OB Rag

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.

…there is no great philosophical debate over principle at stake here in San Diego. In fact, principle or coherent strategic thinking has nothing to do with the current state of affairs at all.

By Jim Miller

In one of my first columns of the year, I made a plea that San Diego labor should not allow itself to be distracted by the trials and tribulations of Labor Council President Mickey Kasparian.

With everything from a looming anti-labor shift on the Supreme Court and at the National Labor Relations Board, to “right to work” legislation in Congress along with a host of other perils, I argued that the Trump era simply holds too many dangers for labor to get bogged down in the petty drama surrounding one leader

Developer Busted at OB Planning Board for Misrepresenting Vacation Rental …Architect Scot Frontis, owner of Frontis Studio, appeared at the May 3rd meeting of the Ocean Beach Planning Board …

Pharmacist Sentenced to 16 Years for Fatal Shooting in OB…
A pharmacist found guilty of fatally shooting his roommate’s boyfriend in Ocean Beach was sentenced to 16 years …

Owner of OB Cannabis Testing Chimes in on Proposed Rules for Marijuana Industry …
Greg Magdoff, owner of marijuana testing facility PharmLabs in Ocean Beach, said an area where the restrictions are relatively loose …

OB Farmers Market Celebrates 25th Anniversary …
This May, the OB Farmers Market celebrates its 25th anniversary. There will be special activities at the market including giveaways …

AND MUCH MORE … COME INSIDE FOR THE STORIES

By Niall Twohig / The Triton (UCSD) / May 11, 2017

Let’s begin with the bare facts: On May 10, 1970 George Winne Jr. stepped into Revelle Plaza. He held a sign that read “In God’s Name End the War.” Winne doused himself with gasoline, lit a match, and burst into flames. Students saw the burning man from a nearby building. They ran to him, beat out the flames. Winne was badly burnt. He died the next day.

Such facts can be deceiving. They only show the surface of reality. When we focus on the surface, we risk losing sight of the historical context surrounding Winne’s self-immolation. We also miss more profound secrets. I write now to whisper some of these secrets to you, so that you may whisper them to others.

Homelessness San Diego; Photo credit Michael McConnell

By Stan Levin / San Diego Veterans for Peace

They are here, by the hundreds, by the thousands, the dispossessed among us.
People having little in the way of the niceties of a comfortable existence
That equates with the concept of “Home”.
Many wear all the clothing they own, on their backs, day and night.
Some push their collection of meager possessions around in a shopping cart they have found
Or stolen, ahead of them in their endless wanderings
To nowhere in particular.

Editor’s Note: Local OB writer, Dave Rice, decided to take the challenge of eating on less than $5 a day. On May 10th we posted his first installment on this journey. Today is his latest.

By Dave Rice

Sunday night, the eve of the impending CalFresh Challenge, where my family will join more than 100 people across San Diego County in learning what it’s like to live on the average budget for area food benefit recipients – $4.18 a day.

Earlier, I’d planned to ride my bike up to the local market, advertising boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.97 a pound. It rained all day, so I ended up driving, a luxury not available to many CalFresh recipients, and snagged three breasts for $4.69.

In my last post I’d mentioned a lunch dilemma – I had nothing planned.

By Curtis Yee / The Triton (UCSD) /May 10, 2017

Kingdom Come

May 10, 1970: M*A*S*H was still on TV, The Guess Who was at the top of the Billboard charts, and a little after 4 p.m., George Winne Jr., a UCSD graduate student, set himself on fire in the middle of Revelle Plaza.

Winne was standing in the the northeast corner of the plaza by Ridge Walk, covered in towels and holding a sign that read, “In the name of God, end the war.” A physics graduate student named Ralph J. Archuleta passed by Winne while he was dousing himself in gasoline. “I thought it was water and that he was just trying to cool himself off,” Archuleta said. He kept walking.

Then Winne set himself on fire.