The notices that hung on the doors of the Inn by the Station – spelled out over a Manteca Police Department badge – told the residents that they could no longer inhabit the places that they had called home.
But it looks like the tenants of the 21-units – some of whom have paid up in advance – will get a brief 48-hour reprieve while a legal assistance firm sits down with representatives from the City of Manteca to determine how best to proceed with the property that was for years known as The Rose Motel and has since become a safety hazard to its occupants.
At the 11th hour on Monday afternoon, local community activists learned that the City of Manteca would not be actively enforcing the illegal occupation notices that they had posted earlier in the day that spelled out the variety of code enforcement and basic safety hazards that have rendered one of Manteca’s last low-income havens unfit for living.
Two U-Haul trucks sat on either side of the building – half loaded – while residents milled about with open trunks waiting to find out whether the 4:30 p.m. deadline would be enforced.
“It hit this place like a ton of bricks,” said one resident who asked not to be identified. “I’m single so I can find another place to go. I feel for the people here with families who were just laid out by this. They have nowhere to go – this was it for them.”
According to retired San Joaquin County social worker Sharon Herrera, a lawyer representing California Rural Legal Assistance – a non-profit organization that provides legal services to low-income rural Californians facing dire poverty situations – stepped in to talk with Assistant Manteca City Attorney Don Lupal about the language included in the illegal occupation notice and the city’s obligations beyond that point.
Just 15 minutes prior to the cutoff time Herrera and Love INC Executive Director Steve Parsons got the call that the order would be halted until at least Wednesday afternoon when Modesto laywer Robert Farrace got the chance to sit down with the city and figure out the next steps for the displaced residents.
Watching people who had hurriedly packed up their belongings into laundry baskets and into the backs of waiting cars pull them back inside, if only briefly, was enough to move Parsons to tears.
“I’d say that for at least the time being it has been successful. We just don’t have the rest of the information worked out yet,” Parsons said, taking a moment to compose himself. “It was a team effort and there was a Plan B – I’ve got churches on standby right now waiting for these people and I still have to undo that. I think that this still shows that Manteca is the greatest city in the valley and that we had enough people here that had enough experience and enough contacts to make something happen, even if it’s just for a few nights.”
And a brief break in the turmoil served as a moment of reflection and prayer.
One resident gathered a small group against the west-facing wall of the complex and asked them all to bow their heads as she thanked God for another night or two without having to see them all face the streets – a period of calm and the opportunity to prepare for what could ultimately be the shuttering of the building.
The ongoing saga on Moffat Boulevard centers on a variety of code violations that include broker sewer pipes, wall heater units that are completely missing, exposed wiring and even additional work that has been done to the building without permits and without the city’s knowledge or inspection.
Residents were notified of the issue 11 days ago when inspections from a consortium of Manteca safety administrators began on the property.
One man, who identified himself as licensed contractor Rick Amos, said he had been hired at around 12:30 over the phone by the property owner to step in and work with the city. Amos said that he was in the process of clearing the necessary paperwork to enable him to do that, and that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to keep the residents there and alleviate the situation without seeing the hammer fall.
