San Benito Foods has some residents up in arms and others simply
shrugging their shoulders in acceptance.
The cannery, located at 711 Sally St., has been around for so
long many of Hollister’s residents are oblivious to the odious
sound and steam belching from its cylindrical shoots.
For others, however, it’s more than a constant irritation, it’s
downright offensive.
San Benito Foods has some residents up in arms and others simply shrugging their shoulders in acceptance.
The cannery, located at 711 Sally St., has been around for so long many of Hollister’s residents are oblivious to the odious sound and steam belching from its cylindrical shoots.
For others, however, it’s more than a constant irritation, it’s downright offensive.
“It’s awful,” said Kathleen Keen, who’s lived in her home on Sally Street, about two blocks from the cannery, for almost 20 years. “We can’t sleep, it stinks, the flies come around no matter what we do and it’s louder this year than it’s ever been.”
Although Keen concedes that the cannery employs a lot of people, she would like to see it relocated somewhere less obtrusive to downtown residents.
“I don’t want to see people out of work,” Keen said, “but I would love to see it moved.”
At night, when the town is quieter, the sound travels much farther than the Keen’s bedroom, she said.
“I have a friend who lives behind Target who can hear it at night,” Keen said.
For resident Jeannine Leyva, who lives farther down Sally Street (closer to Park Street) the cannery is less noticeable, except at night, she said.
“When the weather is hot and we have the windows open, it is annoying and hard to sleep,” she said. “But you just get used to it.”
Besides the cannery’s unattractive characteristics, Monica Sims, a resident on Sally Street, finds the parking situation much more unbearable.
“The parking is absolutely the worst,” Sims said. “There’s no system for employee parking and sometimes they park in front of our house and block our driveways.”
Sims, as well as many other residents living around the cannery, place chairs in the spaces in front of their house to discourage cannery employees from parking there.
Sims and her family are moving soon and the cannery played a part in their decision, she said.
“It’s one reason we want to move,” she said. “In the middle of summer it’s the worst – we can’t invite people over because it’s so loud, the smell’s bad and there’s nowhere for them to park.”
There’s nothing that can be done about the smell and sound, but management can alleviate everyone’s parking woes with a lot exclusively for employees, she said.
“It’s not (the worker’s) fault,” she said. “To fix the problem they need to give the workers a parking lot of their own.”
Not everyone who lives around the cannery is bothered by it.
Jose Macias, who has lived directly across from the cannery on East Street for 35 years, tolerates the sound because the cannery employs so many people.
Before he had new windows put in, the noise disturbed him, especially at night. But now it’s not a problem, he said.
“At night if it bothers me I keep the windows closed,” Macias said. “And it’s good for the community because it gives so many people jobs.”
Owners and employees of businesses around the cannery commend it for its monetary value to the community.
Blas Careenas, an employee of the Agua Azul bar on East Street, said the cannery brings clientele into the bar, boosting its business.
“Some workers visit the bar,” he said. “At nighttime it’s loud, but it doesn’t bother the customers.”
If the cannery wasn’t in town a lot of people would be out of work, Careenas said. “It’s good for the community and the county because it brings in a lot of money.”
Lynn Lake, owner of Lynn’s Liquors on Hawkins Street, has never been an opponent of the cannery, she said.
“Workers buy a lot of stuff all day long and I can’t say (the noise) bothers me at all,” Lake said.
A San Benito Street shop owner, who preferred to remain anonymous, also acknowledged that it’s a great job for many people, but chided it for its abhorrent aesthetic qualities.
“It’s an eyesore. You don’t want a cannery right in the middle of town,” she said. “Hollister’s folksy, and the cannery is not.”
