OB Rag

Here’s more charts to worry and think about – some negative, at least one positive. They’re all from the San Diego Union-Tribune tracking program current as of May 20, and one from today’s issue, current as of May 21.

The most citations that San Diego Police officers have issued for violations of the orders put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were in the 92107 zip code area – which include Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs.

In an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune Friday, May 22, writer David Hernandez reported that San Diego police issued 157 citations between April 2 and May 6. And most of them – 55 – were issued in the 92107 area. In comparison, 35 were for the 92101 zip code area – downtown, and 9 for 92109, which includes Mission Bay and PB. Most citations were issued in April.

by Kathy Blavatt

May has brought out various shades of pink in my garden. These cheery blossoms nicely contrast with the green foliage, and blues skies that peek through as the gray burns off through the morning’s May gray.

The growth in my garden has been spectacular.

Nursing Home Advocate Asks ‘Where are our elected leaders?’ – Not Enough Is Being Done

By Lemor Abrams / CBS8 / May 20, 2020

New numbers show about a half of San Diego County’s coronavirus deaths are linked to congregate living facilities, like nursing homes.

California advocates for nursing homes are urging the state to step up testing and enforcement of safety measures at those facilities.

“We have all these so called elected leaders. Where the hell are they?” said Patricia McGinnis, founder of California’s Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Three months into the pandemic, McGinnis is losing patience.

“Look enough is enough. Forty-percent of the people in nursing homes have died,” she said.

Experts are confident that the numbers of deaths from COVID-19 are higher than reported; death rate 10% higher than average

By Mari Payton, Dorian Hargrove, Tom Jones and Jay Yoo / 7SanDiego / May 19, 2020

Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicates the death rate since COVID-19 arrived in San Diego County is far higher than in previous years. The data provides a hint that the deaths for COVID-19 are likely far higher than the 209 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in San Diego County. And while the numbers from the CDC do not reveal the cause of death,

Here’s the recent poll the Ocean Beach Town Council conducted on time-limit restrictions on OB beach parking lots. They received 407 responses with nearly half (47%) wanting to see a 4 hour time limit (no cost) to the lots.

By Judi Curry

Dear Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Councilmember Jen Campbell:

I have been a resident of the Sunset Cliffs area since 1966. I have never felt as concerned about living in this area as I do now. I feel that my safety is in jeopardy, along with all of my neighbors living south of Pt. Loma Avenue. Let me tell you why.

Since the pandemic the parking lots along the Cliffs are blocked off. At each lot there are many police officers and cadets asking people to “move on”.

By Colleen O’Connor

Who are these people? And where do they come from?

What is it about newcomers to San Diego that get in positions of power and proceed to try and re-make the city in the image of New York? Overcrowded, densely population and dwarfed by sunless high-rises and wind tunnels – are a recipe for disasters in the future.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic taught us nothing about such urban nightmares?

If not listening to New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, repeat day after tragic day that “density” is what overwhelmed his city, then consider Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, the Pritzker prize–winning author and academic, with a new exhibition at the Guggenheim.

Several people in the beach area took videos of a large group of unruly and rude bicyclists who rolled through Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach on Sunday, May 17. Most – if not all – the riders did not have masks on and didn’t practice social distancing. They were also ignoring stop signs, red lights, pedestrians and motorists in their massive jaunt around the beaches, flipping people off who raised concerns of their behavior.

At one point in Mission Beach, several of the bicyclists punched and kicked a woman motorist who had gotten out of her car to scold some of them for running a red light.

10News collected the different videos and interviewed a man who shot some instagram video. Pacific Beach resident Steve Paen told the station:

“We were at a stoplight and then this massive bike brigade [started] rolling down Garnet, heading east, and it looked like there were maybe a 100 or 200 of them just rolling down the street.”

by Ernie McCray

Oh, these hair-raising
misguided
shortsighted
folks
waving their
red, white, and blue flags
and wearing their red, white, and blue
caps and hats,
and red, white and blue
tennis shoes,
on the news,
unmasked and
confused and unglued,
packing heat,
singing the blues
because they can’t
do whatever
they want to do,

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / May 14, 2020

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) started releasing the results of its new Cities Study Project in mid-2019. It is not a coincidence that the cities chosen for the study have long been targeted for public school privatization.

The ten cities selected are: Indianapolis; Baton Rouge; Camden; Kansas City; Memphis; New Orleans; Oakland; St. Louis; San Antonio; and Washington DC. This CREDO study is even more opaque and biased than its previous efforts.

Who is CREDO?