Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

The recent article in the Manteca Bulletin about Ben Cantu saving the water tower on Wetmore Street should be given serious consideration by city staff and our City Council. It was incompetent leadership in March of 1965 that could have and should have saved the old Southern Pacific train station. It was such a historical landmark.

Once again incompetent leadership prevailed in the demolition of the old bell tower at Manteca High School in October of 1969. City staff and Manteca Unified School District, the recipient of thousands of our tax dollars, showed little or no concern regarding the bell tower at MHS. Another landmark lost. This was something that could have been saved. We all should quit paying taxes to MUSD. A recent statement by Councilman Harris noted, “paint(ing) a large pumpkin on the water tower was a good idea, since Manteca grows 70 percent of pumpkins in our state”.  Mark Houghton, the brains of our good ole public works department, says the tower is unsafe. A fine thing he should say something that is unsafe, he should be more concerned about the safety of some of these streets and sidewalks around town, than an unsafe water tower. I find it hard to believe that it would cost $2 million dollars to retrofit an empty water tower as stated by the structural engineering firm Showerman and Hawn and Stone. No doubt they got a fat check for their effort. Mayor Weatherford is concerned and worried about the taxpayers. No need to worry Mr. Mayor, the tax payers are always getting stung for something.

A letter in Saturday’s Bulletin (March 17, 2012) by Linda Silverman, expressing her concern of the water tower and her taxes being spent on painting it orange is her opinion which we all have. The issue of city funds by Linda Silverman concerning the money being generated by another tower would be nothing that will be generated by the new Great Wolf Resort that is on the not too far future for our fair city. Once this Great Wolf Resort is up and running the city will be drowning in money, a new bank vault would have to be built to store all this money that the city will be hauling in. Scratch the tax issue,  Linda, we all pay our fair share. The mayor is concerned about the taxpayers; strange that this was not an issue when city staff and our council were lobbying for a Measure M tax. This is the last landmark left in our fair city. Let’s save this historical part of our city.

Save the water tower, Mr. Mayor.

Fred Millner
Manteca
March 19, 2012