Want to make it tough to be homeless in Manteca without running afoul of anyone’s rights?
Then it’s time to start making  Manteca homeless proof.
The anti-camping ordinance on public property is a start but obviously the civil rights crowd has such ordinances in their eyesight. They are essentially relying on logic. It’s not against the law to be homeless. The homeless have no property they own or rent so therefore they have to sleep somewhere. Since private property belongs to somebody specifically they can’t sleep there. Public property belongs to the public and the homeless are part of the public so there is your solution.
But what about homeless shelters you ask? Build enough of them and you’ll get the homeless off the street.
That approach isn’t working in Denver where downtown shelters are only at 79 percent capacity while hundreds are living on the streets surrounding those shelters and in other public places.
The Denver Post asked homeless in the street why they were eschewing shelters. The No. 2 answer: They didn’t want their freedoms restricted by house rules. The No. 1 answer: Sanitation concerns such as bed bugs. Defecating in the open, worrying about being attacked, and sleeping in the rain obviously don’t trump bed bugs as a safety issue. So the real issue is they don’t like to follow rules. Perhaps that is why they ended up on the streets in the first place.
I digress.
So with San Francisco lawyers seeing dollar signs breathing down Manteca’s municipal neck, what can the city do? They can start by getting smarter with trash.
There are is a small army of people roaming the streets at night bicycling —or walking — with big sacks slung over their shoulders. These are not mall Santa trainees. They are mostly homeless and they are filling their sacks with recyclables taken from city property such as Toters and commercial trash bins.
If you think this is no big deal, guess again. If a typical household tosses 20 California redemption containers worth a nickel each in a blue Toter and sets it curbside every other week, that’s $26 a year. Now multiple that by 23,000 households and there’s $598,000 available each year on Manteca’s streets for the taking.
City recycling gurus will tell you 20 redemption containers per household every two weeks is on the low side but I’m assuming there are a number of people who save their recyclables and take them to redemption centers.
Once you place Toters curbside, the content belongs to the city. The revenue they get from recyclables helps keep trash collection costs down.
All the city has to do is decree that not only will all future blue Toters bought by the city will be the kind that can be locked but tip open when turned upside down into a refuse truck and to start replacing existing Toters at a pace of at least 100 a week. The lockable Toters worked extremely well when the solid waste division tested them last year.
This effectively cuts off $598,000 worth of recyclables the homeless and others can mine each year.
The city could also require businesses that sell a large volume of individual California redemption containers — gas stations and convenience stores as an example — to replace all outdoor trash receptacles with one similar to what you find in national parks that are within bear country. What’s bear proof can also be human scavenger proof.
Manteca needs to join forces with other cities and work with state legislators to tighten the screws on payment for any recyclable materials such as copper, brass,  non-container aluminum and such that is brought to a business for cash in amounts per trip of under 200 pounds. It may require mandating a 10-day waiting period for payment as well as providing valid California identification. Everyone — salvaging companies and individuals regardless of who they are — would be subject to the rules.
The weight threshold, ID requirement, and waiting period for payment would do wonders to reduce the illegal stripping of buildings and property of everything from copper wiring to decorative brass letters.
Give that over the years parasites — whether they are homeless or otherwise — managed to do $500,000 worth of damage to the old Indy Electronics/Alphatec building on Industrial Park Drive more than justify such tough measures. Just remember that was one building.
This is a matter of preventing Manteca’s qualty of life from being nickel and dimed to death through the illegal acts of scavengers whether they are homeless or otherwise.

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.