Need more patrolling:
”
Hey Red Phone. I want a renewed call for police patrols by the
amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park. Nearly everyday at lunch,
there are kids smoking pot and there are kids around, especially
with Little League starting.
Need more patrolling: “Hey Red Phone. I want a renewed call for police patrols by the amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park. Nearly everyday at lunch, there are kids smoking pot and there are kids around, especially with Little League starting. There are kids around and they’re playing music with profanity in it and smoking pot. I think Gilroy Police Department should make regular rounds at the amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park and get out of their cars and make some arrests until the word gets out that this is not a place where kids can go and party. Thanks.”
The Red Phone touched base with GPD Sgt. Kurt Svardal, who encourages anyone who sees suspicious activity to contact the police department.
“That is not a problem whatsoever,” Svardal said. “We strongly encourage anybody – especially when it’s the criminal activity (this person is) calling about – to call us when it’s occurring, because any call for service, we’re going to try to get out there.”
Svardal said officers regularly check out Christmas Hill Park and the area by the amphitheater.
“We patrol the area, but we could be at the complete other end of town while this (activity) is going on,” he said. “We absolutely want to know when there’s problems, so please call when it’s occurring and we’ll head out there and deal with it appropriately.”
Svardal also said he’d alert the officers of your lunchtime concern.
“We’ll see if we can get out there in our spare time.”
We don’t need no stinkin’ license: “Hi Red Phone. About the vendors selling fruit on city streets, how about the people selling tamales in the Costco parking lot and the Wal-Mart parking lot every weekend? I’m sure they don’t have licenses. Thank you.”
The Red Phone will reiterate what it found out with the previous call on vendors.
According to GPD Community Services Officer Gary Muraoka, “All street vendors must have a business license by the city and must have a transient vendor permit from the city. Street vendors can only stay in one location for a maximum of 10 minutes to conduct a sale, then they must move on. Street vendors are checked by the community service officers to ensure they have the proper licenses and permits. Street vendors that do not have the proper license or permits are documented and forwarded to city hall for their license application. Repeat offenders may be issued a citation for a municipal code infraction.”
So if these vendors are bothersome to business, call 846-0350 and let the community service officers check on licenses and issue citations if necessary.
Problematic parking: “I’m calling concerning about an article about the City Council’s meeting. It’s considering banning parking from Miller to Santa Teresa on both sides of the streets. The purpose of this is so that people will not be able to park cars that are for sale. The issue is that they have used cars for sale, they need to deal with the used cars that are out there, not ban parking. … This is ridiculous. Take care of the issue, don’t ban parking. Thank you.”
The Red Phone heard your comment, but in case you missed it, the City Council has since approved a parking ban along the majority of both sides of the thoroughfare.
On April 6, the Council approved a resolution that institutes no-parking ‘red zones’ along the north side of First Street, with the exception of 15-minute parking just west of Westwood Drive. The entire south side will be rendered a ‘red zone.’
Violators of the new ordinance face a $30 citation and towing, which they may be responsible for.
According to City Transportation Engineer Don Dey, “The city has investigated the availability of off-street parking and concluded that most businesses in the area have sufficient parking on private property to accommodate the needs of their customers and employees.”
To read the full story on the passage of the resolution, see the April 7 edition or go to the Dispatch Web site at www.gilroydispatch.com.
Readers: Want to complain about bad driving? Or maybe offer up a compliment? The Red Phone is here to listen to your troubles (but encourages happy thoughts) and do its best to find answers to your burning questions, so give it a call at 842-9070 or send e-mail to
re******@gi************.com
.
