East Salinas business district’s plan to reinvent itself.

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Back at City Hall, SUBA Executive Director Victor Mehia tells the group to look at four pieces of construction paper taped to the wall. On them, concepts like teen center, nightlife, farmers market, and tourism are written messily.

“What you are seeing now is the creating of the vision of the new Alisal of Salinas,” Mehia says.

He then brings up a picture of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Shot from the bottom of the dome, the image shows hikers climbing the steep face using cables. “The ascent begins,” he says.

Transforming the SUBA district into a safe and business friendly area will indeed be a long climb. SUBA now has an annual budget of about $150,000. Moreover, East Salinas was poorly planned and the city is still making improvements such as installing streetlights to bring it up to city standards.

As the group gets ready to adjourn, however, they get some surprising inspiration. Rev. Manuel Dorado of Templo Rosa de Saron walks in wearing a dark suit. Dorado just returned from Buenos Aires, where he attended an international conference on marketplace transformation. “It can happen in Salinas,” Dorado says. “I believe Salinas can become a pattern city for the rest of California.”