School starts Thursday.
And when it does, the four-way stop signs at London Avenue and Northgate Drive will be bordered by flashing red LED lights to make it more visible
Curbs also have been painted red on all four corners.
It is all at the request of a District 4 resident worried about speeding traffic and drivers ignoring the stops signs and crowding crosswalks on the corner of the McParland School campus.
It is an example of how Councilman Mike Morowit has embraced the switch to district representation since his return to the City Council in 2023.
Morowit noted he works with other council members in a bid “to make Manteca better” but he takes pride in being able to make day-to-day life better for those in his district that is all of Manteca north of Louise Avenue with the exception of the Diamond Oaks neighborhood.
“It’s not the Middle East peace talks but these are things that really matter to people whether it is a pot hole, their garbage not being picked up or speed lumps,” said Morowit.
Morowit is seeking his third term in the Nov. 3 election having served previously from 2014 to 2018. He is being challenged by Rogger Guiterrez and Dani Bettencourt.
Morowit makes it a point to be accessible to constituents whether it is during his informal office hours from 8 to 11 a.m. daily while working at his Miner Mart store in Lincoln Center anchored by Hafer’s Furniture on West Yosemite Avenue, by email, by text, or by phone.
“People will stop by and share issues and concerns they have,” Morowit said.
More often than not those interactions lead to touches that Manteca’s engineering staff may not have considered.
Such was the case when the Lathrop Road work was underway three years ago.
A Del Webb resident emailed Morowit saying that her husband — who has vision issues — would benefit from having voice technology for pedestrians crossing at traffic signals so he could continue walking to Raley’s
Even though the project was underway, city staff, after being contacted by Morowit, made modifications that Teichert Construction was able to include in the work that was already underway.
Now new traffic signals throughout Manteca — as well as those that were part of the safety upgrades on North Main Street last year — have the audio crossing safety devices.
It was listening to safety concerns of Del Webb and other residents that prompted Morowit to push for traffic signals on Union Road at the entrance to where ground is breaking in the coming months for a Tractor Supply Store and Dutch Bros as well as on Lathrop Road where the driveway for the new apartment complex aligns with the Raley’s entrance.
There are also additional speed lumps being reviewed to be placed along student walking routes to McParland School.
“People want to be able to walk to get to things and they need to do it safely,” Morowit said.
And in an attempt to make sure all families can safely take advantage of parks, Morowit got the ball rolling on what will be the city’s first sensory playground that will be installed in the next year or so at Northgate Community Park.
He earmarked $80,000 of his district’s COVID relief funds for one tine projects to provide the financial seed money. The rest so coming from park growth fees.
Morowit noted in working with the rest of the council during the past four years Manteca has:
*Added eight new police officer positions.
*Added an entire 24/7 engine company with the hiring of nine more firefighters.
*Gotten to the point the city will be able to break ground this fall on a modern and adequate police station — a deficiency first declared by law enforcement command and civic leadership back in 2002 when the city had 50,000 people and less than half the police force they do now.
*Obtained two replacement fire engines have been put on the street with the city to take delivery of two more fire engines in the coming months.
*Significantly increased street work spending while also backfilling a $2 million annual drop in local state gas tax receipts thanks to Measure Q’s passage.
*Completed major street work on segments of Airport Way, Louise Avenue, North Main, and Lathrop Road in addition to neighborhood-wide projects in the Shasta Park area and east of Highway 99.
*Stepped up contributions developers have made to infrastructure near their projects such as the widening of Austin Road all the way to Yosemite Avenue that is now in its initial stages in addition to paying growth fees.
*Put in place annual assessments on new subdivisions that have been proposed to cover their neighborhood street maintenance without tapping the general fund and to generate additional money ongoing to pay for more frontline police and fire personnel.
*Secured a large share of property taxes from the county when land is annexed to the city.
*Provided support to staff by hiring needed personnel to bring the city’s financials up to par to the point the city finance department has garnered professional recognition for keeping account of municipal money.
*Worked with downtown to develop the first ever business improvement district to enhance the central district after repeated failures over the last 55 years.
Going forward in the next four years Moworit is targeting:
*Development of a new aquatics center.
*Building a community center.
*The initial development of a 60-acre community park in north Manteca.
*Expanding the animal shelter including adding on-site facilities for low-cost spay and neutering.
*Adding amenities to parks such as an amphitheater, new skate park, and sensory playground.
*Continuing to pursue new retail and dining opportunities.
About Morowit
Morowit moved to Manteca from Alameda in 1995 when the opportunity came up to buy Miner Mart from Bob Miner in the Lincoln Center anchored by Hafer’s Furniture on West Yosemite Avenue.
“I had never been to Manteca before that,” Morowit said. “I really didn’t know anything about Manteca.”
But he did know Bob Miner.
The longtime Manteca businessman also owned a butcher shop in the same building in the East Bay where his father owned N&M Liquors.
It was there as a 7 year-old he started working in the store dusting shelves and then when he was old enough he graduated to working the counter and helping customers.
Morowit earned a degree in sociology as a “commuter student” to the University of California at Berkeley.
He worked in a drug store and was a juvenile probation officer and then a community service officer with the City of Alameda.
When his father had to have open surgery and his mother needed to take of him during his recovery, Morowit ran his father’s liquor store in Hayward.
He was a salesman for a company that supplied stores with food items and things such as candy when his dad called to advise him of the opportunity to own his own store in Manteca.
Prior to being elected to the City Council in 2014, Morowit served as a Manteca Planning Commissioner and on the Measure Public Safety Tax Oversight Committee.
He is also active in a number of service clubs and associations including the Manteca Rotary.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
