OB Rag

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.

Editor: It’s important for people living north of the US-Mexico border to know and understand important events and dates for people living south of the border.

And today, September 16th, is one of those days, as it’s Mexico’s Independence Day, a celebration of the anniversary of the beginning of the war against imperial Spain. It’s equivalent to July 4th on this side of the border.

by Fleur De Lys

September 16th is that time of year when all Mexicans from around the world are celebrating Mexican Independence Day. On September 1810 Mexico began a 10-year war for independence with Spain and since the country gained its independence, things came a long way but violence is still too high. … The traditional shout-out in Mexico for Mexican Independence Day is “Viva Mexico!” After the 1910 revolution that toppled dictator Porfirio Diaz, Mexicans were free to live in their own country, to have their own government and be able to shout out loud (or gritar) “Viva Mexico!”

The Annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast is happening this next Saturday, September 23rd, and it’s usually one of the best social events of the year in the village. And of course the proceeds benefit the OB Town Council’s holiday events and the annual OB Toy and Food Drive. The whole affair is bolstered by the dozens of table sponsors – there’s 38 in all.

But that’s just it. The Pancake Breakfast needs a dozen more sponsors.

So, please – if you and your group are thinking about it or maybe just now thinking about it – now is the time to move on it.

See all this

By John Thickstun, Esq

In 2015 the City Attorney’s office, under former City Attorney Jan Goldsmith prosecuted Rachel Smith, who was operating a short term vacation rental (STVR) – renting rooms to tourists – out of her home in the neighborhood of Burlingame in North Park. She was advertising the rooms on Airbnb.

In the Matter of Rachel Smith v. City of San Diego, Administrative Hearing Officer Catriona Miller ruled in favor of the City. She concluded that Rachel Smith had “violated the law by operating a bed and breakfast establishment without a permit.”

New photos of the suspect in a fatal knife attack that occurred in Ocean Beach last June 22nd have been released by San Diego County Crimestoppers.

Walter “Ras” Riley was found with multiple stab wounds on a sidewalk on Bacon Street near Newport Avenue around 12:30 a.m. on June 22. Riley, 65, died from his injuries at UC San Diego Medical Center.

A man believed to be the suspect was captured by the camera at a local business off Newport Avenue, just moments before the attack happened, police said. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark colored pants.

Editor: We received this letter sent to Target corporate headquarters in Minneapolis by Kevin MacDonald and think it expresses the feelings of many in Ocean Beach.

Director,

I am a loyal Target customer. I shop at the super store, 3 miles form my home, on Sports Arena Blvd, in San Diego.

I have Target stock in my portfolio.

I implore you, as strongly as I possibly can, DO NOT PUT TARGET EXPRESS ONTO NEWPORT AVE IN OCEAN BEACH!

The idea of another shoot for the wonderful but short series Terriers – filmed in Ocean Beach – just won’t go away.

Why, just the other day, Matthew Lickona at the San Diego Reader brought it up. He raised the point that of all the detective shows shot in San Diego (Simon & Simon, Veronica Mars, High Tide, Grand Slam, Coronado 9, Sarge, Harry O and Terriers) – ONLY Terriers is ever mentioned as a series to revive. (Editor’s note: I haven’t heard of many of these shows – but I do recall a San Diego TV show about San Diego city police way back in the Fifties and early Sixties maybe?)

Terriers – if you’ve never watched it –

Clear evidence now shows that Russia used Facebook to stage anti-Clinton and anti-immigrant rallies. For instance, a Russia-linked Facebook group attempted to organize a series of anti-immigrant, anti-Hillary Clinton rallies across Texas last November.

According to Daily Beast:

Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook’s event-management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S., including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho…

By South OB Girl

WOW!! A free house!! Frank Gormlie sure got OBceans’ attention with his article announcing the possibility of the structure at 4921 Voltaire St. being given away for free.

I wandered down to do a little reconnaissance.

The roof looks pretty new and shingles are in good shape. (Perhaps the roof was replaced to help the sale of the property when the property was originally for sale?)

Walls in the front room which I could see, through the glass panels of the front door were sturdy-looking, clean, and painted white. They were not dirty and derelict which I was expecting. Paint was not peeling, there weren’t holes in the walls.

With the continued failure of Little Miss Brewing to open its doors on the 4800 block of Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach – and now with the latest news that Helm’s Brewing tasting room at the corner of Newport and Cable Street is being sold (the entire business – not the property) – we have to ask the question:

Has the craft brewpub scene in OB peaked?

Little Miss – if it had opened – would have been the 8th brewery or brewpub in Ocean Beach. Little Miss would have joined the following:

• Mike Hess,
• OB Brewery,
• Pizza Port,
• Kilowatt,
• Helm’s,
• Belching Beaver, and
  
• Culture Brewing.

Here’s the latest on Helm’s:

Do you want this Ocean Beach house for free? This is a 2-bedroom craftsman’s house in beautiful Ocean Beach – free for the asking! Maybe. This would be such an incredible deal!

This older-looking single-story residence is just sitting there at 4921 Voltaire Street in northern OB – just waiting, potentially, for somebody to come and get it. And move it.

At the last OB Planning Board meeting, the architect of a new mixed-use building coming onto the site, Kent Smith, dropped a comment that if somebody came and got the house, they could have it for free.

By Frank Gormlie

By 1967 – a year after the OB Pier had officially opened – it was already evident that Ocean Beach was morphing into the San Diego equivalent of that fabled and iconic San Francisco neighborhood synonymous with “hippie-ism”. If you were a hippie or a hippie-wannabe during this time somewhere in San Diego, you ended up in OB.

Of course, other factors contributed to the incubation in Ocean Beach of a community sympathetic and supportive of the new emerging counter-counter: