Ben Cantu believes bad governance and not the economy are why Manteca doesn’t have more police officers and firefighters or amenities such as a state-of-the-art library.Cantu - making his third run for a Manteca City Council seat on Nov. 6 - vows to break what he calls Manteca’s cycle of “boom and bust” every eight to 10 years where the city goes from free spending to cutting back services. “The destiny of the community needs to be long range and the city needs to stick to a plan instead of changing it every four or eight years,” said Cantu who spent 36 years plotting Manteca’s growth as a city planner.That, according to Cantu, will require a council that developers and property owners don’t have the ear of and instead plans Manteca based on what the community wants.“You have a farmer who complains growth is getting too close to his land then a few years later they are willing to sell for what a developer offers them,” Cantu said.Cantu believes if Manteca stuck to one plan instead of letting market forces sway the council that the city would be in a much better position to provide basic services and secure amenities such as a new city hall, parks, and a performing arts center.He added that Manteca should not have had “to wait 10, 20 or 30 years” for a new vehicle maintenance facility or a new animal shelter.“Manteca doesn’t have enough parks because developers were allowed to put them in storm retention basins,” Cantu said of the city’s 50 plus municipal parks.He also believes the city should abolish landscape maintenance districts and require all city residents to pick up sound wall landscaping upkeep and park maintenance and not just those in new neighborhoods where the facilities being maintained are located.Cantu plans on making restoring police and fire staffing “to the level the community needs” his top priority if elected.He blames the council for not managing money better in good years by essentially giving city employees raises and benefits matched to levels in similar-sized cities elsewhere in Northern California. And he also blames them for not spending reserves that have no restrictions on them to have kept salaries and staffing levels as they were prior to 2008 when the housing market collapsed.He noted the city could have “found” the money they used to restore the four member gang unit back in 2008.