OB Rag

New details have emerged in the murder case of Elizabeth Sullivan, a Point Loma Navy spouse and mother, who went missing in 2014 and whose body was found two years later floating in San Diego Bay right off Point Loma.

Details came out during the arraignment for murder of Matthew Sullivan on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14th, in Superior Court in San Diego. Matthew Sullivan is the victim’s husband and chief suspect in the crime.

New elements of the crime now known include the fact that a knife used to slay Elizabeth and that her body had been hidden for a while – in some unknown location – for when her body was discovered in the water, it was badly decomposed but hadn’t been in water all that long. Her body was found in October 2016 – she had been missing since 2014.

The inevitable has happened … again.

Another fall off the bluffs at Sunset Cliffs – this Friday morning, around 3 a.m. Down near Ladera Street – where the stairs were recently closed – due to unstable cliffs.

Luckily the 30-year old guy – unidentified – survived after he fell roughly 50 feet down the bluff – just northwest of Sunset Cliffs Natural Park.

It appears, that for better or worse, the 4800 block of Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach is destined for some big changes. At least that is one likely development.

Two adjacent properties in the middle of the north half of the block are up for sale – and together they represent at least one-sixth or larger of that side of the block.

The property at Dover Plumbing at 4870 Voltaire is up for sale – and the next door property owned by well-known OBcean Jim Bell will also be up for sale.

The results of the two elections the Ocean Beach Town Council just held are now in.

13 individuals were seeking election to the seven open seats for Board of Directors positions, and that election is now over. Afterwards, at their Feb. 13th Board meeting, the Board voted in its new leadership, the Executive Board.

The big news is that Marcus Turner, formerly the vice president, was elected as the new president – and all three incumbents running for the Board were re-elected.

Here are the results for the open seats on the Board, for the 2018-2020 term for the Ocean Beach Town Council:

A look at the holiday co-opted from paganism … you know … kinda like Easter. Or Christmas.

By Melissa McEwan / Shakesville

Like most of our holidays, Valentine’s Day has a history that reportedly starts with those horny pagans and another one of their many fertility festivals, makes its way to the Catholic Church, which, in a typical cooption, laid on top its own celebration and gave it a fancy new saint-name, winds its way through the work of a popular British author (no, not that guy for a change, but this guy) who gifted its association with romantic love, and ended up mercilessly corrupted by soulless corporations who want to Sell You Shit Without Which You Can’t Possibly Celebrate This Holiday.

Ya know. Kinda like Easter. Or Christmas.

The city of San Diego has closed the cliff top stairs that lead to the rocks and beaches below at the foot of Ladera Street in Point Loma’s Sunset Cliffs. And the city said the stairs will remain closed while staff studies what has happened and why.

At first a major crack appeared along side of the bluff – and then a portion of the cliff gave way by Tuesday, Feb. 13th. Lifeguards closed the stairs off – and city staff met to discuss and study the situation and figure out what to do.

Seismologist and San Diego State professor Dr. Pat Abbot, Ph.D. told CBS8News:

“This is a life threatening sort of situation.

Could a massive, redevelopment project be coming to the Midway District soon?

The City of San Diego owns almost 100 acres in the district – all of it leased out to various businesses – but many of those businesses have leases with the city that expire in two years – in 2020. The businesses include the Valley View Casino Center, formerly the Sports Arena, and its 43 acres.

And you can believe developers are chomping at the bit for a crack at all that space.

Cybele Thompson, director of city of San Diego Real Estate Assets, was quoted in a recent Voice of San Diego article by Lynn Walsh as stating:

“developers are extremely interested in the sites that end in 2020, which present a very attractive contiguous site.”

There’s a number of factors, of course, that stand in the way of any smooth sailing for developers in this expansive area on the edge of Point Loma and Ocean Beach.

Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society on Thursday, February 15 for a nostalgic trip back in time with a trio of O. B. historians — Kitty McDaniel, Dedi Ridenour, and Jonnie Wilson.

Jonnie and Kitty will regale you with stories of strange things that went on at Wonderland — O.B.’e early amusement park — as well as introduce you to some important Obecans you’ve probably never heard of, and reveal political shenanigans that went on during the early days of our beach town. (News flash: Things weren’t any better back then!)

Dedi, on the other hand, will focus her attention on her favorite topic — Ocean Beach during World War II.

Chair John Ambert to Step Down

When the Ocean Beach Planning Board met last Wednesday, Feb. 7th, they approved 2 projects, one at 4664 Adair Street and the other one a two, 3-story house project on Bermuda (see separate post here), had a presentation by Geoff Page regarding the 30 foot height limit (see separate post here), created a sub-committee on transportation and set the ball rolling for their annual election coming up in March.

The owner gave a brief presentation on his application for a coastal development permit to demolish an existing residence and detached garage at 4664 Adair, and to build in its stead,

In the wake of my last column on the agenda of the billionaire backers of the Janus vs. AFSCME case soon to be heard by the Supreme Court, the Los Angeles Times published a solid piece that outlined the broader context and suspect reasoning guiding this shameless attack on American labor:

This year, the high court is poised to announce its most significant expansion of the 1st Amendment since the Citizens United decision in 2010, which struck down laws that limited campaign spending by corporations, unions and the very wealthy.

Now the “money is speech” doctrine is back and at the heart of a case to be heard this month that threatens the financial foundation of public employee unions in 22 “blue” states.