Dear Red Phone, What can my neighbors and I do about the
trespassers that continually cut through our apartment complex
every day at the 8100 block of Kelton Drive?
“Dear Red Phone, What can my neighbors and I do about the trespassers that continually cut through our apartment complex every day at the 8100 block of Kelton Drive? We don’t have ‘front yards’ of our own and constantly have people who cut through our complex coming from First Street going to Kelton. What can be done? Can Gilroy police do something? Is there some law that can help us? The only thing that I can think of is putting up a fence around the complex but I don’t think Filice and Company wants to do that.”
Red Phone: Dear Don’t Tread On Me, Unfortunately, there is little the police can do to help in your situation.
“Short of placing gates, I don’t see how the residents can prevent pedestrians from cutting through,” said Gilroy Police Sgt. Wes Stanford. “I don’t believe we could enforce trespassing statutes in this area without landlord assistance and even then I think the only possible way would be to fence the area and post it for ‘No Trespassing.’ Walking in a common area of an apartment complex with open access is most likely not a prosecutable form of trespassing, in my opinion.”
You may want to mention your concern to you landlord to see if there is anything that you can work out.
If you see a suspicious person loitering in the area, Stanford urged residents to call police at 846-0350. They would check it out on a case-by-case basis depending on staffing at the time and other calls of service, he said.
Awning needs fixing
“Thank you for cleaning up that corner store between Fourth and Fifth on Monterey Street. I have another problem. There used to be a fish store between Fourth and Fifth streets that has an awning that’s barely hanging on. I can see with one wind storm that awning either flying into someone’s face or onto a car. It is hazardous and should be cleaned up. Thank you.”
Red Phone: Dear Hanging Around, It is the owner of the property’s responsibility to make sure the facility is not in disrepair or a threat to anyone, said Code Enforcement Officer Scott Barron.
The city code says ‘the exterior of a structure shall be maintained in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary so as not to pose a threat to the public health, safety or welfare.’ The code also has guidelines for properly maintaining canopies and metal awnings.
Barron said he wanted to talk with the caller further to verify the details. He encouraged the person to call the Code Enforcement office at 846-0264. And let the Red Phone know how it goes.
Orange dots on curbs
“Recently, several homes on my street had orange dots spray painted on the curb in front of their homes. Just what are these dots indicating?”
Red Phone: Dear Seeing Dots, No need to worry. These dots on the curb don’t represent which houses will be taken in the next alien invasion.
They are most likely from someone who is going to be re-stenciling the addresses in the near future.
“We believe it is being done by someone putting house numbers on curbs, but no one has come in for any permits so we are not sure,” said Operations Services Manager Rich Smeltser, who said he would do some investigating to see where exactly they came from.
So stay tuned, and we’ll let you know what the city finds out.
