San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Ocean Beach

The Ocean Beach Empire of Michael Mills

by

Slumlord Owns 241 Housing Units in OB

Many OBceans struggle long and hard to earn the financial resources to purchase their one house, condo or apartment. Many never obtain enough to make the plunge into buying property in Ocean Beach. It is so expensive to buy a home here at the coast, that it’s prohibitive for most.

Not Michael Mills, the notorious slumlord of Ocean Beach. Mills has a virtual empire in OB. He and his trusts own 241 homes, condos and apartments in the Ocean Beach area.

Imagine that. Two-hundred and forty-one units. And many of these units are within multi-unit apartments.   [Read more…]

Rock Art Has Been Dismantled

by

It was a short story about how two local homeless guys, Corey and Greg, had what they considered “Rock Art”, with rows of stones piled on each other forming small pillars of rock. This type of rock art has been gaining popularity – and one can see piles such as what Corey and Greg have done at the shore, along the San Diego River.

Then, just days after our story appeared – there was that horrible period beginning on July 3rd of the serial killer preying on homeless men – including one killed in Ocean Beach. In a way, it was a relief seeing those rocks – almost a monument to the homeless.

Now, the rock art has been dismantled – all of it – and the rocks and stones currently line the thick bushes within the median. Who would have done that? The police? Other homeless? The 2 artists themselves to begin again?   [Read more…]

Son of Ocean Beach Homeless Man Qualifies for the Olympics

by

By Vera Sanchez and Sunny Rey

It is a kid’s dream to stand on an Olympic podium and have their nation’s flag wave high as he smiles at his family. Cody Miller, of Billings, Montana, qualified on June 27th for the Men’s 100m Breaststroke coming from behind to secure his spot on the Olympic swim team. This year’s games will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil beginning August 5th, 2016.

The road for Cody did not come easy.   [Read more…]

Hippie Life In Ocean Beach

by

Editor’s Note: Frank Gormlie will speak about “Hippies in OB” this Saturday, April 30th at the OB Library, from 2 to 3 pm.

OB as the Haight-Ashbury of San Diego

In my many writings about Ocean Beach history – some of which I share below – I’ve always noted that in the late 1960s, OB became the Haight-Ashbury of San Diego. By 1967 – a year after the OB Pier had officially opened – it was already evident that Ocean Beach was morphing into the San Diego equivalent of that fabled and iconic San Francisco neighborhood synonymous with “hippie-ism”. If you were a hippie or a hippie-wannabe during this time somewhere in San Diego, you ended up in OB.   [Read more…]

From Hippies in Ocean Beach to Law Day in City Heights: How San Diego Libraries Reinvent Themselves

by

Weekends in San Diego are always chock full of events that provide often competing opportunities to be entertained and informed and to spend time with friends and family. Two upcoming events on Saturday April 30 are particularly noteworthy because of the diverse topics and the venues–two City of San Diego public libraries in two unique communities.

Frank Gormlie, local political muckraker and gadfly, editor of our sister publication OB Rag and editorial board member of SDFP, will lead an hour discussion about Ocean Beach Hippies and how Ocean Beach became San Diego’s Haight-Ashbury, circa 1967.   [Read more…]

OB Planning Board: Harris and Saldaña Blast Faulconer, Ambert Re-elected as Chair, and Del Mar Project Approved

by

By Frank Gormlie / OB Rag

A lot going on at last night’s OB Planning Board meeting. As nearly two dozen people crowded into the Community Meeting room at the OB Rec Center, they were witnesses to a type of mini-mayoral candidate debate, when candidates Ed Harris and Lori Saldaña addressed the meeting.   [Read more…]

Private Encroachments into Public Space: Ocean Beach Grows Wary

by

From Restaurants to the Beach, Private Interests Are Taking More Public Grounds

The recent uproar among OBceans over the intrusions into public sidewalks by two Ocean Beach restaurants illustrates a broader and growing wariness by the public of the larger issue of encroachment by private interests into public space.

Just several weeks ago, two OB restaurants, The Joint and the yet-to-open OB Brewery – both on Newport Avenue – have installed permanent fixtures outside their establishments that seriously curtail pedestrian traffic and block the public access to the public sidewalk immediately in front of the restaurants.

The Joint put in tables with a metal fence and gate, taking the encroachment trend in OB’s “outdoor cafes” to a new level. The OB Rag ran a poll where 42% of the respondents agreed that what The Joint did was an encroachment into public space and agreed that the fence and tables should be removed. The OB Brewery also installed exterior fencing that significantly narrows the public walkway.

The future of these intrusions into what many feel are the public’s right-of-way has yet to be ultimately decided, but the response by locals reflects a growing wariness among OBceans – and others who live up and down the coast or near parks – to what they perceive as an invasion into public space by people with private interests as their motivation.
  [Read more…]

From Hockey Star To Homeless: Craig Miller Dies on Christmas Day In Ocean Beach

by

By Vera Sanchez and Sunny Rey

Most people celebrate Christmas by unwrapping surprises, with the smell of coffee, the sound of giggles, and the warmth of a crowded house. But Dec. 25, 2015, is the day we found Craig Miller dead.

We were just two volunteers wanting to pass out sleeping bags; the season slump was to be uplifted in the streets of Ocean Beach. The organization, Urban Street Angels, had a goal of reaching 800 local homeless in the community by gifting them with newly donated sleeping bags. As fate would have it, we received an outdated flyer with an old starting time, and consequently arrived well after the event was over.   [Read more…]

SeaWorld Supporters Take on OB Rag and Frank Gormlie

by

OB Rag Staff / OB Rag

There is a small group of SeaWorld supporters (apologists?) who have directly taken on the OB Rag and editor Frank Gormlie. They have a blog and posted a recent article calling out Gormlie by name in a headline refuting his claims about SeaWorld.

About a month ago, Gormlie wrote an article entitled “Why SeaWorld Can’t Build a Hotel at its Location on Mission Bay”, citing the proximity of the old Mission Bay landfill which is known to contain toxic materials.   [Read more…]

Kersey’s Blue Smoke and Mirrors Plan for ‘Fixing’ San Diego

by

Gosh, it all sounds so good: A 2016 ballot measure raising billions for infrastructure projects by requiring city leaders to devote future growth in sales tax revenue and all pension savings to the problem over the next 30 years.

Councilman Mark Kersey’s plan would not raise taxes. It simply amends the city charter, something requiring only 51% voter approval. What could go wrong?

Plenty. Starting with it’s actually not enough money and ending with cuts to other city services. Which services? That’s up to some future city council to decide. Kersey’s plan is a Trojan horse, painted in cheery colors, with sparkles and googly eyes so voters don’t notice its ‘drown government in a bathtub’ core.   [Read more…]

New Private Security Patrol Alarms OBceans

by

By Daniel /OB Rag

Though not widely discussed, the presence of a new security force in Ocean Beach has some OBceans alarmed.

National Public Safety has been retained by the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association to “keep Ocean Beach family-friendly by enhancing public safety in specific geographical locations” … this after the OBMA dumped Elite Services USA (the red shirts) for general ineffectiveness.

As a security force, neither outfit has much leeway to effect actual change in terms of cleaning up the streets. Security guards in California are private citizens, and have no powers of arrest beyond that of any other private citizen and they’ve no power to temporarily detain anyone [editor: although they can make “citizen’s arrest” and detain someone until police arrive – much like supermarket security can do].   [Read more…]

Why Ocean Beach Should Be Wary of Police Surveillance Cameras Being Installed

by

Ocean Beach has just been notified that the City of San Diego intends to install ten police surveillance cameras along OB’s waterfront, from the Pier to the River. This project has been announced lately at recent community meetings, such as the OB Town Council.

And it has been announced as a done-deal by police representatives, and they will be going up sometime over the next weeks or so, sometime between the end of November to the first of the New Year – and will cost $25,000 to install.

Without knowing who from the community has requested them, the appearance of police officers telling  community members that they are installing surveillance cameras for their benefit is somewhat unsettling.

Putting aside the Constitutional and privacy issues just for a moment, let’s look at what we know so far.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry