Residents express concerns about ‘sketchy’ Salinas park

A Hartnell College student lost her jewelry on Tuesday after two men approached and robbed her.

The student was not hurt.

“It’s been since 2014 that we had anything like this, so it was a little bit of a shock,” said Scott Faust, a spokesperson for Hartnell College.

The school is now deploying electric carts with security guards to increase visibility and mobility in patrols.

While the robbery at Hartnell is alarming, across the street, Central Park is another place where residents feel bad things can happen, especially at night.

“At night, it is definitely a little sketchy,” said Vicente Valencia, who lives near the park.

“I feel like when it gets dark, the park also gets really dark. You’re not really able to see the whole park,” said Julissa Alonso, who also lives near Central Park.

A good portion of the park is almost completely dark when the sun sets. There are a few lights that turn on at night, but it is a mostly uncomfortable view for residents.

“There’s light in the way that you can see people on the black top, but not really in the sense that I could go outside and really get a full vision of the whole park,” said Valencia.

“Just two years ago, we retrofitted all of our lights with LED…and all the lights in the parks were done,” said Don Reynolds, the assistant public works director for Salinas.

Reynolds says the lighting improves safety, but he also says Central Park is actually closed at sun set, so people should not go there.

The Salinas Public Works Department and police also work closely together to make sure parks stay safe at night.

The people, however, still prefer more lighting.

“Some people still do kind of go, but I feel like if it were brighter, more people would go,” said Valencia.

The city will soon have discussions on the state of its parks, and they will welcome public input for that.