OB Rag

There’s been an additional Action Item added to tonight’s Project Review Committee’s agenda. The committee meets Wed. night at the OB Rec Center at 6pm, 4726 Santa Monica Ave.

The addition is a Map Waiver and permit for the conversion of 2 existing residences to condos at 4628 – 4630 Point Loma Avenue in south Ocean Beach.

By Brett Warnke

Every Sherlock needs his Moriarty. When Doyle’s great detective called his brilliant nemesis the “Napoleon of crime,” the reader kept reading to see London’s equally matched talents collide.

The great exposers in journalism, like Izzy Stone, America’s first blogger, self-published and changed the conversation when consensus was king. The great haters, meanwhile, purified public outrage at the crimes or embarrassments of those in power, and had the skill to peel the muck of sentiment and the grime of politeness.

Truth is uncomfortable. Facts are ugly. And hate is very real.

Puppets

by sloanranger

Does anyone remember Howdy Doody?
Howdy was a puppet on early TV, and us kids,
we sat there in the Peanut Gallery – at home, or in the studio –
and watched, watched Clarabelle the Clown running up and down
the aisles squirting Buffalo Bob with his seltzer bottle.

By Ernie McCray

Recently I received an email from a friend asking me if I would lead a conversation that would begin with a piece of art, next April, on issues important to Dunbar, the neighborhood in Tucson, where I spent the first 24 years of my life.

I couldn’t get back to her with the answer, “Yes,” quick enough. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do, in life, than take part in a rap session on behalf of a community that resides at the core of who I am as a human being.

I mean, I am Dunbar personified.

Dr. Seuss Knew a Thing or Two About Lindbergh

By Frank Gormlie

A week and a half ago or so, the San Diego Union-Tribune published a bunch of “rare, never-before-published photographic images of Charles Lindbergh on his way to becoming Charles Lindbergh,” while he was training in San Diego, photos that had been “hiding in storage for 90 years.”

It was of course in mid-May, 1927, that Lindbergh made the first-ever nonstop solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris, a total of 3,610 miles and he made it in 33 hours. The flight certainly “turned him into one of the most famous and admired people on Earth,” … for a while at least.

Ocean Beach-related Beaches Have Scored “Worst” Beach in 4 Out of Last 10 Years

On May 15th, Surfrider and Coastkeeper released the bad news:

188,000 pieces of trash were removed by more than 6,500 volunteers who cleaned up San Diego County beaches in 2016. 80 percent of all trash removed contained plastic.

But the bad news for OBcean and Point Lomans is that Sunset Cliffs was deemed one of the top two “trashiest” beaches in the County. Sunset Cliffs provided the most refuse on a per- volunteer basis, with an average of 7.65 pounds per person. The other was the Oceanside Pier. La Jolla Shores was the cleanest beach with 0.42 pounds of trash found per person.

By Kat Chow / Code Switch

A Chinese man stands on a pedestal surrounded by a harbor as a cartoon imitation of the Statue of Liberty. His clothes are tattered, his hair is in a long, thin tail, his eyes squint. The words “diseases,” “filth,” “immorality,” and “ruin to white labor” float around his head.

This man is the center of an iconic image from 1881 called “A Statue for Our Harbor,” made by the cartoonist George Frederick Keller.

By Marcus Bush / San Diego Free Press

After nearly 6 months of controversy and tumult stemming from lawsuits on hostile work environment, retaliation, and sexual harassment, on Monday, May 8th, Mickey Kasparian was removed as President of the San Diego Imperial-Counties Labor Council by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

The shocking announcement rocked the regional political climate, as Kasparian was one of the most powerful leaders of the Labor Movement and Democratic Party in San Diego County.

Restaurant Review

Breakfast Republic
4839 Newport Ave.
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-255-7255
Breakfastrepublic.com
/ocean- beach/

By Judi Curry

Sometimes you want things to be so good that you are disappointed when they do not turn out the way you wanted them to be. A little of that happened today when I went to breakfast with Stuart and Nancy at the new Breakfast Republic in Ocean Beach.

The restaurant is where the old Portugalia and OB Warehouse used to be. (Those of you that have been here as long as I have been may remember that it was originally a Christian Science Monitor Reading Room!) The restaurant is on the top floor, accessible by steps or an elevator. Currently the bottom floor is still empty, but the word is that Coin Haus will be opening there soon.

The Project Review committee of the OB Planning Board meets this Wednesday night – May 17th – at the OB Rec Center. The Project Review is a sub-committee of the OB Planning Board and usually makes recommendations on projects to the full board.

The main item on the Project Review committee’s agenda is a review of a demolition and remodel of two single story units, and a second story addition on each unit. This is at 5018 Narragansett.

By Dave Rice

The finish line is approaching – for the last week, my family has been participating in the San Diego Hunger Coalition’s CalFresh Challenge, winding down on Friday. It’s actually finishing a few hours early for me, as I’m sure to blow my meager $58.52 weekly budget (that’s what a family of three receiving a state food allotment gets to spend for four and two-thirds days of meals) and then some taking my wife and daughter out to celebrate our 10 year anniversary as a family on Friday night.

Some folks in Point Loma think there is a great need to form a Point Loma Town Council. And there’s a presentation about that at the next Peninsula Community Planning Board meeting, Thursday, May 18th. The presentation is at 6:30 pm.

The Board meets at the Point Loma Hervey Library, 3701 Voltaire Street.