At the edge of the Sierra Vista Housing Authority in south Stockton on Tuesday, residents paused to watch as city officials cut through an azure blue ribbon, marking the city’s first substation in nearly two decades.
Among the onlookers were longtime residents Jaime Hernandez and Raul Espinoza Serrano, the pair watching from a distance next door as strobe lights of patrol cars barricading the street flashed.
Sierra Vista, Hernandez said, is “tranquilo” — calm — at least compared with when he first moved in 36 years ago, often waking some mornings to shattered car windows and swiped car tires…