OB Rag

Do organics make good neighbors? Or more specifically, do businesses selling organic products make good neighbors here in OB?

When Blue Dot Refills opened earlier this year right next door to People’s Food, the common wisdom was ‘wow, they must really get along’ – referring to the gigantic OB-centric vegetarian and organic market – OB’s largest employer – and the small two-person refill storefront. Both stores were pushing organic things in order to help the environment.

But there have been complaints from People’s managers about a couple of things that have to do with the new neighbor. First, someone from Blue Dot came into People’s and went up to customers telling them that Blue Dot had cheaper and better products. Oops! That’s a definite abuse of neighborly love.

Second, Blue Dot customers are parking in People’s parking lot, the allegation goes, while People’s own customers circle the block looking for spaces. We all know that parking is an issue in that part of OB.

Update Goes to City’s Historical Resource Board May 22nd

As the Update of the OB Community Plan winds its way through the official approval process, it achieved a significant boost of late with the OB Town Council passing a resolution in support of the Community Plan.

On Thursday, May 22, the Update is scheduled to be in front of the City of San Diego’s Historical Resource Board. It then has to pass muster before the Planning Commission on May 29th, and then is set for the full City Council on July 1. On April 30th, the Smart Growth and Land Use Committee waved a green flag for the Plan Update to proceed, after a dozen OBceans had testified.

By Ernie McCray

She’s really something, my Maria. Maria Nieto-Senour. College professor by way of the Mexican barrios of San Antonio and Austin and the inner-cities of Detroit. Mo-Town.

At any moment she’ll be retired which means she gets to hang out with me more. I can’t wait because she’s fun to be around and she’s about as loving a human being as one could be.  

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

To be labeled as “USDA organic,” 95% of the ingredients must be organically grown and the remaining 5% may be non-organic agricultural ingredients or synthetic substances that have been approved for use in organics by the USDA.

The 5% of non-organic products are usually derived from GMO corn which is highly sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup.

It’s a little known fact that some organic packaged foods contain GMOs and pesticides thanks to the lobbying efforts of Big Organic corporations.

For example, consider a container of Organic Tomato Basil soup, a product of Canada, purchased at Sprout’s.

It’s about time we had new ideas, new imaginations, and an encompassing and inclusive governance.

By Luis J. Rodriguez

I am not a career politician. I won’t accept corporate donations. I am not a Democrat or Republican. And I’ve been blocked from print or airtime in the major media. Still, I’m running a serious independent campaign to be governor of the largest state in the union, one of the 10 largest economies in the world, with the third largest agricultural business anywhere.

I say it’s about time.

California has been governed by politicians, business people, accountants, actors, and,..

Library materials budget reduced by $500,000 to pay for pilot after-school program

By Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

Update: San Diego Citizens packed the council chambers last night – Monday, May 19th- in a three hour budget hearing. Members of the Library Organizing Project testified against the proposed raiding of the materials budget to pay for an after school homework program. They also raised concerns about proposed library open hour schedule.

All libraries will close at 7PM, which is restricts program activities in the evening for working people. …

(Ten in a series)

By Cara Wilson-Granat

This is the tenth and final article in a series of ten in which we have met all of the San Diego 10 orcas and heard from advocates who continue to be one of the voices of these imprisoned voiceless, never stopping until the whole world listens.

This week’s Advocate is Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego.

Prisoner #10: Makani

Age: 15 months old

Born on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2013, Makani made his debut in Shamu Stadium, SeaWorld San Diego. Guided by his momma and big sister, the baby swam immediately to the surface just seconds after he was born to take his first breath. Makani, (his name means “Wind” in Hawaiian) was the fourth calf born to mother …

A Conclusion to “Good Neighborhood/Bad Neighbors”

Editor: In March we published a Reader Rant entitled “What to Do With Bad Neighbors in a Good Neighborhood?” by an anonymous local resident. That resident – Daniel Bille – has since made himself known publicly – and here is his story.

By Daniel Bille / Special to the OB Rag

It was the first Thursday night in May and our lives returned to normal. For months, we had grown a sense of foreboding and dread every night when the sun went down but especially when Thursdays arrived.

For reasons we can only guess, Thursday was the night the renters next door preferred to get drunk early and fight each other or, worse, keep us awake all night with their noise.

By Matthew Wood

It’s just after noon on Friday afternoon and Steven Yeng looks nervous.

The man who opened the wildly popular OB Noodle House is standing in the middle of his new creation, Bar 1502, and the place – which opened less than a week before – is half empty during the normal lunch rush.

“I don’t think people know we’re open,” he says.

It’s hard to imagine being able to walk into Noodle House and get a table. At the original location, on Cable Street just north of Voltaire, the wait is almost always an hour-plus can grow to more than two hours.

By Tony de Garate / Special to the OB Rag

With just seven months remaining on his interim term on the San Diego City Council, Ed Harris intends to be “hands-on when it comes to planning issues” and “make constituent services” his No. 1 goal, an aide said last week.

Harris was appointed to the City Council last month to complete the term of now-Mayor Kevin Faulconer. His representative, Rollin Bush, introduced himself May 15 at the monthly meeting of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB).

Bush outlined a few priorities …

By Jim Miller

It was a little bit of hell on earth. With searing heat in the triple digits replacing May gray and fires sprouting up all over the county, San Diego’s mellow vibe turned menacing last week.

As many of us, this author included, worried about the safety of friends and family members in harm’s way, it was hard not to be struck by a painful sense of déjà vu. We’ve been here before—three times in a little more than a decade. But not everybody felt that way.

Editor: This article was published by the OB Rag right after the 2007 fires in San Diego County – and today, it has an eerie ring of familiarity. It was part of a series we ran about wildfires. We stated then:

Blaming arsonists for Southern California wildfires has always been a great game for politicians and the mainstream media.

By Frank Gormlie/ Nov. 11, 2007

Before the Wildfires of October 2007 were through burning, the blame game had begun. TV news crews speculated on the causes during those first few days when it seemed the whole world was on fire. Early on, immigrants were the cause, then definitely arsonists, then the homeless, then it was little boys playing with matches. There were so many fires … in the space of just a few days, that there just had to be some kind of conspiracy out there, lighting these fires!