Work begins on San Diego park honoring retired Fil-Am cop

A rendering of Cesar Solis Community Park in Ocean View Hills.

SAN DIEGO, California — Construction began on a $15.5-million park in the Ocean View Hills neighborhood, named for the highest-ranking Filipino American officer in the San Diego Police Department’s history.

Cesar Solis Community Park in Ocean View Hills honors a retired San Diego Police Department assistant chief. It is the first in the city to be named after a Filipino American. The park will open late next year, according to a report by the Times of San Diego and the City News Service.

Solis, a 32-year police veteran, retired in 2014. He grew up in the South Bay where he still lives. He joined the force in 1982 and his first assignment was patrolling the Ocean View Hills neighborhood.

Ocean View Hills is a growing residential area east of the 805 freeway and north of the 905 freeway. Residents say they currently only have one small park.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer said, “Cesar Solis is a neighborhood son but it is his commitment to our entire city that shows the next generation of San Diegans the type of selflessness that moves our city forward.”

Solis was awarded the American Legion Medal of Valor and the department’s Meritorious Service Award for his for his work on the Border Patrol Task Force, when he fatally shot an intruder who had shot and wounded a border patrol agent.

Solis in 2014 was one of the moving forces behind a yearlong investigation into sex trafficking by North Park gang members under federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations laws. As a result of the SDPD’s first-ever RICO investigation, two dozen alleged gang members were indicted on charges ranging from theft to pimping and murder.

“Retired Assistant Police Chief Cesar Solis dedicated his life to community service and helping others,” said San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman. “That is why it is so fitting to have a place that inspires a sense of community, a neighborhood park, named after him.”