OB Rag

Yup, that’s right. Monday, October 22 is the very last day to register to vote here in California.

Hundreds of people gathered at Dog Beach and spelled out “VOTE!”

There’s been some changes at the Ocean Beach Planning Board of late.

Andrea Schlageter – who was interim-chair – has now been selected to be the “full” Chair. Kevin Hastings was selected by Board members to be the new Vice Chair, Craig Klein was chosen to be Treasurer, and rounding out the executive committee, Tracy Dezenzo is now the new secretary.

Kevin Hastings was recently appointed to planning area district 6 and Tracy Dezenzo was appointed to district 1 at the September 6 Board meeting.

At the most recent full Board meeting in early October, the Board appointed 4 new members: Virginia Wilson, Elizabeth Felando, Anthony Ciulla, and Richard Merriman.

It was supposed to be the day in OB without cars. But from the looks of some of the comments in recent posts here at the OB Rag, Ocean Beach had a mixed reaction to “CyclOBias”

Or did it?

We’ve seen complaints of cars being towed. Of other frustrations. Plus an attitude among some locals that ‘hey, OB is one of the most pedestrian-and-bike-friendly neighborhoods around, and we don’t need others telling us we can now “enjoy” our own community …’ We don’t know.

The Ocean Beach Town Council meets this Wednesday, October 24, from 7:00pm – 8:30pm. The meeting is at the Masonic Lodge, located at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, in OB.

Regular speakers include local leaders, political, business and law enforcement representatives , as well as members from all corners of the Ocean Beach community. Whether you’re a long-time OB-cean or just want to learn more about OB, all are welcome!

Also, the OBTC is getting prepared to host the foodie event of the year for Ocean Beach – the annual OB Restaurant Walk – along with the OB Mainstreet Association.

The Trump of Pahrump is dead.

Yes, the world’s most famous brothel owner, Dennis Hof, left this world peacefully last week in bed at the Love Ranch only hours after celebrating at his birthday party/campaign rally.

The event was held to aid Hof in his quest to secure a seat in the Nevada state legislature as a Republican, a race he was heavily favored to win. Hof is best known for his HBO reality TV show about the Moonlight Bunny Ranch and his biography, The Art of the Pimp, which gleefully riffs off of the title of the President’s paean to himself.

The OB Rag joins the rest of the community in congratulating the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association in celebrating its 40th year.

And the group’s history is neatly compiled in a easy-to-read, 12 page pull-out section of the recent Peninsula Beacon. OBMA members Denny Knox, Mike Akey and Mike James are quoted extensively in the piece. We learned some cool stuff.

The group was originally founded in 1978 as the OB Merchant’s Association, but 20 years later in 1998, it received a national designation as the OB Mainstreet Association,

A recent flier put out by pro-Zapf forces falsely accuses her opponent in the District 2 race, Jen Campbell, of supporting the airport’s expansion. On a flier, picked up by Voice of San Diego‘s Scott Lewis (who lives in OB) while walking his dog, Campbell is quoted as saying, “Yes, I do agree with the expansion …” but then it stops and adds another quote about the future of the airport.

Campbell’s campaign has called “foul!”

Campbell’s original quote, according to her staff, was:

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced his new proposed regulations for dockless scooters, Thursday, October 18. They include a speed limit of 8 mph in certain areas, and along the boardwalks in Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and La Jolla.

Another element of the proposal is requiring that scooter companies share ridership data with the city and educate their riders about city and state vehicle and traffic codes (like not riding on sidewalks) including the cost of citations. Their speeds would also be more limited in Mission Bay Park, Liberty Station NTC Park, Balboa Park,

By John Tharp & Maria Foscarinis / OtherWords

When San Diego resident Gerald Stark’s rent increased and he couldn’t afford another apartment, the retired union pipefitter moved into his RV.

But because he lacked an address, San Diego law made it almost impossible for him to park his RV legally. Soon the city confiscated it, leaving him out on the streets. There, he was ticketed for violating another law prohibiting sleeping in public.

Statement from Dr Jen Campbell:

The Bahia Resort Hotel is trying to get the City of San Diego to approve an expansion of their leasehold, getting rid of Gleason Road, over 270 parking spaces and public access to the public beach at Bahia point which is one of the few areas where non-motorized, recreational watercraft can launch into Mission Bay.

By Ernie McCray

I keep thinking of Christine,
her story of a man
cupping his hand
over her mouth
so she couldn’t scream
and expose his scheme
to forcefully
have his way with her
like so many men have done
for eons
in human history.
And for decades she didn’t scream,
except for those
inaudible screams that echo in
those dark places inside
human beings
where we try to hide
pain that’s hard to confront,
to bear,

Here’s Part One

By Bob Dorn

I didn’t know that the police beat was one of the tests normally applied to newcomers until the San Diego Evening Tribune editors released me from it after six months and, to my surprise, had me cover the County Board of Supervisors.

Developers had been pumping out two-story stuccoes amidst the chapparaled and original Spanish land grants to the east and the north of the city. The collapse of C. Arnholt Smith’s US National Bank was at this time the largest bank failure in US history, so I was a bit surprised to be assigned to cover the Board of Supervisors; after having been in town only 12 months or so I figured I didn’t know f-all about the county.