Public Safety Remains Priority One
By Councilman Todd Gloria Public safety will always be my top priority. Both the police and fire-rescue departments are impacted by budget cuts, and monitoring the impacts is in everyone’s best interest. In March, a few criminal incidents made the news in Council District 3. I applaud the San Diego Police Department’s quick response which resulted in arrests of people involved in the shooting at Tens Club in North Park and the stabbing at Los Panchos in Hillcrest. Though violence of any kind is not welcome in our neighborhoods, it’s important to understand that the police have determined that the incidents were isolated and not part of an ongoing crime spree. I thank the San Diego Police Department personnel’s immediate action and their daily work to keep our streets safe. Your role in public safety remains significant. District 3 continues to lead the way in community policing, and I’m honored to represent such a vigilant constituency. City Heights on Patrol (CHOP) recently resumed its formal position in the safety of our neighborhoods, joining the very successful Stonewall Citizens Patrol in Hillcrest and North Park and the Talmadge Citizens on Patrol. A similar program is in the works for Normal Heights as well. No one knows the people and activities that belong on our streets better than we do, and these citizen patrols work as stepped up neighborhood watch programs to supplement the amazing work of our police force. By being visible and patrolling small areas, volunteers with these programs act as crime deterrents and help identify problems and crime trends for the police department. Take your safety seriously and please report suspicious activity to the police by calling (619) 531-2000. If you see a crime in progress, call 911. When you call 911 for a fire or medical emergency, you should know that the fire engines at Fire Station 14 in North Park and Fire Station 11 in Golden Hill, along with six other engines throughout the city, were out of service in March and will be out of service every other month. I understand that these reductions are supposed to save money but remain concerned about the overall impacts of these rolling brownouts. I am investigating ways to restore the cuts made to our public safety departments and ask for you to consider the value of the selfless service provided by our sworn personnel. I receive periodic reports on operations from both departments and ask you to share any experiences you have had which you believe were impacted by the service cuts by joining me at an upcoming community coffee or contacting my office, toddgloria@sandiego.gov or (619) 236-6633. Please note the next community coffee will be in North Park on April 24, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Caffe Calabria. Join me to talk about public safety or any other issue of interest.
One easy thing you can do is help change existing City Code regarding our neighborhood alleys!
Our MidCity Cluster breakout group (and others) listed our alley’s crime/homeless/gang problems as one of the Big Blighting issues that needs to be discussed in it’s future Sessions.
The City code that requires at least a 5 foot setback for garage doors is now unnecessary (due to power steering), and that same code is now responsible for creating alley “bathrooms” and “bedrooms” that are used by the homeless! These setbacks allow the homeless, other more serious criminals and gang related activities to hide from the “eyes on the street” that Neighbor Watch uses to help monitor and assist the SDPD in saving manpower and protecting our Residential Neighborhoods from being Blighted!
Photo’s of our alley’s clearly show:
1. That homeless have been and are continuing to use these alley setbacks as bathrooms daily, which is a serious public health problem.
2. Gangs use the alley setbacks to mark their “hoods”, which leads to increased youth related crime, vandalism & graffiti.
3. Serious criminals also use these setbacks as safe hideouts, from which to commit street crime, rob our homes, business’s and steal our cars!
4. These same setbacks are also routinely used at night by prostitutes as their “Bedrooms”, which just adds to our Residential Blight…
5. That the on-going maintenance cost of painting out and cleaning up after these Blighting “Events” is an additional property owner expense that is unacceptable in these tough economic times. What is the true cost to the City’s tax rolls of all these Blighted property’s and their reduction in value due to increased crime!
Why should the City of San Diego “enable” the homeless and provide other more serious criminals “Code mandated” hiding places? This only reduces the Police’s ability to focus it’s limited manpower on addressing more serious crimes, while we the Citizens, continue to be Blighted by the very same codes that are in place to protect us!
What would it take to “solve” these problems? Here are 4 solutions (+ 2 benefits) that are simple and can be done at little to no City cost :
1. The City fencing code height should be increased from 6 feet to 8 feet and should now also allow the use of metal posts, which last much longer that wood posts due to termites and or rot. Most folks have been building them this way for many, many years!
2. Property owners should be able to either expand their garages to the alley property line and or install new fencing & or tall gates.
3. A clear line of sight should be mandated in our alley’s, and no plantings should be allowed that create “hiding places”, or limit visibility.
4. If no lighting exists, then their should be a distance mandated for installation of low wattage “alley lights” in order to increase public safety. If a “required” light is installed by a property owner, then they should get a tax credit for the yearly electricity it uses, which would save the City the cost of installation and maintenance of these small “alley lights”.
The two (2) immediate benefits of “cleaning up” our Alleys are:
1. They will add to the places our Residents can enjoy walking with each other (+ their dogs) and enjoy some exercise close to home, without having to drive to a Park. With just small improvements, these Alleys could become a new NP Linear Park System that could add bike routes, walking “Trails, Dog Walk paths and even a great place to display “AlleyArt” all at little or no cost to the City!
2. By reducing Blight and it’s related crime our Residents will enjoy increased property values and a higher quality of life in NP (and San Diego)!
Thank You Todd, for your help in Planning A Better San Diego for all of US!