OB Rag

It was early October in the year 2007 – George Bush was still president and the war in Iraq was in its 4th year. I lived in a small cottage on the 4600 block of Long Branch with Patty Jones.

I remember watching the news in the livingroom and yelling at the anchors and pundits for parroting the Bush administration’s lies . It was upsetting and that anger had propelled me to be involved in San Diego’s peace movement. The newspapers – especially the Union-Tribune – were no better. The truth, it seemed, had no outlet, both nationally – and locally – and the media only presented the corporate narrative. Progressive ideas were being stymied – .

I recall this one program on TV – a documentary about the counter-culture and “the hippies” narrated by Peter Coyote. It was so bad I found myself literally yelling at the television and cuzzing out Coyote – .

Patty – over in the dining area – had been putting up with all my ranting – finally said,

“Why don’t you start a blog.”

Work has begun on the controversial Froude Street project in northeast Ocean Beach. The demolition and first stages of excavation have changed the lot at 2257 Froude Street.

The project’s design:

The Ocean Beach Town Council met under duress last night, Wednesday, Oct. 25th; it was very warm and the baseball series was going on, plus a number of Board members were sick. It was a thin crowd in the audience as well, with about 30 chairs occupied.

Besides the usual politico rep and community reports, the Board made a big push for volunteers needed for the various holiday events the OBTC sponsors later this year. Also explained, was the new schedule for elections to the Board. Finally, the night’s special speaker give a pitch about becoming an advocate for foster children.

OB Holiday Volunteers

The Town Council needs volunteers for the four major events it sponsors during the holidays. They include:

James Gang Moving into Former Hookah Lounge

The venerable James Gang is moving – and they’re moving back to Newport Avenue into the former hookah lounge at 4851 Newport. In fact, they’re moving this weekend. “No to Target” signs are already in the windows – and coincidentally – they will be right across the street from the Antique Center – which of course Target wants to move into. When they first opened in 1976, James Gang was on Newport.

Blue Waters Seafood Moving into Tower 2

Speaking of moves, the well-known Blue Waters Seafood Bar & Grill is opening up a second establishment in Tower Two.

What an historic day Tuesday, October 24th was. It was the day the City of San Diego published a guide to the recreational marijuana industry on a new webpage.

The page – on the city’s Development Services section – is titled: “Permitting Process for Marijuana Cultivation, Testing, Sales and Delivery” and it includes

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board held its regular monthly meeting at the Point Loma library Thursday, October 19. The agenda was light with only one action item but there were a few other items of interest to the community worth relating.

Probably the most contentious item, the one real action item that was discussed, didn’t get contentious because there was no need for immediate action that night.

Short Term Vacation Rentals

This was a presentation of the Zapf and Bry draft ordinance to put some controls on short term vacation rentals more commonly referred to as STVRs.

Because of the severe heat the region is suffering through, San Diego Unified School District has again placed many city schools on another minimum day schedule.

Here are local schools on the heat list:

• Cabrillo Elementary
• Dana Middle
• Ocean Beach Elementary
• Ocean Beach CDC
• Silver Gate Elementary

This was posted up and down Newport Avenue today.

In the next few months we will have a new San Diego Chief of Police and I hope that whoever gets the job can do something, for me, no one has been able to do: create an environment wherein I don’t find myself squirming a bit every time a police officer rolls up behind me or next to me. I just can’t help it, though, with my life’s experiences.

Now, hey, don’t get me wrong, I’ve known some good police officers — parents at my schools, guys I grew up with, dudes I’ve toked and toasted with, played ball with — it’s just that the bad seeds among them can be downright scary at times.

At their final public meeting for 2017, the Ocean Beach Town Council will host a forum to learn about volunteer opportunities with their upcoming holiday events, which are extensive; there’s the Food and Toy Drive, the Christmas Tree, the Annual Christmas Auction – and of course, the world famous OB Holiday Parade in early December. The Parade itself needs dozens of volunteers.

It’s also getting time for the OBTC yearly elections to the Board of Directors – so the Council will share their elections timeline for OBTC members to get elected to the Board .

The meeting will conclude with learning about opportunities to volunteer as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in our region.

By Joaquin Antique

Being an occasional column featuring sights and sounds from Ocean Beach and Point Loma, this edition celebrates Halloween in OB.

An OB Halloween memory:

It was late October, some year in the 1970s and my girlfriend Mary Pat and I were hanging out in OB, bored.

We had no Halloween party to go to, no costumes, no ideas. Finally, I suggested we grab some pink bedsheets from the closet

By Gary Headrick

I was recently asked to clear up some confusion about our nuclear waste strategy in an email thread between some good friends. I thought it might be worth sharing a refined version of my reply with you.

Also if you have not signed and shared our Petition yet, please do.

Here is the basic objective:

Delay the date for silos on the beach to get loaded with extremely radioactive waste.

This allows time to consider better alternatives that make us safer while deadly waste remains here cooling off for perhaps decades before it can be moved. We must deal with the fact that they are using canisters that can’t be monitored to prevent leaks, can’t be repaired