OB Rag

by Ernie McCray

“No collusion,”
the man, with way more talk
than walk says.

And he flies across
waters to Helsinki
to meet and greet
a Russian of ill repute
who is seen
as our number one enemy,

a man who slapped our country
upside the head
like a Mafia Godfather
putting an underling
in his place,

Editordude: Many who grew up at the coast in Southern California in the late fifties and early sixties remember how plentiful abalones were.Then they disappeared ostensibly from over-fishing. Yet, here’s some hope for their return.

By Laylan Connelly / Southern California News Group / July 19, 2018

John Warren thinks back to the days when getting his hands on abalone was as easy as jumping on a surfboard and plucking the plentiful shellfish off a reef. Warren, who grew up at the beach, always cooked them with white wine in a big wok for the “ab feed,”

If you’re looking for something to do Saturday afternoon – look no further. The OB Green Center is hosting a veggie BBQ from 2 to 6pm. Everyone’s welcome – come support our community’s environment, peace and social justice resource center.

By Brett Warnke

As I’m a San Diego teacher and active in my union, in the summer of 2016 I attended a National Education Association (NEA) conference in D.C.

Now two years later, on our heels from a crushing blow to unions by the Supreme Court, I returned to the NEA convention, but this time in the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Teachers are a strange sort in high numbers. Most in attendance are rule-obsessed, earnest, scrupulous, and many enjoy the melodious tones of their own voices.

By Sarah “Steve” Mosko / Boogie Green

How often do we talk about climate change to family, friends or coworkers? Probably next to never if we’re like most people.

Yale’s national polling reveals that the majority of Americans accept that global warming is happening (73 percent) and are worried about it (63 percent). Even more want carbon dioxide, or CO₂, regulated as a pollutant (81 percent).

Given these stats and the warning of scientists that the time window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change is closing fast, what keeps us from openly discussing it?

The answer is complex.

They need tables and help – see inside.

By Bonnie

What comes to mind when you think of bees?

That they are dying out? The lack of bees pollinating will negatively affect our planet?

Then how did I get stung by that lone bee at Montano de Oro State Park last fall, sending me into a tailspin looking for antihistamines before my leg swelled. And why over a three week span were my husband and I finding one to three bees dead – or half way there – every other night in the upstairs bedroom of our Point Loma home?

By noon, the anointed hour of the City Council hearing on short term vacation rentals, the Council Chambers was packed with only a few seats open here and there. The Green Shirts – those who supported Airbnb – had arrived early and had captured many of the first rows of the cavernous chamber. A second room had to be opened a few steps away on the 12 floor of City Hall for the spill-over.

Because the Blue Shirts – those from Ocean Beach – arrived close to noon, we were left with scattered small sections with which to stake out. The Red Shirts were also scattered about; the Red Shirts were divided into 2 crowds: those who were members and supporters of Save San Diego Neighborhoods – the one group that has persisted for years in opposing short term rentals, and the other group who were members of the union, Unite Here (more on them later).

Local surf photographer Randy Dible has been shooting ocean theme images for over three decades.

Randy grew-up in Mission Beach in the 1970s and 1980s, and now resides on Ocean Beach.

He frequently travels to Hawaii, Mexico and other exotic surf destinations. His images have been published in Surfer, Surfing, Surfer’s Journal, Ocean Magazine and other periodicals world wide.

Creating Commission on Police Practices Moves to Full San Diego City Council.

“Trust is the Issue” was one of our rallying cries at the City Council’s Rules Committee meeting last Wednesday, July 11.

And the committee came through, voting 3-2 to pass the idea of creating a Commission on Police Practices on to the full Council.

That sounds hopeful to me but trying to build trust with the police in San Diego, for communities of color, has been like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. One with too many pieces – due to years of bad history.

There’s something compelling about desolation, about lost places filled with traces of forgotten histories both personal and collective. That’s why I’ve always had a penchant for little towns around the Salton Sea, the vast, dying body of water I describe in my first novel, Drift:

It was a mistake, the product of a vulgar utopia gone awry. At the turn of the century, they dreamed of transforming the desert into a garden by bleeding nature of more than she readily offered.

After 5 plus hours of public testimony, a bi-partisan majority of the San Diego City Council today, Monday July 16, halted Mayor Faulconer’s proposal on short term vacation rentals and approved by a vote of 6 to 3 Councilwoman Bry’s proposal to limit the rentals to “primary residence” and onsite granny flat.

In the end, 4 Democrats (Bry, Cole, Gomez, Ward ) and 2 Republicans (Zapf and Kersey) voted for the so-called “Bry Proposal”. In essence, the Bry plan limits short term rentals to the primary residence – and if there’s an accessory unit, a so-called “granny flat” – the host is allowed to rent that out as well, as that still meets the requirement for the host to be on the property during the visit.

This historic vote has, in effect, saved San Diego’s coastal communities – including Ocean Beach