Pleasant Hill retailers fight back against

Rising Thefts

A string of thefts in January, including multiple occurrences on a single day at one of the city’s biggest retailers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, served as a further reminder of the persistent challenges that area retailers and the police are combatting.

But Pleasant Hill retail outlets are hardly throwing up the white flag of surrender. Rather, owners and operators are taking advantage of the tools and resources available through local law enforcement to deter new and repeat offenders.

There was a 64.8% increase in reported shoplifting cases from 2021 (318) to 2022 (524), according to the Pleasant Hill Police Department. Lt. Matt Kristic of the agency’s Support Services Division identified two notable factors that have contributed to the rise: an increase in organized retail theft and businesses recognizing the importance of reporting shoplifting crimes.

“Businesses’ underreporting of any crime does not help us fight crime, so we definitely have more businesses that are proactive in calling the Police Department when they’ve had a theft or are experiencing a theft in progress,” Kristic said.

LEVELINGUP DICK’S STAFF

In the case of Dick’s, Kristic noted that the department has worked closely with the retailer over the past year to develop a system with the store’s staff to report incidents more effectively.

Dick’s has done a good job of training staff about calling when they see a crime in progress and has a robust infor- mation sharing program, including passing photos between its stores, he added.

The retailer is also heeding a request to redeploy uniformed security guards, which were effective during the holiday season to dissuade would-be thieves.

The department further helps by having multiple units –both marked and unmarked vehicles – patrolling the south end of Pleasant Hill in order to respond in a timely manner. But, there is only so much the authorities can do.

“We have given them good recommendations. Some have been implemented and some they say they can’t,” Kristic said, citing corporate decisions for the store, including use of both entrances and where high-end merchandise is placed.

See Thefts, page 4

Downtown, from page 1

On the Salvio Pacheco Square side of Salvio St. between Mt. Diablo and Grant streets all 13 parking spaces will be removed and replaced with an expanded sidewalk to match what currently exists on each end of the block. Cao says this will make it possible for additional outdoor seating for the eateries on that block.

Included in the new sidewalk will be landscaping and bio retention water drainage, matching a similar look on the other side of Salvio between Mt. Diablo and Galindo St.

In front of Peet’s Coffee there is small gravel area that will have brick pavers installed matching nearby sections along with a planter bench for additional seating across from the plaza. More light poles will be installed throughout the project area as well as upgraded light fixtures on existing poles.

A new bike lane will be added running on the plaza side of Grant St. counter to the oneway vehicular traffic which connects Willow Pass Rd. to Salvio St. There will be a buffer zone

Seeno,

from page 1 rate of return with 25% of the planned 12,275 homes affordable, below market rate housing.

To make the project financially feasible CFP proposed adding over 3,300 homes with 879 of them Junior Accessory Dwelling Units attached to single-family homes. They wanted to count the JADUs toward the 25% affordable housing requirement. This proved unacceptable to Hoffmeister, Nakamura and Obringer. Without deed restrictions on the privately owned JADUs, there’s no guarantee they would be available as affordable units, Hoffmeister said. The term sheet also falls