OB Rag

By John Lawrence

How to figure out the ongoing crisis that is Greece? What exactly is going on there? As per usual it’s another chapter in the strange saga that involves Wall Street’s stranglehold over the world economy.

What happened to Greece is similar to what happened to American mortgage holders after they were encouraged to go in over their collective heads borrowing more money than they could reasonably expect to be in a position to pay back. Greece did the same.

Will Greece default soon? Will they stay in the Eurozone or be ejected out of it? These questions have been hanging in the air for what seems like an interminably long time.

By Tony de Garate / Special to the OB Rag

Nearly three months after an SUV struck and killed a seven-month-old girl who was being pushed in a stroller in the middle of a Point Loma crosswalk, city officials say they are developing plans to ensure such a tragedy doesn’t happen again.

Two city engineers say construction of a traffic signal designed to protect people using the crosswalk where the fatality occurred near the intersection of Catalina Boulevard and Cañon Street could begin in two months.

Pedestrians would be able to stop traffic 50 feet in front of the crosswalk by pushing a button, which would cause the light to turn yellow, then red, allowing cars to stop in good time, said Kharman Tawfiq, an assistant civil engineer in the city’s Traffic Engineering Division, at the monthly meeting of the Peninsula Community Planning Board May 21.

Bernie Sanders Announces Presidential Campaign

This is Bernie Sanders’ prepared speech*, delivered Tuesday, May 26, in Vermont.

Today, here in our small state – a state that has led the nation in so many ways – I am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.

Today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout this country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally.

By Matthew Wood

A healthy debate is expected at tonight’s Ocean Beach Town Council meeting regarding the San Diego Union-Tribune’s practice of distributing their “Local Community Values” advertising circulars.

“I’ve been picking these things up from in front of my house and getting annoyed about it for a long time,” said OB resident Mary Tolena, who will present a case to the council to have the Union-Tribune end its practice of tossing out hundreds of the plastic-wrapped circulars in the neighborhood each week.

She says the advertisements are supposed to be targeted to subscribers, but instead they are sent out willy nilly and end up sitting on neighborhood sidewalks and in yards, creating a nuisance.

The regular monthly public meeting of the OB Town Council is being held tonight, Wed., May 27th. It will be at the Masonic Center, at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, and begins at 7pm.

The featured speakers include concerned citizens who have asked the OBTC to consider a resolution on “U-T San Diego Local Community Values” advertising circulars that are wrapped in plastic bags and thrown onto the sidewalks, gutters, and streets of Ocean Beach every Friday.

At least one of the brand new 2 story condos within the Saratoga Street project at Abbott and Saratoga that just opened recently proves what gentrification in OB is all about.

Zillow is running an ad right now for one of those condos, letting a 3 bedroom rental go for just $9,500 a month.

What a steal!

Something hit this light pole – demolishing it over the Memorial Day weekend.

A reader who sent the photo stated:

A conversion van hit this light pole by the fire station around midnight and fled the scene. it is leaking oil and radiator fluid and probably has a big chunk of concrete in the front bumper.

In the most recent OB Rag poll on marijuana usage of our readers, 55% responded that they smoked it occasionally and up to one-third of our readers smoke pot on a daily basis.

The poll ran for about one week and was open to any and all of our readers. One hundred readers responded during that period. The poll was not scientific – but it does give us a view of the marijuana smoking habits of our readers.

We asked readers how often they smoked pot. 31% of the gross total answered that they smoke it on a daily basis. (Of those who actually responded to the question, the percentage of daily smokers goes up to at least one out of 3 respondents.) Another 10% said they smoked weed at least once a week.

By Bob Dorn / San Diego Free Press

Last Sunday (May 17) on 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley summoned every hormone and nanoparticle in his body to reach that sweet spot where his voice can sound like a god’s and said:

“Time is the enemy of history.”

Say what? I mean… What?

At the end of a certain amount of time, say 60 minutes, history ceases to exist? Time wins and history loses? Does history end when Scott Pelley runs out of time?

By Will Falk

Looking up at the still, lingering morning stars from the best stargazing location in the world early on the third day since my arrival at the occupation on Mauna Kea, my personal velocities catch up with me and I listen. I stand at 9,200 feet above sea level.

OB is getting a bunch of new, modern street lights. And to top it off, they have cell phone antennas inside them. How great is that!

Ran into a work crew from Perry’s Electric yesterday on Newport Avenue. They were finishing up with the cementing of the base for a new light right in front of Cheswick’s. The new light has the antenna inside the pole itself. Their trucks and equipment took up a good portion of the block. But they were fast.

I spoke to the foreman of the crew, who told me that they’re installing 7 new lights from Sunset Cliffs to Newport.

Other cities have sued over PCB pollution, but San Diego’s case is unique.

by Natasha Geiling / Think Progress / March 25, 2015

In a 1970 internal memo, agrochemical giant Monsanto alerted its development committee to a problem: Polychlorinated Biphenyls — known as PCBs — had been shown to be a highly toxic pollutant.

PCBs — sold under the common name Aroclor — were also huge business, raking in some $10 million in profits.