by Mark McDermott
Outgoing Mayor Joe Franklin didn’t have to pass the gavel to incoming Mayor Amy Howorth on Tuesday night, because she brought her own. Howorth waved a small pink gavel in the air shortly after the mayorship officially rotated to her.
“One night only,” she said of the pink gavel. “I mean, I don’t want to overdo it.”
Councilperson Steve Napolitano pointed to her pink Manhattan Beach coffee mug. “Not overdo it?” he said.
Howorth became mayor for the third time, but first time since her return to council two years ago after serving two terms, from 2011 to 2019. She said she appreciated the vote of confidence from her colleagues.
“Somebody said this is a thankless job, but I’ve never felt that way,” Howorth said. “People have always been so kind and gracious. So I just want to say how much that means. And I was moved by what [Franklin] said, you could show up someplace as a council member and everyone is like, ‘Okay.’ You show up as mayor, and it’s ‘Oh, the Mayor!’ And there’s no difference, right? It’s like T ball, everybody gets a trophy. All of us get to take a turn being mayor. What we really do is lead the meetings and we speak last. But then we have the responsibility of showing up, truly, to all those [events throughout the city]. And Joe, you are a hard act to follow. I don’t like to get up early, so I will do my best to live up to it.”
Howorth said she comes to the mayorship with no grand ambitions but just the hope to serve the town she loves.
“I don’t have a grand agenda being mayor, specific things I want to accomplish, because it’s not about me,” she said. “It’s about you. I simply promise to do my best and take my turn as mayor seriously, not myself seriously. Whether you voted for me or not, I am here for all of you, and whether up on the dais or all of you in City Hall, we’re here. We’re working for you.”
Franklin was lauded during the first part of the meeting for just that — how he showed up, for every event, big or small.
“You see Joe five in the morning, seven in the morning, 10 o’clock in the morning and 10 o’clock at night,” said Councilperson Richard Montgomery. “And it could be because you’re retired, or because you actually love what you do. That’s what we’re seeing.”
Resident Heather Kim said that in August, she asked Franklin to come to a birthday lunch for her mother at the Strand House.
“I know he is so busy, yet he took the time to come down, because my mother gets super starstruck,” Kim said. “And I said, ‘Hey, do you want to meet the mayor?’ and she was all like, ‘What!’ And so even during this very busy day, he actually came down and met my mom….Joe, you are truly such a gem in this town.”
Jessalyn Waldron, a deputy for LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, recalled a P.S. I Love You beach day. She said many elected officials might view the event as simply a photo op, but not Franklin.
“This guy showed up in his board shorts. So we did our photo ops, and he’s like, ‘Are we done? Can we get in the water with the kids now?’ He was so eager to mentor,” Waldron said.“You were not there just for the photo ops. You were there to welcome foster children to the beach and show them how to handle the waves and how to be safe in the ocean. And that speaks volumes to your character as mayor. It’s clear how everybody in this community adores you.”
Resident Fred Taylor said that at last week’s Manhattan Beach 10k, Franklin actually did his ceremonial duty, firing the starting gun for the race, then quickly disposed of the gun and ran the race himself.
“You are a poster boy for Manhattan Beach,” Taylor said.
Montgomery said that serving as mayor might largely be about showing up, but it’s also about providing leadership when the City needs it. For Franklin, he said, it was that growing alarm over lack of e-bike safety among young cyclists, which Franklin addressed by holding assemblies at local schools with MBPD and spearheading ordinances requiring helmets and increasing fines for safety violations.
“Every Mayor usually has one crisis, sometimes more than that,” Montgomery said. “Joe inherited it, and became the king of the e-bikes….He was everywhere.”
Napolitano praised Franklin for his ability to work together with his colleagues on the council to arrive at compromises. He said Franklin presides over a spirit of comity on the council that was also highly functional.
“Joe always looked for the answer. He looked for solutions. He worked for something that we could all get together on, as we all do,” Napolitano said. “And I think that’s the example that you set for everybody…You know, if you see us up here having fun, it’s because we genuinely do have fun together. We like each other, and even when we do disagree, we are not disagreeable with each other. And that’s what makes us a team here, what makes us a family. Families don’t always get along or agree, but at the end of the day, things get moved forward, and that’s what we are here to do.”
“So, Joe, thank you for all you’ve done to make that happen.”
Hermosa Beach Pro Tem Rob Seamann, who along with Mayor Dean Francois was present to honor both Howorth and Franklin, said he admired the way the Manhattan Beach Council conducted its business.
“I love seeing all you people here tonight. You know, there’s this atmosphere that you guys have in the room here that we don’t seem to have that much in Hermosa Beach,” Seamann said. “I’d like to have that, to see that change, and I’m wondering, how do you guys do this? It’s really amazing. These people really love you, and you guys seem to love each other, and you’re really doing a wonderful job.”
Franklin’s last official act as mayor was to issue commendations to his wife Nancy and daughter Taylor. Later in the meeting, he issued a stream of thanks — to those who served previously on council (“We owe so much to those mayors and residents who came before us who worked to make Manhattan Beach the special place it is today,”) to City employees (“You are the fabric and soul of our city”), to all the people who come and speak at council (“Your thoughts and experience…are a great help as we solve the challenges we face”), and to his colleagues.
“I appreciate that you voted to let me grace the dais and then you were generous with your help,” Franklin said.
He briefly choked up as he passed the gavel — or attempted to, before Howorth held up her own pink gavel — to the next mayor.
“Amy, I hand over to you a City which you have led several times,” Franklin said. “And I can believe it doesn’t get old. So good luck. We are in for a lot of pink these next 10 months.” ER
