YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 12, No. 3
Including Surrounding Communities
www.thepress.net
Robberies trigger stepped-up patrols by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer Police are continuing an “aggressive response” to recent armed robberies in Brentwood, Chief Mark Evenson told the City Council Tuesday, and he believes it will yield results. “We’re getting very close,” he said. “I’m confident we will be making some arrests … very soon.” Evenson was responding to the request for an update from Mayor Bob Taylor at the outset of this week’s council meeting. A total of five armed robberies have taken place in the city since November – four in the last three weeks. The most recent was last Thursday, when a man walking near the intersection of Maple and Second streets was robbed by six individuals, all estimated to be 16 years old. One black and five white suspects using a black, semi-automatic handgun took the victim’s wallet and fled on foot. No one was injured. The incident comes on the heels of two other downtown robberies. On Dec. 23, a pair of women walking in the 800 block of First Street were robbed of their purses by a group of six or seven males, one of whom also used a black, semi-automatic pistol. In that case, the victims, who were not injured, described their
January 15, 2010
THIS WEEK
Fit and fabulous
For a wealth of ideas on how to get fine tuned inside and out, check out our Health, Beauty & Fitness Guide.
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Photo by Dave Roberts
A pedestrian walking in downtown Brentwood near First and Pine streets passes a wall tagged with gang graffiti. Police have stepped up patrols following a number of armed robberies, and the City Council will examine graffiti laws to see if they need strengthening. It’s not known if the robberies are gang-related. attackers as Hispanic. On Dec. 28, a 17-year-old was robbed of cash and personal items by three individuals near the intersection of Pine Street and Diablo Way. The suspects were described as black and between 17 and 19 years old. A semi-automatic
handgun was used in that incident, and once again, no one was hurt. The other robberies took place at Walgreens store on Balfour Road, and at Kohl’s see Patrols page 16A
Pseudo-seller’s housing market assessed by Dave Roberts Staff Writer It sounds like a contradiction, but strong arguments can be made that the East County housing market is both a seller’s market and a great time to buy. It’s a seller’s market because there is currently a limited supply of houses for sale, prices are no longer in free-fall and many sellers are receiving multiple offers above the asking price in bidding wars. Attractive houses at attractive prices are snapped up in fairly short order by eager buyers. On the other hand, buyers have a lot of things going for them right now: discounts of 50 percent or more on fairly new houses, $6,500-$8,000 federal tax incentives if they buy soon and interest rates near historic lows. “It’s a pseudo-sellers mar-
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Photo by Dave Roberts
Ray Valverde, left, who is looking to buy, talks with Matthew Anderson of Coldwell Banker at an open house Saturday in Brentwood. ket,” said Shawn Beddingfield, broker associate with Coldwell Banker Amaral & Associates. “We went from a buyer’s market two to three years ago to where it switched over the last year to a pseudo-seller’s market. Technically speaking, it’s a seller’s
market. But because prices have come down so far, it’s still a buyer’s market.” It’s definitely a bonanza for bargain hunters, particularly compared to what houses cost just a few years ago. In Brentwood, a five-bedroom In-
What’s up?
verness Court house that sold for $820,000 in 2005 was recently picked up for $365,000. A threebedroom house on Morro Drive in Antioch that sold for $489,000 in 2006 was recently purchased for $182,000. A three-bedroom Discovery Bay house on Merritt Court that sold for $645,000 in 2006 was snapped up for $305,000 last month. In Oakley a four-bedroom house on Puffin Circle selling for $654,000 in 2006 recently went for $270,000. “I think the height of the market was four or five years ago,” said Beddingfield. “It took the first couple years to start trending downward. Two years ago and last year we had the inventory glut. It stabilized in the $500,000s and started coming down. The last 10 months see Market page 9A
Picturesque procurement Our regional park district has been working hard so that lovers of the outdoors can play easy.
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Soccer supremacy
Having lost only three league games in four seasons, the Lions see complacency as their toughest opponent.
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INSIDE Business .............................8A Calendar ..........................19B Classifieds ........................12B Cop Logs ..........................15A Entertainment ................18B Food .................................10B Health, Beauty & Fitness ..1B Milestones ......................... 9B Opinion ...........................14A Sports ...............................17A
Check the community calendar.
Find out about hometown events or post your event for free at www.thepress.net. See page 18B.
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A