Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

The City Council is moving forward on developing distribution centers in Manteca. They stated that they had ample water for these behemoth buildings.

I was in attendance when an engineer proclaimed that he could only guarantee water for residents for the next 20 years. At the time, these huge buildings were not considered. If you factor in these new buildings, coupled with the thousands of homes considered, that is reducing the time of the engineering water estimate.

 This council is willing to jeopardize our water supply to gain large warehouses we don’t need. They use employment as justification for installing these behemoths. How many residents have driven by the existing ones on Spreckels Park and seen buildings up for lease and empty? How does that fact support the claim of hiring a large amount of workers?

 The council and city tell us they have enough water to facilitate these new buildings, while residents are compelled to alternate their lawn watering to save water. Then we are penalized if we exceed our monthly allotment. This is unfair to ratepayers, while these water-guzzling buildings are considered.

This council without a doubt is the most inconsiderate group I have ever encountered. Forcing us to conserve water for future generations is baloney.

How much of our tax dollars in discount land incentives will be spent to entice developers to build these behemoths? How much has the city spent on consultants to develop this project? What did the environmental study cost us?

This council isn’t interested in anything but a tax base for their excessive spending. Employment concerns, you can forget that claim.

 We need a leadership that looks at the overall needs of this city, not the needs of developers and consultants who finance incumbents’ reelection to the council. There is one important upgrade to this city we need to vote for - replacing this council.

Editor’s note: Developers pay for environmental studies. The city selects the consultant to do the work and the developer pays the money before the work is done.