Editor, Manteca Bulletin:

I attended the Manteca City Council meeting Tuesday, Feb. 17. During that meeting some of the issues I had written about in my letter to the Bulletin of Feb. 16 were addressed. At the very end of the meeting Councilwoman Debby Moorhead said she had “never” been on her cell phone during a council meeting that it was an iPad that all members have in order to follow along during the meeting. If that truly is the case then I sincerely apologize and hope she can understand how it could have been misconstrued. Also, at this meeting I must admit she was more attentive than I had seen her in the past when there were public speakers.

Also at the end, Councilman MikeMorowit said to the audience that they did pay attention to speakers and did not come to the meetings with their minds already made up; that they considered what everyone had to say before making their decisions and voting. For me, the jury is still out on that one and here is why. The first issue of the evening was whether or not to approve the developers of The Trails request to build single family dwellings instead of apartments and townhouses. Someone from the audience spoke and told how his adult children had moved here but could not find affordable housing and ended up moving to Sacramento where they could. Then the developer’s representative spoke and while he was still up at the speaker’s podium Councilman Richard Silverman asked him some good questions. He questioned him about why the original proposal (with apartments and townhomes) was good 3 years ago when presented but not now. The developer replied market studies show that there is more of market for the single family units. NOW, here is where it gets good! Silverman asked, “Who did this survey” to make that determination? The developer was speechless for a moment and then started stammering. I forget which one it was, either Mayor Steve DeBrum or Councilman Vince Hernandez, very quickly jumped in and rescued the developer by asking a question totally unrelated. Silverman’s question was never answered. Now for having listened to the speaker from the audience and Silverman there was no hesitation when voting, the “Ayes” quickly spilled out, 4-1, to approve the change. Thank you Mr. Silverman for your due diligence and effort.

As for the fact that Manteca exceeds the state mandate for affordable housing, I would like the City Council to tell me why that outweighs the need. Here we go again, The Family City! What a joke!

Sandra Ahrens

Manteca