by Mark McDermott
The six candidates vying for three seats on the Manhattan Beach City Council met for their third and final forum last week at the Mira Costa High School auditorium.
Few major policy disagreements exist among the candidates, nor are there issues that have brought much fire to the race. All the candidates emphasize the importance of public safety. Renewing aging City infrastructure, particularly aging facilities like Parking Lot 3, are agreed-upon priorities, as is fiscal prudence. There are no hot button issues.
The campaign has been a strikingly cordial affair. Two of the candidates at the forum expressed admiration for their fellow candidates.
“This is our last forum together with the candidates,” said Joe Marcy, a tourism executive and council candidate. “And I would like to say before the gloves come off that it has been truly an honor to share this with you.”
“I knew it would be a contentious selection at the national level, so it’s nice that it’s been so peaceful at the local level,” said Brenda O’Leary, a finance professional who is running for elected office for the first time. “I feel like I’ve made new friends with other people on this panel.”
But the forum, sponsored by The MB News, the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, and the League of Women Voters, nonetheless revealed differences among the candidates.
Diane Wallace, a moderator from the League of Women Voters, asked the candidates about their voting histories. Since the League was founded at a time when women were first given the right to vote, a century ago, and many women put their lives on the line to obtain that right, Wallace wanted the candidates to share their first time voting.
“What can you tell us about your first experience voting?” she asked.
Candidate Steve Charelian, the former City of Manhattan Beach finance director who retired in July, gave the first response.
“For me, I believe how often one votes and who one votes for is kind of a personal decision, and local elections are non-partisan, so it’s best to vote for the most qualified candidate,” he said.
“Maybe you didn’t understand,” Wallace interjected. “Do you remember when you first voted? How old were you, and how did you find the experience?”
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” Charelian said. “For me, I’ve worked in government all my life, over 35 years, and I’ve always taken kind of an unbiased approach. So when I learned earlier this year that I am going to be retiring, that’s when I registered to vote.”
Voting records indicate Charelian registered to vote for the first time on August 2, shortly before filing for his candidacy. The other candidates each have extensive voting histories.
Councilperson Joe Franklin, the only incumbent in the race, said that as the ninth of 10 children growing up and watching his siblings reach voting age, he couldn’t wait to cast his first vote.
“There were a lot of World War II veterans in our neighborhood…and I admired those veterans,” Franklin said. “We saw during WWII — you talk about an existential threat, there was an existential threat that we might not be able to vote again. So voting to me is very, very important.”
Karen Komatinsky recalled her father taking her to the polls when she was child and showing her how voting works, something she later did with her own children.
“Lately, it’s become kind of a trivia question in our family, ‘How many times has mom been on the ballot?’” she said, noting that in addition to serving two terms on the Manhattan Beach Board of Education, she ran for the Beach Cities Health District board. “It’s a little funny in our house, but it’s kind of a joyful thing to be able to share. Because it’s a huge responsibility that we have as citizens.”
Joe Marcy, a tourism executive and city commissioner running for office the first time, recalled casting his first ballot and proudly wearing the “I Voted” sticker all day.
“It is something that is a civic duty, it’s something I’ve been proud to do,” he said. “It is something, when you see strong leadership not only nationally but locally that can inspire a community….It makes all the difference.”
Brenda O’Leary, a finance and investment professional, recalled showing her daughter how to vote.
“I sat her down at the table and — a little disclosure, I voted for Hillary Clinton — and I said to her, you are watching your mother elect the first woman president of the United States,” she said. “Now, obviously, that didn’t go as I thought it would. But then the other day somebody sent me a photo of a sign for Kamala Harris and next to that sign was my sign. And I think it is cool that, no matter who wins, my sign is there next to a woman who may be the first woman president of the United States. Not to be partisan, but I do think it is important that at some point soon we have a woman president, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican. We are long overdue for a woman to be the leader of the free world. And we start, hopefully, with a woman on the City Council.”
Nina Tarnay, an attorney and longtime local nonprofit and youth sports volunteer, said her first vote was especially significant to her because of her background. She fled Vietnam, with her family, as a six year old, one of the thousands of so-called “boat people” who left after the Communist regime took over her home country.
“So I am the only person [among the candidates] who has put my hand up and swore allegiance to this country when I was naturalized,” she said. “I turned 18 and that was one of the first things I did. So I take my duties really seriously. I have been teased for wrapping myself in red, white and blue….I voted in almost every election, and those of you who know me know I dress up to go to the polls. I drag my kids, and I make them dress up. So it’s a little embarrassing for the kids, but I really take great joy and pride in doing it. It’s an important part of our democracy.”
Other differences also came out, less so about municipal issues and more about regional and state issues with local impacts. Two of the candidates — O’Leary and Marcy — expressed unqualified support for the Beach City Health District’s $30 million bond measure, Measure BC, intended to pay for a new youth mental health center and to replace the former South Bay Hospital site currently occupied by BCHD with open space.
Marcy said his family has used many of BCHD’s services for years. And as he noted in an earlier response, he doesn’t think the City does enough for its senior citizens and believes BCHD helps fill that gap.
“I absolutely support this,” he said. “You know, there’s just so much that still needs to be done in the community. We’re trying to meet the needs of all of our demographics here and our senior community is just as important as our youth — to meet those needs.”
O’Leary said youth mental health is “very near and dear to my heart” and linked the current crisis among younger kids social media impacts and for older kids to the increase in THC in marijuana, among other things.
“It’s very dangerous,” she said. “Beach Cities Health Districts has allcove, which is a mental health center designed for kids ages 12 to 25. I believe it is so important to this community and I do support Measure BC.”
Tarnay said that though she supports BCHD and especially its youth mental health center, she is undecided about Measure BC simply due to geography.
“I would have liked them to have a component where there’s a space in each of our cities for kids to go to,” she said. “So I’m sorry, I’m still undecided.”
Charelian said that while “youth mental health is an epidemic” he is undecided on Measure BC.
“I too am not fully engaged in this bond measure,” he said. “I haven’t come to a consensus yet…. But it is a lot of money and it does well in that neighborhood, although not in Manhattan Beach.”
Franklin said while he likes BCHD the district has “some geography issues” and offers some services that are redundant locally.
“The facility is very helpful, and I think that should be maintained,” he said. “I’d like to see them go maybe offer some more homelessness services because that’s a big challenge that we have.”
Komatinsky said BCHD does a “fabulous job” and strongly praised its youth program addressing alcohol abuse. But she likewise stopped short of supporting Measure BC.
“I’m still a little on the fence about it, honestly,” she said. “Because I think what I’d really like to see is a bit more integration from BCHD into our zip code. It’s an entity that is stretched over three cities, and while its physical footprint is Redondo, I would really love to see more of a presence in Manhattan Beach for all of us.”
The candidates were also asked to weigh in on Proposition 2, the statewide $10 billion ballot measure that would provide matching funds for local school bond measures. In Manhattan Beach, the $200 million Measure RLS on the November ballot would be eligible for an estimated $57 million in matching funds if Prop. 2 also passes.
Some of the answers were less than clear. Franklin, for example, appeared to oppose Prop. 2 but did not outright state as much. Rather, he said that the problem is not lack of education funding but where those funds are allocated, and argued that MBUSD is punished for being a high achieving school with low funding.
“The state makes plenty of money for education. The challenge is they don’t give it to everybody because they have a Local Control Funding Formula. And that’s patently unfair, in my estimation,” he said.
Komatinsky said she was on the school board for previous bond campaigns in which MBUSD received matching funds, which she said were crucial. She said MBUSD has the metrics in place to immediately qualify for those funds if Prop. 2 and Measure RLS pass.
“I’m in support of Prop 2,” she said. “The reason behind that is because it actually will put us in a position here in Manhattan Beach that there are matching funds available to support Measure RLS…So it is really important to support both of those.”
Marcy expressed support for local measures, including the sales tax and school bond, but did not weigh in directly on Prop. 2.
“I’m a product of our public schools here in Manhattan Beach and there are so many infrastructure projects that still need to be done,” he said. “And we talk a lot on this campaign trail about RLS, about MMB, doing what we can to support our local initiatives here. I have always, and I will always support our schools here because we are cultivating leaders.”
O’Leary likewise expressed support for local measures but did not explicitly support Prop. 2, although her answer indicated that it corresponded in many ways with Measure RLS. In an earlier answer, O’Leary noted that as in her professional life she has worked on the other side of the bond market — the financial side that assesses and buys bonds — and she noted that like Measure RLS, Prop. 2 would not raise taxes.
“The thing about managing bonds at the state level or the local level is there’s a lot of bonds out there, and some mature and roll off and others are issued,” O’Leary said. “It’s kind of like when your car lease matures and you get a new car lease, it doesn’t raise your car payment. That’s what’s going on at the state level. They carry about $80 billion in general obligation bonds. And here at the local level, we have measure RLS, which provides matching funds. So Prop. 2 is a $10 billion infrastructure bond for the schools. It will likely pass because there are millions of dollars behind it, and there’s almost nothing in opposition to it. We haven’t passed an infrastructure bond since 2016. So we need to have RLS on the ballot, which is the other side of that. We have a $200 million bond on the ballot, which will receive $57 million in matching money if Prop 2 passes.”
Tarnay said she grew up in LAUSD schools that desperately could have used infrastructure upgrades.
“I do support Proposition 2. I also support RLS,” she said. “Because to not try to capture that $58 million that we could have in matching funds would be foolish.”
Charelian likewise expressed unqualified support for Proposition 2.
“As a parent of two young children under seven, I too endorse RLS, [which would provide] much needed upkeep and maintenance for infrastructure for schools for many, many years,” he said. “I think that goes hand in hand with Prop 2 … .So I would be for both.”
See video of the entire 90 minute forum at The MB News YouTube page, Youtube.com/@mbnews535. A transcript of the forum is also at TheMBNews.com. ER
