Manteca Councilman Gary Singh believes a fitting touch to mark Manteca High’s 100th anniversary year that started Tuesday and Sierra High’s 25th year that ends in nine days is to put the two campuses on the map.
Singh, the first Sierra High graduate to serve on the City Council , suggested at the end of Tuesday’s meeting that the city rename a stretch of Garfield Avenue Buffalo Way and rename Thomas Street Timberwolf Way.
As official street names they eventually will be entered into data bases for endeavors such as Google Maps.
Mayor Ben Cantu — who along with Councilman Dave Breitenbucher — is a Manteca High graduate thought it was a great idea. City Manager Miranda said she would have Acting Public Works Director Kim Koosun look into it.
In both cases there are no other concerns — residential or otherwise — with addresses on the street segments that Singh would like to see renamed.
The city has turned over the section of Garfield Avenue that runs from Miksell Street to the student parking lot north of Moffat Boulevard. Not only will it allow the school district to fence off and secure the campus by eliminating a segment of the public street, but it allowed the district proper space for a new big gym. There will be a promenade of sorts on much of the segment with no structures placed on it to provide access to underground municipal utilities.
The section of Garfield that comes off of Moffat would lead to a roundabout for dropping off students and others in front of the new gym that will also be next to the new swimming pool. The existing small gym is being demolished.
The only street sign that would need to be changed is at Moffat and Garfield. City street signs, by chance, happen to be in Manteca High colors — green and white.
Sierra High is the only concern with an address on Thomas Street that runs between Fishback Road and Winters Drive. There are four street signs that would need to be changed.
Sierra High would have to ultimately change its address on various websites and such as well as phase out old letterheads but it is doubtful Timberwolf loyalists would have a problem doing that.
Singh said he is confident that whatever cost the new signs might be that he’ll be able to raise the money for them.
East Union High already has Lancer Way leading into its student parking lot. The sign with that name hangs from an overhead arm of a traffic signal on Union Road at the intersection Lancer Way shares with Sprague Street.
Lathrop several years ago renamed Roth Road west of Interstate 5 as Spartan Way. Lathrop High fronts the street.
Singh has been working with the community to find ways to honor the class of 2020 that has seen the traditional end of the year senior trappings altered significantly due to the pandemic.
One of those efforts are the banners that went up Tuesday at Yosemite Avenue and Main Street on the side of the Flags Over Manteca truck trailer. It includes congratulatory banners as well as a listing of all the graduates at be.tech High, Sierra High, Manteca High, East Union High, and Calla High.
Singh said hopefully seniors will drop by, find their names and have their photos taken in front of the banners.
The truck trailer, courtesy of Mountain Valley Express, is in the parking lot of the Manteca Bedquarters.
Pier 1 will reopen in Manteca
so it can go out of business
When the state, or whoever allows Pier 1 to reopen in Manteca, it will be for a going out of business sale.
Pier 1, the seller of wicker chairs and scented candles, on Tuesday announced it is go out of business and permanently close all 540 of its stores.
The Fort Worth, Texas- based company was unable to find a buyer for its business after filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
It will start going-out-of-business sales as soon as it can reopen stores that have been temporarily shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pier 1 traces to a single store in 1962 that sold beanbag chairs and love beads to hippies in San Mateo. It expanded to offer just about anything for the home, from lounge chairs to curtains, and it later adopted the logo: "From Hippie to Hip." At its height, Pier 1 had more than 1,200 stores.
But in recent years, its sales have fallen as it struggled to compete with online retailers Wayfair and Amazon, which sell sofas and coffee tables at a lower price and deliver them quickly.
JC Penney has announced it plans to close 240 stores after being pushed into bankruptcy by the pandemic. Manteca’s store does not appear to be on the store closure list.
Manteca City Hall opening
to public Monday, June 1
You will be able to pay a municipal utility bill in person once again when Monday, June 1, rolls around.
That’s the tentative reopening date of Manteca’s City Hall to the public. It has been closed to the public since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the initial few days when all except absolutely essential employees were sent home, staff that could not work remotely from home has been reporting to work at the Civic Center while practicing social distancing.
This past Monday all city hall was back on the job with extensive safety protocols in place.
Manteca has returned its city hall staff back to full operations ahead of a number of cities including Stockton and Tracy.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com