Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
Mayor Willie Weatherford is running for reelection based on his bringing retail and businesses into Manteca. The mayor hasn’t brought one business into this area that pays above the poverty level. He has spent this city into eight straight deficits. He then brags about past budgets being balanced, but they were balanced by taking bonus bucks. He brags about his achievement in retail, but has failed to mention the sales tax split with the lifestyle mall developer and Costco.

His achievements seem to always have a price tag that is detrimental to our general fund. The mayor is anti-city infrastructure, while he strives to bring more retail into the area. Where is the new library and other infrastructure we need? The council has invested in numerous old buildings and not one of them has been renovated. The building that was bought for the police a few years back isn’t being used for police headquarters. These buildings could make up for the deficit, if they were left in private hands. Recently the council agreed to stretch out the collection of growth fees for business over five to 10 years to entice them into Manteca. He does this, while ordering the city manager to visit the city workers  a second time, for wage concessions to bridge his deficit. This means we have less money for bridging the constant deficits this man and his council has spent us.

His plans is to flood this valley with more homes, while we have seen our homes drop $100,000 below what we paid for them. Most people rely on their equity to help them in retirement. New homes should be considered after we regain the original cost of our homes. New homes are all about bringing more fees in.