Downtown Conundrum

The debate in Manteca, Calif. is over plans to spend $1.2 million to expand Library Park. ''Why proceed if it is simply for the homeless to enjoy?'' asks the local paper.

Manteca (pop. 66,450) is a city in California's Central Valley, a little over an hour car trip if you head east from San Francisco.

Manteca means ''lard'' in Spanish. Why would a city call itself lard?

Apparently, this was a spelling mistake. When the Southern Pacific Railroad put track through here and need a name for the station, the community chose ''Monteca'' (with an ''o''), but an inadvertent ''a'' slipped in and stuck.

Lard, or should we say, Manteca, now plans to invest some $1.2 million to rip out sections of two streets and a parking lot to expand Library Park. A gazebo, 75-seat amphitheatre and more grassy space is envisioned.

All well and good, but there is one problem. Library Park is a hangout for vagrants and drug users and is generally not a place where locals are apt to take the kids to play.

The local paper asks, ''Why proceed with spending $1.2 million if it is simply for the homeless to enjoy?''

Meanwhile, the local Farmer's Market that sells its produce near Library Park is threatening to relocate to better environs.