OB Rag

The second so-called “Temporary Bridge Shelter” opened Friday, December 22nd in the Midway district with the capacity to shelter up to 200 people. It’s located on the 2800 block of Sports Arena Blvd.

Operated by Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD), the shelter will provide a variety of supportive services that are found in the other two shelters. This shelter will also include access to services specific to veterans.

The facility will offer meals, showers, restrooms, 24-hour security, connections to alcohol and substance abuse counseling, job training and mental health services, and each resident will be assigned a case manager and housing navigator who will develop a plan to get them permanently housed.

By Brett Warnke

“…a turn or two I’ll walk, To still my beating mind.” –William Shakespeare’s Prospero, The Tempest Act IV, Scene i.

Would you take a mountain bike down Cabrillo’s cliffs?

Or do a bike-trick on your i-phone off of Sunset Cliffs as the day expires? If not and you imbibe your experience on public land through the serenity of a craggy desert walk or a trip up the melancholy hills of Southern California, a local group is trying to spice up your walks with a cascade of helmets, rubber tires, rapid speed, and dry-fit gear.

The San Diego Mountain Biking Association has has been recruited by Republicans to help roll back wilderness protections on public lands. According to the LA Times the new measure would “invite mountain bikers to shred through the iconic landscapes.”

24-hour hotline now offers live support during immigration enforcement activity in San Diego County

Edited from a Network Press Statement:

On December 19th, interfaith leaders and a diverse cross section of organizations launched the San Diego Rapid Response Network, an interconnected system of hundreds of community members who as volunteer responders gathered to pledge their commitment to protecting community members who are undocumented. They were responding to dehumanizing immigration enforcement activities in San Diego County. The gathering took place at Saint Jude’s Shrine of the West near Barrio Logan. The Rapid Response Network follows models already in place in San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles.

It’s been over two and a half years since an unarmed man, Fridoon Nehad, was shot to death by San Diego Police Officer Neal Browder at night in an alley in the Midway District. The fatal shooting on April 30, 2015 occurred after a mere 33-second encounter between Nehad and Officer Browder.

Just this week, on Monday, December 18th, a federal judge ruled that the officer acted reasonably in his use of deadly force, and dismissed the family’s civil suit. The City had brought a motion for summary judgement – a typical legal maneuver in civil suits – which is a claim by one side that there are no facts in contention and they should win by matter of law; this throws the decision-making solely onto the shoulders of the judge – and not a jury.

Well, the news report has the mystery aircraft off “San Diego”, but everybody knows, if it’s ‘off San Diego’, it’s also off Ocean Beach – kind of.

From San Diego Union-Tribune – December 18, 2017.

A Navy pilot says he encountered a mysterious aircraft off the coast of San Diego in 2004 and video from the Department of Defense has kicked talk of UFOs and the possibility of alien life into overdrive.

The New York Times shared an interview with now retired Cmdr. David Fravor

A brand new federal report on homelessness in America has bad news for San Diego County. Our County now has the fourth largest homeless population in the country, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). San Diego County is the fifth largest county in America.

Here are some of the numbers:

• 9,160 homeless people in the county; compared with New York City (76,501), Los Angeles County (55,188) and Seattle/King County (11,643).
• 3rd in the number of homeless veterans, with 1,067. Number of homeless veterans went down about 10 percent and now is 12 percent of the total homeless population. Forty-three percent are unsheltered.

Steve Breen is at it again.

Breen, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s op-ed cartoonist, just couldn’t resist another attempt to disparage Ocean Beach with his cartoon in today’s paper.

Bouncing off the genuine news about a UFO

On Sunday, December 18th, a young bearded man stood at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Santa Monica – right in front of the OB Library and right across the street from Ocean Beach Elementary – pulled his pants down, exposing himself, and puffed on a pipe.

This outrageous behavior by the guy who looks to be homeless has pushed a bunch of OBceans over the edge and now some are calling for increased security for OB Elementary.

Danielle Wolcott was driving by and came to a stop at the light – and then realized what the guy – who has yet to be identified – was doing. She recorded the incident. Wolcott told 10News:

“It’s pretty scary when you see something like that. Seeing someone so young just kind of so unstable was a little concerning.”

As several friends have reminded me, I’m getting older. And that means I should’ve gotten that flu shot.

Now I regret not getting one, as the flu hit me like a ton of bricks about ten days ago. I’m still not well – although I am functioning. That’s why posting on the OB Rag these last couple of weeks has been light.

Nati’s Changes Owners and Will Re-Model

Julie Stalmer wrote in a Dec. 14th San Diego Reader piece about how Nati’s is getting new owners and will close to re-model. The restaurant will stay, Stalmer reported:

This Is 4th Fatal Shooting for Police Officer Who Shot Point Loma Suspect

Th San Diego police officer who killed an armed burglar inside a Point Loma home on Sunday Dec. 10th, has fatally shot three other men in the past four years.

COME INSIDE FOR THESE AND MORE NEWS

By Joaquin Antique

If you just can’t bring yourself to give up on the sordid consumer frenzy and go all in for a Buy Nothing Christmas, then perhaps getting your loved ones a few good books to help them navigate our dark times is the next best thing.

Here is my list of a handful of some of the best books of the last awful year:

• Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean

As I noted in my first column on this fine book, “Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America is the single most important new book for progressives to read this year if they want to understand how we got to the dark moment of the present . . .