We can celebrate, along with columnist Joan Vennochi, the revised gender and racial makeup of the City Council (“The new face of Boston City Council,’’ Opinion, Nov. 9), and agree with her line, highlighted in large display type, that “finally, the city’s political leaders are starting to look like the people they represent.’’ But we can also note that revision should include geography as well as other demographic measures.

The case in point is the South End, which was paired with South Boston during the district reorganization of the council in the early 1980s. At the time, many of us argued that this gerrymandering would guarantee that the South End would never have its own representation — a prediction that has been borne out over the ensuing years, most recently in South Ender Mike Kelley’s loss to Southie’s Ed Flynn.

It is time to call once again for a redrafting of the districts to remove the South End from the shadow of South Boston’s tired old-boys network and let it stand on its own as one of the city’s most vital and distinctive neighborhoods.

Paul M. Wright

Boston