During Tuesday’s meeting, the council voted unanimously to scrap the June ballot measure, directing staff to bring more information forward and explore options for placing the measure on the November ballot.

The tax would have applied to privately owned parking facilities in the city. Under the proposal each occupant would be subject to pay 8% of the parking fee charged by the operator.

Exemptions would have included hotel, city-owned and residential parking, this would apply to privately owned venues. The city attorney clarified that state-owned facilities like Monterey Fairgrounds would be subjected to the 8% tax.

City staff estimates this would generate $372,000 to $745,000 annually, based on 1,418 privately owned spaces at $18 a day, with the $372,000 at about 50% occupancy every day, and $745,000 at full capacity.

“We know that parking is higher during our Cali Roots week or during Car Week, and outside of tourist season the parking prices will be lower, so that number ($18) will fluctuate,” said Finance Director Rafaela King.

Public speakers included representatives from Cannery Row and Portola Hotel & Spa, speaking against the tax being solely placed on private venues. Speakers asked why wasn’t public city parking being included as well, and claimed that the city would only make a few thousand dollars off the tax, versus the hundreds of thousands in the estimates.

“This 8% tax is mostly going to hit locals, these are people who are going to shop downtown, dining in restaurants, going to the Golden State Theatre,” said Janine Chicourrat, managing director for Portola Hotel & Spa. “Taxing your way out of this deficit is not the solution.”

City staff will look into adding public parking into their counts, decide what is included in public parking and have more exact numbers on the cost of parking spaces within the city.

The public is invited to join an open house Saturday to discuss the plan and provide feedback.

The event will consist of two portions: the first part of the day will be an open house with informational posters, giving attendees the opportunity to ask city staff questions. In the second part, there will be a series of panels on different topics related to the General Plan.

“It’s really about hearing from people…and how the General Plan impacts them,” said Jonathan Moore, the senior planner for the city of Salinas.

The open house will be held at the National Steinbeck Center on Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The General Plan Update aims to provide a blueprint for the coming years, giving the city the chance to create more housing choice, room for small businesses to grow, places to recreate and put Salinas on course for sustainability. The plan also highlights what kind of infrastructure and transportation projects will be prioritized and funded.

Moore said the update gives Salinas the opportunity to reprioritize and streamline its operations, making it more efficient, better aligned with the interests of residents and more compliant with state law.

A big part of this is a new Zoning Code, Moore said, designating what can and can’t be done on a certain property.

“Overall, we’re trying to get to a code that is a little more user friendly, it’s a little more streamlined that allows things that fit with the community’s vision to be built faster,” Moore said.

Every city and county in California is required to develop a general plan to guide its development. Across the state, each general plan has eight mandatory elements: land use, circulation (transportation), housing, conservation, noise, open space, safety and environmental justice.

Salinas also includes the optional Community Design and Economic Development elements.

In Salinas, the existing General Plan went into effect 1998. Vision Salinas is the first update to the Salinas’ General Plan since 2002.

Since this, the city has grown significantly in both size and population. Along with new state laws and the rise of challenges like the housing crisis, climate change and the long-term effects of the global pandemic, Moore said an updated general plan is more critical than ever.

“A lot has changed,” Moore said.

In addition to the new Zoning Code, much of the updated content reflects new environmental regulations and increasing ecological awareness in the city.

A new Environmental Justice Element aims to address unequal distributions of health hazards like pollution, pesticide exposure, lack of access to healthcare and access to healthy foods across the city. The Environmental Justice Element is required as of 2016, after former Governor Jerry Brown signed it into law.

The Environmental Justice Element includes a host of actions aimed at addressing these issues, from ongoing coordination with the County Agricultural Commissioner to regulate pesticide use, to longer-term efforts to strengthen Blue Zones partnerships and found community gardens.

With the updated General Plan comes the city’s first ever Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive plan to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. The plan identifies areas of opportunity, like retrofitting existing buildings for greater efficiency, expanding access to solar energy and accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles in the city.

While the Climate Action Plan is not part of the General Plan itself, Moore said the two go hand in hand and will both be discussed on Saturday.

Currently a public review draft of the Vision Salinas 2040 Current Plan can be found at https://www.salinas.gov/Newsroom/Public-Notices

The open house will have free food and childcare. To register, visit https://www.salinas.gov/Events/General-Plan-Open-House

Chris Hamilton is a California Local News fellow covering Salinas and the Salinas Valley for The Herald.

The victim had arranged to sell a gold chain to the buyer through Facebook Marketplace in the area of Short Street around 8 p.m.

Upon meeting however, the would-be buyer suddenly grabbed the gold chain and ran.

Moments later, two more suspects approached the victim wearing all black and ski masks, one of them brandishing a firearm at the victim. The three suspects fled on foot down Short Street.

The incident is under active investigation by the Salinas Police Department.

According to Dunagan robberies of this kind happen more often than people think.

“We see it common enough that every time it happens we try to put something out to remind people of how unsafe it could be,” Dunagan said.

While Dunagan said it would be unrealistic to say that no one should use Facebook Marketplace, he noted that there are certain risks inherent to any informal method of exchange, especially for high value items.

“It is generally unsafe because you’re putting yourself out there with a high value item,” Dunagan said. “You truly don’t know who you are meeting nowadays with all these fake social media profiles, all that kind of stuff.”

That risk goes not just for those selling high value items, but also those looking to buy them, with some incidents involving a person selling a fake item, looking to rob the buyer of their cash.

There are, however, ways to reduce the risk of this kind of incident, said Dunagan, who recommends meeting up in high visibility public places like coffee shops or other businesses during open hours and bringing a friend.

“Don’t meet at night…if you have to push the meeting off because you work during the day, do it on a weekend as opposed to trying to knock it out after work, in the dark in some random parking lot.”

Dunagan also said that many police stations, like the Salinas Police Station, have designated “Safe Exchange Zones,” or parking spots surveilled by security cameras, where people can make transactions.

“We get people out there all the time doing it…the likelihood that you are going to get robbed in the parking lot of a police department is probably far less than on some random street.”

Dunagan advised the public to be skeptical if a person says they don’t want to meet up in one of these high profile locations.

“Getting some of that pushback, that should raise red flags for you.”

With increased awareness of the risks, Dunagan hopes that crimes like Sunday’s will become a thing of the past.

“It happens more often than it should in my opinion.”

In the meantime, he encouraged anyone with information on Sunday’s incident to contact the Salinas Police Department.

Chris Hamilton is a California Local News fellow covering Salinas and the Salinas Valley for The Herald.

Though the guest list is by no means a complete showing of Democrat candidates for California Governor, the organizers of the event say the evening will offer a unique chance to hear directly from the candidates on important issues facing California, in the Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz county areas and beyond.

The Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, moderated by Erica Padilla-Chavez, co-chair of Women in Leadership for Diverse Representation, will be held on March 12 at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 1000 Aguajito Rd., in Monterey, from 6-8 p.m. According to the organizers, the event will give attendees an opportunity to hear a moderated debate, gain perspective on important issues facing the state, engage in meaningful conversations with the candidates in a Q&A following the debate and connect with community members committed to supporting healthy democracy.

In a statewide survey by the Public Policy Institute of California released in February, there are five candidates that are now in a close competition in the top-two gubernatorial primary in June – Steve Hilton, R; Katie Porter, D; Chad Bianco, R; Tom Steyer, D; and Eric Swalwell, D.

Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary, regardless of party affiliation, will go head-to-head in the November general election.

There is a concern that with a crowded field of about nine Democrats in the race, it could splinter the vote and allow the top two Republicans in the race to come in first and second.

On Tuesday, state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks urged his party’s candidates who lack a viable path to victory to drop out of the race, according to published reports. That development followed on the heels of the California Democratic Party not endorsing a candidate for governor at its convention in February after none of the major candidates received more than 60% of the vote.

“It is imperative that every candidate honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaign,” said Hicks in an open letter to those in the contest to replace termed-out Governor Gavin Newsom. “So much is at stake in our nation and so many are counting on the leadership of California Democrats to stand up and speak out at this historic moment. California’s leadership on the world stage is significantly harder if a Democrat is not elected as our next Governor.”

The Public Policy Institute of California survey found in part that about six in ten likely voters say they are satisfied with the choice of candidates in the governor’s race. About half are not too closely following the news about the governor’s race while about seven in ten are interested in seeing town halls and debates with the candidates. When it comes to local House races, six in ten likely voters favor the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate. Democratic likely voters are more enthusiastic than others about voting in this election. For majorities of likely voters, the candidates’ positions on affordability are very important in determining their vote for governor and Congress.

Other findings of the survey included 43% of adults and 47% of likely voters think the state budget situation is a big problem, about one in three Californians name the cost of living and inflation as the most important issue for the governor and legislature to work on in 2026, and most Californians name political extremism or threats to democracy, economic conditions, and immigration as the most important problems facing the US today.

Rakitina observes that the podium long seemed an exclusively male domain because conducting was believed to demand qualities traditionally attributed to men, including strong leadership and character, strict and unwavering resolve, cool-headedness, and physical stamina. Although it is eminently clear these characteristics are shared by both genders, this division kept conducting closed to women, as it did many other professions and careers. In recent years, however, that landscape has begun to shift. From the Metropolitan Opera to Europe’s most storied festivals, women are increasingly guiding artistic vision and interpretation, a change as Rakitina suggests, that is as much about listening differently as it is about who holds the baton.

Artistic leadership on the Monterey Peninsula not only reflects this broader moment but has long served as a cultural way-shower. Long before international headlines declared a changing podium, our region was galvanized by two remarkable women whose vision and leadership established world-class musical institutions here and profoundly influenced our cultural identity. Carmel impresarios Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous were early pioneers who demonstrated that women were more than capable of guiding major artistic enterprises.

For 25 years, the great American conductor Marin Alsop, shaped by the mentorship and artistic example of Leonard Bernstein, led the Cabrillo Music Festival across the Bay in Santa Cruz. Another Bernstein-mentored conductor, Kate Tamarkin, began her tenure with the Monterey Symphony a quarter century ago, strengthening the region’s connection to that legacy of musical leadership. Three years ago, the Denny-Watrous tradition continued with the appointment of Norwegian-born conductor Grete Pedersen as artistic director of the Carmel Bach Festival, which they founded.

Another bright star among the Peninsula’s women artistic leaders is acclaimed violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, who established Sunkiss’d Mozart Summerfest in 2024, a June chamber music festival featuring leading international musicians performing in intimate and beautiful settings throughout the region. Wu and Pedersen join an existing tradition that has quietly demonstrated the power of female musical leadership on the Peninsula for more than a century.

Monterey Symphony in March

Speaking of the ascendency of women in our musical organizations, the Monterey Symphony celebrates its Eighth Annual Women’s Night Out on March 21 at Sunset Center followed by the March concert program conducted by Jayce Ogren. The party this year is inspired by the “White Lotus” television series. Come dressed in your Maui, Sicily, or Thailand exotic resort chic attire and groove to the music of San Francisco-based Axon Orkestra.  By the way, for many seasons now, the Symphony has been administered by Nicola Reilly and her dazzling crew of talented women, in what I would describe as one of the best management teams in its eight decades of musicmaking. Women’s Night Out is just one of many innovations and creative offerings that people can enjoy each season in addition to the subscription concert series.

About this month’s concert, Ogren says, “Our March program features star violinist Stefan Jackiw in Tchaikovsky’s delightful and virtuosic violin concerto. We’re thrilled that Jackiw will be making his debut with the Monterey Symphony. The concert opens with Moño by Marina López, a Monterey Symphony co-commission and part of our 80th anniversary celebration featuring exciting new works. We’ll also play Sibelius’s seventh symphony, his greatest tribute to nature, humanism and spirituality.”

For tickets, information and details about pre-concert lectures, the Saturday Night Talk Back and the Sunday pre-concert Lobby Sessions music see www.montereysymphony.org or call  (831) 626-8511.

Ensemble Monterey ‘Romantic Ideals’

Ensemble Monterey brings us a “journey from Baroque elegance to modern reflection” in their third concert of the season, called “Romantic Ideals.” Described as a thoughtful program celebrating life, love, joy, playfulness and wonder, audiences will hear works by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, J.S. Bach’s Wedding Cantata featuring oboist Peter Lemberg, and Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major, “The Trout.” Soprano Lori Schulman brings her warmth and clarity to Shaw’s sound world.

Performances take place Saturday at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Monterey and Sunday at 7 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz.

For more information and to purchase tickets see ensemblemonterey.org or call (831) 333-1283.

Dover Quartet

The Dover Quartet, hailed by BBC Music Magazine as “one of the greatest quartets of the last 100 years,” appears at Sunset Center March 28 at 7:30 p.m.  Dover has been favorably compared to great American string ensembles, such as the Emerson or Guarneri Quartets, for their depths of originality and musicianship.  Their last appearance for CMMB was a streaming performance online during the pandemic, so the organization is delighted to welcome them back in person.

They will perform a diverse program with works by Jessie Montgomery, Franz Joseph Haydn, Karol Szymanowski and Felix Mendelssohn, compositions spanning the years from 1772 to 2012.  The concert will be preceded by a 30-minute talk at 6:30 by UC Santa Barbara music professor and musicologist Derek Katz.  For tickets and information see www.chambermusicmontereybay.org, or call (831) 625-2212.

Carmel Bach tickets

A reminder: Carmel Bach Festival tickets go on sale on March 16 for its 89th season that takes place July 11-25. Artistic director Grete Pedersen has created a season of music that explores the theme, “the nature of sound.” This year the festival will collaborate with a featured composer, Puerto-Rican-born composer Angélica Negrón. Check out the website for details at www.BachFestival.org.

Pacific Grove has been in the midst of creating a retail cannabis store for the city, adopting the first amendments to the cannabis ordinance back in June 2025 and opening the application window for a single storefront license from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

During that application period, according to Wednesday’s agenda, the city posted responses to frequently asked questions including whether applicants could share ownership ties through other companies or contracts.

According to the memo, after the window closed the property owner of 1169 Forest Avenue sent two letters to the city. The first, dated Oct. 22, 2025, alleged that eight applications for 1157 Forest Avenue appeared to come from one applicant using multiple legal entities and requested an investigation.

A second letter on Oct. 31 cited that the city ordinance did not prohibit related parties from submitting multiple applications but argued the practice should not be permitted and again requested corrective action. City staff responded on Nov. 7, stating that application review was still underway.

HdL, the consultant hired to review the submissions and assist with inspections, determined that all 10 applications met program and administrative requirements. The city notified applicants on Jan. 5, that they were eligible to move to the lottery phase. No appeals were filed during the 10‑day appeal period.

On Jan. 8, the city received another letter from an attorney representing the 1169 Forest Avenue property owner and its applicant, NUG Pacific Grove LLC, repeating concerns about coordinated applications and requesting corrective action. The city responded on Jan. 15, reiterating that the licensing process does not prohibit affiliations among applicants.

The next step in the licensing process is the lottery which city staff say is still being finalized.

The Pacific Grove City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Pacific Grove City Hall, 300 Forest Avenue. The meeting will be streamed online and can be participated in via Zoom at https://www.cityofpacificgrove.org/Zoom_CC

On Tuesday, the group secured another landmark property in Santa Clara County, announcing it had purchased Mead Ranch, a 1,921-acre parcel between San Jose and Morgan Hill, for $24.3 million.

The ranch, located in the picturesque rolling foothills along Uvas Road, will be preserved as open space, according to the organization, commonly known as POST. It’s the latest property in recent years to be set aside for wildlife, farming or open space in and around Coyote Valley, an area west of Highway 101 on San Jose’s southern edges where tech giants Apple and Cisco once proposed to build huge campuses in the 1980s and 1990s.

“There are rolling hills, oak-studded grasslands, ponds and beautiful views,” said Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, during a recent visit to Mead Ranch. “This property is a key linchpin that connects the Santa Cruz Mountains to Coyote Valley.”

Clark said the purchase, which was funded in large part by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, is the latest example of a wider strategy to provide places to roam for mountain lions, deer and other wildlife that are increasingly isolated by freeways and development across California.

“We’ve been filling in puzzle pieces on the valley floor at Coyote Valley and bigger pieces on the hillsides around it,” Clark said. “We’re trying to protect big blocks that wildlife can use as habitat, and which link to the  Diablo Range and the rest of the state.”

The ranch is roughly twice the size of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. From its highest hills, visitors can see Mount Hamilton to the east, and Mount Umunhum and Loma Prieta to the west. With the purchase, about 49,000 acres of open space now exists between Mount Umunhum and Highway 101 — an area six times the size of Stanford University.

Since 1954, Mead Ranch had been owned by the family of Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., who from 1960 to 1990 served as president of Bechtel, a major American engineering and construction company. Bechtel was married to Elizabeth Mead Hogan, who died two years ago. Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., died in 2021 at age 95, with a net worth estimated at $3.5 billion.

Founded in San Francisco in 1898, the Bechtel company built Hoover Dam, BART and the Channel Tunnel between England and France, along with airports, nuclear plants and other huge projects around the world. Over time, some Bechtel heirs have moved out of the Bay Area, and the company shifted its headquarters to Virginia in 2018.

Along with his friends and family, Bechtel used Mead Ranch for getaways and hunting trips. In 2007, he hosted the National Retriever Championship on the property, an annual event in which hunting dogs from around the United States compete to retrieve birds, like ducks or pheasants, while navigating challenging terrain.

Evan Johnstone of Reno, Bechtel’s grandson, declined to comment on the sale.

In 2023, another branch of the family sold an adjacent property called Lakeside Ranch to POST for $22 million.

POST transferred that property to the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, a government agency that preserves open space as part of a broad countywide plan in which developers pay fees to offset harm they do to endangered species on their properties so they can obtain permits. Clark said the same outcome is likely with Mead Ranch.

Santa Clara County’s landscape and politics have shifted considerably since the Bechtels, who also have lived in San Francisco and Piedmont, first bought the two ranches during the Eisenhower years.

From the 1950s until the 1980s, San Jose sprawled in all directions. With a booming post-war economy driven by military contractors, electronics companies and computer firms, city leaders eagerly approved bulldozing orchards and farms that had given the area the name “Valley of Heart’s Delight” for freeways, subdivisions and businesses.

By the 1980s and 1990s, political views began to shift. San Jose, neighboring cities and Santa Clara County began passing rules to limit development on hillsides and some farmland. Environmental groups and land trusts began pushing for new parks and open space preserves. Many old-time ranching families sold their properties, which have increasingly become parks and open space preserves.

“It used to be that Grandpa bought the land,” said Henry Coletto, a retired game warden with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office from 1988 to 2004, who also worked as a county parks ranger starting in 1967. “His family raised cattle, then the second generation raised their family there, and the third generation sold the property because they didn’t want to be in the cattle business. It’s a tough life. Today, there are only a handful of cowboys who own their own land in this area. The rest are renting it from open space and parks agencies.”

Coletto said that amid the working ranchers, several wealthy families from the Peninsula and San Francisco, including the Hewletts and Packards, bought large pieces of land in rural Santa Clara County in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Back then, it was a trend for people who had money to have a big ranch and be a cowboy or raise horses,” Coletto said. “The Bechtels didn’t spend a lot of time on the property. But they did invite friends to do pheasant hunting and work with dogs. They did a beautiful job of maintaining the fences and the corrals and the houses.”

The Bechtel family allowed cattle grazing on the ranch, which POST will continue. The family also built six homes on the property. POST says it’s not sure yet what it will do with them or if there ever will be public access to the property, although it could provide a 1.5-mile addition to the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Coletto said he hopes it’s not too heavily grazed in the future, particularly around two sensitive streams that run through the property, Uvas and Llagas creeks.

“The big thing is that the land is not going to be developed,” he said. “It’s like its own little mountain range back there. There are some good water areas there on the west side. The whole area is pretty important for wildlife.”

The funding is through Round 6 of California’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program, a statewide effort to address homelessness and expand housing solutions across California.

HHAP recipients were announced on Monday, after a competitive regional application process, partnering with the Salinas/Monterey and San Benito Continuums of Care, a coalition of homelessness service providers.

“Homelessness remains a pressing challenge across California,” said Roxanne Wilson, County of Monterey Homeless Services Director in a statement. “This funding will allow us to stabilize proven local solutions that support individuals and families on their path to stable, permanent housing.”

HHAP grants are distributed by California’s Department of Housing and Community Development to provide flexible funding to 14 large cities, counties and Continuums of Care in the state.

According to a statement by the county, “Round 6 awards reflect rigorous review and emphasize collaborative regional planning, robust accountability measures and targeted investments in housing stability, outreach, interim housing, rapid rehousing and long-term supports.”

The county’s allocation of these funds will go towards homelessness services such as sustaining low-barrier navigation centers designed to provide shelter and case management as well as permanent supportive housing projects.

Answer: Effective negotiation is an art that can be learned. Understanding the basic principles of successful negotiation can help you to make the best deal possible and steer away from possible costly litigation. The following are some universal and crucial negotiating tips that could help you:

· Before you enter into the negotiation, know what you want. This means that you should already have determined the maximum amount you can offer based upon your personal financial situation and the calculated worth of the business. Also, you should determine what issues you are willing to back down on. By understanding these issues prior to the negotiation, you can keep sight on what you absolutely need and what you can do without.

· Make sure that what you offer is realistic. You may need to get a professional appraisal of the business to help determine its true value. Do your due diligence!

· Prepare yourself by reading a book on negotiating or by consulting with an attorney or CPA. You must learn about the various tax and legal ramifications of the purchase, and the different deal structures available to you.

· Learn as much about the selling party as you can. Why are they really interested in selling the business? Are they pressured for time? Are they negotiating with anyone else?

· Get to know the seller personally. It is much easier to communicate with someone with whom you are familiar than with a stranger. Your ability to influence the seller may be enhanced when you have a pre-existing relationship.

· Develop an agenda and stay with it. In addition to determining what you want and what the bottom line is, like at any important meeting, you should also ascertain what you would like to accomplish during any given communication. That way, if conversation veers off-course, you can always steer it back to the most important issues.

· Don’t let your emotions get in the way and become a deal breaker. If you feel yourself becoming frustrated and your temper begins to rise, take a break. Do not take the seller’s negotiating tactics as a personal attack.

· If the negotiations hit a wall, isolate the cause. If there is an issue or a group of issues over which a stalemate develops, dig a little deeper to find out the underlying issues which are causing the conflict. Very often, these issues, once discussed, are less crucial than they seem and can be easily resolved.

· If the situation seems hopeless, take a break. If the negotiation is going nowhere and you don’t want the deal to die, take time out to regroup. Review the issues, examine your approach and try to come up with an alternative strategy. An experienced negotiator or mediator, who is an impartial party to the negotiation, can often work through tough issues and get the process back on track.

Utilizing these strategies can’t guarantee that you will always get what you want in a negotiation situation. However, if you have a solid game plan, you will certainly enhance your chances for success. Best of luck!

Jonathan De Anda, executive director of the Complex, said with continued expansions like this, the Complex is on track to become the largest facility of its kind between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Already with its 15 soccer fields, the Complex draws an estimated 11,500 guests per week. Registered leagues from Castroville to King City come to play on its fields.

However with eight new fields added, weekly use is projected to exceed 22,000.

“This investment reflects a deep belief in the role community spaces play in shaping health, opportunity and connection for generations,” said Catherine Kobrinsky Evans, vice president of the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex and chair of The Match Campaign, in a prepared statement.

“Taylor Farms has stepped forward with extraordinary leadership, creating a moment for others to come together and help build something,” Evans said.

The Match’s $3 million campaign is a part of a larger $10 million effort to complete phases 2 and 3 of the Complex.

According to a press release from the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex, the goal is to secure funding for the next two phases by the end of this year, with aspirations to complete construction on them by spring 2027.

The Complex has moved steadily toward its goals of expansion recently. Just last month, the Complex received $500,000 in federal funding secured by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

In addition to helping pay for more fields, the federal funding is to be put toward a 2,000-seat lighted outdoor stadium, a 35,000-square-foot indoor soccer arena, 421 new parking spaces, pedestrian walkways, an onsite irrigation system and environmental protections for the adjacent Gabilan Creek.

Eventually, work on the Complex is estimated to total $45 million, which concludes Phase 4 of its development. Beyond just soccer fields, in the end the Complex also envisions sand volleyball courts, a BMX track, skatepark and a 60,000-square-foot wellness center.

According to Evans, the Complex’s final completion date is largely determined by securing the requisite investment.

“We’re totally ready…it’s just a question of money,” Evans told the Herald in September. “So we’re working really hard to raise that money through every source.”

For more information about the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex and opportunities to support The Match, visit https://salinassoccer.org/the-match/

Chris Hamilton is a California Local News fellow covering Salinas and the Salinas Valley for The Herald.