Mayor Ben Cantu is right.

The move to district elections is not about racial inequity.

The current composition of the City Council underscores his point.

There are two Hispanics and two Caucasians that — based on estimates represent close to 80 percent of the city’s two largest ethnic groups  if one so chooses to divide Manteca by race. There is one Punjabi American that comes from the other 20 percent of the melting pot.

The odds are the latest 2020 Census data the demographers hired to create four council districts will be close to that break down that the current council composition represents.

The mayor was making a point that for the most part when it is measured by ethnicity we get along and tend to be more color blind than perhaps most other communities.

Case in point: None of the current council members campaigned for office promoted their dominate DNA as a reason to elect them.

This is not to say we don’t have issues when it comes to race to keep working on. We do.

District elections aren’t simply a perceived panacea for any racial inequities that exist in a community.

You could make the solid case the real concerns that going to districts in Manteca need to address are social-economic, which isn’t all that rare in communities.

If we go around in the same circles we tend to view those outside the circles differently at best and at worse don’t understand they have different issues and concerns.

But in terms of Manteca there is arguably a much greater dynamic that redistricting needs to address.

It has everything to do with growth and the fact Manteca is at the heart of the nation’s biggest concentration of super-commuters as defined by those that drive more than 90 minutes one-way to work.

That means roughly 11.7 percent of the population commutes more than three hours a day. It presents a 133 percent increase based on drive times for super commuter in the Manteca-Tracy-Lathrop area over the past decade.

Although such commuters are spread through the city, after the housing recovery ended virtually all new housing built in Manteca is being purchased by those who commute to the hot beds of higher paying jobs in the Bay Area.

Add to the fact Manteca has consistently been among the state’s fastest growing cities for the past decade — Manteca was tied for third fastest growing honors in 2020 for California municipalities in excess of 30,000 people — and there is the potential for creating two cities,  one north of the 120 Bypass and one south of the 120 Bypass.

Currently the council is comprised of people who essentially live and work in Manteca. The one commuter — Jose Nuño — has an easy drive to a job in Stockton.

You could argue the “class” of people not represented on the council are commuters that work out of the region and cross the Altamont Pass five days a week.

The last time someone fell into that category that was elected to the council was Jay Smart. A scientist and a relative newcomer to Manteca, Smart was elected several years after moving here from Michigan to work at Livermore Lab. That was 25 years ago.

How far you travel to work and whether you have a council district that could elect someone who has similar socio-economic challenges seems like a ridiculous reason to consider in forming districts.

But when you add in the fact in the past decade after the housing market recovered most of the 500 to 600 homes built each year in Manteca are being snapped up by such households, and almost all of those homes are being built south of the 120 Bypass.

Such commuters clearly don’t all end up south of the 120 Bypass but they all basically dominate population in the area. Yet they are not represented on the council per se.

And given their schedules they might never be.

But they do clearly have a different social-economic condition that is clearly unlike anything else in much of Manteca.

With new homes selling for north of $550,000, those in such households once community facilities district taxes and bond repayments are factored in have tax bill in excess of $6,000 a year. They clearly have a different outlook and a different reality — not to mention a much larger housing payment — than most folks north of the 120 Bypass.

As such they have different appetites and expectations for city services and amenities.

You might scoff at whether this is a real California Voting Rights Act concern, but give it a few years.

The city is on track to have 60 percent of its population south of the 120 Bypass by 2040. That means the scales are tipping toward the point where one clear region could dominate citywide elections in Manteca.

The odds are the newer residents that have moved into new homes south of the 120 Bypass have a higher level of tolerance for more taxes and a desire for amenities that exceed the city’s current means.

This is neither bad nor good. It simply reflects reality.

To avoid an unintended balkanization of Manteca one could argue the best way to do that is make sure distinct collections of neighborhoods brought together as districts to have a seat at the proverbial table.

It might seem that council members elected by district might be too parochial in their outlook and not worry about the bigger picture.

There is clearly a wealth of citywide issues that would cut across all districts. And the best solutions that can be forged to such issues needs to reflect the concerns of all four corners of the city.

At the same time the case can be made for the need for council members to be more attentive to neighborhood issues and be more attuned to “regional nuances” that need to be addressed in citywide initiatives.

Besides, it’s pretty tough to be able to have 80,000 people try to bend a council member’s ears as opposed to 20,000.

And when it comes to leveraging council support for specific actions it is can be just as effective — if not more so — with district representation. That’s because grass-root neighborhood groups can network with those in other council districts to line up support in issues that have commonality.

There is nothing wrong with having four council members who are each more attuned to the needs, issues and desires of their quarter of Manteca while also working on citywide concerns.

 This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com