The man who had the most to do with shaping Manteca’s current response to homeless issues isn’t on the municipal payroll.It’s Robert Schuknecht. He’s the guy who for over a year blocked part of the city sidewalk by the driveway to the East Yosemite Avenue with his three-level cart stacked with his belongings. He’d often sit on the sidewalk with his off leash dog while strumming his guitar between taking handouts from people and firing up his BBQ in the landscaped areas of an adjoining dental office.Schuknecht got three other homeless men and obtained legal counsel to sue the City of Manteca on Nov. 13, 2015 in federal court essentially for not providing them shelter and enforcing ordinances that allegedly violated their constitutional rights.The lawsuit contended:uThe city was targeting the homeless by locking restrooms at Library Park and turning off the electricity at the gazebo at Library Park so the homeless couldn’t charge their smartphones.uThe City Council demonstrated they were targeting the homeless because they sent a letter to Assembly member Kansen Chu expressing their concern with proposed legislation that would prevent cities from adopting ordinances prohibiting people from sleeping or resting in a legally parked motor vehicle and penalizing people when they did.uThere is insufficient shelter space for homeless in Manteca and that the three shelters that exist do not accept single homeless men.uThe city violated the 8th and 14th Amendments by making being homeless a crime.uThree municipal codes regarding camping, transient shelter, and storage of personal property violated the 4th, 8th and 14th Amendments.Steps Manteca took toavoid a massivelawsuit settlementManteca leaders — seeking to avoid a lawsuit they were advised could end up costing the city millions that insurance might not cover — suspended enforcement of ordinances that were in place to address quality of life issues homeless can create after the lawsuit was filed.