Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu has a point.

Soon you won’t be able to see many of the “decorative” paver downtown crosswalks because of the grim.

Cantu asked at last week’s City Council meeting if the city could get around to perhaps power washing the crosswalk pavers — as well as sidewalks — before they turn completely black.

He wondered out loud whether they had ever been cleaned since they were installed over 16 years ago as part of the nearly $3 million streetscape downtown beautification project. Then answer is they have not.

Perhaps Cantu will have better luck than previous council members that brought up the very same issue three years ago.

At the time they were told that they had never been power washed but that it wasn’t a good time to do so considering California was still in a drought.

Staff indicated then that they would add it to the “to due list” but noted it would be problematic given a power washer needed a water supply and a power supply plus it would disrupt traffic.

Someone might also want to ask why some of the pavers that have been broken in sidewalks along Yosemite Avenue at Sycamore were repaired with concrete and asphalt instead of replacement pavers. It doesn’t look classy and it is counter to one of the original selling points of the pavers that they could easily be replaced when needed.

Of course the other selling point was they would make downtown less dingy. Perhaps the consultant should have schooled the city in ongoing maintenance and cleaning.

Given the city just dumped $1 million into the downtown by upgrading parking lots and alleys, they might want to make the pavers sparkle at least every 15 years or so.

No parking limits

for North Maple

The City Council last week also opted not to proceed with imposing time limits in the 100 block of North Maple Avenue.

As staff pointed out, to make time limits effective it would require enforcement which doesn’t come cheap. And a possible private sector solution where state-of-the-art meters where fees can be paid electronically and the enforcement is done by contract requires a minimum of 200 meters before any firm would consider such a venture.

The issue came up due to the tendency of some second floor apartment residents to park all day on the street instead of in parking lots reducing spaces available in front of businesses for customers.

Speaking of parking limits city crews in the past year or so have taken out the dozen or so “mystery poles” that had lined Yosemite Avenue and some side streets. They had been left in place after the city eliminated parking limits in 1993 just in case the council ever wanted parking hours again.

The sign-less poles — that were about four feet high — didn’t look too sharp plus they were a bit of a hazard.

School zone in works

for Moffat Boulevard

Manteca is working on creating a school zone on Moffat Boulevard by Manteca High.

Councilman Gary Singh had asked for an update at Tuesday’s meeting regarding community requests for the city to address safety issues. Public works staff indicated wok is now underway on a design for improvements.

If it is classified as a school zone, perhaps a 25 mph speed limit “when children are present” might be imposed given the current 40 mph zone is a tad daunting when there is school-related traffic.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com