OB Rag

OB’s own Melanie Williams went through both Mexico earthquakes that just occurred. Melanie, a former member of the OB Town Council board and an energetic mover-and-shaker in the local yoga world, had just recently moved to Mexico in June to set up a yoga center.

She was interviewed by San Diego Fox5. She told them about her experiences during the 8.1 quake off the southern Mexican coast where she was living in a fishing village about 30 miles from the epicenter when it struck 12 days ago. It woke her up:

Bonnie Dumanis, former DA and now candidate for the Board of Supervisors, recently used quotes from the OB Rag – who is no friend of Dumanis – in an online attack ad against Nathan Fletcher.

Both Dumanis and Fletcher are running for the same District 4 seat on the San Diego Board. Fletcher is the most-well known Democrat and will probably be endorsed by the County Democratic Party and Dumanis is the Republican establishment’s candidate (she was slammed in the special mayoral election a few years back).

In a mock pro-Fletcher ad, called “I (heart) Nathan”,

Faulconer Has Ignored Calls for More Public Restrooms Downtown Since 2014

By Martha Sullivan / Change.org

The San Diego City government, led by Mayor Faulconer, has been told for three years that more public restrooms are needed downtown.

But the Mayor has consistently cried poor mouth — despite spending $2.1 million on an unplanned EIR for an upgraded Qualcomm Football Stadium during this time.

COME INSIDE FOR DETAILS

Ron Roberts is retiring. Roberts has been the County Supervisor who has represented Ocean Beach – and most of the rest of the City of San Diego – since 1994 so term limits will see him to the door at the end of 2018. And now the race for that District 4 seat is heating up, with the entry of Lori Saldaña who just announced she is running.

In the past few days – probably after everyone received their new water bill, I have been inundated – not to be confused with the terrible floods on the east coast – with calls from people asking me if I saw a difference in my water bill this month. Without exception, everyone that called found huge increases in spite of the fact that their water consumption had not increased.

By Beau Grosscup

As we enter the early weeks of the 2017 football season, the issue of political protest at sporting events is dominating media venues.

A long debated issue (e.g. former NBA star MahmoudAbdu-Raul-Rauf refused to stand for the National Anthem in 1996) San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick rekindled the debate by kneeling during National Anthem in the 2016 NFL season (since joined by others at every level of football/sporting events).

The NFL owners alleged conspiracy to keep Kaepernick from NFL employment, followed by pro-Keapernick protests at NFL headquarters in New York City, have so inflamed emotions

By Dale Williams / San Diego Free Press

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve just north of San Diego is a majestic wilderness with views to the ocean, scenic sandstone cliffs and is home to one of the world’s rarest pine trees, the Torrey Pine. Anyone who has visited Torrey Pines Reserve in the past two years will have seen the large numbers of trees that died.

You see them along both sides of the main road to the visitor center, along Guy Fleming Trail, and several other locations. As I watched them die, I wondered why nobody was testing the soil, analyzing tree samples, or doing anything that might help determine the cause. I wanted to do something but didn’t know what. The media reported that the die-off was due to drought and beetles,

By South OB Girl

By now most San Diegans are aware of the Hepatitis A outbreak in the city. If you would like some information about the availability of free vaccination — read on.

Free hepatitis A vaccinations will be available at the San Diego Central Library on September 19 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Kumeyaay Resistance and “Abusive” Art at Mission San Diego and the San Diego Presidio By Richard Carrico

Richard Carrico, local historian and anthropologist, will delve into the “dark art” that the Kumeyaay used to continue their ancient artistic practices and their use of symbology under the Spanish. Carrico usually makes an appearance once a year in Ocean Beach to share his vast knowledge of the history, culture and experiences of the San Diego area native Americans.

We had to chuckle the other day when we read the listing for the sale of Helm’s Brewing Company on BizQuest which included a description of their OB tasting room at the corner of Newport and Cable as “the most desirable corner in Ocean Beach”.

Really?

Is the corner which includes 4896 Newport Avenue really “the most desirable” in all of OB?

Lessons from Naomi Klein – Part One

Last week at the San Diego Free Press, Sharon Carr provided a nice overview of Naomi Klein’s new book No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need. These next two weeks, I’d like to follow up Ms. Carr’s good work by underlining what I see to be the two central insights in Klein’s book and why they matter.

In essence, Klein’s book is centered on two key points: 1) Despite all the drama and spectacle, Trump is nothing new; and 2) Neoliberal incrementalism is a dead end and we require bolder vision and practice to win the world we need. This week, we’ll consider the first proposition.