This may get confusing, so bear with us, if you're already aware of Larson's accusation, skip to the grey section immediately below this...
At the City Counsel meeting held on the evening of Tuesday, October 4th, Larson's public comment card was the first called for floor time to address the Counsel. Larson claims that she received a "hand delivered anonymous letter" alleging that "Gary Singh used his position on the SJCOG and the Manteca City Counsel to encourage the City of Manteca to take a loan that would benefit Gary's father and his associate who's business own a property on Austin Road".
Larson goes on to quote a November 2019 Manteca Bulletin article stating that "CalTrans has been trying to eliminate all ramps at the Austin Road / 99 interchange for many years as Austin Road is way too close to the Manteca 99/120 bypass for smooth operational flows for merging traffic. The SJCOG noted the state has only been willing to fund a two lane replacement bridge, as they do not pay for growth inducing capacity. Therefore, SJCOG advanced the City of Manteca the money to build a four lane overcrossing with turn lanes, and that the City would eventually reimburse SJCOG."
Larson's "anonymous letter" goes on to state CalTrans said they would repave parts of Austin Road, "near where Gary's father and associate own property", for free. Larson claims that Singh insisted that instead of repaving the two lane road, Austin Road be widened to four lanes near this new overpass.
Larson claims this was a "conflict of interest" as Gary used "insider trading" information to purchase the property and eventually profit, being the only one in the know about the upcoming overpass expansion and Austin Road widening.
There's only one problem with Larson's claim. The overpass expansion at Auston Road has been a public ongoing battle for 25 years. It's been no secret nor "inside information". It was something Steve DeBrum had worked on for 20 years, and when DeBrum wasn't re-elected, the ball then fell in Gary's court for the last 5 years. An article in the Manteca Bulletin dated May 10th, 2019, (well over a month and a half BEFORE Gary's father and his associate purchased the property on Austin Road), discusses in great detail, the aspects of the widening project, including the details of the 4 lane overpass, Austin Road, 99 interchange on and off ramps, and the expansion of the overpass to include Moffat Blvd and the train tracks. This will, in-fact, be Manteca's first road that passes up, over, under, or any which way to completely eliminate an in-town train crossing. Something Larson proposes to do with million dollar tunnels under the city, but has no concept of how train elevation or slope actually work, and also can't account for where the money would come from to do this. The push from Singh to widen Austin Road near the new four lane overpass in lieu of CalTrans' "free repaving", was the right call for any City Council member to make who would have Manteca's best interest at heart. Have you ever seen a 4 lane overpass or underpass that end into a two lane stretch? Talk about a bottle neck! We already complain about how it now takes 30 minutes to get through Main and Yosemite because we installed decorative planters instead of a third and fourth lane. I don't know about you, but I personally traverse the Moffat / Austin Road / 99 interchange twice daily on my weekday commute to and from work. Some days traffic is backed up as far as Woodward and Atherton waiting to get through that interchange. That's a full 3/4 of a mile of backed up one lane traffic. Imagine how worse it would be with this new, optimal flowing on/off ramps and bridge, that just dump into a two way road. Don't even get me started on the definition of "insider trading", an SEC term for illegal or unfair profits made on trading stocks. I'm insulted Larson would think that throwing around buzz words at a live streamed City Council meeting would peak interest and make the general public think something is happening, that clearly wasn't. The ironic part is the very article from the Bulletin she quoted in her public comment to the counsel, is the article that lead to the information proving there was no foul play... Ouch. |
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