If you like Mexican cuisine there’s another Manteca dining option on the way.
Taqueria La Rancherita is preparing to open in the near future at the former location of Chubby’s Restaurant next door to the Waffle Café and across from Burger King on North Main Street.
Also working toward an opening is Fortuna Taqueria that’s preparing to open on  West Yosemite Avenue at Jessie Avenue just over a block from the railroad tracks and two blocks from where another Mexican dining spot opened this month in the former Athen’s Burger location.
The new Mexican dining options are in addition to at least three more restaurants planning to break ground this year. That includes Chick-Fil-A that will build on the northeast corner of Northwoods Avenue and East Yosemite Avenue after the Super Buffet Chinese restaurant is demolished, Habit Burger is building near Panera Bread on East Yosemite Avenue, and a yet-to-be-named fast food restaurant being built in a  complex that includes an ARCO AM/PM gas station-convenience store as well as a car wash at Crestwood avenue and Lathrop Road.

Panhandling in
median along
East Yosemite
No you are not seeing double. There were two panhandlers at mid-afternoon working the median on East Yosemite Avenue on opposite sides of the Highway 99 interchange.
Panhandling is illegal at such locations given both intersections are controlled by traffic signals. A call to Manteca Police Department’s non-emergency number at (209) 456-8100 will allow dispatch to  make patrol officers aware of the situation.
It was rare to see panhandlers in medians at that location although in recent months there have been a number popping up begging for money including at one point Robert Schuknecht. He was one of three homeless individuals who sued the City of Manteca in federal court essentially for not providing them shelter and enforcing ordinances that allegedly violated their constitutional rights.
The city settled out of court providing Schuknecht, his two fellow plaintiffs, and their lawyers with $47,000.
The 2016 settlement also included:
uThe city expunged pending citations and/or charges regarding the three municipal code sections targeted in the suit.
uThe city put in place a community resource officer to help direct homeless to services and deal with homeless issues as well as agreeing to conduct future homeless summit and seek opportunities to apply for state and federal affordable housing and homeless grants.
The city incurred $30,000 in legal expenses dealing with the lawsuit.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com