SMPD Patrol Officers Arrest Two Suspects in Dine-and-Dash Robbery

MEDIA RELEASE / COMMUNITY ALERT
CITY of SAN MATEO POLICE DEPARTMENT
200 Franklin Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org<http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/>

SMPD Patrol Officers Arrest Two Suspects in Dine-and-Dash Robbery

Saturday, November 26, 2011

On Saturday evening, at about 10:13 pm, San Mateo Police officers were dispatched to the Outback Steakhouse at 66 31st Ave. Two subjects were reported to be fleeing the restaurant without paying for their meal. Employees at the restaurant reported that one of the suspects attempted to assault employees during the incident. Officers quickly arrived on scene to find that although the suspects had fled in a vehicle, a witness had taken a photo of the vehicle as it left the area. None of the employees were seriously injured in the altercation.

Officers also discovered some property left behind in the restaurant - a jacket, some paperwork, and a cellular phone. The resourceful patrol officers were able to use these items to track down and locate the suspects at a residence in the 1900 block of El Camino Real in San Mateo. The suspect vehicle, a silver Honda, was located there and determined to be stolen out of San Francisco. The suspects were located at the residence on El Camino, along with evidence linking them to the robbery and other criminal activity. They were both arrested and subsequently booked into San Mateo County Jail.

SUSPECTS:

Maria Preciado, an 18 year-old San Mateo Resident – Booked for Robbery, Conspiracy, and Possession of a Stolen Vehicle

Edgardo Castillo, a 26 year-old San Francisco Resident – Booked for Robbery, Conspiracy, Possession of a Stolen Vehicle,and Possession of Theft Tools (modified vehicle key)

Castillo was also booked on an outstanding warrant as a Parolee at Large

Please help us make your neighborhood safer and take a stand against crime. Please report all criminal behavior, join a neighborhood watch program, and help anyone that might fall victim to a crime. If a Neighborhood Watch doesn't exist on your block, you can start one with help from SMPD. For additional information about the City of San Mateo Neighborhood Watch Program, call Sergeant Dave Norris at (650)522-7626 or visit our web www.cityofsanmateo.org<http://www.cityofsanmateo.org>

This 'Press Release / Community Information' is being sent to you by The Public Information Office of the San Mateo Police Department. We at the SMPD take pride in alerting our community partners about activities and current events relevant to neighborhood incidents.

City Set To Create More Public Parks In Partnership With Local Development

Among a packed San Mateo City Council agenda for tomorrow, I am please to support the creation of 15 new acres of park space at the Bay Meadows development.  Included in that development, worth over $1 million in improvements to the City, will be a new baseball field and soccer field for residents of all ages to enjoy. 


The improvements are part of the development agreement made between the City of San Mateo and the Bay Meadows Development back in 2008.  While that agreement was before I came onto the Council, over the past nine months I've met with the Bay Meadows development team to discuss with them the concerns and desires of the City of San Mateo in creating more recreation space for our citizens.  


As you know, playing field space for baseball and soccer are at a premium in our city.  With the new park development set to be approved tomorrow, the people of San Mateo will gain up to 12 acres of new playing fields for our youth and adult recreation leagues.  


Thanks to the City staff at the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the City Attorney's Office who both worked hard to make this project a reality after the initial plans were slowed by the economic downturn in 2008-2009.  And thanks to the Bay Meadows Development group, who will be funding the creation of this new park space, ensuring that our hard-earned tax dollars are not used for this project.  


I look forward to giving my support to this project at tomorrow's City Council meeting.  


For a full look at tomorrow night's agenda, click here. 

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Ensuring fiscal transparency of YOUR tax dollars

Yesterday I took steps to ensure the transparency and safety of how YOUR tax dollars are spent.


In June of this year, while reviewing the City Budget for fiscal year 2011-2012, I noticed an account in the City general fund for half a million dollars for "General Contingency Reserves".


The purpose of the account, in existence since 1992, is to fill short-falls in department budgets which occur naturally over the course of the year.   For example, say the public works department has to spend extra money due to winter storm that causes flooding in our streets, the $500,000 contingency reserve account could be used to fund the efforts to clean up our streets and protect our homes.


The general contingency reserve is an important account to have.  However, I noticed one problem.  The account could be spent by the City Manger with no oversight from either the City Council or taxpayers.  In other words, there was no one to oversee how the money was being spent.


In my opinion, this created a lack of fiscal transparency in how the City spends your hard-earned tax dollars.  In June I raised this issue with City Staff, and urged them to close this loophole.


I am pleased to report that last night along with my fellow Councilmembers, we closed the loophole to the half a million dollar account.


The City Manager will still have the authority to use the contingency reserve fund to close short-falls in department budgets.  Now, however, the City Manager will be required to report those expenditures to the City Council and the public in the form of a quarterly balance statement.


This statement will be required to be on the agenda of a public City Council meeting, so that both the Council and the public will be able to account for every dollar spent in the contingency reserve fund. 


I believe this action creates a more transparent, open process to how the City spends your tax dollars.  In these tough economic times, every penny counts! 


As we head into the next fiscal year, I will continue to monitor our finances and find more ways to increase efficiency and transparency in our City finances. 


To view last night's report on this item, click here. 


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San Mateo looks to toughen code enforcement rules

October 27, 2011, 02:52 AM By Bill Silverfarb Daily Journal staff
 
A plan to beef up San Mateo’s code enforcement rules has stalled as some on the City Council are concerned an idea to turn an infraction into a misdemeanor may be going too far.


The City Council considered amending the city’s municipal code at its last meeting to also give citation authority to a broader group of city employees, including the public works director, building inspectors, park rangers, the waste/recycling program coordinator, tree maintenance specialist and parking enforcement officers, among others.


The most significant amendment to the municipal code are revisions to the penalties for violations so that a violation of any code can be punishable as either a misdemeanor or an infraction.


Councilman David Lim, however, thinks misdemeanors should be issued by police, since they are properly trained to deal with such situations.


At the very least, Lim said, the authority to issue a misdemeanor should be left up to either department heads, the city manager or the city attorney.


Changes to the municipal code would also allow the waste/recycling program coordinator, as an example, to immediately book someone into jail.


“I think it is a bad precedent to set for the city to allow those positions to put someone in jail. Sworn police officers are trained properly” and better suited to deal with any potential problems with issuing misdemeanors, said Lim, who is an Alameda County prosecutor.


Councilman Robert Ross, a former police officer, also has issues with broadening citation authority and penalties.


To take the infractions from a fine to possible “imprisonment” goes too far for Ross.


“I don’t know I like that, to take civil behavior and make it criminal,” he said.


The city’s municipal code covers all kinds of behavior, from the size of permitted signs and what is allowed on sidewalks to issues with homeowners, including junk in yards and the proper installation of water heaters, for example.


“These are civil matters and the penalties include daily fees” if someone is found in violation, Ross said. “Do we want to put people in jail for having a sign too big?”


Mayor Jack Matthews understands the concerns considering Lim and Ross both have law enforcement backgrounds but does not have a problem with broadening the rules.


“It is unlikely code enforcement officers will give misdemeanors without the aid of a police officer,” Matthews said.


Councilman John Lee agrees.


He mentioned a parking enforcement officer who was recently spit at downtown after issuing a parking ticket.


“He did the right thing, he called the police,” Lee said.


It is not likely parking enforcement officers will start carrying handcuffs on them, Lee said.


“By allowing the city to charge all violations as misdemeanors or infractions, the city can better tailor the penalty to the specific violation,” according to as staff report to council by Bahareh Abdollahi, assistant city attorney.


The item was continued to a future council meeting for a vote.
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Fire Station 24

Last Monday I was pleased to give final approval with my fellow Council Members on a much needed remodel for San Mateo Fire Station 24, located on Humboldt and 4th Avenue near Downtown San Mateo.


Final approval for the project comes after months of hard work by City Staff and the Planning Commission.


The approval to rebuild Fire Station 24 into a modern, 21st Century station is part of the continued effort by me and my fellow Councilmembers to provide our fire department with the most modern equipment to keep our communities safe.


I continue to make public safety my top priority, and thank everyone involved in this project for their hard work!


To view the staff report for the approval of Station 24 from last week's meeting, click  here.


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Ensuring Accountablity for Public Safety

At last night's City Council meeting, I made a motion to delay a vote on an important amendment to our City codes so that we could slow down and make sure we are doing everything we can to better protect our communities.


At yesterday's meeting, City Staff introduced a resolution that would amend San Mateo's City Code to make all violations of the Code enforceable as either infractions or misdemeanors.


I support the concept of allowing our City Attorney more flexibility in dealing with violations of our City  Codes as either infractions or misdemeanors.  In today's complex world, there are unfortunately times where the City needs the ability to protect our communities through the use of misdemeanor citations.


In my opinion, however, the ordinance offered yesterday empowered too broad a group of City employees to issue citations for misdemeanors.


While infractions are non-criminal citation which carry fines in the range of $100-$500, misdemeanor citations are criminal violations punishable by fines of up to $1000 and imprisonment of up to six-months in the county jail.  Furthermore a person cited for a misdemeanor violation may face arrest and booking procedures at the discretion of the person who cites them. 


Under the new ordinance, employees such as code enforcement officers or building inspectors with no formal training in law enforcement would be empowered to issue misdemeanor citation.  In my opinion, this is simply too much power in the hands of government. 


I believe that the power to charge someone with a misdemeanor crime should be limited to the City Attorney, sworn police officers, the Fire Chief  and Fire Marshalls (in the case of issues involving fire safety), the City Manager, and City Department Heads. 


By limiting the power to issue misdemeanor citations to the above individuals, your City Council and city  staff can remain more accountable to the public in the judicious use of police power. 


I therefore made my motion to delay action on this ordinance until we can further review, discuss, and consider the issue.  I am pleased to report that my motion was approved on a 4-1 vote.


Moving forward, I plan to stay involved in this issue to ensure that our City is able to fully protect our residents or communities without granting overly-broad powers to City employees.  Protecting the civil rights of our residents is equally as important as enforcement of the law. 


I welcome your view and discussion on this very important topic.  Please feel free to call me or email me if you'd like to talk about this issue. 


To view the staff report on this issue, click here. 


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Group plans to protest at aging bridge

October 13, 2011, 04:52 AM By Bill Silverfarb Daily Journal staff

In an effort to pressure Congress to pass jobs legislation, a local group of activists is planning a protest Friday on a bridge in San Mateo they say is structurally unsafe and should be fixed with federal stimulus money. The Mid-Peninsula American Dream Council, in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, wants Congress to put money toward fixing the country’s ailing infrastructure and to create jobs in the process. The local Dream Council is a relatively new group made up of MoveOn.org members that rallied in August at U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo’s Palo Alto office. At 4 p.m. Friday, the group hopes to attract at least 100 people for a rally at a bridge that crosses State Route 92 at Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo to highlight the bridge’s state of disrepair. The bridge, built in 1963, has a current structural rating of “4” for the deck, considered to be structurally deficient, requiring frequent monitoring and repair, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s 2010 National Bridge Inventory. The bridge has a superstructure rating of “7” and a substructure rating of “5,” according to the report. Any rating below “5” is considered to be structurally deficient. The superstructure supports the deck and the substructure connects the bridge to the ground. The bridge was last inspected in 2008, according to the bridge inventory report. “Fixing our infrastructure is a solution to the jobs problem,” said Cilla Raughley, spokeswoman for the local Dream Council. The intent of the rally, she said, is to pressure Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. But the Senate shot down President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill Tuesday night. The White House now intends to force additional votes on separate pieces of the measure, such as infrastructure spending, jobless assistance and tax cuts for individuals and businesses. “The government needs to create jobs before making cuts,” Raughley said.  “Our aging infrastructure is alarming.” In San Mateo, 74 bridges have been found with ratings below “5,” according to the national bridge inventory report.  The bridge at Alameda de las Pulgas where the rally is planned is listed as No. 350161 on the report. The bridge structure itself is the responsibility of Caltrans, said San Mateo Public Works Director Larry Patterson. The city’s responsibility is limited to the paving, railings and other items on the structure, Patterson said. An official with Caltrans did not tell the Daily Journal yesterday whether the bridge was indeed structurally deficient as the report indicates or when the last time the bridge was inspected. Regardless of whose responsibility it is to fix the bridge in San Mateo, the local Dream Council wants it done with federal stimulus money. “Those are good-paying jobs,” Raughley said. She is not sure how many will attend the rally but she is hoping for at least 100. The San Mateo Police Department is aware of the event and will be taking steps to ensure public safety and minimal disruption to residents while respecting the right of all citizens to gather and protest peacefully, according to an email from San Mateo Councilman David Lim. To learn more about the rally visit http://civic.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=121928

 
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