints and concerns. He’s been told more than once that they’re ‘get back’ to him.

The street light at the intersection of Newport and Cable found no shelter. Photo by Cassidy Elyse, reposted from Social OB facebook.

On Wednesday, December 15, the volunteer San Diego Redistricting Commission decided by a 7-2 vote on the final map of the city council boundaries (which we previewed the other day).

The big, “dramatic” changes for District 2 are that Pacific Beach joins District 1, and District 2 takes the eastern half of Clairemont and Old Town. Unless something happens – like a comet – this will remain and be official for the next ten years. Although, the city is now in a 30-day period where residents can raise objections before the map becomes official.

Other changes:

By Edwin Decker

Dear Ed, I have 3 or 4 friends that are Grammar Nazis. If I dare spell, “there” as “their,” they’re there to call you a dumb ass. Obviously, I know the difference. I’m just texting or emailing quickly and not thinking. And half of these people end up having terrible grammar themselves. Ok, maybe they have good spelling, but they’ll write, “How are you!!!!” which makes me want to respond, “You should end that sentence in a question mark, not an exclamation point. And why multiple exclamation points? Is a piano falling on your head?” So my question is, Do any spelling and/or punctuation things get to you?

Josh Board
Movie Reviewer
KOGO 600 AM

Editordude: “Save Our Access,” the group that brought the lawsuit to block the implementation of Measure E, the lifting of the 30-foot height limit in the Midway District, responds here to the recent court ruling in their favor.

Regarding the 30′ Height limit lawsuit

Save Our Access brought the lawsuit because of how the city asked the public to lift the 30′ height. Established law says that an Environmental Impact Report must be made that includes public participation when major changes to a neighborhood plan is made. The city failed to do that.

A voter-approved ballot measure lifting the 30-foot building height limit in the Midway District was improperly placed on the November 2020 ballot and cannot be implemented, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal said in her final ruling last week.

Bacal said the city of San Diego should not have asked voters to remove the 30-foot coastal height limit in the Midway area on the 2020 ballot finalizing a tentative ruling that throws a major city redevelopment effort into limbo.

The vote on Measure E lifted the height limit in the entire Midway area,

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma – OB Monthly / Dec. 13, 2021

What do you know about the OB tree? It always leans to the left … right? Well, that would depend on your vantage point. Or what side of the (chain link) fence you’re on.

But all that aside, the Ocean Beach community Christmas tree is greeting its 41st consecutive season this year, and its preposterous, zany and improbable history is certainly something to celebrate.

By Colleen O’Connor

If you are reading this column, you will “bigly” appreciate the best Christmas gift ever. A book.

Not just any book, but one that draws you into the joys of the season, the thrill of holding a new pages containing amazing mysteries and adventures inside; and the ability to share it so it lives on, past anyone’s lifespan.

In short, a treasure. A genuine heirloom. And a timely antidote for any complaints.

The Gifts of Reading is an engrossing collection of short essays by some of the world’s finest and most celebrated writers. Their international prizes won are too long to list here.

Originally posted Dec. 14, 2021
There are 5 remaining redevelopment teams bidding to take on San Diego’s 48 acres of city-owned land around the sports arena in Midway District. Proposals from the Panacea Group and Cotterkey Investments were deemed not responsive and have been eliminated.

The developer groups are going for a longterm ground lease for the city’s real estate holdings at 3500, 3250, 3220 and 3240 Sports Arena Blvd. These include San Diego’s sports arena — the long-time home of the San Diego Gulls. Bidders are supposed to be submitting site redevelopment plans with a new or improved sports arena, and withat least 25 percent of proposed housing units for lower-income families.

by Ernie McCray

Oh, the weather.
Winds and snows
and tornadoes
wreaking unspeakable harm,
while, at the same time,
we pray for the rains to fall
to protect us from
firestorms
that transform
our woodlands
into acres of
charred terrain,
its flames
leaving towns
as darkened
burnt-out memories.

By Mat Wahlstrom

Tomorrow marks the 55th anniversary of one of the most important grand jury reports in California history, of which you may have never heard.

“Zoning Study Report & Recommendations“ was the result of an investigation into pay-for-play allegations against a developer and the Los Angeles city council and planning department to obtain favorable upzoning, or increasing density incompatible with existing purposes, despite concerns by every other agency as to the adverse affects.

You probably won’t be shocked to hear it was initiated by a complaint from citizens concerned about parks or that the rezoning at issue would have allowed construction of a sports arena in protected open space.

But you may be surprised to learn that it resulted in criminal prosecutions for bribery and conspiracy, significant reforms of the zoning approval process, and the preservation of that open space to this day.

Just about everyday it seems, there’s a letter to the editor in the San Diego U-T complaining about vendors taking over the Boardwalk at Belmont or swamping walk-ways in Balboa Park. In Ocean Beach, merchants and residents have long been complaining about vendors taking over the Vets’ Plaza and the grassy area at the end of Newport Avenue.

And merchants critical of vendors were hopeful that a mid-December hearing on a new vendor ordinance was about to be held. But, then, the city councilperson shepherding the proposed ordinance, Jen Campbell, lost her seat as Council president, and the new council president, Sean Elo-Rivera, shelved the hearing set for this week and sent it back to committee.