At the beginning of the year, the city found itself without a manager and at the start of an exhaustive, year-long search for a replacement, leaving an interim manager to navigate the city through an investigation into an alleged police hit-and-run cover-up, the reopening of the city’s controversial sand dune, a crackdown on the Six-Man Volleyball Tournament and a last-minute save of the Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament.
In a slow-to-recover economy, the city maintained its Triple A bond rating and balanced its budget without resorting to layoffs or furloughs, and with minimal program and service cuts. Manhattan Beach schools stayed on top through unprecedented budget cuts, while seeing off its vocal ensemble to perform in Greece and two teachers to National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs.
Along the way, residents shuddered when an ex-Marine took his and his girlfriend’s lives and rejoiced at the rescue of a boy buried in the sand. They heatedly debated the punishment of a woman cited for rollerblading on the bike path, the appropriateness of guns at their Hometown Fair, and whether the city should go out to bid on its largest contract.
A legendary school district superintendent and a high school principal resigned, both to be succeeded by energetic, new blood; A police chief and a fire chief resigned, and by year’s end neither have been replaced.
And just as the city said goodbye to its former city manager at this time last year, it now prepares to welcome the new manager who will usher Manhattan Beach into the new decade.
City Manager Search
The formal announcement that Dave Carmany from the City of Seal Beach would start as the city’s new manager next month came one year to the day after director of Community Development Richard Thompson took over as interim city manager.
The unusually long search began when former city manager Geoff Dolan left last December after 15 years with the city. Thompson immediately moved into the interim position and, in the shadow of a bad economy, has since handled matters surrounding some of the city’s largest issues and events.
For months after Dolan’s departure, residents questioned the legitimacy of his $195,000 severance package – to have been issued only in the event of his “involuntary separation” per his contract — while a tight-lipped City Council maintained that he resigned.
Residents’ frustration turned to impatience while the council sifted through 90 applicants during the past year before this month settling on Carmany, who has served for the past three years as Seal Beach’s city manager.
On Dec. 7, the council approved Carmany’s appointment to the city’s highest staff position. He is scheduled to start on Jan. 10.
“The search was exhaustive,” Mayor Richard Montgomery said. “It took a whole year and was definitely a challenge. But I think he will be an amazing manager.”
Police hit-and-run
In February, four Manhattan Beach Police officers were placed on paid administrative leave following a Jan. 31 hit-and-run traffic collision. Three of the officers, and possibly alcohol were involved.
According to sources, officers Eric Eccles, Richard Hatten and Kristopher Thompson were off-duty drinking at Grunion’s Sports Bar on Sepulveda Boulevard before they got into Hatten’s Corvette, which became involved in a crash with two other cars.
“When officers responded, the party that caused the collision had left the scene,” said MBPD Chief Rod Uyeda in a statement.
Police later found Hatten’s damaged car parked unattended at a gas station on Manhattan Beach Blvd., sources said. Police were called to the scene, but no report was taken Uyeda said.
After the incident, the officers were placed on leave, along with Officer Jeff Goodrich, the investigating officer at the scene.
Goodrich died of cancer in September.
Earlier this month, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. completed a criminal investigation into the incident and handed its report over to the district attorney, who has until Jan. 31 to file charges against the officers. A separate internal affairs investigation by the Sheriff’s Department is continuing.
“The three off-duty Manhattan Beach Police officers involved still remain on paid administrative leave,” a recent statement from the MBPD said.
Beach rescues
In February, local authorities rescued two off-duty Inglewood police officers who jumped off the pier and into big surf and a strong rip current after they had been drinking alcohol, according to police reports. Manhattan Beach Fire Battalion Chief and Los Angeles County Lifeguard Dave Shenbaum was hailed a hero for jumping into the 58 degree water to rescue one of the men. Neither officer was seriously injured, though both suffered lacerations from hanging onto barnacle-encrusted pilings beneath the pier.
An 11-year-old Perris boy had been trapped for three to five minutes beneath sand at the beach near 8th Street while lifeguards and locals frantically worked to dig him out last July. The boy had dug two holes and was trying to dig a tunnel between them when the surrounding sand collapsed and trapped him. Lifeguards resuscitated the boy after he was pulled from the sand.
“He was seconds away from turning out to be a fatality,” Schenbaum said.
In September, two bodysurfers rescued an intoxicated Hawthorne man who jumped off the pier and into dark, 62-degree water.
“Over the years, it seems to be a rite of passage,” said MBFD Interim Chief Ken Shuck. “People get too much alcohol and run to the pier and jump off.”
A new dune
The sand dune at Sand Dune Park had been closed for five months by the time the decade-long debate went before the City Council in January. City officials had been grappling with how to address neighborhood traffic and noise problems created by an upsurge in athletic use of what had become a regional attraction visited by 9,000 people monthly prior to its closure.
Over several months, the city considered everything from implementing a resident permit parking program and parking meters in the surrounding neighborhood to repurposing the dune as a nature preserve.
City Council members leaned towards keeping the dune closed to workouts for good until a few residents formed a group called Citizens for Outdoor Recreation and Exercise (CORE). They protested the banning of dune exercise in a “Free the Dune Rally” in March.
The following month the City Council unanimously voted at a special meeting, attended by more than 200 residents, to reopen the sand dune at Sand Dune Park to unlimited use by children and 20 adult exercisers at a time during regulated hours through a reservation system.
While CORE founders say the new system is too tight and discourages exercise, many neighbors say that traffic has been alleviated, parking has improved and more residents visit the park again.
“I’m content they found a way out,” said longtime resident David Wachtfogel. “What we have is a more than reasonable compromise. It’s finally back to normal.”
Cited for rollerblading and jogging
In August, resident Diann Keller was given a citation for rollerblading on the city’s bike path, sparking a controversy over the city’s enforcement of an ordinance many felt is not regularly enforced, though the bike path is clearly marked with “bikes only.”
Keller said that she has rollerbladed on the path for six years and that she should have received a warning, though Uyeda said that police have always ticketed for the offense.
The following month, resident Kevin McBride was cited and fined $433 for jogging up the stairs at Sand Dune Park, though he has jogged on them for years. Signs state that jogging on the stairs is not allowed, however McBride thought that the fine was excessive. City director of Parks and Recreation Richard Gill said that enforcement of park rules has increased since the reopening of the sand dune at Sand Dune Park in August.
Local nurse goes to Haiti
Four days after a 7.0 earthquake shook the small country of Haiti, Manhattan Beach nurse anesthetist Debra Hawk found herself in Port au Prince, disinfecting a hacksaw to perform one of the first amputations since the disaster hit. A surgeon friend had asked her to accompany her medical team to treat thousands of people literally bleeding in the streets. With no cleaning supplies, electricity, or clean water, Hawk improvised and assisted in more than 60 life-saving operations over seven days, including the day a 6.0 aftershock hit.
“It’s a country of orphans and amputees now, bandaged and bleeding,” Hawk said. “What this did to an already impoverished country is indescribable.”
End of the Six-Man party?
After years of watching the Charlie Saikley Six-Man Volleyball Tournament turn into one of the biggest annual parties in L.A., MBPD Chief Rod Uyeda in April warned the city that the careening mass of drunkenness witnessed at last year’s event could easily turn into a riot. Faced with the threat of shutting down the event for good, the city cracked down on the two-day tourney this year, forbidding alcohol, eliminating national team sponsorships and doubling entry fees to cover an extra $93,000 in boosted event enforcement.
“We need to say the party is over when it comes to alcohol on our beaches,” said Councilmember Mitch Ward in May.
Officials set up elaborate fencing, required team members to wear wristbands, limited tents to one per team and allowed amplified music only during the Sunday portion of the event.
By midday on July 31, throngs of people had arrived – an estimated 50,000 attendees, according to the city – 10,000 fewer than last year. Security guards checked every single person who entered the event for stashed alcohol.
Three-peat champions Team Magnum beat out long-time local team and first-time finalist 12th Street/Sangria in a hard-fought volleyball match that will rank as one of the great finals in recent Six-Man history.
“This is redemption,” said Kevin Barry, 12th Street team sponsor. “After this year, the Six Man is back.”
School hellos and goodbyes
After a 56-year career in education in the South Bay and a four-year run as Manhattan Beach School District superintendent, the community’s beloved Beverly Rohrer in April announced her retirement from education. Rohrer began her career as a teacher with Mira Costa High School and ultimately moved on to become the superintendent of both Manhattan and Redondo Beach school districts and interim superintendent of Hermosa’s school district.
In April, the district announced as Rohrer’s successor Dr. Michael Matthews, who formerly served as assistant superintendent of Human Resources at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
“What stood out about him was that he really talked about he students,” said former MBUSD Board president Ida VanerPoorte.
Matthews started in July and was immediately faced with replacing Mira Costa High School Principal Julie Ruisinger, who announced her resignation from the district in April. At the end of July, Matthews named former Redondo Union High School assistant principal Ben Dale Costa’s new principal. Matthews has since started a MBUSD Twitter page, dealt with a campus-wide lockdown at Mira Costa and overseen plans for Costa’s campus-wide reconstruction, expected to start next year.
Police and fire chiefs march on
The chiefs of both of the city’s public safety departments tendered their resignations from the city this year, one to go on to another department, the other to retire.
On Feb. 26, former Manhattan Beach Fire Chief Scott Ferguson announced he would leave the city the following month, after serving little more than two years, to become the chief of Santa Monica Fire Dept. His last day with the city was March 19.
Battalion Chief Ken Shuck immediately began serving as interim fire chief, while the search for Ferguson’s replacement continues.
With a desire to spend more time with his family, Manhattan Beach Police Chief Rod Uyeda announced on Nov. 30 his intention to retire from a 34-year law enforcement career after the first of the year.
“I have a strong sense of obligation to the City of Manhattan Beach, but my family comes first. I’m starting to miss important events in their lives,” Uyeda said.
Uyeda suggested Jan. 10 as his last day, but later said he would stay on a few extra months, at the request of soon-to-be new city manager Dave Carmany and to see the resolution of an investigation into a hit-and-run car accident involving three MBPD officers.
The replacement of both chiefs will be a top priority for Carmany when he begins working for the city next month.
City takes plastic bags to Supreme Court
In January, the city’s fledgling ban on plastic bags was sacked for the second time when a divided Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that demands the city conduct further research before requiring local retailers to stop using plastic. The proposed ban would have made Manhattan Beach the third city in the state to become plastic bag-free, after San Francisco and Malibu.
The court decision was a victory for the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, which sued the city more than two years ago. They argued the city was required to conduct an environmental impact report before approving the ban. The coalition maintains that paper bags are worse for the environment than plastic bags.
“They are using one environmental law to prevent passing another environmental law,” said city attorney Robert Wadden, who handled the city’s case at both the trial and appellate courts.
After two failed appeal attempts, in February, the city took its case to the California Supreme Court, where it awaits being heard early next year.
In November, Los Angeles County passed a similar ban, which city officials hope will give ammunition to Manhattan Beach’s fight.
“The LA County decision supports our goal to ban plastic bags in our city,” said Manhattan Beach Mayor Richard Montgomery. “In fact, I view this as continued support with our plastic bag ban bill now being reviewed by the California Supreme Court. And with that review, I expect a complete victory on behalf of the city.”
Waste hauling contract goes to bid
In April, the City Council voted to go out to bid on its $25 million waste hauling contract, the largest vendor contract held by the city. For over two decades, the city has awarded the contract to waste hauler Waste Management, while enjoying a sweetheart deal with fixed rates.
In February, the city found itself deciding whether to renew the contract with a 16 to 19 percent increase over the next three years or go out to bid. Though the City Council initially leaned toward renewing the contract without going out to bid, several residents argued that municipal code requires it to do so on any contract that is more than $20,000.
The city projected spending $105,000 in consulting fees during a bid process that includes three vendors, one of which will be awarded a contract that will begin in May. Earlier this year, the council, in its efforts to go green, increased its recycling requirement for its next waste hauling contract.
“Our overall diversion rate city-wise is already more than 50 percent,” Councilmember Mitch Ward said. “By increasing the main hauler diversion rate from 38 percent to 44 percent, the overall city diversion rate will go up even higher, and more materials will be recycled.”
The Manhattan Beach Open, old school
A week before the 50th Anniversary of the city’s treasured Manhattan Beach Open was scheduled to take place in August, the Association of Volleyball Professionals’ (AVP) announced it would cancel the tournament as the organization itself collapsed.
The announcement left the city and the California Beach Volleyball Association in a mad scramble to find sponsors willing to spend enough cash to draw the best players on the beach. They pulled off a last-minute save of the tournament, also known as the “Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball,” though many top-ranked volleyball professionals didn’t show, due to significantly reduced prize money and a decision to revert to a format that included longer courts and side-out scoring instead of the Olympic format. Stadium-style and paid seating were also eliminated from this year’s tournament and residents enjoyed an old-school volleyball tourney.
This month, USA Volleyball and events management behemoth International Management Group proposed to co-sponsor the event going forward, with hopes of adding the MBO to the USAV Beach Championship Series — a pro volleyball series born out of the AVP collapse. The city opted to hold off on the decision for a month to consider other companies interested in operating and marketing the event.
“Let’s put the past behind us, get everybody together and figure out what’s best for coming years,” said Mayor Pro Tem Nick Tell.
Packin’ heat at the fair
A group of gun-slingers called South Bay Open Carry (SBOC) made headlines when it announced its intention to carry unloaded firearms at this year’s Hometown Fair.
When the fair’s board said anyone carrying a gun at the event would be arrested, SBOC cited citizens’ Second Amendment rights and threatened litigation. Residents were outraged at the group’s insistence to bring guns – unloaded or not — to their fair. But fair officials backed down and guns were allowed.
SBOC’s presence hardly roused the tension predicted by the hype. By the time local band Thin Ice took the stage mid-afternoon, fair-goers were enjoying themselves too much to notice the roughly two dozen people proudly carrying unloaded guns.
But that didn’t stop lead singer and longtime resident Russ Lesser from belting out his latest song, “Packin,” which he wrote especially for the event.
School scores rise despite budget woes
A May report issued by the California Dept. of Education showed that Manhattan Beach schools ranked in the top ten percent of schools statewide, based on Academic Performance Index scores. MBUSD also recorded high marks in a separate report comparing schools of similar demographics.
In September, the district continued its strong upswing in standardized test results, improving from fifth to third in API scores state wide. The ranking represented an all-time high for MBUSD, which surpassed Palo Alto and Piedmont unified school districts, both of which outscored MBUSD last year.
“It’s nice to come into a district where it is clear they have been doing the right things,” said new Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews. “We have a good momentum going into this year.”
Students’ scores improved despite a rough financial road for schools – the district agonized over slashing $4 million from its $50 million budget in May. A $4.1 million dollar donation from the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation helped save class sizes and core programs.
As of November, MBEF had raised $3 million more toward MBUSD schools, with the hope of saving more programs and class sizes next year, in the face of anticipated mid-year budget cuts next month.
Farewell
The beginning of the year said goodbye to Matt Varon, grandson of Morgan Jewelers founder Morgan Varon, who passed away in his family’s Manhattan Beach home while he was in town on college winter break. On Jan. 5, Varon’s father found him unconscious on the couch. He was later pronounced dead. At that time, police were unsure of the cause of death, but it appeared to be of natural causes. He was 21.
Rodney “Blue” Fox, a longtime doorman at La Paz, Shellback, and Ercoles passed away on January 7. Fox worked many years in the South Bay construction trade and was a fixture on the Manhattan Beach bar scene.
Residents were shocked to learn of the deaths of Michael Nolin, 24, and Danielle Hagbery, 22, who were both found on Jan. 10 in Nolin’s mom’s sand section home. Police believed that a romantic break-up led to Nolin shooting and killing Hagbery before turning the gun on himself.
Popular Manhattan Beach photographer Mary Pat Dorr succumbed to a two-decade battle with breast cancer on Feb. 18, a week after she was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce. Dorr built a widespread reputation in the South Bay as a portrait and scenic photographer, and her photographs can be found in hundreds of each area homes and businesses. She was 70.
On Feb. 26, Hyperion Outfall Serenader Rod Norris passed away in his stateroom on a Dixieland music tour cruise ship, the morning after performing on the vessel as it pulled into San Pedro from Mexico. The clarinetist played with the Serenaders — city’s official band — for 18 years. He was 94.
Local artist and former president of the Manhattan Beach Historical Society, Julia Tedesco, died on March 1 after a six-month battle with leukemia. For years, Tedesco volunteered to teach art classes at local schools, inspiring thousands of kids to paint, sculpt and be creative. She was also instrumental in helping saving the pier in the ‘80s when development threatened to tear it down. Tedesco was 58.
Mira Costa High School students and teachers mourned the loss of junior Darius Smith, who died March 10 at his family’s Manhattan Beach home. Smith was remembered by friends as happy and outgoing. He was 17.
On Sept. 30, Manhattan Beach Police Officer Jeff Goodrich succumbed to a 20-month battle with brain cancer. Goodrich had left a career in home construction to follow his true passion and become a police officer. He was 41. ER
