OB Rag

Winston David Martin died Friday, April 9, 2021, after a valiant fight against cancer. He is survived by a village comprised of his loving wife, family, friends, and the community that he cared so much for.

David participated in too many projects, both large and small to mention, but he regretted greatly his inability to shepherd one of his most personally meaningful projects to fruition. The Ocean Beach Veterans Memorial.

By Edwin Decker

It’s rather shocking to me that someone of comedian Chelsea Handler’s age and experience considers the idea of fair trials for all as being “pathetic.”

It’d be one thing if it was some dung-brained undergraduate majoring in Neotraditional Jazz Puppetry spouting this nonsense to their dorm-mates, but we’re talking about a 41-year-old woman here. She has traveled the world as a successful producer, writer, actor, TV host, comedian, activist and drunk. She should know some stuff! But this? This is dumb.

Could not leave alone Union-Tribune editorial cartoonist Steve Breen’s piece of work published in today’s paper. Apparently, he falls into that group of patriots who think 20 years in Afghanistan is just not enough. His cartoon today displayed that sentiment.

So, here’s our response – added some color to his graphic.

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An Introduction To A “Trash Man”

By Judi Curry

Several weeks ago I met a very interesting resident of Ocean Beach and in the course of our getting to know Steve Tatro, I found out that he had a BA degree in journalism. I asked him if he had had anything published and he said a few small things. He realized that he could not make a living as a writer, so he left that field and went to work doing other things. Suffice it to say, he has been quite successful in his other endeavors.

As we continued talking, he told me that frequently he goes down to the beach to pick up trash.

By Eric DuVall / PtLoma – OB Monthly / April 13, 2021

It happened on Voltaire Street.

In the early decades of the community, Ocean Beach “boosters” touted Voltaire Street as an “avenue of opportunity” and Ocean Beach as the little town with two business districts.

And didn’t most of the folks who came out to OB in those days take the old street car down Voltaire Street to Wonderland Station? They sure did. And isn’t Voltaire the only “author street” that runs all the way to the beach? In fact, it is.

This is a uniquely OB-centric story, and moreover, every one of the events we are going to consider here happened right on Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach.

What’ Up With the Mayor’s App? Part III

By Colleen O’Connor

Guess what. California is headed for another drought.

The snowpack is below normal. The rainfall insufficient. And the reservoirs are catching mostly heatwave-driven snow-melt runoff.

“The 2020-2021 winter was the third driest on record, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The region’s reservoirs are beginning to see the impact and are at half their total capacity.” Sfgate.com

By Geoff Page

After three years of trying to obtain a copy, the city finally coughed up the engineering report on the Ocean Beach Pier. As expected, the pier is in real trouble. The OCEAN BEACH FISHING PIER Draft Evaluation Report, dated September 3, 2019, was not shared with the public by former Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

The current District 2 councilmember Jen Campbell has not shared it either.

This report explains why the city is closing the pier every time the surf is even head high. The closings have been much more frequent than in the past when the pier was only closed when it was actually damaged. The city is worried about the pier.

The Executive Summary of the report stated:

“During the inspection, areas of significant deterioration of the primary structural elements was observed. Seven piles were found to have spalling, while 25% of the piles were cracked. There is also significant corrosion in the majority of the pile caps and the soffit of the deck panels.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

The Education Week Advertiser just notified me about an opportunity to be indoctrinated into the Cato Institute’s culture and education views. The ad proclaims, “The Cato Institute and the Sphere Education Initiative are excited to announce the return of Sphere Summit: Teaching Civic Culture Together for the Summer of 2021!” They generously offer impressive full scholarship programs for educators and administrators.

The money for all this comes from Charles Koch and associated libertarians. It is funneled through the Cato Institute which was originally called the Charles Koch Foundation, Inc. when he and fellow libertarian Edward Crane founded it in 1977. It is one of the many organizations and businesses that Charles Koch uses to advance his personal interests which are often referred to as the Kochtopus.

By Colleen O’Connor

Recently, featured in my Part 1 was a disgusting trash site on the corner of Witherby and Hancock.

Remember, San Diegans have been encouraged to use the “Get it Done” app that Mayor Todd Gloria announced has been improved.

However, you still cannot upload photos or work from iPhones or iPads, and the most under-served and elderly constituents do not have internet access at all. So, how are they to register their trashing streets and sidewalks?

After the first photo was posted, that site was cleaned up.

Here are two new photos of the horrid conditions of just two of the city’s bus stops. More are available.

Currently, there’s a push by Point Loma residents to create a mini-park at the Del Monte Avenue overlook. Del Monte is the only Ocean Beach east-west street that doesn’t go all the way through due to the steep climb of the hill. The dead-end at the top of the hill has served as a stopping off point for generations of locals. It has one of the best views of OB and the ocean below.

Now, due to residents’ complaints of sunset and night-time crowds, their noise and trash, the city and the Peninsula Community Planning Board are mulling over options for the small space.

One idea is to transform the site into a mini-park with benches and landscaping

San Diego’s “Stop the Steal” Should be Named “Stop the Folly”

By Colleen O’Connor and Don Bauder

What was the Council thinking by trying to overturn a legitimate election result?

It wasn’t thinking. It was showing that it is utterly incapable of reading economic tea leaves.

First, the politics: The Council recently voted to overturn a legitimate election result, similar to what Donald Trump has been trying to do. It wants a Trumpian recalculation. The defeat – and it was a defeat – of Measure C to authorize a special tax to expand the convention center did not meet the then-required threshold of a 2/3 affirmative vote to pass.