Cleanup OB
After reading the letters the past couple weeks, I have observed that there seems to be some actual mystery as to why Ocean Beach is such a filthy dump compared to other beach communities. The reason is as obvious to someone who has lived here since 1979 as it was to these recent visitors who left the following review of our own local OB Hotel and surrounding community at tripadvisor.com:
“Aug 14, 2006: A TripAdvisor Member, Phoenix
My fiancé and I stayed at the OB Hotel for 3 nights. In fact that is the only time we were there…at night. We spent our entire vacation at any other beach in San Diego. This hotel is right on the beach just as advertised. The only problem is the beach is full of homeless (or what appear to be homeless people). The website boasts a small quaint beach community, which is far from reality. It is somewhere between a transient stop and a biker town, and the restaurants are far from the advertised ‘world class.'”
When we start discouraging the homeless from settling in Ocean Beach “” instead of feeding them, tolerating their panhandling and otherwise coddling them “” we may clean up this place. But as long as we let them loiter daily in the same area as we, the taxpayers, this community will always be an embarrassment to those who cherish cleanliness and civic pride. Cut the politically correct crap and make littering, loitering and chronic homelessness a crime. Then power wash the dirt off the sidewalks, filter the beach sand and make OB a place of which we can be proud.

Paul Avery, Ocean Beach

Conspicuous absence
A presentation was scheduled for the University City Planning Group and the public Sept. 13, with speakers from the County Regional Airport Authority and the U.S.M.C. In a disturbing display of uncivil behavior, the Airport Authority Chairman cancelled with only 26-hour notice. The one-sided presentation went on as scheduled and was much appreciated.
By the time all the disappointed attendees tell the story to friends, co-workers, family, and acquaintances, those 110 attendees will probably create 300 to 500 new votes against the proposition at the November 7 election. A “NO” vote is the right vote for Prop A.
Residents, taxpayers and voters deserved a first-class presentation from the Airport Authority. As a taxpayer and county resident I’m ashamed to say they didn’t get one this evening.
In view of the excuses the Airport Authority’s chairman and its outreach consultant gave for canceling, it remains unclear whether the Airport Authority will ever participate in any side-by-side presentation on its ballot measure.
It should. We deserve no less.
Jim Varnadore, City Heights

Stickers no better than graffiti
In the early morning hours of Sept. 10 at the parking lot on Newport Avenue, a group of 10 or 12 young people were at the seawall and one young man was drawing in chalk. I said to him that people sit on the wall and that later in the day a Jazz concert would take place. I asked that he stop. About a half-hour later I returned only to see him still drawing. At this time, the parking lot was being pressure cleaned by OB Services “” the man in charge was Merle. I spoke with him and requested that he clean off the wall. I want to thank Merle and the owner of O.B. Services, Claudia Jack, for cleaning the sea wall.
Graffiti is a real problem here in Ocean Beach. Along Newport Avenue from Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to the beach there are about 100 street signs. Of the 100, maybe 10 are clean of any graffiti “” never mind the poles, bike racks and the railings around the trees. The graffiti, for the most part, is stickers and labels. These labels represent beer, body piercing, rock groups, surfing and skate boarding and God knows what other products or services.
Does anyone know where all of these stickers come from? I have a good idea “” the Ocean Beach merchants, maybe the liquor stores, maybe a body piercing shop, maybe the entertainment clubs, maybe music stores, maybe surf shops. I am not saying the merchants are pasting them up “” just passing them out. For the last several years I have tried to remove these labels along Newport Avenue, but for every one that I get down two more take its place. I only mentioned three blocks of Newport Avenue; just look around it’s all over O.B. I think it’s a real blight on our community.
Jim St. Denis, Ocean Beach