The $1.3 million makeover of the American Legion Post Hall in the 200 block of East Yosemite was the demise of one of two downtown Manteca mini plazas.

The plaza’s design was tied into a mural of Yosemite Valley that graces the west facing wall of the former PG&E office next door to the hall.

Stamped concrete was colored to create a sense of the Merced River flowing out of the mural and into the front of the Legion Hall.

Rocks were then added including an $8,000 plus beauty that was supposed to double as a natural bench for seating.

The idea was to give people a place to linger and enjoy downtown.

It never quite caught on.

The mini-plaza in the 100 block of Maple Avenue had a somewhat better acceptance as a place to sit a spell likely because it had a real bench to sit on as well as a water feature that now has water streaming down its sides only when it rains.

The mini-plazas were part of the implementation of the much ballyhooed Manteca Vision 2020 effort.

The goal, as established by city leaders in 1998, was to create and then implement a citywide vision for Manteca in the year 2020 for everything from the downtown, the economy, and community amenities to what new neighborhoods should look like.

A 25-member citizen task force was formed. From there the city hired a consultant.

Then in 2002 the city spent more than $3 million on the downtown streetscape vision of the plan that included the mini-plazas and turn of the 20th century street lights with traffic signals complementing them.

The plaza on East Yosemite had a $30,000 price tag.

As far as downtown projects such as the bulb outs on Main Street that came of Vision 2020 and ended up being duds, it was the cheapest.

Topping the list was the interactive water play featured

 that incorporated area history, culture, geography, and the railroad into its design.

It was $350,000 centerpiece of a $1.1 million Library Park expansion and upgrade aimed at creating a downtown gathering based on the adopted Vision 2020 game plan.

The council, at the time, cut out a nearly $90,000 water recycling component to save money.

Because they did, subsequent changes in state law to deal with ongoing off and on drought conditions required such water features to recycle water.

That requires water treatment.

An estimate the city got four years ago to retrofit the water feature to make it comply with state law carried a $400,000 price tag.

Monday’s fire is a

Serious reminder

There is a conceit that multiple home loses can’t happen in a fire in Manteca because we are not in an identified high risk fire zone.

But get the right conditions — heavy winds and  low humidity — and things can get out of control quick.

And while the cause of Monday’s Willow Avenue that destroyed two homes has not been determined, the presence of weeds and dry landscaping in the past has combined to cause the loss of multiple homes in the area.

The worst was in 2019 when dry grass along Interstate 5 ended up burning 36 homes in north Stockton.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com