Manteca Police Chief Nick Obligacion emailed a note — with photos attached — showing the burned out two-story Sycamore Arms single occupancy rooms apartment complex in Downtown Manteca with the plywood placed over doors and windows painted to match the color of the building required by city rules.
Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell accurately reported that the plywood wasn’t painted — and photographer Hime Romero shot pictures showing that to be the case — this past Friday while doing a series on The Good, The Bad & The Ugly in Downtown Manteca.
Since then — as the photos the chief forwarded indicate — the plywood has been painted over. The police chief said that was in response to a complaint code enforcement received about the property maintenance violation regarding the plywood put up after the Nov. 10, 2015 fire.
In the same email the chief included photos of the former circulation office — an old home the Bulletin owns on the northeast corner of Yosemite Avenue and Fremont Avenue —that also showed plywood boarded over windows and doors that weren’t painted to match the building.
Bulletin Publisher Hank VanderVeen said Wednesday that the plywood will be painted as soon as possible.
The plywood went up last month after homeless individuals succeeded in kicking out previous plywood that had been in place and painted to match the building. One older plywood panel painted to match the house’s exterior color is still over the front window.
Last year the Bulletin allowed the Manteca Fire Department — at no cost — to use the home for fire rescue training.
The homeless in recent years have broken out windows, kicked in doors and even punched through plywood to access the building. At one point they were breaking into the crawl space under the house.
The homeless is an ongoing problem in this end of downtown as well. They have slept at night on the porch of the house as well as in front of the door of the Bulletin’s main office. They have also slept in dumpsters and in vehicles in the parking lot of the adjacent property.

Three new Boys
& Girls board of
directors members

Denise Buske, Toni Lundgren, and Cathy Bentley are the newest members on the Manteca-Lathrop Boys & Girls Club board.
Buske is the vice principal at Lathrop Elementary School and has taught there as well as at Veritas School.
Lundgren is Deputy Director of the Manteca Parks and Recreation Department.
Cathy Bentley of Ripon serves with the Central Valley Autism Program.