Creekbridge residents in Salinas voice concerns after shooting

Creekbridge residents in Salinas met with city and county leaders Wednesday night about their neighborhood’s issues about the proposed homeless shelter.

This comes after an officer-involved shooting at Safeway last week frightened many shoppers there.

“Over at the local Safeway, which used to be one of the safest Safeways to go to, and gunfire, multiple shots, many missed, but could have hit someone else,” said Margaret Serna Bonetti, a Salinas resident and community activist.

As the city prepares to build a homeless shelter about a mile away, residents are concerned.

“It doesn’t sound like Salinas has given this very much thought by putting something like this in our neighborhood,” said Spence Erickson, a Creekbridge resident. “We have a Safeway that already that already has issues with shoplifting.”

Many say they think putting a shelter nearby will harm their neighborhoods and schools, but the city says the shelter needed and this spot made the most sense.

“They went around and looked at the zoning and looked at the proximity to neighborhoods, and this is was the one that probably fit the best,” said Tony Villegas, a Salinas city councilmember.

Residents fear the decision is already made, but Councilmember Villegas says there is a lot to discuss before it is actually built.

“I know that people say that not in my backyard, but you know what, it’s not appropriate to put this right near our neighborhood because we’re going to get the brunt of this,” said Erickson.

Villegas says 70 percent of the people who use the current shelter in downtown Salinas are women and children.