Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
In a few months I will turn 70. That’s young for some, old for others depending on one’s perspective. Now the heat really bothers me. A month ago the V.A. did a double bypass on me. I am hoping with that rebuild I will get a few more miles in.
So, today we went to the senior center, where I did some walking inside where it was cool. Driving in, I noticed something that got my eyebrows so high, my nose was on my forehead. We now have a dog park! We have a place to take your dog to do its business. I guess a person’s own yard is not good enough. The homeless can do what they please in the other parks, so now our tax dollars are being spent to pick up dog poop. I wonder if there is a union job classification for that.
The problem with this is that the good people of Manteca have been scaling back their watering of their homes to save water and money. But the city has a nice green plush place for dogs to do their business. Some homes now have no yard or lawn because of the drought and have lower property values because of it — all to help the city save water. The city in turn shows their appreciation by slapping us in the face with a dog pooping park.
So now, we can’t use the parks because of the homeless that make a mess, dogs have a place, but the rest of us have to pay and stay away. Now this brings a bigger question I have for the city, “Is Manteca now a sanctuary city?” because it looks like the city is not for us. What a huge waste of money.
We have a train station that will never have rail passenger traffic. I called the railroad myself several years ago and was informed of that. My shop was on railroad property. Instead we have a place for a clock placed upon a building that is entirely too expensive to use, when the other venues are always busy and this one is mostly left empty. Besides, on Sunday afternoons a train rumbles through Manteca every 20 minutes or so.
Maybe I should get a dog. A big dog. Maybe two of them and let the dogs give the city a little bit of what they give the rest of us because now they can.......free.

Gary J. Duran
Manteca