The eighties brought plant closures, countywide water concerns (including water pollution from the old Firestone plant), and an earthquake, but the residents in this town of 80,479, with 49.52% non - white and 39.68% of that portion Mexican American, showed a determination to succeed despite adverse events.

In the early eighties, Salinas suffered closure of major industrial plants: Firestone (1,800 jobs) closed in 1980; Spreckels Sugar, an area mainstay since just before the turn of the century, (400 jobs) closed in 1981; and Peter Paul (165 jobs) closed in 1981.

At closure the Firestone manufacturing plant occupied 43 of its 256 acres located at 340 El Camino Real South, an area that is now an industrial park surrounded by agricultural land. During Firestone’s stay south of Salinas, chlorinated solvents and other chemicals were released into the soil and groundwater from its site.

With oversight of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Firestone conducted interim cleanup measures. Nonetheless in February 1987, based on a scoring process that rates current or potential health impact, the site was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List, making it a Superfund site.

Firestone expanded the existing groundwater cleanup system to address deeper levels of contamination. In June 1992, positive cleanup levels were achieved in all hydrological zones. It was then decided that the remaining contaminant levels did not constitute a significant risk to human health or the environment. It was deleted from the Superfund list April 21, 2005. But it should be mentioned that in 2005 a law firm placed an ad in the Salinas Californian seeking former employees who developed leukemia or non - Hodgkins lymphoma from exposure to rubber solvents containing carcinogens.

Despite the controversies surrounding the cleanup, the Firestone site was purchased in the mid 1980’s by businessmen Carini and John Panattoni who partitioned the sprawling space into 20,000 square feet of storage blocks that were then leased to manufacturers and warehouse interests. In 2003 it was assessed for tax purposes at $21.7 million.

Revitalization and building continued elsewhere in the city. Developers Bruce Pierson and Doug Gustafson bought the deserted thirty - one year old Sears building in the Valley Center to renovate as the Quadrangle. And on the other side of town, the Northridge Shopping Center addition opened featuring guest celebrities.

In May of 1981, the Salinas Californian and Hartnell College sponsored the second annual Chicano Conference. Dr. Armando Navarro, of Californios for Fair Representation, was the keynote speaker. In 1988, Salinas voters adopted district elections of city council members by a thin margin of 103 votes. En couraged by this, 16 Simon Salinas ran for the city council, and became Salinas’ first Mexican - American city council member in 1989.

Another institution serving the disadvantaged was born on April 7, 1982 when Salinas native Robert Smith began serving lunc h to the homeless in Salinas’ Chinatown. He said his life was changed when he read a book about Saint Francis at the John Steinbeck Library.

The Salinas Public Library System continued to serve the community in a productive manner. In 1983, the Salinas Public Library Steinbeck Archives received recognition in The American Studies International Newsletter, along with the collections at Stanford and the Pierpont Morgan Library. People came from around the world to visit the Steinbeck Library Archives, the Library’s Steinbeck Room, the Steinbeck statue on the library lawn, and the library’s Steinbeck Festival. In 1982 the Salinas Californian photographed Debra Winger, who was a star in Cannery Row and in town for the premier of that film, kissing the Steinbeck statue on the library lawn.

In 1984 the Salinas Public Library was one of 27 public libraries in California to receive seed money from the California Literacy Campaign. With the guidance of Maria Roddy it became one of the most successful literacy programs in the state.

The decade closed with the 7.0 magnitude Loma Prieta Earthquake on October 17, 1989. The most serious destruction occurred to the north of Salinas. However, some of Salinas’ oldest buildings downtown sustained serious damage. The 105 year - old Cominos Hotel was among the first to be razed, along with the building housing the Western Bible Store, both on Main Street. Even the John Steinbeck Library closed for a month while cracks in the beams and the floor were repaired. Damage estimates for Salinas reached at least $10 million.