Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
I am glad to see that the City Council is finally paying attention to some of the problems and solutions I have been highlighting for years. Apparently, one of those is the conducting of elections for seats on the Council based on neighborhood districts. Unfortunately it seems they and/or staff has gone to the extreme wherein a demographics study is involved.
A demographics study can only be prelude to establishing an election process that is based on neighborhood ethnicity makeup rather than a process that is based on population only. A district election process that involves determining the ethnicity makeup of areas should not be a factor for a non-partisan election process such as occurs in Manteca; there are no political parties involved.
A district election process that involves determining the ethnicity makeup of areas is resoundingly like the screwed up gerrymandering manipulation of boundaries at the state and federal level that favor one party or class. Is the Council so inept that they must copy a district election process that has been screwed up by Congress and is so far from representative of actual constituents?
Keep it simple, using simple arithmetic, divide the community into quadrants (by four) and make slight adjustments to balance the population numbers amongst the quadrants. You do not need a study; a staff member can do the math (divide by four) on a basic map.

Benjamin Cantu
Manteca