OB Rag

On Sunday, July 23rd, the OB Rag suffered an attack by a suspected bot originating from an IP address in the city of Irkutsk in the Russian Federation.

Between the hours roughly 8 am to 10 am, two articles in particular received the bulk of the hits (4700 hits in total), all coming from a single IP address.

Assemblymember Todd Gloria will be giving a legislative update at the OB Town Council meeting on Wednesday, July 26th. Gloria, a Democrat, was recently elected to the California Assembly after a long stint on the San Diego City Council. He remains a popular figure in local politics, and usually adds a bit of wit to his public addresses.

Everyone’s invited to the monthly public meeting, which begins at 7:00pm and is held at the Masonic Hall, 1711 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.

The OBTC will also announce its OB Community Grant awards, going to selected local organizations, groups, and persons that promote the general betterment and beautification of Ocean Beach and the welfare of its residents.

COME INSIDE for the official agenda

By South OB Girl

Jeff Clark, owner of Thrift Trader, is tragically in a coma after being hit by a train in Little Italy.

On June 24th, Clark was hit by an Amtrak train in Little Italy near W. Hawthorne Street and California Street.

His store in Ocean Beach, Two Dollar Thrill on Newport Avenue along with all Thrift Trader locations — have now closed after the tragedy.

What would we do without wishful thinking?

Not much apparently. According to some of the most recent science on the way our brains work, the Zen Buddhists and psychoanalysts are up against it. No matter how much we try to focus on the present, we’ll be pulled away by the Utopia of the next moment.

As a New York Times piece on some of the most recent science of the brain explained:

[I]t is increasingly clear that the mind is mainly drawn to the future, not driven by the past. Behavior, memory and perception can’t be understood without appreciating the central role of prospection. We learn not by storing static records but by continually retouching memories and imagining future possibilities. Our brain sees the world not by processing every pixel in a scene but by focusing on the unexpected.

It was a rocky road for development projects that came before the Project Review Committee last Wednesday night. The panel – a sub-committee of the OB Planning Board – was to review four projects, but no one showed to present two of them, a third was handed back to the developer owner with significant design suggestions, and the fourth was so complex it was punted to the full board to deal with.

No one showed up during the meeting at the OB Rec Center representing either the 5018 Narragansett project or the controversial Abbott- Muir condos (although one person did for this project did show after the meeting had been adjourned). This means these projects will probably be kicked to the bottom of the pile – a long list of development projects making their way to the OB Planning Board’s agenda.

6 “Green Streets” Planned for Downtown

By Michael-Leonard Creditor / UrbDeZine

The idea for grand pedestrian routes through downtown San Diego is not new.

In 1908, John Nolen famously had vision of a Promenade from Balboa Park to San Diego Bay along what is now Cedar Street.

Just imagine how that would be today if it had been implemented 100 years ago, with the beautiful County Administration Building at the bottom of the gentle hill from Park to Bay. Sometimes I think ‘so many opportunities lost’ should be San Diego’s motto.

But, in the fertile minds of planners, this idea hasn’t died. Now, they are being called Green Streets, and six are planned for downtown.

By South OB Girl

Last Friday July 14th saw the official opening of Botanica Home and Garden at 1909 Cable St. The shop is right on the busy stretch of sidewalk between Newport Ave and Santa Monica Ave and was the location of the long standing former tenant the Loan Ranger Pawn Shop.

Owner of Botanica Home and Garden, Caitlin Brooks, has always had a love of plants. She has previously worked at garden centers and nurseries, and she has now turned her love for plants into a business.

If you’ve never donated to the OB Rag, the online newspaper for Ocean Beach and Point Loma, now is the time to do it.

If you have donated to the OB Rag in the past, consider contributing again.

Our Summer Fund Raising campaign has only 2 days left and we’re at 2/3rds of our campaign goal of $1,000.

How to Support Us>>>>>> INSIDE

Millennials. So many of us see them as lazy, naïve, un-motivated “Me-Me-Me” kinds of human beings who somehow threaten to bring the world to an apocalyptic end – all while taking a selfie.

But from all I’ve ever seen, it’s the Millennials, the 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds — and to think of it, the 40-year-olds — of any time who are at the forefront of societal change.

I mean, Thomas Jefferson was thinking, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” when he was 33.

The “No Target in OB” campaign is heating up in Ocean Beach.

T-shirts with the slogan are now available at the James Gang at 1931 Bacon Street.

Meanwhile, the online Petition against the Target Express has over 1800 signatures.

By South OB Girl

After the OB Planning Board monthly land use meeting Wednesday night, I ended up at Culture for a brew.

Per usual, as often happens when I wander out, a number of interesting things happened.

I befriended the cutest little French bull dog, Frida, who settled into my lap despite just meeting her and despite being a total stranger to her.

And then a familiar looking pooch Nacho wandered in, a sweet-natured pit bull Nacho. Within minutes the conversation shifted from discussion about dogs to discussion about the planning board.

Now’s the time to support your local and independent press – the OB Rag – the online newspaper for Ocean Beach and Point Loma. Especially these days in the Time of Trump.

Trump has called the free press, “the enemy of the people.” So, now is when the people – our readers – need to respond.

We’re half way to our summer fundraising goal of $1,000 – we’ve received $520 up to now from supporters and readers since Friday when we started this campaign. Help us to achieve the remainder this week.