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Theater: Patrons will be secure
Officials are considering security guards, cameras

By ZACHARY STAHL
The Salinas Californian

July 14, 2005

It might take surveillance cameras or security guards in downtown Salinas, but Maya Cinemas will be a venue safe from crime, theater and Oldtown officials said.

The 14-screen theater's July 29 opening on the 100 block of Main Street is expected to usher in nighttime foot-traffic for Oldtown, with an estimated 800,000 people visiting the theater during its first year of operation.

Maya Cinemas officials said they will make sure customers are safe returning to their cars after a late movie.
"If you don't feel safe to come to a business, then that's a bad business," said Darin Marshall Ogden, general manager of Maya Salinas 14 Cinemas. "We need to make sure that the customers feel there is enough security for them."

Although no definite security measures have been announced, the Oldtown Salinas Association is discussing the use of private security guards and video surveillance to better safeguard the 100 block of Main Street.

The association has been working with the Salinas Police Department on a downtown security initiative that could include more bike patrols in Oldtown, said Jennifer Filice, Oldtown association director.

"We certainly want to have a sense of police presence so people understand that it's safe to go there," said Salinas police Chief Dan Ortega.

The Police Department does not have the resources to assign additional officers to downtown, Ortega said, but will be patrolling the new five-level garage at the corner of Monterey and Market streets and working closely with the Ampco Parking Systems employees who operate it.

Vince Scalfaro, operations manager for Ampco, said the garage has 16 surveillance cameras and is equipped with emergency call boxes on each level. The garage will have staff on hand during all hours of operation, Scalfaro said.

Ogden said the front of the theater will be well lighted as will the garage and parking lot on Main Street across from the theater.

Filice said there's talk of installing a surveillance and general use camera on top of the National Steinbeck Center, which commands a view of the 100 block of Main.

With crowds of people leaving the movies at once, there should be plenty of eyes to deter robberies or property crime, she said.

Ortega said panhandling is the biggest issue Oldtown has. The theater is just a few blocks away from Soledad Street and the area known as "Chinatown," where homeless people and drug-users congregate.

He said police cannot stop individuals from panhandling unless they do it aggressively.

Ogden said the theater will have a zero-tolerance policy on gang activity, and Ortega said he doesn't expect to see a gang problem at the cinema.

"There is no one in the community that is really in a mood, if you will, to tolerate something like gang activity showing its ugly head in that venue," Ortega said.

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