The Rose Motel is no more. The Moffat Boulevard standard for decades has a new name: Inn by the Station. It’s a nod to the fact the motel is located across the street from the City of Manteca’s new $8.3 million Manteca Transit Center.

Other tidbits about the transit center that was dedicated on Tuesday with more than 200 in attendance:

The acoustics in the transit center’s community room do a fairly effective job of suppressing the noise of a freight train as it rumbles by. … Theft issues have prompted the city to put in place a protocol for those who want to plug in their electric vehicles at Manteca’s first public electric vehicle charging stations that are located at the transit station. The day they were installed several weeks ago thieves made off with the rubber arms. They tossed them aside later when they realized there wasn’t much recycling value to them. … Speaking of theft inspired by recycling, the designers of the station made sure to make stealing copper wire et al would be nearly impossible. They have covered access to light standard wires with concrete just as the city has done elsewhere. Thieves won’t even be able to steal electricity either from the numerous power outlets in the front plaza as well as near the bus stops. That’s because juice won’t flow to the outlets unless they are turned on from inside the building.

Councilman Vince Hernandez gets credit for forward thinking. He was the one that insisted electrical charging stations for vehicles be included in the transit center. …

Before it was a downtown focal point, the corner of Moffat and Main Street, where the transit station now stands, was home to the Union Ice Co. It is also where — as Mayor Willie Weatherford pointed out during dedication ceremonies Tuesday — the biggest mud puddles could be found in Manteca going back about 40 years. That’s because the corner was used for parking by trucks that were hauling sugar beets to Spreckels Sugar.

Among the historical photos gracing the hallway of the transit center is one of the old Southern Pacific Railroad station that once stood on the edge of what is today’s Library Park. … The site where the transit center ended up being built was actually the second preferred option. The first was the old Diamond National Lumber site directly across the street where Don’s Mobile Glass is now located. A county transportation official 15 years ago advised the city not to make a big rush to buy the land as there were contamination problems that he predicted could bring the price down even further. The owner of Don’s Mobile Glass, though, did his due diligence, determined there wasn’t that big of an issue from leakage from oil drums over the years and bought the property for virtually a song leaving Manteca leaders at the time a bit stunned. The clean-up cost around $20,000 making it arguably one of the sweetest real estate transactions downtown. … By the way, if anyone remembers how drab the old faded yellow lumber company building looked, Don’s Mobile Glass was definitely a move uptown. It just goes to show what the right paint and architectural treatment can do to even a metal building.

Transit center architect Eric Wohle noted the bricks were selected to complement as closely as possible the almost century-old brick building across the way where Ed’s Garage was once located. Today it houses Traveler’s Garage. ... Wohle, an East Union High graduate, also was responsible for the design of the nearby animal shelter and municipal vehicle maintenance facility as well as the rehab of the HOPE Family Shelter.

Somebody’s watching you: Arguably the most secure building in Manteca in terms of video surveillance will be the transit center. When the installation is done, there will be 34 surveillance cameras in place. They are connected to the fiber optic system at the municipal corporation yard just across the tracks. Eventually, the city hopes to extend the fiber optics backbone to allow cameras to be installed at bus stops as well as select city parks.


This column is the opinion of executive editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209-249-3519.