“People get the neighborhood they want.”
Those six words were uttered by a front-line municipal employee a year ago regarding why some Manteca neighborhoods have strict enforcement of not allowing front yards to become de facto parking lots and others didn’t.
At the time I thought it a rather boorish comment that essentially absolved the City of Manteca of any responsibility for enforcing its own rules.
And given that the answer was in the context of code enforcement issues, it seemed a nice tidy way to dismiss older neighborhoods as not being relevant.
I silently seethed knowing full well it was that attitude that led the Southside Park neighborhood just south of downtown nearly a decade ago to be just a step or two from being completely under control of gangs until people who lived elsewhere in Manteca reading about gunplay on almost a daily basis starting putting intense pressure on elected leaders and city officials correctly assuming if the situation wasn’t put in check it would spread elsewhere through the city.
But in fairness the man had a point.
Manteca “took back” Southside to a large degree by building trust with the residents, many who did not have a great command of English and a distrust of police for issues related to immigration status. At the same time the city unleashed code enforcement, the county health department, and the fire department inspectors to go after slumlords. As trust was gained with residents, they helped peel back the curtains. It allowed the Manteca Police — working in concert with other law enforcement — to identify the kingpin of sorts behind much of the violence. It was a 50s something illegal that held court in a unit of a small rental complex with a long list of code enforcement violations.
Not saying everything is peachy today in Southside, but the reason the rough-around-the-edge neighborhood hasn’t lapsed back into cesspool status is because then Police Chief Dave Bricker used his community service officer Rex Osborn to reach out to the overall community — churches, non-profits, and such — to help the neighborhood counter the influence of gangs.
One undertaking born from that was the effort of Pastor Quincy McLain and her congregation at the Southside Christian Church that rolled out the summer program Friday Unity in the Neighborhood that is still going strong today.
Manteca works best when its 76,000 residents become engaged and don’t leave the driving exclusively to 350 plus municipal employees.
This is not meant to get the city off the hook for serious questions that many have about the effectiveness of code enforcement or other endeavors. I need look no further than a few doors down at neighbors who have grown tired of trying to get the city to intercede with property upkeep issues that are clearly delineated as illegal in municipal codes.
But what it is meant for is to trigger a “duh” moment for those who have less than stellar impressions of the city’s overall performance on street maintenance, development patterns, delivering on amenities such as an enhanced library system or aquatics center, and a host of other issues.
Municipal codes — just like city general plans — may be the law but that doesnlt mean they are enforced or implemented. It also can’t be done by just hired staff. It takes everyone — or at least those that value their stake in the community — to work in concert.
It could be little things like weeding cracks in neighborhood streets in front our homes and spraying them with Round Up to help a bit to slow down the deterioration and to improve the looks of the neighborhood. It could be organizing an effort with like minded people to keep pressure on the city — and to work in concert when that time comes — to secure what you believe Manteca needs whether it is an upgraded library system or a solution to its street maintenance issues. Those solutions may cost but then again there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
This requires getting neighbors and others to join you. Cars parked on front lawns don’t disappear by wishing nor does a new library materialize or city development patterns change simply because you roll the dice every two years.
It doesn’t mean tearing a page from the Michael Tubbs Resistance in Stockton and doing nothing but talking at — and shouting down — officials at public meetings. While it does include public discourse what makes it work is the nuts and bolts stuff propelled by determination to see whatever cause you are pursuing through until a solution is in place.
Municipal ordinances and city general plans are simply a bunch of words on paper. While elected officials and municipal workers can give those words a faint pulse, it takes a community-based effort to breathe robust life into them. It doesn’t happen by osmosis.
The first step is make sure the upcoming Manteca General Plan Advisory Committee truly represents a cross section of the community.
The next step is for the community to engage as well as apply constant pressure to make sure the city moves toward implementing all of the goals in the general plan.
It may require not giving up in the face of perceived or actual bureaucratic indifference. It may take a lot of time over the years.
Words express a desire, while actively pursuing a goal is what changes a want into reality.
It’s true. People get the neighborhood — and community — they want.


This column is the opinion of executive editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209.249.3519.