OB Rag

The scooter wars have enveloped San Diego for months. Whether you love them or loath them, the scooters are upon us.

Will they go the way of the dockless bikes? Remember them? Or the Decko-bikes? Or will they substantially alter the way many of us get around?

With San Diego having experienced our first near-fatality of a scooter crash just recently in Pacific Beach, with mounting other accidents involving scooters, with ER doctors bemoaning their impact, with the Mayor coming out with his proposal on regulating them, with new scooter companies releasing their fleets upon our streets and sidewalks, with crash victims lining up to sue the scooter companies, with certain cities banning or regulating them, with scooter companies suing cities for restricting them – one cannot get away from the new reality of scooter wars.

Local television and online media station KUSI picked up the OB Rag‘s story from Tuesday about the high number of deaths and serious injuries at Sunset Cliffs during 2018 – and even gave the OB Rag accreditation – which we are grateful for as it is a rare occasion for the Rag to be acknowledged by mainstream media.

But there’s just one problem: they got it wrong.

KUSI‘s headline for their online report blared: “Record number of deaths and injuries at Sunset Cliffs this year.”

Now that she is in her new District 2 office, Councilwoman Jen Campbell has announced her new staff – which includes one of her former Democratic Primary opponents, Jordan Beane, who has been hired on as her Communications Director and Policy Advisor.

Campbell’s representative for Ocean Beach is Seamus Kennedy, another Policy Advisor, who also represents her office in Mission Beach.

Her Community Representative for Point Loma and the Midway is Miller Saltzman.

Here is the full list of Campbell’s office staff and their community assignments:

Is it storm surf or high tides? Whatever it is -surf was up in Ocean Beach – today, Wednesday, December 12.

And ACE (Albert C Elliott) was there. Check out his pics.

Meet the Leaders of the OB Town Council and the OB Planning Board

There’s been a changing of the guard in Ocean Beach. The top leadership of the two main community organizations – the OB Town Council and the OB Planning Board – have just recently changed.

The OB Town Council has a new president – Mark Winkie, and a new vice-president, Jill Kent.

Over at the OB Planning Board, the new interim chair Andrea Schlageter was made permanent chair, and Kevin Hastings was selected as the new vice-chair.

The Day of Shadow and Light
By Kathy Blavatt

Monday, November 24, 2018 was an ironic day.
Mel Shapiro San Diego’s longtime civic activist passed away.

I had a moment a little while ago when I was thinking about the notion that democrats, in spite of recent political victories (Yes!!!) need to come up with a message or at least a snappy meme, that resonates with voters (and more and more people are becoming so designated).

In that same moment I happened to turn the TV on and a man on C-SPAN was discussing superheroes, how they are mostly about creating a better world, citing Superman’s pursuit of “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

That triggered in my mind, right away, long ago days, when I was all caught up in the excitement of “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!”

OB Rag Talks to Principal Marco Drapeau

By Brett Warnke

Grades are good. Fundraising numbers are impressive. And OB Elementary is filled with smiling children, many brandishing ukuleles. But as San Diego’s rents soar, how might OBE change, too?

Ocean Beach Elementary is one of those schools you wished you’d attended. It’s one of the cliches of the community that we are filled with yogis, hippies and surfers. While (mildly) true, it is also true that OBE is one of California’s Distinguished Schools and has had 3 years of consecutive gains on its SBAC testing. Beside its grounds is a flourishing school garden. On the crest behind it are the broadly windowed Point Loma homes. And in front of its bright ceramic tiles, is the deep blue horizon of the Pacific Ocean.

What does OBE look like?

Border Patrol agents in riot gear stop faith leaders in Border Field State Park

By American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

On the afternoon of December 10th, dozens of faith leaders were arrested in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience at the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 400 people of faith and supporters gathered in Border Field State Park in San Diego in support of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. Faith leaders guided the group in a solemn procession to the border. When they reached the enforcement zone, they were stopped by a line of Border Patrol agents in riot gear. Leaders moved forward to offer a ceremonial blessing. Thirty people were taken into custody.

Up to now, the year 2018 has a higher death and seriously injured rate from beautiful but dangerous Sunset Cliffs than the average year since 2005.

For a number of years, the OB Rag has kept track of such tragedies as deaths and serious injuries caused by falls from the Cliffs or from the waters below. We have found that on average there have been 5 deaths or seriously injured each year since 2005.

And 2018 is already more tragic than the average year.

By our calculation from posts we have published since last January, there have been seven and possibly eight deaths or seriously injured in and around the Cliffs this year.

A 29-year old man may not survive injuries caused by the crash of his electric-scooter early Monday morning, the 10th of December.

The as-yet identified guy was riding a Lime scooter going eastbound on the south sidewalk of the 1200 block of Garnet Avenue. For unknown reasons, around 2:20 a.m. he veered to the right and struck a building.

He was hospitalized with “serious head injuries which are believed to be life threatening, according to police. (There was no update Tuesday morning as t his condition.)

Police said he was not wearing a helmet and also believe alcohol was a factor

By Geoff Page

There are many, many ways to get the news today. There was a time when there were only a few: basicically three network TV news programs, radio where the news was a part of music programming, and print, mainly newspapers. And, people had faith in the news, misplaced perhaps at times but not always.

Now, the news comes at us from everywhere and we don’t know what to trust. But the importance of small, local news disseminators like the OB Rag and the Peninsula Beacon has never changed. We want to know about the world but, really, our own world around us matters most.