OB Rag

Target – even a so-called “mini-Target” – moving into Ocean Beach has angered many residents and a few businessowners. But OB isn’t the only neighborhood pissed off by the retail giant. Now, they’ve done it to somebody else.

This time the corporate behemoth Target has angered another community – North Park.

Despite community protests, petitions and outcry, Target had a famous dinosaur mural on the corner of University Avenue and Ray Street painted over.

Crews hired by Target were seen on Monday, Dec. 17, spraying over the “Weenasaurus Rex” mural painted on an exterior wall.

A daring rescue by a local lifeguard on Sunday over at Sunset Cliffs has caught the attention of social media.

Lifeguard Kirsten Rich dove into dangerous waters off a cove on Sunday sans wetsuit to rescue a surfer struggling while hanging onto some rocks.

A 7-year old boy was injured early Monday evening on Newport Avenue by a car while he and his family were looking at Christmas lights. The young lad remains hospitalized Tuesday with a serious injury to his left leg.

Just before 6:30 p.m. Monday the boy and his family were walking on the north side of the 4700 block of Newport Avenue looking at the holiday displays on the south side when the as-yet unidentified youngster stepped into the street. The north side of that block borders OB Elementary School and there are many residences across the street with festive and lit displays.

Projects on Cape May, Narragansett, Saratoga and Voltaire Up for Review

The most important sub-committee of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, the Project Review Committee, has a full plate on its agenda with 4 projects to review for its Wednesday night meeting. The panel meets at the OB Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave on Dec. 19 at 6pm.

The Project Review Committee has first crack at the projects the Planning Board reviews and usually gives a recommendation to the full board which carries substantial weight. Up for review are the following:

4744 Cape May Ave

This is a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) to construct a new 1,974 square-foot, 3-story residence with decks;

By Angela Mooney D’Arcy and Paloma Aguirre / Times of San Diego

Every year, the state Lands Commission makes decisions that impact the lives of millions of Californians and over 150 indigenous nations. This little-known agency manages more than four million acres of the state’s public lands. From managing oil and gas leases along the coast, to overseeing development in the vicinity of the Tijuana River in the south, and Goose Lake in the north, the commission’s decisions have consequences that last for generations.

One of the commission’s core responsibilities is ensuring the people of California can use the public lands and waters under its care. But right here in San Diego County, we have a river that is inaccessible due to pollution, and tribal communities that have been displaced from ancestral homelands.

By Sarah “Steve” Mosko

What do beer, oysters, table salt, air & tap water have in common? They’re all ways humans are ingesting microplastics, tiny bits of plastic waste ubiquitous in oceans, lakes and rivers and even soil and air.

Wildlife as diverse as whales, seabirds, fish and zooplankton are polluted by ingesting plastic debris. It’s naïve to assume that humans, sharing the same global environment and eating at the top of the food chain, are magically spared contamination from plastics.

Though no one has yet measured how much plastic pollution humans actually carry around, there’s plenty of evidence we’re taking the stuff in, by eating, drinking and just breathing.

By Jacob Snow, Technology & Civil Liberties Attorney, ACLU of Northern California / ACLU Speak Freely

Recently, a patent application from Amazon became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year.

While the details are sketchy,

In recent tests by the school district at Ocean Beach Elementary, water was found at 5 sites with lead that exceeded local standards. Parents were reportedly informed last week of the report results.

Water standards at San Diego Unified School District for lead are 5 parts-per-billion (ppb) (this is a targeted goal) and the District requires action to be taken if lead is found at 5 ppb or higher. This is in comparison with State and Federal guidelines which require action to be taken if lead is found in drinking water at levels of 15 parts-per-billion (ppb) or higher.

According to the December 14, 2018 report, sites that exceeded the standard included:

After living as a model tenant for nearly 30 years in her Ocean Beach cottage, a 98-year-old woman is being evicted by the landlord. Abc10News is reporting that Betty Morse received a 90-day-notice in July terminating her lease.

Why? It appears the owner is quitting the Section 8 housing assistance program, which Morse has been using to help cover her rent.

The landlord is evicting Morse, a model tenant, in order to make substantial renovations to the cottage and then place it on the market for a higher rental value. Short-term vacation rental anyone?

Here is part of 10News report:

(And other important info on getting your news)

From San Diego Free Press

Dear friends,

The day has come to dim the lights at the San Diego Free Press. We could not have had such a successful six and a half year run without you. Each one of you invested something essential in this endeavor, whether it was through your thought-provoking submissions, committed readership, or crucial financial support. We are so grateful for the opportunities we have had as editors to get to know so many of you personally.

There are a few other details that we would like to leave you with.

By David Helvarg / Blue Frontier Campaign / December 10, 2018

Between the devastation of Mexico Beach, Florida and Paradise California plus the 4th National Climate Assessment Report, the year 2018 may become known as the point of no denial, an acknowledgement of what Governor Jerry Brown calls, “the new abnormal.” At this point climate deniers are being recognized as little more than the willing tools of the fossil fuel industry such as the coal lobbyist now running the EPA.

The best available science reflected in the federal report prepared by 13 government agencies including NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation, suggests the worst possible scenarios if we continue on our present course (which we appear to be with 16 of the 17 hottest years on record occurring since 2001).