Ready to get your Cajun on? Three days of bayou madness — complete with Creole cooking, Cajun/Zydeco dancing, music and a Mardi Gras parade — will rage at Spanish Landing May 11-13.
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THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 26, Number 10
Airport’s $1B rebuild hits halfway marker
COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY
‘Lindbergh on steriods’: 10 new gates will add close to 50 flights each day BY TONY DE GARATE | THE BEACON About a year ago, airport officials tore out the parking lot — all 1,300 spaces — in front of Terminal 2 at the San Diego International Airport. But, in a way, it’s still there. The 20 acres of concrete and asphalt have been pulverized and gathered into gigantic piles on the now-dirt lot, making up much of the raw material being used for Green
Hundreds gathered near Veterans’ Park in Ocean Beach on April 24 for a community-based “Respect OB” rally.
Build, the largest expansion in the history of the airport. It’s been dubbed The Green Build by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority because of its commitment to certain environmental goals — low-water landscaping, reduced electricity, natural lighting, recycled materials and the like — but the term could just as easily be a reference to the cost: $1 billion, SEE AIRPORT, Page 8
Photo by Jim Grant I The Beacon
Residents rally with simple message: ‘Respect OB’ BY PATRICIA WALSH | THE BEACON
O
Andy (on stage), who asked that his last name not be published, led the “Respect OB” rally April 24. “People take advantage of this town. Property prices will go down and this place is going to get flattened,” he told gatherers during the rally. Photo by Bianca Koch I The Beacon
Voices on the street: struggling for peaceful solutions in Ocean Beach BY BIANCA KOCH AND KEVIN MCKAY | THE BEACON
cean Beach wants some respect. Residents of the funky, feel-good beach town who have always embraced the individual spirit — even when it means letting your freak flag fly — are asking everyone to “Respect OB.” Community activists got their message out April 24 during a “Respect OB” rally at the foot of the Pacific Ocean in the waning hours before sunset. The rally attracted a crowd of hundreds — including merchants, residents, families and a legion of legally leashed dogs — who filled the lawn between Veterans’ Park and the lifeguard station on Abbott Street. Obecians said they want to put a stop to all of the ugly and unlawful activity that is giving America’s most inclusive neighborhood a dirty image. Yes, it’s OK to be yourself, said residents. But that is no license to urinate in public, drink in public, do drugs, obstruct sidewalks, solicit, steal or vandalize. The message by residents and merchants was clear: show some respect. “Don’t light up a bowl in front of my 11-year-old daughter on the seawall,” said Noah Tafolla, host of the “Wonderland” teleSEE RESPECT, Page 9
Lindbergh Field has reached the halfway point of its $1 billion Green Build that will include 10 new gates, a new flight tower, “smart curbs,” an expanded concession areas and, shown here, an elevated departure roadway next to a new UnitPhoto by Don Balch I The Beacon ed Services Organization (USO) building.
Kobey’s eyes warehouse for indoor ‘Storage Wars’-inspired swap meet BY TONY DE GARATE | THE BEACON
Ocean Beach is home to a large base of longtime locals, blended with newcomers who establish themselves with new businesses or who stake a claim in real estate. The community’s demographics also include a healthy dose of travelers and transients. Some pass on through. Others stay — oftentimes creating controversy. It’s a pharmacological mix of free spirits, hometown turf, live-and-let-live mantras and the poisons of life on the street — all injected into a single beach haven — leaving a community to grapple with a means of healing and an antidote. On April 24, residents, merchants and community leaders gathered to begin the march toward a panacea, declaring to those who thumb their noses at permanent
ST PLA
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FIR
SEE VOICES, Page 10
Residents react and listen to the messages of several speakers during Photo by Jim Grant I The Beacon the “Respect OB” on April 24.
If you’re a fan of “Storage Wars,” the hit cable show that appears on the A&E Network, you’ll give this bit of news a thumbs-up. Or you might even use the catchphrase of one of the main characters, Dave “The Mogul” Hestor, and give it a hearty “Yuuup!” If Kobey’s Swap Meet has its way, you’ll be seeing more of “The Mogul,” as well as Darrell “The Gambler” Sheets, because both want to expand their operations around here under the well-known Kobey’s banner.
Chuck Pretto, vice president of Kobey’s, said he has his eye on a 40,000-square-foot warehouse in the 3600 block of Kurtz Street on the north side of the Valley View Casino Center (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena) parking lot that could make a dandy spot for potentially dozens of vendors that sell storage auction and thrift store-type merchandise — an operation he has described as a sort of indoor, during-the-week swap meet. Pretto, a member of the North Bay Community Planning Group (NBCPG), described the concept SEE KOBEY’S, Page 8
Announcing the 18th Annual Peninsula Beacon AMATEUR Photo Contest Who Has The Best Photo of the Peninsula Area? Enter your best photo portraying the Peninsula area taken in the past year. Photos will be displayed at the Beacon booth during the June Ocean Beach Street Fair. The public will vote for their favorite pictures. Prizes will be awarded for the top 3 photos & winning photos will be published in the Beacon.
HURRY! Deadline for entries is Tuesday, June 19, 2012 Photos taken over the past year (June ‘11–June ‘12 may be entered!
Entries may be dropped off at our new location: The Beacon Offices 1621 Grand Ave. 2nd Floor., Pacific Beach (Above Wendy’s Restaurant) or Mailed to: The Beacon ATTN: Photo Contest,1621 Grand Ave., Ste C San Diego, CA 92109