The Manteca City Council needs to stop channeling the 2004 romantic comedy “50 First Dates” when it comes to pursuing their self-proclaimed top priority for the last three years — addressing these city’s homeless issue.

“50 First Dates” features Adam Sandler as a man afraid of making a commitment and Drew Barrymore as a woman with anterograde amnesia who seems doomed to keep repeating the same day over and over.

The plot line fits almost perfectly with the City Council’s hunt for a homeless navigation center that goes nowhere and keeps repeating itself.

It is time for the council to lay all the cards on the table.

First of all, don’t leave the heavy political lifting to staff on this one.

There is a reason the City of Manteca has a long list of amenity endeavors on the junk heap — a new library, a new city hall, a new police station, a performing arts center and now an aquatics center and community recreation complex. It’s nothing to do with staff, past or present. It has everything to do with a lack of political will.

The council needs to make some honest broad assessments and then instruct staff to carry them out instead of simply saying here’s the option, look into it further.

It was clear from the start if anyone had simply applied the standard tenant improvement costs for a tilt-up building such as Qualex instead of wished for the best that it would cost between $10 million and $20 million to transform 57,000 square feet into useable space.

The Qualex building’s size is blatantly overkill.

The real reason the Qualex site was preferred is because it was the safest politically.

There is another site actually owned by the city could become politically safer than the Qualex site by doing three things.

The first is requiring robust fencing as in non-cuttable masonry walls that also can create a visual barrier. The second is to require any development plan to make it impossible for homeless to “camp” nearby by making sure sidewalks are no wider than three feet and for on street parking to have strict and enforced limits. The third is to require even before there is an operator secured for a navigation center or whatever it will be, that they must have protocols in place to “police” the nearby area.

The council also needs to come clean and make it clear to everyone that a drop-in homeless shelter per se is in the cards if the city ever wants to be able to enforce the quality of life issues involving homeless that drive most people nuts.

Yes, we need a navigation center but to not say it will include a homeless shelter because you don’t want to tick off voters is like saying you are going to buy a car to drive but it won’t include a motor or wheels.

This is not going to be a cheap proposition. The options the staff placed on the table for tonight’s meeting all carry a minimum price tag of $4 million.

The Qualex site at the $20 million option or the $5.1 million option is certifiably nuts. The South Main Street site is on the expensive side at $6.1 million. Any of the three options, though, are at least 18 months away if the city opted to purchase the former RDA properties as they must secure bureaucratic clearance and state approval.

The idea of the Frito-Lay site is a few chips short of a full bag. As for Wilson Park downtown, the City Council going for that one would be akin to declaring war on downtown and dropping an atomic bomb as the opening move.

That brings us to the solid waste storage yard.

First of all, a homeless center decision can’t be made in a vacuum.

The city at one point looked at this area for parking for rail commuters of which 1,500 are expected to board in downtown Manteca when Altamont Corridor Express service starts in 2023 with many of those driving to the station.

Tonight the City Council is meeting in closed session to discuss potentially buying additional property adjacent to the transit station on the north side of the tracks along Moffat and extending the existing parking lot.

The streets division that is also on the north side of Wetmore Street where the solid waste storage yard is will eventually need to expand.

That is why moving it across the street where there are underground fuel tanks makes sense once the solid waste operation yard and office is moved to the wastewater treatment plant.

And unless this council is not going to follow through on a solid plan for reduced costs and improved efficiency, the solid waste division will be relocated to the wastewater treatment plant. The city has spent close to $20 million to set the stage for such a move with the food waste to fuel conversion facility and all of the other attendant wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

Eventually the entire solid waste fleet will be powered by liquefied compressed gas. Trucks require slow refueling overnight. That means all solid waste trucks will be at the wastewater treatment plant. Not to move the office, bins, and such is sheer lunacy which unfortunately at times appears to be the unofficial city motto.

Relocating the solid waste operation to the wastewater treatment plant has to be done and will be covered by solid waste users. The streets division can then be moved across the street providing for expansion space, when needed, for the city’s homeless effort.  

The city can spend $4 million — the low ball cost to get a site prepped, secured with the right fencing, and a Sprung Structure up and running — and have it in place before the end of 2021 by using the solid waste storage yard along the tracks.

It should be noted that the current fencing in place can suffice for a short period, but for the city to really “do it right” so nothing sticks out like a sore thumb or there are security issues it needs to be replaced with masonry walls.

The Manteca City Council needs to lead and not be led around by the nose not because staff is Machiavellian but because it is political expedient for elected leaders to be as wishy washy as possible.

Whether anyone likes it or not Councilman Dave Breitenbucher is absolutely right that the best location is Wetmore Street.

And unless someone on the council can write a check for an extra $1 million to $3 million from leftover campaign funds, the city should not buy the Qualex site and likely stay away from South Main as well.

It should be noted at various times council members Gary Singh and Jose Nuño as well as former councilwoman Debby Moorhead zeroed in on Wetmore Street but were discouraged  from staff from doing so due to considerations for future ACE parking on the north side and a future home for the streets division on the south side.

The opinions are of Editor Dennis Wyatt and not necessarily the Bulletin or 209 Multimedia.