Downtown Manteca’s future is not much clearer today than it was 14 years ago when the Vision 2020 Task Force rolled out an ambitious 25-point plan to pump new life into the city’s heart.

An $18.5 million plan was fashioned by the Amphion Design consulting firm that the city hired for $160,000 to try and implement the task force’s recommendations. Less than a fifth of the original goals have been implemented with eight years left on a timetable that coincided with the dawn of the year 2020.

Why that’s the case depends upon who is talking. City leaders over the years have pointed to a lack of funding, no financial support from downtown concerns, uncooperative or disinterested property owners in downtown, and squabbling among merchants.

Some business owners blame the city for what they believe is an attempt to force feed a solution on the private sector, lack of municipal financial support, and the city’s alleged obsession with attracting new retail on the four corners of Manteca.

Whatever the reason is debatable. What isn’t debatable is the fact the city has - or is about to invest - more than $9 million to accomplish three of the 25 goals although detractors contend they were the wrong investments to make

They are:

•The Tidewater-style light standards, traffic signals and streetscape along with street trees.

•Expansion of Library into a downtown gathering place.

•The construction of a transit station that will start this year complete with community rooms and an outdoor plaza designed for events.

•Financial support of the mural effort by providing loans that can be forgiven to property owners that allowed walls to be prepared for painting the large scale art work.

The city also undertook two other recommendations that had a big impact on downtown:

•The city lifted parking requirements for businesses that wanted to locate in an existing storefront that wasn’t a continuation of the type of commerce conducted historically.

•Manteca aggressively went after second floor housing bring it up to code and reduce criminal activity.

Lifting the parking requirement had an immediate impact. It allowed the conversion of the shuttered Manteca Mortuary into a spa and allowed several downtown business owners to secure bank loans to buy their buildings. Prior to the change, the spa would have had to have provided off street parking. Banks were skittish of making real estate loans on commercial property where the use was essentially restricted to what had historically been taking place unless off-street parking was added.

The effort to clean up the second floor housing substantially reduced a long list of problems downtown including public drunkenness, public urination in the wee hours of the morning, needles and such being left about in Library Park and elsewhere, broken beer bottles, damage to buildings, and other criminal activity.

The private sector also has made a number of investments downtown over the past 14 years:

•The major remodeling and addition to the brick building at Lincoln Avenue and Yosemite Avenue that houses the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Ironhorse Deli, and a uniform and consignment shop.

•Owner upgrades of various commercial buildings in the 100 block of West Yosemite Avenue, in the 100 block of North Maple Avenue, 100 and 200 blocks of East Yosemite Avenue in the 200 block of North Main.

•Eleven downtown murals.

•A new shopping plaza at North and North Main streets.

•Upgrades of the two FESM Halls.

•The conversion of the burned out shell of the El Rey Theater into a restaurant and brewery that closed at the end of January.

•Renovation of second floor efficiency apartments known as the Sycamore Arms.

A new group known as the Downtown Business Alliance is trying to pick up where the last city effort left off.

The transition of downtown Manteca from a traditional shopping district into a destination featuring entertainment spots, dining, specialty shops and professional services is the key premise of the Vision 2020 report.

The follow-up Amphion report addressed 25 blocks and covered portions of Yosemite, Lincoln, Center, Mikesell, Moffat, Elm, Poplar, Manteca, Sycamore, Maple, Main and Grant.

The Vision 2020 Task Force Report issued in August of 1998 established an “ideal vision” for downtown Manteca that consisted of:

•creating a destination for families to walk and eat, to be entertained and to shop for specialty items and receive the specialized service that is not likely to be found in shopping malls.

•planning year-round activities to add to the attraction of going downtown.

•creating an authentic downtown that would earn a reputation as an attractive destination for visitors passing through or from nearby cities.

•funding the initial phases of expanding parking so there are ultimately 1,751 spaces in downtown surface lots and parking structures by 2020.

•streetscape and landscaping improvements with lightning and furniture to continue those already installed along the Tidewater Bikeway as well as along Main Street and Yosemite Avenue.

• signage improvements and establishing “gateway” signs that clearly identify that you are in downtown Manteca.

•buying property from willing sellers.

•conducting code enforcement involving substandard residential units.

•improving alleys by implementing trash pick-up and weed control programs.

•developing rush hour traffic diversion to improve flow through downtown so it can enhance the central district as a pedestrian haven.

•expanding Library Park and closing Poplar Avenue.

•building a performing arts center.

•promotion of the mural program.

•recruiting key tenants for existing vacant structures.

•encourage purchase of downtown buildings by tenants.

•relocating George Perry & Sons truck scales.

•consolidating parcels to allow for a larger private sector investment.

•realigning Moffat Boulevard.

•expanding the library.

•alley improvements designed to make them pedestrian friendly, upgrading surface parking lots and starting construction of parking structures.

• Oak Street traffic improvements.

•either relocate the Civic Center or encourage a retail development on a large parcel area that would be created with the closure of Grant Avenue south of Otis Street and Mikesell Avenue west of Lincoln Avenue.

•build a transit center along Moffat.

•developing residential portions of the plan.

•locating “back office” operations along Oak Street.

•develop a hotel/meeting facility.

•develop a major retail center on South Maple Avenue where the city currently has a large parking area adjacent to the Tidewater Bikeway and behind businesses on West Yosemite Avenue.

•establish pedestrian malls as well as access from the rear of stores along existing alleys.

•creating a downtown focal point such as a clock or a fountain.

•having future downtown parking structures include commercial space on the street level.

•adopt policies that encourage outdoor dining to the rear and front of restaurants.