Salinas

Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. The city is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" for its large, vibrant agriculture industry. It was the hometown of writer and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (190268), who set many of his stories in the Salinas Valley and Monterey. Salinas has a high Hispanic proportion, which at 79.6%, is the highest proportion of Hispanic Americans out of any city in. California, and 8th largest overall in the nation. It also has a sizable Asian-American population, with a large and historic Filipino population. It once had the 2nd biggest Chinatown in the United States behind only San Francisco. It is located about eight miles (13 km) from the Pacific Ocean, and it has a climate more influenced by the ocean than the interior of the region. The marine climate is ideal for the floral industry, grape vineyards, and vegetable growers. It has a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, and will be the most populous city in Monterey county in that year's census. It lies just south of the San Francisco Bay Area, and 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the mouth of the Saliners River. The land that Salinas sits on is thought to have been settled by Native Americans known by the Esselen prior to 200 AD. The Rumsen-Ohlone remained as the inhabitants of the area for approximately 1,200 years.

History

Salinas is the primary city name, but also Corral De Tie, Corral De Tierra are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is City of Salinas. Salinas is a city in northern California. The city was founded in 1874. It is home to the National Steinbeck Center and the John Steinbeck Library. It was also the birthplace of writer and Nobel Prize laureate JohnSteinbeck. The area was settled by Native Americans known as the Rumsen between 200 and 500 AD. In the 1700s, the first Spanish explorers of the Salinas area made land grants to the Catholic Missions. In 1848, California became a part of the United States of America, and Salinas became the capital of the state. After World War II, Salinas was used as a temporary detention camp for citizens and immigrant residents of Japanese ancestry, before they were relocated to more permanent and remote facilities. After the annexation in 1956, the city experienced strong growth spurts in the 1950s and 1960s and again in the 1990s and early 2000s. The historic Old Town area of Salinas is now known as Old Town Salinas, known as Salinas Old Town by locals. It has been the home of the San Francisco Giants, the California Aggies and the San Jose Sharks since the 1960s, when they moved to the city from San Jose. The current mayor of the city is Mario Vargas Llosa, a former mayor of San Jose who was elected in 2008. The mayor of Sal Salinas has served as mayor since 2010, when he was re-elected for a second time in a landslide-proofed term. He has been in office since 2011.

Geography

The city rests about 18 meters (59 feet) above sea level, and it is located roughly eight miles from the Pacific Ocean. Salinas has cool and moderate temperatures, due to the "natural air conditioner" that conveys ocean air and fog from the Monterey Bay to Salinas. The record highest temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on September 14, 1971. In 2015 Salinas was in the top ten American cities for cleanest air quality. Occasionally, there is snowfall on the peaks of the Gabilan and Santa Lucia mountain ranges, but snow in the city itself is extremely rare, occurring about once every 5 to 15 years on average. An inch of snow fell in Salinas on February 26, 2011. The average annual rainfall for the city is approximately 13.26 inches or 336.8 millimetres. The wettest "rain year" since records at the present station began in 1959 was from July 1997 to June 1998 with 34.63 inches (879.6 mm) of precipitation, and the driest from July 1971 to June 1972 with 7.29 inches (185.2 mm). The most precipitation in one month was 11.10 inches (282 mm) on January 23, 2000. It is thought that the offshore marine layer generates winds that blow smog further inland, known as the marine layer, driven by an onshore wind created by the local high pressure sunny portions of the Salinas Valley, which extend north and south.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Salinas had a population of 150,441. The racial makeup of Salinas was 68,973 (45.8%) White, down from 90.3% in 1970, 2,993 (2.0%) African American, 1,888 (1.3%) Native American, 9,438 (6.3%), Asian, 478 (0.3) Pacific Islander, 59,041 (39.2%) from other races, and 7,630 (5.1%) from two or more races. The median household income is $67,914, and the medium income per capita is $23,707. The poverty percentage is at 14%. The city's population is 32% white (12% for white alone, not Hispanic or Latino), 79% Hispanic or. Latino, 1% African American, 6% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other pacific Islander, 1% American Indian and Alaska native, 7% Two or more Races. There were 42,651 housing units at an average density of 1,837.1 per square mile (709.3/km²), of which 18,198 were owner-occupied, and 22,189 (54.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate is 2.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. The majority of residents were living in single-unit detached homes, built between 1950 and 2000. One third of the housing stock had three or more units per structure.

Economy

Salinas is known for its AgTech industry, and is known as the emerging AgTech Capital of the nation. Its close proximity to Silicon Valley and large number of agricultural employers give forth to an ideal location for developing high tech agricultural innovations. Since 2015, Forbes has hosted the yearly Forbes AgTech Summit in Salinas. The event draws agricultural technology entrepreneurs from around the world and includes speakers, group discussions, tours, on site demonstrations. The city is home to Taylor Farms, Tanimura & Antle, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Natividad Medical Center, Mann Packing, Hilltown Packing and Newstar Fresh Foods. It is also home to the Monterey County Fair, which is one of the largest agricultural fairs in the world. It also hosts the annual Forbes Agtech Summit, which brings together agricultural tech entrepreneurs from all over the world for a day-long event. The town is also the home of the annual San Francisco Bay Area AgTech Conference, which draws more than 1,000 attendees each year.

Arts and culture

Salinas has an emerging arts scene led by the First Fridays Art Walk and the innovative use of non-traditional or business venues. The oldest gallery in Salinas, the Valley Art Gallery, has been active for over 30 years. The city contains several art deco buildings, including the Monterey County Courthouse and the Salinas Californian Building. El Grito is a celebration of the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. Ciclovía Salinas is an annual event that has taken place in the Alisal neighborhood of Salinas since 2013, and features a 1.5 mile stretch of Alisal Street that is closed off to automobiles, and exclusively for use of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized forms of transportation. The California Rodeo Salinas began in 1911 as a Wild West Show on the site of the old race track ground. Every third week of July is Big Week, when cowboys and fans come for the traditional rodeo competitions, including bull riding. The Salinas Asian Festival celebrates the culture and history of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese immigrants. The John Steinbeck House was the birthplace and childhood home of the author. The Boronda Adobe is a National Register of Historic Places and holds a restored adobe dwelling constructed by José Ebuseio in 1844. The 2017 Salinas Chinatown Virtual Walking Tour includes food, demonstrations of tai chi, Filipino folk dancing, kendo, and a bonsai and bonsa festival.

Education

Salinas has seven public school districts serving the city core and adjacent unincorporated areas. The largest school district in Salinas is the Salinas Union High School District (grades 712) with 13,578 students enrolled in 10 campuses. Hartnell College, as well as a satellite campus of California State University, Monterey Bay, are located in the city.Private Catholic schools in theCity include the all-boys Palma School and the all thegirls Notre Dame High School. The city is home to the U.S. Naval Academy, which was founded in 1775. The U.N. has a naval base in the City of Salinas, California, which opened in 1776. Salinas also has a submarine base, the USS Monterey, which is based in the Bay Area and was established in 1778. The Salinas Navy Yard is a decommissioned submarine base that was built in the 1950s. It is located on the San Francisco Bay shore and was once the base for the USS San Francisco. The San Francisco Shipyard is a former naval base that is now the site of the Monterey Peninsula Naval Base. The Monterey peninsula is the location of the California Maritime Museum, which dates back to the 18th century. It was also the site for the opening of Monterey Harbor in 1869. The California State Maritime Museum is located in Monterey and opened in 1875. It has a museum that is part of the National Museum of the Pacific Coast, which has been there ever since.

Infrastructure

U.S. Route 101 is the major northsouth highway in Salinas, linking the city to the rest of the Central Coast region, San Francisco to the north, and Los Angeles to the south. Salinas Municipal Airport is a general aviation facility occupying 763 acres (3.1 km²), with two runways serving single and twin engine aircraft and helicopters. Greyhound operates from the Salinas Amtrak station with service to other California cities and throughout the United States. Public transportation via bus is provided by MontereySalinas Transit (MST) Salinas and its surrounding towns are served by Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Natividad Medical Center, both of which are owned and operated by the University of California, San San Francisco's teaching hospital system. The Salinas Rail extension aims to provide weekday rail service to Gilroy and San Jose Diridon station by 2024. The airport is the site of the California International Airshow, set annually in the late summer or early autumn. The event draws thousands of visitors to Salinas over its three-day run. The city is currently accepting proposals for leasing and operation of the restaurant located within the Terminal. It offers trained medical interpreters for speakers of several Oaxacan languages (including Triqui, Mixteco, and Zapotec) as well as Spanish. It also has a public district hospital and healthcare system run by an elected board of directors. It is located on the southeastern boundary of the City of Salinas.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Salinas, Monterey County, California = 97. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 30. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 71. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Salinas = 5.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 163,542 individuals with a median age of 29.8 age the population grows by 2.43% in Salinas, Monterey County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 7,000 residents per square mile of area (2,700/km²). There are average 3.74 people per household in the 38,322 households with an average household income of $54,604 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 15.00% of the available work force and has dropped -3.55% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 17.90%. The number of physicians in Salinas per 100,000 population = 173.5.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Salinas = 14.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 47. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 259. 71 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 40.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 78, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Salinas, Monterey County, California which are owned by the occupant = 48.98%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 33 years with median home cost = $201,170 and home appreciation of -22.52%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $6.03 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,509 per student. There are 21.7 students for each teacher in the school, 8193 students for each Librarian and 936 students for each Counselor. 5.51% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 8.45% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 3.98% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).