OB Rag

By Colleen O’Connor

Historians often use memorable contemporary events to better tell stories that define an age.

For example; to better explain the 1950s, a catchy tune from the popular musical, My Fair Lady, suffices. Sung by Rex Harrison, “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?” says it all.

The lyrics illicit some disbelief in this century, but many still recall that catchy tune. The stage play, recordings, musical and multiple Oscar wins, generated massive box office numbers.

This century, however, the song is often described simply as a “Hymn to Him.” Different times. Different takes. Abundant examples of war, propaganda, feel-good dances, political and dystopian movies, and individual acts of bravery, also exist

By Dave Schwab / San Diego Community News Group / June 16, 2021

An environmental analysis is out on the NAVWAR redevelopment proposal to turn it into a transit hub with housing and airport connections, while pressure is building to downsize the project by a local group calling itself Save San Diego’s Character.

“Recently, the Navy initiated a direct mail campaign to notify residents and business owners of the impending renovation of the NAVWAR facility in Old Town offering five ‘alternatives’ to review and select a viable option,”

Enjoy ocean views and sea breezes on this garden tour in the beautiful Ocean Beach community. Known best for its pier, sandy shores and colorful history, Ocean Beach is also a gardener’s paradise. Stately palms and araucaria trees rise into blue skies while hillside home gardens abound in a wide array of plants that flourish in the microclimate of this coastal area.

By Andrew Bowen / KPBS / June 18, 2021

San Diego affordable housing advocates are applauding Mayor Todd Gloria’s decision this week to restart the process of redeveloping the Pechanga Arena in the Midway District. Gloria announced that decision Thursday after state officials determined the process initiated by his predecessor, Kevin Faulconer, had violated the state’s Surplus Land Act. That law, amended in 2019, requires cities to give affordable housing developers first right of refusal to build on public land that the government doesn’t need.

By Lauren Coronado / SanDiego7 / June 20, 2021

San Diego police are investigating a violent attack that happened in Ocean Beach. A pair of local college students told NBC 7 that an argument over a fire pit spiraled out of control. One of the students captured the tail-end of the fight on video as a last-minute attempt to identify the accused aggressors.

“I got your (expletive) faces!” The person who took the video could be heard yelling in the background. The accused aggressors were captured lunging at the camera and yelling expletives to the young man who was recording.

Before the day turned violent, Kobe La and his girlfriend, Kristina Castillo, said their trip to Ocean Beach on June 15 started like any other. “Grill some hamburgers, hot dogs, we had some music going,” said Castillo.

by Ernie McCray

Lost my favorite teammate
of all time:
Marv Dutt.
We haven’t, over the years,
kept in touch
but I have fond memories
of how he could,
no matter what,
get the ball to me
with that instinct
great passers have
of rewarding you
as long as you keep
moving to a great
spot on the floor to be.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Blog / June 20, 2021

A sign declaring him a sesquipedalianist adorned his office door. How like him, the lover of one-and-a-half foot long words, to proclaim his eccentricity so proudly and chuckle at it with the same enthusiasm. He ushered me in, showed me his computer, the Mobius strip I’d sculpted for him proudly displayed on a shelf, a mounted segment of sharkproof fiber-optics cable—his latest delight. It was my first visit as an adult to the place that consumed my father’s focus, second only to his church. I looked for clues to reveal his character, to teach me who was this man I’d known only as a father.

On Wednesday, June 16, the State of California formally notified the City of San Diego that the proposed redevelopment of the Sports Arena was not legal and that the city ran afoul of the Surplus Land Act in how it proposed the redevelopment.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) informed San Diego’s Director of Real Estate Assets, Penny Maus, that the redevelopment plan for the Midway District area did not comply with the the Surplus Land Act. The Act was amended by the state legislature in 2019 to make any excess government-owned land available for affordable housing.

The city is now forced to begin the process over again, or face fines in the millions. This means that the deal the city made with Brookfield Properties to lead the redevelopment is null and void.

Karen Kucher from the U-T reported on a weird scene in Ocean Beach Thursday morning on Voltaire Street.

A troubled man awoke the firefighters at OB’s fire station by banging on their windows and yelling around 6:15 am. Kucher reported the man tried to break into the station. He also attacked a palm tree, yelled obscenities and was taken into custody by police charged with felony vandalism.

On Thursday, June 10, the California Coastal Commission agreed with the dog-owners’ group, FIDO, and cancelled proposed changes to what’s called San Diego’s largest dog park, the off-leash area on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay.

Staff at the Coastal Commission had apparently attempted to revive a proposal for what they termed broader public access and have the 90-acre off-leash waterfront area opened up. Staff argued that the state’s Coastal Act encouraged opening waterfront areas to as many people and activities as possible.

Yet, the proposal ran smack tab into the lobbying power of the 16,000-member Fiesta Island Dog Owners (FIDO)

by Ernie McCray

When we say to a veteran or to someone active in the military, “Thank you for your service” what are we thanking them for?

I ask this question for the children’s sake, for the many teenage warriors, fresh out of high school, who find themselves off somewhere in a land, that was never mentioned in their schooling, “making a difference.”

I mean after World War II came to an end, has there been any real reason for our country to be involved in war?

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society and Lighthouse volunteer and San Diego Historian Karen Scanlon, for a lavishly illustrated discussion of San Diego’s Operational Lighthouse, and the Six Lights that have watched over San Diego Bay over the years.

JOIN ZOOM MEETING, THURS. June 17, 2021 at 7 PM