OB Rag

There is a serious brouhaha going on with the Ocean Beach Town Council these days. For unknown reasons, Mark Winkie, the president and a board member for 5 years, was asked to resign on July 6.

At least one other board member has resigned in protest. And former board members and others in the community are demanding that the current board explain why Winkie was asked to resign or offer an apology, or both. There’s also allegations the board did not follow its own by-laws.

Here is Susan Winkie’s public comment:

Today, Tuesday, August 3, Phillip Halpern, a former federal prosecutor and head of the white collar crime section, will outline major flaws in City-Navy NAVWAR proposal. The press conference will be outside City Hall at 202 C Street in the public plaza at 11 am.

Unbeknownst to most San Diegans, the Navy and City are fastracking a massive redevelopment project that will adversely impact the lives of all those who live, work, and visit our city.

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

Every Friday 5:30 pm Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. August 21st, and 28th.

August 21st Saturday 9:30am – 6:30 pm ASC’s Portal to Liberation Anniversary: Asian Americans & the Journey to Abolition

August 21st Saturday 12 pm – 1:30 pm Raising Backyard Chickens In-Person Workshop –

August 21st Saturday 12 pm – 4 pm Sea Shepherd San Diego

August 21st. Saturday 10 am “Other Side of the Hill” Documentary and Panel Discussion
August 24th Tuesday 4 pm – 5pm Save Your Scraps Webinar

August 24th – August 25th Riparian Management Workshop: Save Our Oaks

August 28th Saturday 2:30 pm – 5 pm Youth4Climate: Eco-Club Coalition Leaders in Action Workshop

August 29th Sunday 3 pm Build your own Bee Shelter Event by SoloBee

By Colleen O’Connor

What’s Up with the Mayor’s “Get it Done” App?: Part III

Lots happening. The Delta variant (now predicted to hit 140,000 to 300,00 cases a day this month). The Newsom recall effort. Raging fires. No need to list all the problems.

Any attempt at solutions (since getting anything through the Mayor’s ‘Get It Done app’ is impossible) relies on each of us, as individuals and family units, to respond.

So, how to deal with the new Delta variant of the COVID pandemic that is near defeating us? Local, local, local or YOYO (You’re On Your Own) strategies remain the best option. San Diegans have behaved better than most of the country. Clearly, way better than the former southern states, now engulfed in a nightmare repeat of last winter’s disaster.

Still, “What to do?” Common sense applies.

By Olivia Rosane / EcoWatch / August 1, 2021

Bayer will no longer sell glyphosate-containing products to U.S. home gardeners, the company announced on Thursday.

The move comes as the company currently faces around 30,000 legal claims from customers who believe use of these products — including the flagship Roundup — caused them to develop cancer, as AgWeb reported.

“Bayer’s decision to end U.S. residential sale of Roundup is a historic victory for public health and the environment,” Center for Food Safety executive director Andrew Kimbrell said in a statement. “As agricultural, large-scale use of this toxic pesticide continues, our farmworkers remain at risk. It’s time for EPA to act and ban glyphosate for all uses.”

The Ocean Beach Planning Board meets this Wednesday, August 4. The Board still meets by Cisco WebEx and participants must register (go here).

According to their agenda, the Board does not have any development projects to review, but it does have three items on the agenda of note.

First, the Board will finalize their priority list of CIP (Community Infrastructure Projects), continued from their last meeting. Upon request of the city, the Board puts together a list like this every year. Now, whether the city actually looks at the list or “goes” by it is up for question, but at least OB’s planning board goes on record with what the community’s priorities are.

Next up on the agenda, it appears the Board will wade into the controversies surrounding replacing car parking with bicycle parking.

by Ernie McCray

Some are saying that
Simone Biles is
a “national embarrassment”
who “quit on her team,”
when the truth is
she’s a
superbly talented gymnast
who, for years,
has mesmerized
the world
with dazzling routines
featuring
an array
of twists and turns and flips
that seem to defy
the laws of physics,

The San Diego Union-Tribune of late has been running numerous op-eds about the current plight of the Cuban people and even how the US must intervene. The ferocity of these one-sided rants makes it seem like the old Cold War has reignited. And calls for the Biden administration to militarily intervene are stark reminders that the official policy of this government has been to squelch the efforts by Cubans to have their own country ever since the revolution began 22 years ago.

Well, there is a different reality out there other than the narrative propagated by the mainstream media. Here are views you won’t find in the U-T:

Full-Page Ad in the New York Times, July 23, 2021:

Dear President Joe Biden,

It is time to take a new path forward in U.S.-Cuban relations. We, the undersigned, are making this urgent, public appeal to you to reject the cruel policies put into place by the Trump White House that have created so much suffering among the Cuban people.

By Geoff Page

Conversion of retail space to residential space was the topic with the most far-reaching consequences for the community at the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s July 22nd regular monthly meeting.

Nimitz Crossing

The new development, Nimitz Crossing, is just east of Nimitz on Voltaire. This project would be the first one on the peninsula to take advantage of new rules allowing this kind of conversion.

The “mixed-use” type of project has been the favorite development fad for the past 15 to 20 years and it has proven to be a disaster. There are three of these projects within a quarter mile of each other on Voltaire and the retail parts of the mixed-use buildings have never been filled. The Famosa project on the corner of Catalina and Voltaire briefly had a coffee shop in their space but it has been vacant for years since that closed.

Because the mixed-use model did not work for Nimitz Crossing, the owners want permission to convert the unused retail to a series of studio apartments.

The crux of the matter is this.

San Diego police have confirmed a man has been arrested in connection with a violent attack in Ocean Beach on June 15 over a firepit. 34-year-old Gabriel Ramos was arrested on June 24 for a violent assault on Kobe La.

Kobe La and his girlfriend Kristina Castillo were at the beach for a fun time with friends, but it turned ugly.

In the evening, a man approached them and claimed that they stole his spot on the beach.

It’s not being touted as a “sell-off”, but that’s really what it is. The City of San Diego is preparing to sell the public spaces, the sidewalks and parking spaces that restaurants used during the pandemic – to those businesses. It’s called a “fee” but it’s more like a sale or lease.

The city is moving in the direction of making the parking spaces and sidewalks taken over by restaurants during the last 15 months or so “permanent.”

Let’s call it for what it is. The privatization of public space, of the “commons.”

City officials announced Monday a new program to “make permanent the emergency outdoor dining permits the city issued to restaurants across the city shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began,” as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Four officers spoke of the physical and psychological wounds they sustained during the Capitol riot — a day some thought they wouldn’t survive.

By Sara Boboltz / HuffPost / July 27, 2021

Tuesday marked the first meeting of the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, with hours of emotional testimony about the mob of angry Donald Trump supporters who stormed the building and terrorized its occupants.

Four law enforcement officers delivered prepared remarks before the panel and answered questions: U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, and Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.

Each was on the front lines of the attack and spoke of injuries they sustained both mentally and physically. Each also showed varying degrees of emotion on the stand ? whether they were clearly holding back tears or reaching for a tissue.

Here are seven key takeaways from the hearing.