OB Rag

Originally published August 6, 2021
In an unprecedented move this morning, 22 community leaders published an open letter to the Ocean Beach Town Council and stated:

“… we call upon OBTC to hold a membership-wide election rather than privately appointing so many vacant seats. We further ask that the board address the community’s concerns about Mark [Winkie’]s departure. Only by airing these issues and allowing the community to be involved in the election can OBTC begin to re-establish trust.”

It’s the membership of the OB Town Council – a private organization – that elects new board members.

Beach Cleanup – Ocean Beach Pier

Saturday, August 07 2021 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Ocean Beach Veteran’s Plaza, 1900 Ocean Front St, San Diego, CA 92107, USA

Join Surfrider Foundation for a beach and street cleanup at Ocean Beach Pier.

Meet at Ocean Beach Veterans’ Plaza, just south of the lifeguard station where Abbot St. meets Newport Ave. If there is another event on the grass, we’ll be on the beach nearby. Just look for the blue Surfrider tent!

Beach Cleanup Information

The following was received by the OB Rag this morning, August 6:

An Open Letter to the Ocean Beach Town Council

August 5, 2021

As members and leaders of the Ocean Beach community, we are deeply concerned with the recent Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC) board vacancies. Members of the OBTC voted for a new slate of board members in February, and already there are four vacancies and a lack of transparency over the board’s request that Mark Winkie resign as president. This is especially puzzling since the board re-elected Mark as president just a few months ago.

Our Summer Appeal for Donations During the Pandemic – Again!

Keep the Press Local and Free and Healthy

The OB Rag‘s second Pandemic Summer Fundraiser starts today! Who would have known that when we started our 2020 fundraising campaign, we’d be still wearing masks in indoor public spaces. But here we are. For the last several years, we’ve held one fundraiser a year, in the summer. This week our goal is to reach $2,000 in donations and contributions from our readers and supporters.

Local Boy, Kevin, Does Poorly in Recall Survey

Local boy, Kevin Faulconer – who lives “near Point Loma” – didn’t fare too well in a very recent statewide survey. He received 5%. The poll had bad news for Governor Newsom as well.

PLHS Yearbooks Ready Thursday, August 5

Point Loma High School yearbooks have arrived. Questions can be directed to ahazewksi@sandi.net.

City Council Approves $2.1 million for public access at Bermuda Avenue

The infrastructure package included $2.1 million to improve public access to the coast at Bermuda Avenue and $940,000 for libraries in Ocean Beach and San Carlos. KPBS

Bee Die-Off in Point Loma From Pesticides?

On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council unanimously declared the Sports Arena area “surplus land”, and by state law, must first offer the 48-acre site to affordable housing developers.

The state housing authority must still approve the new plan of the area.

Here is the process that is now involved, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

A timeline for when the new plan will be approved is not set but the city’s department of real estate and airport management said it expected the state to respond in two to four weeks. It will be up to the department to sign off on the total plan, not just the housing component, which includes the stipulation about a new sports arena

By Ernie McCray

Occasionally
if I write something
along the lines
of, say, a little Mexican girl
curled up in her fears
of what’s happening
in her world
as she’s housed
in a cage,
or of a Black man
dying from
a racist policeman’s rage,
his knee on the brotha’s neck,
someone says
I’m playing the “race card’
and I agree
since, in America,
race cards
are the only cards in the deck.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

Masquerading as a serious education research paper, “Making it Count: The Productivity of Public Charter Schools in Seven U.S. Cities” is little more than a flawed propaganda screed. The authors from the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions claim the superiority of “public charter” schools over traditional public schools (TPS) by employing thoroughly discredited methods.

They repeat the same data manipulation malfeasance that has been debunked multiple times over the past decade.

Nuclear Shutdown News

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry, in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

Japan Goes Nuclear During Olympics

As Covid cases in Tokyo hit a record daily high of 4000+ (and rising) on July 31 , another perspective on the Covid Olympics appeared in a July 26 Reuters article, “Japan goes nuclear in bid to stay cool during Olympics.”

The article reported, “Japan has rebooted extra power plants, including a long dormant nuclear plant, and has taken other steps to avoid a power crisis as temperatures rise” as does the need for cooling, especially Tokyo,” where the games began on July 23.

Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.

By Jane Mayer / The New Yorker / August 2, 2021

It was tempting to dismiss the show unfolding inside the Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, as an unintended comedy. One night in June, a few hundred people gathered for the première of “The Deep Rig,” a film financed by the multimillionaire founder of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, who is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.

Styled as a documentary, the movie asserts that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen by supporters of Joe Biden, including by Antifa members who chatted about their sinister plot on a conference call.

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: