OB Rag

OB Advocates Have Also Been Threatened with Arrest Over the Years

On Sunday, January 14th, about a dozen people were arrested for feeding homeless people at a park in El Cajon. Police cited them and did not actually cuff or take the arrested in but released them.

The very next day, Monday the 15th, the homeless advocates – part of a group called Break the Ban – held a news conference in Balboa Park to announce they will be filing a lawsuit against El Cajon that will claim the city ordinance banning food sharing in public spaces is unconstitutional.

By Marjorie Cohn / Blog / Dec. 21, 2017

As special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation moves closer to Donald Trump, there is a concerted effort by the president’s apologists to shut it down. Commentators on Fox News and Republican Congress members are attacking Mueller, causing speculation that the special counsel’s days are numbered.

Since his investigation began in May, Mueller has already obtained two indictments and two guilty pleas. Most recently, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI. Although he could have been charged with more serious crimes, Flynn secured the deal by promising to cooperate with prosecutors and provide evidence against other, as yet unnamed, individuals. Flynn’s guilty plea brings Mueller’s investigation into the White House.

I am so glad to say “Good riddance” to 2017 because it was a bit unearthly to me.

I mean, on top of being barraged by all the abject buffoonery in D.C. that was unleashed by that fool who occupies the presidency, I had to go around most of the year looking like a palm tree bent over by the wind.

All due to some life-threatening vicious form of bacteria that found its way into my body and started whacking away like a field hand taking a machete to the stems of sugarcane, devastating my belly and tightening and weakening my muscles, making an absolute wreck of my lifelong bad back. It made standing and walking upright kind of an aerobic exercise that took all my might.

And let me tell you, trying to struggle to get your health back in a world that’s out of whack isn’t easy by any means.

A number of Ocean Beach and Point Loma community groups are hosting a town hall meeting focused on the recent string of arson and vandalism that has happened in the area, Tuesday, January 16th.

The groups include the OB Town Council, the OB Planning Board, OB Community Development Corp., OB Community Foundation, OB Main St. Association, OB Historical Society, Point Loma Association, and OB Clean Streets Initiative.

The town hall will be held at the Masonic Center at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, from 6 PM – 8 PM.

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day and, for those of us who deeply value his legacy, it’s hard not to greet the first official King holiday of the Trump era with a deep sense of painful irony. As I wrote last year at this time on the eve of his inauguration:

Today we are at [a] dead-end with Trump’s administration full of revanchist billionaires, right-wing demagogues, and military strongmen representing the triumph of market fundamentalism married to racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and authoritarian militarism. Simply put, in Trump Nation, King’s “triple evils” [of racism, economic injustice, and militarism] are akin to the holy trinity.

Unfortunately, the last year has done little else but confirm this proclamation, making this year’s remembrance especially important. For King’s critique of American society is now even more relevant than it has been in the decades since his death—it haunts us like a ghost.

It’s time for Ed Harris – the lifeguard union chief – to jump in and rescue the citizens of San Diego City Council District 2.

Why do they need rescuing? Well, consider this …

The next election – the June Primary – is less than 5 months away and incumbent Lori Zapf is up for re-election. Zapf, a Republican, faces a district where registered Democratic voters outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 9,000. That ought to make her very vulnerable come next November.

Yet, she faces a field of weak challengers. All of them – and here is where OB Rag makes enemies – from Bryan Bease to Jordan Beane to Jen Campbell – they all have political flaws that make them unable ultimately to mount the District 2 seat in City Council Chambers downtown. And that’s why Ed Harris – who once sat in that chair for the District – needs to dive in

General Rain Advisory in Effect

The Department of Environmental Health has issued a GENERAL RAIN ADVISORY for the coastal waters of San Diego County due to contamination by urban runoff following rain.

Swimmers, surfers, and other ocean users are warned that levels of bacteria can rise significantly in ocean waters, especially near storm drains, creeks, rivers, and lagoon outlets that discharge urban runoff.

Activities such as swimming, surfing and diving should be avoided for 72 hours following rain.

We’re down to the wire, and the OB Rag is just $125 from our Winter fundraising goal of $1,000.

If you haven’t donated but read us daily or even monthly, please help us over the top. There’s a “Donate” button via PayPal up at the top of our homepage. It’s safe and very easy – and it goes right to our account.

Or mail us a check to our Post Office Box:

OB Rag
PO Box 7012
Ocean Beach CA 92167

At the most recent Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting on January 3rd, the Board heard a presentation on Incentive Based Zoning which is a method of zoning that is designed to keep down over-development of McMansions in communities along the coast, in particular, and the so-called exemptions to Coastal Development Permits. The presentation was by Sharon Wample, who is part of a group called Citizens for Responsible Coastal Development.

For background, this Citizens group was formed originally as an ad hoc committee in 2015 by the La Jolla Community Planning Association with locals who wished to battle McMansions and who wanted to abolish the so-called “50 percent coastal exception rule”. They want to replace it with an “Incentive-based zoning” approval process. This process would reduce the project applicant’s floor area ratio (FAR) and the applicant would then have to conform to a community’s list of design incentives to earn back their right to build their home more densely to the current FAR allowed.

The OB Rag has 2 tickets for Saturday, January 13th at the Springboard West “Band and Brew Crawl” being held in Ocean Beach.

Event hosts describe Saturday as:

Sat, Jan 13th: Band & Brew Crawol, 1PM – 11PM (40 Bands on 4 Stages)

Come Inside for More

* James Gang Up and Roaring
* OB Alley Arsonist Back at It? Fire in Alley Between Brighton and Long Branch Sunday Night
* OB Man with Dementia Goes Missing Twice in Less than 2 Weeks
* OB Kilowatt Gets a Shout-Out at CityBeat
* George Varga Notes Cow Records in Survey of San Diego’s Music History
* Memorial in Coronado for Surfer Who Died After Sunset Cliffs Rescue – Led by Local Mayor with 500 Attending

* OB Elementary School Volunteer Crossing Guards to Have Body-Cams
* Point Loma High Graduate Jamal Agnew Is Now All-Pro
* Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill One of 50 “New Most Anticipated” Restaurants for 2018
* Royale Makes the 10 Hot Plates: San Diego’s Top Food News in January
* Point Loma Makes “the To-Do List” for the San Fran Chron