8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY january 4-10, 2024 www.montereycountyweekly.com Women dressed in skimpy clothing walking along streets in Salinas has become a common scene near some apartment complexes. Residents living around Kings and Roosevelt streets see sex workers regularly when they go to work, take their kids to school or attend church. And for months, they have been asking Salinas officials to take action to stop it. This area has long been prone to prostitution and the Salinas Police Department had implemented strategies to crack down in the past. Previously, loitering for the purpose of prostitution was a misdemeanor. In 2023 Senate Bill 357 took effect, decriminalizing loitering for the purpose of prostitution. (The law doesn’t decriminalize prostitution, just the loitering part.) The aim of the legislation was to reduce profiling, discrimination and harassment based on appearance and clothing, but in this Salinas neighborhood, it has had an unintended consequences: the proliferation of sex work. “The State of California is making it difficult for us to combat this locally,” says City Councilmember Orlando Osornio, who represents the area. City leaders agree there is a problem that needs to be addressed. “You have three square blocks of 30-plus women and a line around the block of johns, creating a horrible quality of life for our residents there,” Mayor Kimbley Craig says. She adds that she has spoken with California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister— who supported the bill—about the unintended consequences of SB 357. “He was just as surprised as I was,” she says. “We’re working with his office to try to create awareness around it.” Without SPD’s old enforcement tool, city officials have been looking for alternatives. On Dec. 5, City Attorney Chris Callihan suggested adding the state’s Red Light Abatement Act to the municipal code. With that, city officials would have the power to declare repeated sites of prostitution as a nuisance, expanding the city’s ability to take action to seek a court order allowing abatement efforts. It would enable enforcement against property owners, and give the city a mechanism to recover its costs. Osornio points out when there are more police officers in the area, loitering moves to nearby streets. “That’s not the answer,” he says. Salinas City Council is set to vote on Tuesday, Jan. 9 on whether to pursue the Red Light Abatement Act and incorporate it into the municipal code. For decades, Sand City has had dreams of hotels along its beaches, which culminated in just a single project gaining conditional approval—the Monterey Bay Shores “eco-resort” north of Scribble Hill, a project that is still collecting dust while litigation sorts out an ownership dispute. It turns out the city’s first hotel is instead coming on the east side of Highway 1. Sometime this month, construction crews are expected to begin staging equipment on the property known as South of Tioga to prepare for a February groundbreaking. Ebbie Nakhjavani, CEO of EKN Development, which is building the four-story, 215-room hotel in partnership with Gam Development, expects construction to be complete by early 2026. He hopes the hotel’s restaurant and bar will become a “nucleus” for both locals and guests to gather, whether it be for trivia nights or wine tastings. If that proves to be true, it would align with late developer Don Orosco’s vision for the property— Orosco brokered all the land and property acquisitions necessary to develop the site (he had to buy some people out)—which he coined in 2017 as “Venice North.” He was speaking about how early local establishments close after the sun goes down, and told the Weekly back then that “when the rest of the community rolls up their doormat,” his hope was that “everybody heads to Sand City.” The hotel will be a Marriott-branded Courtyard and Residence Inn, and its restaurant and bar will be centered around a courtyard with a pool area. What’s not yet clear is the timeline for the two-building, 356-unit residential complex on the property. The project has all the required approvals, all the subsurface infrastructure is in and it has all the necessary water available. What it needs now is a buyer to acquire and build it. The process could be a test case for how quickly development does or does not occur when the lack of water is not an obstacle. Red Light Seeking to abate a surge in sex work, Salinas officials look to nuisance law. By Celia Jiménez news Storm ready Rain and flood warnings are affecting the Central Coast this winter, and residents and visitors should be prepared for upcoming emergencies. The City of Carmel hosts a resilience forum. Attendees will learn how to plan and respond to winter storms and disasters and what the city is doing for emergency preparation. 10-11am Saturday, Jan. 6. Sunset Cultural Center, San Carlos Street at 9th Avenue, Carmel. Free. 620-2020, communityactivities@ci.carmel.ca.us. Color It In It’s fun to see colorful and meaningful murals in public spaces. The North County Recreation & Park District invites the public to weigh in at this community meeting to discuss an upcoming mural planned at the North County Recreation Center. 11am-noon Saturday, Jan. 6. North County Recreation Center, 11261 Crane St., Castroville. Free. 633-3084. Seeking Equity The League of Women Voters of Monterey County hosts a virtual talk titled “The Equal Rights Amendment—The Centennial and the Big Picture.” Activist and artist Zoe Nicholson leads the presentation. Attendees can expect to learn about the ERA’s history and Nicholson’s participation in a 37-day fast at the Illinois State Capitol in 1982. Noon Wednesday, Jan. 10. Free to attend; to request an invitation and link to participate, send an email to LWVmryco@gmail.com. Virtual event. More information at my.lwv.org/california/monterey-county. Safe Roads The City of Seaside is establishing a Local Road Safety Plan. Collision data and community input will be incorporated to address road safety needs across the city. At this workshop, learn about collision trends, see the proposed priority location list and learn about strategies to improve road safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. 6-7:30pm Thursday, Jan. 11. Oldemeyer Center, 986 Hilby Ave., Seaside. Free. 899-6700, ci.seaside.ca.us. Creating Memories Creating a scrapbook is a fun way to organize your treasured memories. Monterey County Free Libraries is starting a scrapbooking club, and all you need to do is bring your own photographs. Most materials will be provided. 4-5pm every Thursday starting on Jan. 4. San Lucas branch, 54692 Teresa St., San Lucas. Free. 286-6833, slcir@ co.monterey.ca.us, bit.ly/mocolibraries. Sand Castle After years of trying, Sand City is finally set to see a hotel built within its borders. By David Schmalz A woman wearing skimpy bottoms speaks to a driver on Roosevelt Street in Salinas. Residents say the presence of sex workers creates heavy traffic in the neighborhood. e-mail: publiccitizen@mcweekly.com TOOLBOX “[It’s] creating a horrible quality of life for our residents there.” Daniel Dreifuss
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