In the eyes of California State Senator Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), the empty K-Mart sitting on North Davis Road in Salinas was the perfect spot for a new kind of village within the city, one that combined retail and housing where residents could shop and have easy access to mass transit.
She shared her vision with housing advocates in July during a Salinas Valley housing forum sponsored by the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership. With consumers moving to online shopping—a practice accelerated by Covid-19—replacing large, out-dated big box shopping centers with much-needed housing was a perfect solution, she told forum participants.
Caballero said there was a lot of bipartisan support among legislators for Senate Bill 1385, the Neighborhood Homes Act, but on Aug. 11 that support was lacking in the Assembly Local Government Committee, which rejected the bill by a vote of 3-2.
"I am shocked and dismayed that even after a firm commitment to accept almost all of the (committee's) amendments, and work together to address the remaining small concerns, the chair recommended a 'no' vote and effectively blocked the bill from moving forward," Caballero said in a press release, referring to Chair Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Davis.
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