Possibly suicidal bank robbery suspect sought
San Diego police investigators are hunting for the alleged robber who struck a Wells Fargo bank on Sports Arena Boulevard on Thursday, June 26.
Jimmy Lowell Roberts, who also goes by the nickname “Snowman,” is believed to have displayed a handgun at the bank and placed the money in a backpack before fleeing on foot shortly before 3 p.m. that day.
Police officials warn that Roberts has been undergoing psychiatric treatment and should be considered dangerous and possibly suicidal. He has allegedly made statements that he will not go back to prison.
Roberts is a parolee at large from the Pasadena area with priors for assault on a police officer and weapons charges.
He is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, about 160 pounds, with a thin build, brown and gray hair, a mustache and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is urged to call the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) at (619) 531-2000, the robbery division at (619) 531-2299, or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS.
OBMA offers reward for sink stolen at street fair
Thieves struck the Ocean Beach Street Fair and Chili Cook-off on Saturday, making off with various rented items that may cost the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) as much as $5,000 to replace, according to OBMA Executive Director Denny Knox.
The most expensive item taken was a heavy 3-compartment washing sink that was being rented from the county, said Knox.
The sink was stolen from the Newport Avenue Antique Center parking lot.
As a result of the theft, the OBMA may be saddled with thousands of dollars to repay the county, Knox said.
“Sometimes people think its funny to steal things and put them in their apartments thinking it’s city property,” said Knox. “They don’t understand how much it costs the community and the MainStreet Association in the end,” Knox said. “If it’s not returned, we’re going to have to dig deep to pay this back.”
OBMA officials are now offering a $200 reward for the safe return of the item, which can be brought to the OBMA office at 1868 Bacon St., Knox said.
Also stolen during the street fair were nine lighted barricades and a radio that was stolen from one of the music stages.
“We’ve never had this kind of thing happen to this extent before,” said Knox. “It was a fantastic street fair, the biggest we’ve ever had. It’s unfortunate this had to happen.”
The OBMA can be reached by calling (619) 224-4906.
Oversize vehicle rules on Shelter Island crafted
The bigger vehicles around the neighborhoods continue to make the scarce parking spaces in beach communities even more so.
But the process to stem their proliferation on Shelter Island continues to move forward.
With the oversize vehicle ordinance issue expected to return before the City Council in July, the Unified Port of San Diego proposes similar parking rules for Shelter Island, which may not take effect until around the end of the year.
“We want to get the community involved into how to manage the area. And in a way that it’s fair,” said Harbor Police Lt. Ken Franke.
The proposed legislation would protect neighborhoods from becoming storage areas for big RVs by creating about 25 parking spaces for bigger vehicles and for trailers along Shelter Island Drive. The rest of the street and surrounding parking lots would remain open during the construction period, Franke said.
Part of the proposed legislation would also prohibit parking daily between 3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. to make way for scheduled street sweeping along Shelter Island Drive, he said. The additional parking restriction would help prevent some vehicle owners from illegally dumping their septic tanks into the bay in the middle of the night, he said.
The new rules would regulate parking along Shelter Island Drive to accommodate smaller vehicles. The spaces for oversize vehicles and trailers would initially remain free but that could change with time, according to Port District officials at the meeting.
The Unified Port of San Diego has been working with community members around Shelter Island to free up parking for visitors.
Franke introduced the idea to the Peninsula Community Planning Board on June 19 at the board’s regular meeting to solicit input from the community.
The proposed ordinance is currently being drafted and would have to address community concerns before going to the Unified Port of San Diego Board of Commissioners for a vote.
Franke said the issue could come before the board by late September or October.
While the Port of San Diego tries to address concerns associated with oversize vehicles and trailers being stored around Shelter Island the city has yet to revisit the issue for the beach communities.
In January, the City Council voted 7-0 to approve the development of a citywide pilot program to control the proliferation of large recreational vehicles in the beach areas and surrounding neighborhoods.
City councilmembers asked the mayor’s office to return to them with a fiscal report on the cost of implementing the ordinance and also requested the City Attorney’s Office to return within 30 days with a draft ordinance of the legislation.
That was in January.
District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer said the City Council hasn’t addressed the issue since then but that he expects the issue to come before the council in mid-July.
The City Attorney’s Office could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
Currently, a vehicle cannot be parked in one spot for more than 72 hours and must move at least 1/10 of a mile to avoid a citation, according to city documents.
A community meeting regarding the potential Shelter Island ordinance is scheduled for July 10 at Bali Hai Restaurant, 2230 Shelter Island Drive, at 6:30 p.m.
Naval base changes
commanding officers
The mantle of leadership was officially passed at Naval Base Point Loma on Tuesday during a formal change of command ceremony.
Capt. Mark D. Patton, who has been the commanding officer of the installation since September 2005, relinquished command of Naval Base Point Loma to Capt. Paul A. Marconi.
Patton will be reporting to the Navy Installations Command as chief of staff.
Marconi reports to Naval Base Point Loma from the office of the secretary of defense, where he directed international programs and served as technical advisor to the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear matters.
Cleanups set for Ocean Beach, other locations
A coalition of beach-area groups are joining forces to clean San Diego beaches Saturday, July 5.
Volunteers from San Diego Coastkeeper, I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD), FreePB.org and Surfrider Foundation are coming together to cleanup what’s has become known as The Morning After Mess.
Volunteers are meeting at Ocean Beach Pier, Pacific Beach Drive and Belmont Park to pick up litter from 8 to 11 a.m.
Volunteers removed more than 200 tons of trash at Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Mission Bay Park and Ocean Beach after last year’s Fourth of July holiday.
The first 50 volunteers at each location will receive a free T-shirt, and sponsors, including Sun Diego, is also offering prize packages.
Volunteers can pre-register online at surfridersd.org. For information call (858) 792-9940.
Warren-Walker students take first at Science Fairs
Warren-Walker Middle School students and Point Loma residents Lily Edwards, David Lloyd and Connor Keefe each placed first in their divisions at the Greater San Diego Area Science and Engineering Fair held from April 1-6.
Foster Collins, also a Warren-Walker Middle School student and Point Loma resident, took home first place in the category of applied mathematics and structures at the 57th annual California State Science Fair after having won one of four Junior Sweepstakes awards in the Regional Fair.
The state science fair was held May 19-20. More than 900 students in grades 6 through 12 competed from 359 schools throughout the state for awards totaling over $50,000.
Becker earns Lifetime Achievement Award
Point Loma resident Evan E. Becker, managing principal of Red Capital Group in San Diego, has been named to receive the San Diego Housing Federation’s (SDHF) first Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award was presented Thursday, June 12 at the Federation’s annual Affordable Housing and Community Development awards at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley.
Becker came to California in 1988 to become executive director of the San Diego Housing Commission. During his tenure, he led the development of scattered site public housing, preservation of “at-risk” affordable housing, development of the city’s housing trust fund and efforts to build the affordable housing capability of other organizations.
Becker also served as Carlsbad’s Housing and Redevelopment Director, developing and implementing one of the nation’s most productive inclusionary housing programs, including two HUD national “best practices” award-winning projects.