OB Rag

The Ocean Beach Oktoberfest – the uniquely Southern California salute to the celebration of German culture and fun – is returning this year. It’s scheduled for October 8th and 9th, 2021.

The return was announced at the August 25th OB Town Council zoom meeting, by Denny Knox, head of OB Mainstreet Association.

Public Service Information

by Elizabeth Ireland / Times of San Diego / August 26, 2021

San Diego County public health officials reported 1,327 new infections Wednesday and logged 8 coronavirus-related deaths, increasing the cumulative totals to 327,166 cases and 3,859 fatalities.

San Diego County’s case rate per 100,000 residents is 35.2 overall, 9.3 for fully vaccinated people and 66.9 for not fully vaccinated San Diegans.

A total of 16,915 tests were reported Wednesday, and the percentage of new positive cases was 7.8%. The 14-day rolling percentage of positive cases among tests is 7.3%.

by Danna Givot / Times of San Diego / August 23, 2021

From San Diego to Mt. Shasta, homeowners and their representatives are speaking out against the state legislature’s ill-conceived effort to eliminate single-family zoning. I’m adding my voice to that tidal wave of opposition because I’m convinced that Senate Bill 10 also presents an ethical and probably indefensible legal problem for our elected officials.

I’ve read the fine print in SB 10, and there’s no doubt that the proposed law allows the construction of ten housing units on a single-family lot, plus four additional “Accessory Dwelling Units” (also known as ADUs or “granny flats”). That’s a total of 14 housing units, on one parcel, in a single-family neighborhood like mine.

Those are the facts, even though the author of SB 10 tried to minimize the negative impact of his proposal by not counting the four additional structures as “housing units.” Why the sleight of hand?

By Judi Curry

It isn’t often that I fall for a scam, but this one had me 99% on the road to tapping into my Amazon account, so thought I’d share it with you.

I am a member of a Bunco group. There are 12 women that get together once a month to play the game. We have a yearly calendar that states the month we will host the game; our name, phone number, address, birth date, email address, etc. For purposes of anonymity I will only mention a name – Susan – as we do not have a Susan in our group.

Different members of the group have been with this group for years. Many years. As people dropped out, others have been added and I think that I was the last one to join approximately 5 years ago. It is fair to say that we know each other well; are aware of problems, highlights, etc. So when I received the following note from Susan, I immediately answered.

The current board of the OB Town Council held their monthly private meeting on Wednesday, August 11 and decided to call for a “special election” to allow the membership to vote on candidates to fill the 5 empty seats.

A special election and membership vote had been called for by various members of the community including the 22 community leaders who signed the “Open Letter” to the board.

The membership will choose from candidates vetted by the board. The method of notifying the community about the election and requirement of candidates to submit letters of intent was not widely broadcast or advertised by the board. Non-members of the OBTC were not notified adequately, including former board members.

By Paul Krueger / San Diego Union-Tribune Op-Ed / August 24, 2021

I’m a veteran cyclist who commuted 14 miles to work and back for years. I’m fully committed to clean air, climate action and reduced use of solo-driver vehicles.

But I believe our city’s current strategy for attaining these laudable goals is misguided, and think it has already backfired by alienating the majority of San Diegans whose support we need.
My reading of public opinion — and what I see every day on our streets — has convinced me that only a tiny minority of San Diegans will ever consider commuting by bike. Most live too far from their jobs. Their routes to work include hills and uncrossable freeways. And their bikes won’t carry their briefcases, lunches and the change of clothes they need at their workplace.

The facts confirm my perspective.

By Kathy Blavatt

Will we remember Ocean Beach’s tropical warm, humid days months from now? Will we remember the juxtaposed unusual summer water temperatures in July and August that dipped into the fifties as the surfers wore full wetsuits?

I remember my garden emulating a giant hothouse where my sleepy cats couldn’t bother moving for hours.

While the cats sleep their days away, caterpillars build their cocoons and metamorphizes; then, burst out with fluttering wings butterflies feasting on the flower nectar of their favorite blossoms.

My tropical plants are growing as they live in Hawaii. Unfortunately, the weeds have also thrived during the muggy weather.

By Mat Wahlstrom

Two weeks ago today, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its sixth report since 1990, with the appropriate description that it represents a “Code red for humanity.”

Although continued sea level rise is already ‘irreversible’ for likely thousands of years, strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) could make air quality better and stabilize global temperatures within a few decades.

The question is how, per IPCC advice to policymakers, this can be accomplished through ‘sustainable development’ — and what exactly that means. So it would seem to make sense that we look at all the sources of GHGs and figure out how to reduce them.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

It is not possible for schools in most states to open safely. Well respected Dr Jorge A Caballero wrote in the Guardian, “school reopening plans that hinge on universal mask mandates and frequent testing are doomed to fail.” At this perilous time, there is also a political movement demanding that schools be fully opened. Because the delta variant is so much more transmissible, only mandated vaccination and masking will make it possible for schools to safely operate.

This weekend the President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, accepted reality and in a Meet the Press interview called for mandatory vaccination of teachers. The leadership at the National Education Association (NEA) also reversed their opposition on Thursday (8/12/2021) and joined with AFT’s call for vaccine mandates.

By Frank Gormlie

I hesitate to add more commentary to the debacle enveloping the Ocean Beach Town Council these days, but like a pile of rotting seaweed, there are things and questions we cannot ignore.

Just why was Mark Winkie asked to step down as president of the Board of Directors?

Putting aside for a moment the issue of how Winkie was dealt with by the Board, we look at the context. And let’s put aside for another moment the fact that three board members have since also resigned due to the manner in which he was asked to leave. For background, the Point Loma Monthly reported: