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Residents press police on homelessness, auto break‑ins and proposed Marina Green restaurant license
Summary
During public comment at the Police Commission community meeting, residents linked rising auto burglaries to homelessness, urged better police response times, raised pedestrian‑safety concerns at Lombard/Chestnut and asked the department to oppose a proposed Marina Green restaurant beer/wine license.
Residents and merchants used the public‑comment period to press police and the commission on quality‑of‑life and land‑use concerns across the Northern District.
Ace Washington, a longtime Northern Station resident, said the African American community is in a “state of emergency” because of population loss and asked for more substantive community policing beyond advisory boards. Frank Piscatelli, a Marina resident, said he believes the increase in auto burglaries has a strong correlation with an increase in homeless people in shopping and transit corridors and urged more enforcement and intervention for quality‑of‑life issues.
Several merchants and residents raised pedestrian‑safety and traffic concerns around Lombard and Chestnut streets and said police response times can lag — Isabelle Selby said it took four hours for officers to arrive after an incident at her store. Pam Hable and other merchants praised Northern Station for a strong Super Bowl response that prevented property damage and highlighted individual officers' work.
Multiple speakers urged scrutiny of a proposed 75‑seat Marina Green restaurant with takeout and beer/wine service; one neighborhood representative said the group has collected nearly 2,000 signatures opposing liquor service and asked the police to weigh in on the liquor license. A community commenter also cited municipal code “11.83.1” and asked for enforcement against oversized passenger vehicles along the shoreline.
Captain McEachern and the district attorney’s neighborhood prosecutor, Mark Vasarwey, offered follow up: McEachern invited residents to speak individually after the meeting and to take flyers with crime‑prevention tips; Vasarwey introduced himself as the DA’s Northern District neighborhood prosecutor and described diversion and neighborhood court options.
The public comments underscored recurrent local priorities — homelessness, auto break‑ins, event policing, traffic safety and commercial changes — that the captain said he will continue to address through enforcement, outreach and coordination with city agencies and the DA’s office.
