OB Rag

“The Irish are the blacks of Europe,” says the band manager in “The Commitments,” the 1991 movie about his quest to put together a soul act in pale, white Dublin. “Say it loud — I’m black and I’m proud.”

Noel Ignatiev, a Massachusetts College of Art history professor and controversial scholar of American race relations, uses that classic line to kick off “How the Irish Became White.” The 1995 book offers an in-depth analysis of America’s assimilation of the millions of Irish who emigrated in the 1800s.

Remember that old Craftsman house on Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach that was possibly up for grabs for free? The one that will be demolished in order for the construction of the new, mixed-use, 2 story building approved recently by the OB Planning Board.

It’s located at 4921 Voltaire Street, 92107.

The one condition was the house had to be hauled away within a few months – with the caveat that the owner had not agreed to the whole deal yet.
Well, there’s been some new developments …

By Bob Dorn / San Diego Free Press

I woke up to a New York Times headline on Tuesday, October 3: No Easy Answers After Las Vegas.

Yes, there are.

Let’s not sell automatic rifles to anyone who goes to a gun show or a gun shop. F**k ’em. Let them manufacture their own, like the moonshiners during Prohibition did. Then they can strut and have movies and serials that can make them feel like they won the Civil War.

Maybe they’d even be arrested for possession of killing machinery.

While we’re at it, let’s not sell guns to kids.

Effective October 5, 2017 at 8:20am, a health advisory from the County went into effect warning of high bacterial levels at Ocean Beach’s Dog Beach and the San Diego River outlet. Within this area, bacteria levels may exceed health standards.

AVOID WATER CONTACT IN THE ADVISORY AREA.

By Bob Edwards

On Wednesday, October 4, 2017, the Ocean Beach Planning Board met at the OB Rec Center and dealt with two hot button issues.

In the first action, the Board voted 8 to 3 to recommend granting a retroactive building permit for repairs and changes to a cliff side deck at the Inn at Sunset Cliffs. These modifications had been done without a permit in previous years by former and current owners and in 2016 through an emergency permit.

In the second action, the Board voted, also 8 to 3, to oppose the Soccer City proposal for the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley.

Keep OB, OB?

By Brett Warnke

A small but fervent protest of about twenty to twenty-five members of “No Target in OB” showed up to obtain signatures and raise awareness for a Community Forum directed at halting Target from entering Ocean Beach. One speaker declared:

“We want to preserve our local beach town. Target is not wanted here. We stand strong against it and other mega-corporations!”

Target, a Minneapolis-based company whose stock prices are down 16 percent this year, has been heavily criticized for compromising millions of customers data and recently paid $18.5 million to states in a settlement.

Called a temporary “bridge-to-housing” shelter for homeless people, the City of San Diego plans to open such a facility in the Midway District. With city hopes that it will open by December, the local site to house more than a hundred people is behind the Goodwill building along the 2700 block of Sports Arena Boulevard, and will be run by the Veterans Village of San Diego.

The Midway location is one of three temporary shelters the City plans to open. The others are:

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

As Hurricanes Batter the Caribbean and Southeast US, Nuke Plants in Texas and Florida Refuse to Shut Down, Heightening Risk to Already Devastated Communities

On September 19 the Austin American-Statesman ran this story “South Texas Project stayed open during Hurricane Harvey.” South Texas Project is a nuclear plant with two reactors near Bay City, TX on the Gulf Coast, 90 miles from Houston. It has been operating since the late 1980s. Austin Energy is one of three utilities that owns it.

The newspaper article’s subtitle was “Some question decision to keep Texas nuclear plant open during Harvey.”

The name “Taylor Winston” might as become a household name in Ocean Beach, for he was one of the heroes at the mass shooting at the Las Vegas country music concert Sunday night. He’s been all over the local news – and rightly so – for Taylor, a former Marine, and a friend drove up to 30 critically injured victims to a hospital.

Winston – in the middle of the carnage – “borrowed” a work truck parked with its keys nearby, loaded critical victims he could find, and drove to the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center. He was doing this before ambulances arrived. Here is what he told

by Ernie McCray

I just left Vegas a few days ago, with very fresh memories of how loud and all aglow it was, which makes it particulary difficult for me, in these moments, to fathom a man mowing down people who are having a good time as though they were foes on a battlefield.

Such a tragedy tears at your heart and it came at a time when we Americans are already suffering as we seem to be spinning aimlessly away from embracing each other as fellow citizens.

The Ocean Beach group, “No Target in OB” is sponsoring a community rally and press conference Wednesday, October 4th at the foot of Newport Avenue. They put out the call:

For OB Lovers: No Target in Ocean Beach.

Join us for a Community Rally and Press Conference
We will start gathering at 5 pm but come when you can. Press conference at 6 pm.