OB Rag

It was embarrassing to observe how the Planning Commission coddled one single property owner while gutting key language regarding variances

By Frank Gormlie

On Thursday, May 29, for nearly two hours, the Ocean Beach Community Plan Update was before the San Diego Planning Commission sitting in the City Council chambers. After having a staff presentation, listening to public comments pro and con, and their own questions and issues, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Update. However, they approved the Plan with two modifications whose ramifications are not clear.

by Lois Lane

The OB Town Council meeting on Wednesday, May 28, focused on Community Plans – the one in Barrio Logan under attack and the OB Plan hopeful of approval.

If you have read your ballot by now – A YES vote on Propositions B and C preserves the 2013 Barrio Logan community plan resulting from the city’s community process and approved by the San Diego City Council. Challenged by the shipyard interests, a NO vote will overturn the approved plan.

Just returned from nearly a 3 hour San Diego Planning Commission meeting – a good part on the OB Community Plan Update that was before them.

With a couple of modifications, the Planning Commission did finally approve the Plan unanimously. The Plan will now go before the City Council, scheduled at this moment for June 30th.

Okay, we know it’s election season, with the June 3rd Primary date less than a week away. So, why are Republicans Mayor Faulconer and District 6 Rep Lorie Zapf politicizing a proclamation today in honor of legendary skateboarder and native San Diegan Tony Hawk? The City is declaring Thursday, May 29 as “Tony Hawk Day” in San Diego.

And Faulconer and Zapf will be down at the OB Skateboard Park today at 11:00 am to host some kind of event. But why Zapf? She is running for District 2 – BUT SHE AIN’T THERE YET ! Why the heck will she be there – except to promote her candidacy against Democrat Sarah Boot. If anyone ought to be there, it should be Councilman Ed Harris – who does represent District 2.

Americans need credible nutrition advice they can trust, not a choice between quacks and “experts” sold out to junk food companies.

By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

I ran into an acquaintance recently and he told me he’d started seeing a new nutrition expert. “You know what?” he said, “It turns out I’m gluten intolerant.”

OK. Him and everyone else. I told him I was glad he found an expert who could help him.

A week later I saw him again. “I went back to the nutritionist,” he said. “I can’t have nightshades either.” That means no more potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, or eggplant.

by Ernie McCray

I miss you, Maya,
but you will forever reside
in the breezes of
the breaths of fresh air
you gifted us with
when you were here,
ever so lovely and dear,
so wise beyond any years,
captivating us with your smile
and your wit
and your humor, all the while,
teaching us the ways of “We,”
you, him, her, them, me –
all of humanity.

By Bob Dorn / San Diego Free Press

About 50 feet away, at another bench, a metals guy with two giant white bags calls out, as I take a rest, “Can you play something.”

It’s not exactly a question, but it’s no insult either. It is an interruption, but then so is the trumpet played in the park.

Obceans* are urged to attend Thursday’s San Diego Planning Commission meeting and show support for the OB Community Plan Update. OB planners say “this is the most important document that will guide development in OB for the next 20 plus years.”

The Plan Update is scheduled to go before the Planning Commission on the 29th of May. Planning Commission meetings start at 9 am sharp.

The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers at City Hall, downtown at 202 West “C” Street, 12th Floor. Here’s the agenda: http://www.sandiego.gov/planning-commission/pdf/agenda/2014/pcagenda140529.pdf

By any objective analysis, cannabis and cannabinoids exceed the FDA’s existing standards for medicine.

By Paul Armentano / AlterNet

Medical cannabis opponents are fond of promoting many myths and misconceptions about the herb. Here are the facts.

Medical cannabis is too dangerous to recommend as a medicine
The cannabis plant and its biologically active constituents, known as cannabinoids, possess an impressive safety profile compared to other conventional therapeutic agents. According to the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, marijuana possesses an estimated dependence liability of less than ten percent. (Others have acknowledged that pot’s true dependence potential is likely even lower.)

On Wednesday, May 28th, the OB Town Council will be hosting a debate and discussion on local San Diego propositions B and C. These props will determine the fate of the Barrio Logan Community Plan update. This has been described as a battle between community and economic interests. The OBTC invites the public to come learn about these two initiatives. at our OB Town Council meeting on Wednesday and then cast your vote on June 3rd.

The Town Council will meet May 28, at 7:00pm, at the Masonic Center, 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

Speakers include:

– Corinne Wilson, Protect Our Children’s Health San Diego (Pro Props B & C)
– Rep from Protect Our Jobs Coalition (invited) (Anti Props B & C)

There will also hear an update on the Ocean Beach Community Plan …

by Michael Steinberg / blackrainpress – Indybay.org

A report released just recently detailed a government spy network that was employed to monitor the Occupy movement “hour-to-hour” during 2011.

The Washington DC- based Partnership for Justice Fund just released an investigative report, “The Hidden Role of Fusion Centers in the Nationwide Spying Operations against the Occupy Movement and Peaceful Protest in America.” It took two years to carry out this investigation. Its principal authors are PFJF members Maria Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo.

Fusion Centers, funded by hundred of millions of dollars from the Department of Homeland Security, sprung up across the nation after the 911 attacks. Their mission was ostensibly to fight terrorism. But ten years later they made fighting the Occupy Movement their Number 1 priority.

By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout | Op-Ed

The recent torturous execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma has propelled the death penalty into the national discourse. The secret three-drug cocktail that prison authorities administered to Lockett – the first to render him unconscious, the second to paralyze him, and the third to stop his heart and kill him – didn’t work as planned. After writhing in pain for 43 minutes, he finally died of a heart attack. Madeline Cohen, a lawyer who witnessed the botched execution, said Lockett had been “tortured to death.” Seasoned reporters, also witnesses, called it “horrific.” President Obama found it “deeply disturbing” and promised a review of how the death penalty is administered.