OB Rag

The OB Rag has heard a report via a reader that a large, “champion” Torrey Pine is being cut down today – Monday, May 1st – in the area of the 3600 block of Amaryllis and Lotus near Plumosa Park.

We have not been able to confirm this.

A concerned citizen made a posting on Network alerting the local community in Point Loma. Here is an excerpt:

Clothes Racks Not Allowed Outside Newport Avenue Storefronts

By South OB Girl

For many years there have been racks of clothing for sale outside the shops on Newport Avenue. I have memories of outdoor racks at Lola Luna, Miss Match, The Closet, Wahines, Dream Girls, Temptress, $2 Thrill, OB Surf & Skate, Wings, the souvenir shops, and the shell shop.

I recently learned that these racks of clothes outside stores are not allowed in the Public Right of Way (PROW). Shops can purchase a permit for $45 from the OB MainStreet Association to be able to use a designated area of sidewalk (for a distance of no more than 4′-0″ from the property line) in front of their stores as part of the PROW Enhancement Program. The PROW cannot be used for clothes racks but can be used for other things.

Restaurant Review

The Gourmet Bagger
3357 Rosecrans
San Diego, CA
Midway in Loma Square
619-523-0590
Thegourmetbagger.com

Time to have lunch with the widows again, except that this time there were only two of us. Irene and me. We started out the day going to garage and estate sales, and then went to the Police Department to drop off some very old prescriptions. As we were driving to the police department we noticed that traffic on Highway 8 going west was backed up all the way to Hotel Circle. That changed where we were going to eat lunch, and decided to try “The Gourmet Bagger” instead of our original plans.

Parking at Loma Square is difficult at any time, but Saturday is the worst. Luckily we found a place relatively easy and were pleasantly surprised to see that tables outside and inside had diners, but there were still a few tables left.

9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Teach-in, Rally and March at San Diego City College
3:00 PM Rally at the Federal Building
4:00 PM March to Chicano Park followed by Rally in Chicano Park

By Jim Miller

Usually May Day comes and goes with a small march that most people barely notice. Indeed, most Americans don’t know much about May Day and if they do, they associate it with the state sponsored holiday in the former Soviet Union.

The truth of the matter is, however, that May Day has deep American roots. It started in 1866 as part of the movement pushing for the 8-hour day.

This reporter stood on the sidewalk and observed the entire Climate March in downtown San Diego today, Saturday, April 29th.

At least 5,000 people attended the rally, the one-mile loop of a march and then a second rally at the County Administration Building.

Here are the people and their wonderful signs:

By Frank Gormlie

Nate Bazydlo – the vice-president of the OB Town Council – got up before the audience the other night at the monthly meeting of the Council and recounted a sad story. He had recently run into an old friend, a long-time resident of Ocean Beach, who had just been evicted out of her home of 20 years.

Seems some mystery man had approached her landlord and had offered him hundreds of dollars more a month than what Nate’s friend was paying. The landlord took the deal, kicked the friend out, and leased it to the mystery man. And without moving in, the mystery man made the place into a short-term vacation rental. He didn’t even have to buy it, he just leased it, and then turned around and now leases it out to high-paying vacationers.

By Frank Gormlie

The OB Town Council held their monthly public meeting last Wednesday night – where they usually do – at the Masonic Center on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.

As I drove into the Center’s parking lot from the alley between Santa Monica and Santa Cruz, I could see that something was up, as there was a crowd of people congregating around the side door that leads immediately into the community room. Oh, no. Another meeting outside? I conjectured, recalling the last time that the meeting was held outside on the asphalt, that summer night when the electricity blew a fuse or something.

By Mark Hughes, SanDiego350

In the recently published book, “The Knowledge Illusion”, authors Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach assert something rather disturbing: we rarely think for ourselves. Instead, we patch together our understanding of the world by taking a bit from over here and a bit from over there. If they are correct, it’s pretty easy to see that it’s whose bits we incorporate (the IPCC or Trump? Hmm.) that create our worldview.

Ed Harris, union leader for San Diego lifeguards, slammed the city’s fire chief over water-rescue dispatch changes recently implemented, Wednesday night- April 26 – at the Ocean Beach Town Council meeting.

Billed as a “public forum on policy change to water 911 calls”, both Harris and Brian Fennessy, the new fire chief, had been invited by the council to debate the issue – but Fennessy had declined to attend, and OBTC president Gretchen Newsom read his email response instead.

The core issue is that after over 30 years of practice, Fennessy unilaterally changed the policy on water-rescue dispatches.

By Geoff Page

The Midway Community Planning Board devoted its regular Wednesday monthly meeting April 19th to the topic that is most on the minds of its members: the homeless and the problems they are causing in the Midway area.

Council member Lori Zapf was at the meeting as was the Mayor’s so called “homeless czar” Stacie Spector. There were about 40 people in attendance. The meeting was held at the new EF Language School on Kenyon Street.

Zapf arrived at 3:30 and was the first to speak.