Parks booze bans a no-brainer

Enough! say San Ysidro, Ocean View Hills, and University Heights residents

At the Point park area in University Heights, "We have drug dealers and users show up here," claimed a nearby neighbor.

Residents of San Ysidro and Ocean View Hills want to see alcohol banned, and, in University Heights, the residents want an alcohol ban and a curfew.

Ocean View Hills, Vista Pacifica, and Cesar Solis parks northeast of where the I-805 and 905 cross have community support for an alcohol ban.

The Ocean View Hills decision was a no-brainer, according to Felipe Nuno, who serves on the Ocean View Hills Recreation Council. The council unanimously supported the request for a ban.

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"The park is smack in between an elementary school and a middle school," he said. "It is surrounded by a nice residential community. We didn't have to think twice — we didn't even have to think once. No one spoke against it and no one voted against it."

In University Heights, the hidden gem of the Point and the adjacent open space have turned into an after-dark haven for drug deals and gang activity, according to a nearby resident who asked not to be named because he says he has been threatened and his home has been vandalized.

The Point and surrounding open space are north of Golden Gate Drive, between Massachusetts and Delaware streets, at the edge of a bluff 500 feet above Mission Valley.

"We had a fugitive arrested here a few weeks ago," he said. "We have drug dealers and users show up here."

The southern edge of the area, not far from the ridge, abuts private homes and the only access for motor vehicles is down a residential alley.

"The overwhelming majority of the people who live here want this ban," the longtime resident said. "And we see the curfew as a new tool police can use to come in and stop people. We suspect that will end the desirability of the place for the bad element."

In San Ysidro, the neighborhood planning group and the recreational council voted unanimously in favor of an alcohol ban at Coral Gate Neighborhood Park and La Mirada, a park with the elementary school next to it. Coral Gate, similarly, is tucked in a cluster of houses and apartments.

Councilman David Alvarez, in whose district four of the ten parks are located, favors the council action. In a written statement, he said he is supportive of the communities' concerns of alcohol consumption at the neighborhood parks. Many city parks have 12-hour, 16-hour, and all-day alcohol bans already.

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