Homeless returning after Salinas Chinatown sweep

Many of the Salinas homeless are already coming back after being cleared out of Chinatown early Thursday morning.

“It was rather hectic” said Candy L. Azarcon a Chinatown resident. “There were police officers on every corner, people were hauling their goods as quickly as they possibly can.

Salinas Public Works says cleanups like this are happening more often around the city.

“We would do it only three or four times a year. Now we’re doing several hundred cleanups around the entire city year by year” said Gary Petersen, Salinas Public Works director.

The people were told to put their belongings into large bins that will be kept in temporary storage. A warning was posted more than a week ago about the sweep but, some decided to wait before clearing out.

“The notice says from 6 a.m to 12 p.m., however they were down here at 5:30 and basically had us out of here at 6 a.m. Contrary to what their own notice says” said Chinatown resident David Cuellar.

It didn’t keep everyone away, some returned to take advantage of the services like Victory Mission and Dorothy’s Place. Others, like Candy L. Azarcon just feel at home in the community.

“I’ve made some pretty good friend here, there’s a wide variety of people” Azarcon says. “I have a friend that lives close by.”

Salinas Public Works says the people cleared out of Chinatown were cooperative and no arrests were made.