The next step in the latest effort to reshape downtown Manteca gets underway Wednesday.

That’s when the council subcommittee of Mayor Ben Cantu and Councilwoman Debby Moorhead that was appointed in a bid to help devise a municipal plan and identify ways to implement and fund it meets at 6:30 p.m. at the council chambers, 1001 W. Center St.

Cantu said the meeting that’s open to the public will focus primarily on an overview of downtown — what’s there, issues, and such — in a bid to establish a foundation for the committee’s work.

Cantu noted that a plan is not enough. The mayor said there needs to be follow through with whatever ultimately is adopted by the council including identifying how work will be funded.

The mayor pointed out various cases where the city has started projects in the past regarding downtown and then dropped them.

One that he believes needs to be finished is the streetscape motif that was first put in place in 2004 primarily in the form of decorative street lights.

Cantu would like them extended to the west on Yosemite Avenue to Walnut Avenue, to the east on Yosemite Avenue to Fremont Avenue, south to the railroad tracks on Main Street, and to the north of Main Street to Alameda Street. The mayor noted that would not only spruce up the streets but it would delineate the downtown core.

Noting it would be an expensive proposition, the city could set aside funds over the course of a number of years to do sections at a time.

He noted one possibility is to include replacement street lights when the endeavor to make North Main Street from Center Street to Alameda Street four lanes is tackled.

The city made sure to use the same street lights that were originally part of the Tidewater Bikeway in downtown to create a specific look for Manteca. The same street lights were also included throughout the Manteca Transit Center parking lot. They are also along Daniels Street between Airport Way and Costco and well as on Milo Candini Drive. The Daniels intersections at both Airport Way and Daniels Street also have the same style traffic signals.

You can also find the street lights on the Lathrop Road overcrossing of Highway 99 and in several newer neighborhoods.

The original plans back in 2004 called for the same street lights to be installed along Center Street from the library to Lincoln Avenue as well as in the 100 blocks of Manteca Avenue, Sycamore Avenue, and Grant Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com