Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
 The Manteca Bulletin outlined projects that the city is supposed to put out for bids or has accepted the bids already on or will call for them at their next regular meeting.

I question one project that will add a permanent annual cost to the city, at a time when yet another deficit is looming on the horizon. The project is interchange landscaping and median dividers at Highway 99 and Yosemite Avenue.

Mayor Willie Weatherford wants to install trees and landscape that the Bulletin said would add an annual cost to us of over $50,000 per year to maintain. I suggested in the pastthat they install a welcome sign such as the one at Spreckels Park. It seems as though the council bought into that idea. I also suggested this area should be landscaped with cobblestone to make it maintenance free. Trees don’t do well in smog areas and shrubbery just collects trash from the streets. Also sprinklers add a slick hazard to streets that could result in slick spots that would pose a safety issue.

The mayor and council in my opinion are really not serious in their quest to save money. This is Willie’s project and what he wants the council makes sure that he gets it. No cost consideration, he just raps his gavel and gets it approved. What the heck, it’s only tax money. If the council is serious about saving money, they have a strange way of showing it. Talk is cheap and actions speak.