While the tension surrounding homelessness in Ocean Beach has subsided over the last month, community members are still searching for solutions. More than 50 people met at First Baptist Church of Ocean Beach on Aug. 24 for a second faith-based community-led forum — this one geared to move things forward. “It has cooled off so much I can’t believe it,” said Jack Hamlin, San Diego Restorative Justice Program board chair. “People are talking again. It’s a completely different climate than it was in June.” The goal of the first forum held in July was more about discussing issues and talking about cleaning up the image of the Ocean Beach community. The most recent forum aimed to lay out a plan for action. At the forum, participants were split into “peace circles” to discuss four categories that were identified as significant during the first forum. Those categories were public facilities, community, government and activities. “Participants identified everything they found that needed to be done in Ocean Beach,” Hamlin said. “We put it in a report and then the inter-faith community got together. We discussed it and we distilled down four basic areas that we thought could be addressed. Some are going to take some very difficult work and others can be done within the community quite easily.” Between the two forums, the faith-based community stayed active in Ocean Beach. In addition to publishing a 16-page report that detailed the first forum, the group addressed the issue of community cleanliness identified at the first forum with a community cleanup and pancake breakfast on Aug. 21. The cleanup drew 35 people, half of whom Hamlin estimated were homeless. “We worked hard to address that with our alley cleanup,” Hamlin said. In addition to cleanliness, the report listed bathroom facilities in Ocean Beach as a major area of concern. Hamlin said there needs to be a reasonable bathroom facility in the area, envisioning something similar to the facility at the boat launch near Sea World Drive. “Why can’t one of the communities have something like that with showers and sinks and private bathrooms?” Hamlin said. “Right now, you either use the cave at the foot of Santa Monica, the Porta-Potties at the foot of Brighton [Street], you can walk all the way out to Robb Field, or you can walk out on the pier and use the restroom there.” Hamlin is part of the program that has provided mediators for each of the forums, but also has a very strong personal interest in Ocean Beach. Although not currently a resident, Hamlin is a third-generation Ocean Beach denizen. He still surfs here and has family in the area. “We are very capable of taking care of ourselves down here,” Hamlin said. “We’ve been around for a long time and we’re going to be around for a lot longer. But we have to work together.” Hamlin said he would like to see another community forum in four to six weeks. In the meantime, Hamlin said he is hoping for community action from those who attended the most recent forum. “My hope for this evening is that we form some sort of committees that are going to take what we have now and move it forward,” Hamlin said. “We’re going to provide the impetus for them to get going and have a spark to keep things going when things settle down.”