OB Rag

By Jim Miller

America is an increasingly unhappy place and much of what we are currently doing politically is bound to make us feel worse. And while our malaise is surely not just the product of the Trump presidency, it is highly likely that his policies will continue our negative trajectory.

As the Guardian recently reported, “Happiness in the US is declining and is expected to continue on a downward path, with Donald Trump’s policies forecast to deepen the country’s social crisis.”

Here’s a photo gallery of what’s new on the business streets of Ocean Beach. Moving from north to south across the village … we have …

* Upper Voltaire Project Digging Deeper

* Car’s Jars restaurant “coming soon!”

* International Self-Defense School to Open above Plant Power

By Judi Curry

It has been no secret that I have been terribly lonely since my husband died 7 ½ years ago. Our 51st wedding anniversary will be April 5th.

I was married at 17, (to my first husband) and have been married many, many years. I really never lived by myself, and have always been a “pair”. The past few years have been very difficult.

Last night I was reading an article on how you can order just about anything from “Amazon.com”.

The newly formed Ocean Beach Families Association is hosting their Kick-off Ice Cream Social this Sunday, New April 2nd, at Lighthouse Ice Cream on Newport Avenue from 11am-1pm. The event will be held in the courtyard directly behind Lighthouse Ice Cream, with $1 dollar kid’s cones, free bubbles, and a coloring activity.

The OB Families Association is a community group that aims to encourage more family-friendly activities and resources in Ocean Beach.

Compass Cloud will benefit riders, but basic problems for the Compass Card remain unfixed

from Circulate San Diego

Thursday’s release of the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Compass Cloud mobile payment option is an improvement for transit riders, but it does not resolve basic problems with the existing Compass Card. (see MTS advisory about the Compass Cloud here. )

Colin Parent, Policy Counsel for Circulate San Diego, stated:

“While the MTS mobile fare payment system is a welcomed enhancement, significant improvements for the Compass Card are still needed.”

Developers Want to Build 4,000 New Homes Along Truck Route in Otay Mesa

By Barbara Zaragoza / San Diego Free Press

This week, the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce wrote in their newsletter:

The City is proposing a residential development with more than 4,000 homes along Cactus Road and Siempre Viva.

The access for this new village is Britannia, which of course is an existing truck route. The Chamber has requested the City to explore requiring the housing developers to either build or contribute to adding the Heritage Intersection to SR-905. The City Council is considering adopting the Central Village Plan next Tuesday April 2nd. at 2:00 pm.

* Hugo’s Cochina Ends Up on Hot Plate

* Average San Diego Rents Up Slightly

* Does the Threat of Plane Crashes from Lindbergh Field Affect Your Rent?

* Counterfeit $100 Bills Show Up at OB and Point Loma Businesses

* Airbnb Van Found in Ocean Beach

* Point Loma Homes Broken Into Via Garage Door Openers

* Court Gives Controversial South Mission Lifeguard Tower Thumps-Up

* Suspect in Homeless Serial Killings Deemed Mentally Competent to Stand Trial
* Peninsula Community Planing Board Election Results
* Traffic Synchronization System Along Rosecrans Installed
* Point Loma – OB Democrats Elect New Officers
* Point Loma Waters Can Be Deceptive
* Props to Three Little Lions in Gushing Reader Article
* Zombies’ Smoke Shop Promised

COME INSIDE FOR STORIES

The San Diego Audubon Society is gearing up for a weekend of organizing volunteers to help restore the natural habitat on Fiesta Island.

On both Saturday, April 1st and Sunday, April 2nd, teams of volunteers will work to restore the nesting habitat of the endangered California Least Tern and to protect Nuttall’s Lotus, an endangered sand dune plant on Fiesta Island.

Here’s the break-down:

The San Diego U-T just gave the forerunner of the online OB Rag, the OB People’s Rag, a plug in a travel log-type piece on Ocean Beach in the Business section, entitled “Ocean Beach: the neighborhood the ’60s never forgot, where parrots fly free“. The piece is currently in the online version of the newspaper only, and is due out in paper on April 10th.

Along with “landmarks” and “things to do” in OB, is a section “Did you know?” where the original Rag – and current one – are mentioned, along with the 1966 World Surfing Championship and the FX drama “Terriers” history of OB.

By Norma Damashek / Numbers Runner Blogspot

I was out for a mindful walk the other morning. Here’s how I once described it: you put one foot in front of the other while you notice what’s around you. First you notice… then you let it go. Notice… let it go… notice…

Walking through the parking lot of my local Vons I noticed a small card table near the store entrance and, behind it, a (paid) signature gatherer. Sign this for a new soccer stadium? he asked, offering me a pen.

I smiled no. I let it go… went inside… bought three pears plus a squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup (good for any emergency)… emerged from the store… noticed a nice-looking man at the card table talking to the signature gatherer.

So Far 3 Challengers Set to Run Against Zapf for District 2

At this point, there are 3 challengers to Councilwoman Lorie Zapf for the next election for the District 2 seat. Bay Ho resident Daniel Smiechowski, Jordan Beane, and Bryan Pease have all cast their hats into the ring for the district that includes Ocean Beach, Point Loma and much of the beach area, plus some area just east of Interstate 5.

By Ernie McCray

Some places in our lives resonate with us in special ways. San Diego City College is one of those places for me, a place that always seems to be about creating a better world. My kind of place.

Along these lines, I heard City College’s Interim President, Denise Whisenhunt, say to an overflow audience at the school’s Saville Theatre that the campus was “at the forefront of the social justice movement.”

Those words in her short welcoming speech seemed evident as I looked around me at all the attendees at the school’s “3rd Annual Social Justice & Education Conference,” a gathering that just gets better and bigger every year.