The crackdown last month of the homeless trying to camp overnight in and around Library Park - including the roof of the library - simply prompted some to head a mile and a half east to Spreckels Historical Plaza.

Joining them was part of Manteca’s “day-time homeless crowd”  - those who sleep for the night on a friend’s couch or garage but have no place to go during the day.

At one point, a dozen homeless had taken over the plaza plus there were at least three homeless camping overnight.

That changed fairly quickly.

Unlike Library Park, the Spreckels Historical Plaza is not public property. It was built at a cost of $300,000 by AKF Development and is maintained as part of the private Spreckels Park Landscape Maintenance District that is also responsible for the bike path landscaping along Spreckels Avenue as well as other common landscaping in the retail and industrial portion of the 362-acre multi-use project.

Manteca Police were able to chase off the homeless after the property was posted by AKF Development.

Bill Filios, a partner with AKF Development, said he appreciates the effort of the police.

“It isn’t good if you get that element here on a permanent basis,” Filios said. “It’s tough enough as it is to attract business.”

The location is particularly high-profile location along the four-lane Spreckels Avenue that serves as the gateway to the business park.

Nearly 10 years ago the homeless became an issue when Manteca was working to attract businesses to locate into Spreckels Park.

One Bay Area firm that brokers were trying to convince to consider Manteca and specifically Spreckels Park as a place to relocate part of their operation to wasn’t high on the valley to begin with. They agreed, though to take a look at the new Spreckels Park project while one of their executives was taking his family on a ski excursion to Bear Valley.

As they came off the freeway, the family was panhandling at the traffic light at the end of the ramp. They then saw the aging Big Boy Market property as well as taco trucks in the parking lot of what was then the new Shell station between Commerce Drive and Spreckels Avenue.

The executive - when contacted the next week - said his firm would never consider locating in a community that allowed such activities to openly occur even in new areas of the city.

It was one of the incidents that hoped prompted city leaders to adopt the original ordinance aimed at stopping aggressive panhandling.