OB Rag

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria just met the “new” mayor of Tijuana – Karla Ruiz MacFarland. She is the city of 2 million’s first woman mayor.

The two mayors met Tuesday, Feb. 16, virtually, and they both pledged to strengthen the cross-border relationship between the two cities, including safety measures for the pandemic. In a news release, Gloria said:

“Our relationship with Tijuana is about much more than trade or economics –- it’s about people. Our cities are inextricably linked, and it’s more important than ever for the leadership of our two cities to work together during these times.”

He will work with the new Tijuana mayor to “ensure the health, safety, and sustainability of our megaregion and stand united on issues of immigration, commerce, and cross-border pollution.”

In a press release by Gloria’s office, the two mayors called out the significance of the meeting, as both mayors represent firsts: the first person of color and LGBT elected mayor of San Diego and the first female mayor in Tijuana.

By Don Bauder / Times of San Diego / Feb. 18, 2021

A mob incited by then-President Trump invaded the Capitol. Everybody knows about that mob.

But what about the other mob that has been nurtured, cuddled, stroked by Trump? By whatever name — Mafia, organized crime, gangsters — this mob has gotten very little media attention, particularly in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Let’s call the first Mob 1 and the second Mob 2.

As noted last September, I have followed Trump’s Mob 2 since the 1980s. But in this essay, I will rely on works of three great investigative journalists: David Cay Johnston, an expert on Trump’s fraudulent finances; the late Wayne Barrett, who for decades reported on Trump and other New York crooks, and Dan E. Moldea, the reporter who exposed the cozy relationship between professional sports team owners and organized crime.

Straight Up With a Twist

By Edwin Decker

Hi Ed, I was all set to have a small (and safe) birthday gathering in my back yard with a handful of close friends. But the day before my birthday, the riot at the capital happened and two of my friends backed out . . . One of them said she couldn’t justify going to a party while, as she put it, “[T]he country is on fire.” The other one said that the riot was the last straw, on top of rising COVID-19 and mounting police brutality incidents . . . She even insinuated that I should have cancelled outright. I didn’t, but do you think she was right?

Julene H.M.

Dear Julene, I can’t help but wonder if people like this are real and if so, why they didn’t just slit their own wrists in the womb. Ok, sure, 2020 has been a festering canker on the anus of humanity, but what does 2020 expect us to do, crawl in a cave and watch stalactites grow? If you think like that you’ll always find a reason to avoid living in the moment.

With all the discussion about the current state of the Ocean Beach Pier, we thought about all the times over the past 12 years the pier has been forced to close and damaged. Here, then, is a memory tour of many of those moments, and a reminder of how much we all love the OB Pier. (The text and photos are from posts at the OB Rag.)

OB Pier – Monday, December 28, 2009. Photo by Jim Grant.

December 28, 2009 – The big news around downtown OB today was the big waves, number one – which forced the OB Pier to be closed by lifeguards. With large swells arriving up and down the Southern Cal coast, and with a National Weather Service high surf advisory in effect until 10 p.m. on Monday, local lifeguards had to close the pier, while a few top-notch surfers braved the waves – which could have been as high as 8 feet.

by OBPB

The OB Planning Board is holding elections on March 3, 2021. If you’ve attended a Planning Board meeting within the LAST 12 months, are at least 18, and live, own property or own a business within the OB Planning Area, the Planning Board invites you to submit an application to be a WRITE-IN candidate. Please submit your application by March 2, 2021.

Elections

3 Ways to Vote in 2021

By mail: Print and mail your voter registration form and ballot to Ocean Beach Planning Board, 4876 Santa Monica Ave. #133, San Diego, CA 92107. Must be in our mail box by 4 pm, March 3, 2021 to be counted.

By Geoff Page

A recent puff piece in the local weekly newspaper about the Ocean Beach Pier can serve as an illustration of the differences between what readers get in The OB Rag what readers see in the other local paper. What people need to read about are things that matter. The pier doesn’t need a puff piece, it may need an obituary.

The Beacon article asked why “the fuss over a few washed-out railings?” The answer lies later in the piece after a brief bit of history. That history included a colossal mistake and a truly idiotic location chosen for the pier.

First, the railing comment. The article quoted the general contractor that built the pier as saying:

“Those railings are doing exactly what they were meant to do — wash away in high seas, lessening resistance of water hitting the pier,” says the general contractor who built the pier (he prefers we not mention his name for privacy’s sake). “Rails can be easily replaced, though at an expected cost to the city.”

That the contractor did not want his name used is a really mystery.

by Jill Castellano / inewscource / February 12, 2021

For the second time, a federal watchdog agency found that the Department of Veterans Affairs’ investigation into unethical liver research performed on San Diego veterans was “not reasonable.”

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel published new reports on Tuesday, Feb. 8, revealing more details about the mistakes and violations that occurred during the research and its dissatisfaction with the VA’s investigation into what happened. inewsource broke the story about the unethical study in 2018 as the first article in its Risky Research series.

The study at the San Diego VA was part of a $6 million international project to find new therapies for people with alcoholic hepatitis. Researchers around the world were supposed to collect these patients’ leftover liver tissue after they received biopsies and look for patterns.

But that’s not what happened in San Diego.

By Colleen E. Putzel / Times of San Diego / Feb. 16, 2021

Like most tragedies, the onset of the pandemic produced a call for unity with sentiments ensuring “we’re all in this together.”

Every outlet, from the daily news to hand-made window signs, offered appreciation for those on the front line: health care workers, grocery store clerks, public transportation workers, and truck drivers. My father, a truck driver, and my mother, a seamstress, suddenly became heroes.

My father goes to work every day delivering construction materials and my mother paused her Etsy sales to make masks for her local hospital. I feared, especially early on, that my father’s company would begin laying off workers. As that threat seemed less imminent, it was replaced by the fear that he would be exposed to the virus.

Former Charger Owns and Runs OB’s Sunnie’s

Like most San Diegans, former Chargers player and Point Loma resident Israel Stanley grew up eating good Mexican food. Today, he’s sharing his love of the cuisine with his community, one dish at a time, at his family-owned restaurant. Stanley owns and operates Sunnie’s in Ocean Beach, a Mexican café and taco shop on Point Loma Avenue. Sure, he’s the Black owner of a Mexican café (and likely the only Black-owned taco shop in San Diego), but he doesn’t consider Mexican culture his adopted culture. “It’s just my culture,” he told NBC 7. …

OB Dad and Son Set Up Foundation for Mexican Surfers

Areck Madden and his son Cole, who works at Ocean Beach Surf & Skate Shop, have helped to set up a foundation to donate surfboards and accessories benefiting less-fortunate wave riders south of the border through the shop. And it all started with Areck and Cole encountering a Mexican surfing dad-son duo on a recent Baja trip. …

On the one year anniversary of San Diego County’s declaration of a local health emergency due to COVID-19, there are hopeful signs that the worst of the pandemic could be behind us. And these charts and graphs demonstrate the basis of that hope.

It was on February 14th, 2020, Valentine’s Day, that San Diego County declared a local health emergency to combat the coronavirus. At that time there were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in San Diego County and several suspected cases.

One year later to the day, more than a quarter of a million people in San Diego County have tested positive for COVID-19 and 3,000 people have died. But because there is hope, it does not mean we stop or ease up on

Here it is – today is “President’s Day” – a holiday meant to celebrate all American presidents and specifically Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays.

And here we are – more than three months after the Presidential election in November – and the Republican Party still refuses to accept Joe Biden as The President. The nation watched over the weekend and witnessed 43 US Republican senators refuse to hold Trump accountable for the bloody, seditious January 6 insurrection.

Not all Republicans – and certainly not the 7 who voted to convict – nor those in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach. And currently there are hopeful signs that the anti-Trump wing may even form a new party.

But the main wing of Trump’s party, including those sycophants in state parties who have censured the brave GOP’ers who didn’t go along, are apparently the majority. And it’s shameful that today, they are celebrating President’s Day even while dishonoring the current president – not to mention, the will of the people.

By Kathy Blavatt

Valentine’s Day is a fine time to ignite the “amour” in your life.

Valentine’s Day is by far the most romantic holiday. Valentine flowers and warm hearts remind us of those we love. It is the prelude to Spring, welcoming fragrant scents that burst forth from colorful blossoms.

Nature shows us how to revive and re-energize as we awake from the winter cold and darkness.

Luckily in San Diego, we can hardly complain about the cold, yet many locals think it’s the end of the world every time it rains!