A View From The Brink ... the beach is backwards

Girl rescued from kidnap, sexual assault after using app for help

Police say suspect drugged 14-year-old in Capitola, called friends and took her to motel

     

From left, Albert Vasquez, 55, of San Jose, Antonio Salvador, 34, of Fremont, and Hediberto Avarenga, 31, of Fremont, were arrested this week in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl. Photos courtesy of The San Jose Police Department.

        

SAN JOSE – A San Jose man and two others were arrested this week in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl who used Snapchat to tell her friends she had been abducted, a police spokesman said.

The victim did not know where she was, but her friends used the app to pinpoint her location — the E-Z 8 Motel at 1550 N. First St. in San Jose — and called 911, said San Jose police Sgt. Enrique Garcia.

Jason Green of The San Jose Mercury news reports that police officers arrived at the motel about 11:10 a.m. Tuesday and contacted Albert Thomas Vasquez, 55, of San Jose, as he left a second-story room. Garcia said the girl was inside the room.

Vasquez was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County jail on felony charges of kidnapping to commit rape, digital penetration of a child under 14 years with force, false imprisonment, lewd act with a child 14 or 15 years with force and rape by intoxication or controlled substance.

       

Go here for the full story on the website of The San Jose Mercury News   --->>>

      

Housing Density Bill Back In California Legislature

     

New housing in San Francisco. Photo by Thomas K. Pendergast

 

By Thomas K. Pendergast

    

Like the phoenix on San Francisco’s city flag, a controversial bill from a former city supervisor, which had died before in the state capitol, is once again rising from the ashes of legislative defeat, but not without pushback.

On Dec. 17, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority both passed resolutions opposing California Senate Bill 50 (SB-50), unless amended.

The Transportation Authority resolution, passed unanimously, cites the impacts the bill would have on transportation service and infrastructure. This is the first such resolution by a transportation authority, which in San Francisco manages congestion, conducts long-range transportation planning and funds transportation improvement projects.

SB-50 would remove local residential population density limits within at least a quarter and possibly up to a half mile around certain transit stops and lines, as well as in areas described as “jobs rich.” It would also apply to rail and ferry stops statewide. Furthermore, the bill would prohibit municipalities from enforcing height limits and floor area ratio controls below a specified minimum on qualifying projects.

     

Go here for the full story   --->>>

     

Happy New Year 2020!

    

 

San Francisco skyline as seen from across the bay, January 1, 2020

No doubt this year will have many surprises for most of us.