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The gauntlet has been thrown down – again.
A core group of downtown merchants led by Brenda Franklin of Tipton’s is again demanding that the landscape bulbs be ripped out and shorten the medians on North Main Street.
Franklin, who is part of the group forming the Manteca Business Association, told the City Council Tuesday night that the new organization is making that a major rallying point. She also wanted $24,000 the city saved by pulling the plug on exploring the feasibility of forming a Property-Based Business Improvement District for the downtown area to go toward a yet to be determined project endorsed by the new group.
The council Tuesday officially stopped the PBID exploration, cancelled the contract with the consultant after spending $16,379, and ended the rest of the $40,420 deal.
Franklin used the opportunity to chide the council for increasing air pollution by forcing trucks making deliveries to her business to go several blocks out of their way instead of being able to simply turn left from northbound Main Street into the alley behind Tipton’s. She also mocked the city’s landscaping efforts in several of the North Main Street bulbs noting they’re called “drought-resistant” but she called them “dead.”
Franklin said shortening the median would allow traffic to cross Main Street from alley-to-alley.
She took the city to task for spending $3.1 million in downtown improvements that included the Tidewater-style street lights, landscaping, benches, pavers and other improvements saying they should have repaired cracks in the alley first.
Councilwoman Debby Moorhead concurred with Franklin on the bulbs saying she wanted to see them taken out.
The idea of the bulbs on Main Street first came up in 2003 and were put in place in early 2005 after extensive meetings and conversations with downtown merchants and business owners although Franklin was against them from the start.
Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford — along with former Councilman Jack Snyder — voted against the bulbs over six years ago.
Weatherford Tuesday after the meeting noted he did not expect the bulbs to come out anytime soon if ever. Staff last year estimated removing the bulbs and restoring the streets could easily exceed $200,000.
The mayor has long believed the entire central district including traffic patterns that go east and west as well need to be taken into account and an overall plan be developed and be put in place and not continue to take a piecemeal approach whether it is adding or taking out bulbs.
Weatherford contends the ultimate solution requires making Yosemite Avenue a one-way street heading east and Center Street a one-way street heading west.
A core group of downtown merchants led by Brenda Franklin of Tipton’s is again demanding that the landscape bulbs be ripped out and shorten the medians on North Main Street.
Franklin, who is part of the group forming the Manteca Business Association, told the City Council Tuesday night that the new organization is making that a major rallying point. She also wanted $24,000 the city saved by pulling the plug on exploring the feasibility of forming a Property-Based Business Improvement District for the downtown area to go toward a yet to be determined project endorsed by the new group.
The council Tuesday officially stopped the PBID exploration, cancelled the contract with the consultant after spending $16,379, and ended the rest of the $40,420 deal.
Franklin used the opportunity to chide the council for increasing air pollution by forcing trucks making deliveries to her business to go several blocks out of their way instead of being able to simply turn left from northbound Main Street into the alley behind Tipton’s. She also mocked the city’s landscaping efforts in several of the North Main Street bulbs noting they’re called “drought-resistant” but she called them “dead.”
Franklin said shortening the median would allow traffic to cross Main Street from alley-to-alley.
She took the city to task for spending $3.1 million in downtown improvements that included the Tidewater-style street lights, landscaping, benches, pavers and other improvements saying they should have repaired cracks in the alley first.
Councilwoman Debby Moorhead concurred with Franklin on the bulbs saying she wanted to see them taken out.
The idea of the bulbs on Main Street first came up in 2003 and were put in place in early 2005 after extensive meetings and conversations with downtown merchants and business owners although Franklin was against them from the start.
Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford — along with former Councilman Jack Snyder — voted against the bulbs over six years ago.
Weatherford Tuesday after the meeting noted he did not expect the bulbs to come out anytime soon if ever. Staff last year estimated removing the bulbs and restoring the streets could easily exceed $200,000.
The mayor has long believed the entire central district including traffic patterns that go east and west as well need to be taken into account and an overall plan be developed and be put in place and not continue to take a piecemeal approach whether it is adding or taking out bulbs.
Weatherford contends the ultimate solution requires making Yosemite Avenue a one-way street heading east and Center Street a one-way street heading west.
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