OB Rag

Up to 20,000 San Diegans rallied and then marched through part of downtown San Diego, calling for gun control and an end to the NRA’s influence in politics. Led by students from schools across San Diego – the crowd assembled in front of the San Diego County Administration Building at Waterfront Park, listened and cheered speakers threatening politicians who support the NRA with their votes, decrying assault weapons, and the ability of people who shouldn’t have them to easily purchase them.

“Jesus Christ Superstar,” at the OB Playhouse

It all begins at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; plus 8 p.m. April 3 (industry night). Through April 15.

Peninsula Planners Election Results

The results are in for the March 15 annual election to the Peninsula Community Planning Board –

Peninsula Planners’ Election Results Being Challenged

Two unsuccessful candidates for the March 15th election to the Peninsula planning board have filed challenges to the election.

Here’s updates on a couple of construction projects currently in progress in Ocean Beach. They include a mixed-use project on the 5000 block of Santa Monica Avenue and 2 residential units on the 5100 block of Brighton Avenue.

5040 Santa Monica Ave.

The OB Rag has been covering this project at 5040 Santa Monica Ave. for some time. It includes the construction of a 2-story commercial unit in front and 4 residential units behind and above the front unit. It was approved by the Ocean Beach Planning Board over 2 and a half years ago, by a vote of 7 to 2 on July 1, 2015. And according to local OB historian, Kathy Blavatt, the site was the last sand dune in Ocean Beach.

This Saturday March 24th – March for Our Lives in Downtown San Diego

The rally in downtown San Diego will begin at 10am at Waterfront Park (1600 Harbor Drive), followed by a march through downtown led by local high school students starting at 11am, and wrapping up with Voter Registration and networking back at the park.

From Friends of Famosa Slough

Slough (sloo) n.

1. A stagnant swamp, marsh, bog, or pond, especially as part of a bayou, inlet, or backwater\
2. A place of deep mud or mire
3. A shallow lagoon

Wetlands provide an important ecological niche. For migrating and local birds, they provide a rich source of food, a place for resting and for nesting. It is estimated that 95 percent of California’s historical wetlands have been lost to development.

The Famosa Slough was originally a part of the Mission Bay wetland complex known as False Bay.

New Gym in Downtown OB

A gym will be opening in the former James Gang at 1931 Bacon Street in Ocean Beach. With a brand new coat of paint on the building, Performance 360 will be opening soon in the building that once housed the nation’s last single lane, manually-set bowling alley, and where the James Gang sat for years. The owners have just begun to move in some equipment. The gym company has two other facilities, both in Pacific Beach.

By Incensed Peninsulan

I really want to know – given the recent brouhaha over the electioneering for the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s March election – just who is trying to control the Peninsula Planning Board?

The reason I raise this query is because it appears that the electioneering became quite ugly with negative campaigning and possible violations of the Planning Board’s own bylaws.

On the surface, a slate of candidates for the 5 empty Board seats was elected and a number of Board members were ousted and other candidates defeated in the March 15th annual election. This happens every year, doesn’t it – during the elections throughout the City’s 50- some neighborhood planning committees? Or does it?

By Gustavo Solis / San Diego Union-Tribune

Dockless bicycles, those ubiquitous two-wheelers that have overtaken downtown San Diego, have been declared a public nuisance in Coronado. The city said it plans to impound the bikes if they are left in the public right-of-way — streets, sidewalks, alleys and public parks or beaches — and potentially charge the companies that lease them hundreds of dollars to get them back.

Enforcement could begin Wednesday, said City Manager Blair King.

Housing Commission Asks Residents to Stay Off Track Until Meeting Between All Parties

Mayor Faulconer’s office has called for a temporary halt on any further disruption to the Point Loma bicycle track, called the Famosa Pump Track. This came out of a meeting between the Mayor’s office, Lori Zapf’s office and the San Diego Housing Commission held Tuesday, March 20.

In messages to various local residents involved in the “stand-off” between the neighborhood, the city and the Housing Commission over the community-built track, Anthony George of the Mayor’s Office stated they have asked the Housing Commission “to temporarily hold off on any maintenance on the land until we can get everyone to the table for a conversation about the realities of this lot and how we may move forward with this.”

George said his office will be organizing a meeting between all the parties to resolve the issues and controversies over the track and the land.

By Ernie McCray

Overcoming Gloom In a Grand Canyon State of Mind

The other day

I sat in my living room

caught up in thoughts of my daughter,

feeling a kind of gloom

that seemed to loom

over me

like a petrifyingly dark full moon

in a horror movie

By Marjorie Cohn / Truthout

On March 1, 2018, in his annual state of the nation speech to the Russian Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin declared that his country has developed an “invincible” intercontinental cruise missile resistant to US missile defense systems. Putin claimed the new weapon can operate at very high speeds and has unlimited range.

Although “some experts” have suggested Putin may be bluffing, Theodore A. Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology and national security policy at MIT, told Truthout, “I think he’s deadly serious.” Postol, who evaluated Moscow’s anti-ballistic missile defense while serving as adviser to the chief of naval operations in the early 1980s, said Putin’s speech “made very clear that every attempt to engage us in constructive discussion has been met with no response. He was responding to the US unwillingness to talk about missile defenses.”