ELECTION 2024: Steve Charelian will win City Council seat
by Mark McDermott As his campaign rolled to completion a few weeks ago, Steve Charelian’s campaign manager asked him how he was feeling about things. “Well, it’s still not final, but I gave it my best shot,” Charlian said. “You know, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” His campaign manager looked down at his tablet […]
Mission to Africa: A Nigerian-born MBPD detective, with help from a colleague, hopes to bring running water to his home village
A trip to Africa by two MB police officers connects communities across the world by Mark McDermott One day in 1995, a 13-year-old girl named Nneka walked from her family’s home in the Nigerian village of Amuyi to a nearby body of water that was part pond, part muddy ditch. She and her 11-year-old […]
ELECTION 2024: Measures RLS, MMB both win voter approval
by Mark McDermott Measure RLS, the $200 million school bond intended to upgrade local schools, and Measure MMB, a half-cent sales tax increase that will provide the City of Manhattan Beach with $5 million in revenue annually, both succeeded at the ballot on Tuesday. Though votes are still being tallied, each measure won enough support […]
ELECTION 2024: Joe Franklin, Nina Tarnay win Manhattan city council election
by Mark McDermott Joe Franklin was reelected and Nina Tarnay elected to the Manhattan Beach City Council Tuesday night, emerging first and second from a field of six candidates vying for three seats. Candidate Steve Charelian held a 550 vote lead ahead of Karen Komatninsky for the third and final seat, likely winning election, but […]
EDUCATION: MBUSD student performance rises in state tests
by Mark McDermott Every autumn the Manhattan Beach Unified School District receives what school board trustee Bruce Greenberg likes to call its “report card,” or what is more cumbersomely known as the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, a battery of standardized tests required by the state to measure how well students are learning. […]
ELECTION 2024: Council candidates show more separation at final forum
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 […]
CITY COUNCIL: Manhattan Beach experiences a peaceful transfer of power
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 […]
EDUCATION: Measure RLS wins support of all local elected officials
by Mark McDermott The campaign for Measure RLS is offering a multi-pronged argument in favor of the $200 million school bond appearing on the November 5 ballot. The first part is the necessity of upgrades, which range from healthier drinking water, bigger kindergarten classrooms with bathrooms attached, no more leaky roofs, and state-of-the-art science labs […]
Law Enforcement: Driver faces manslaughter charge in MBPD Chad Swanson crash
by Mark McDermott Charges have been filed against a man accused of causing the multi-vehicle freeway accident that resulted in the death of Manhattan Beach Police Department Officer Chad Swanson last October. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office last week charged Raymond Eugune Sanders, 69, with a single count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. […]
Manhattan Beach City Council Candidate Tarnay a new voice
by Mark McDermott When Nina Tarnay announced her candidacy for Manhattan Beach City Council, it surprised some of the people who know her. She’s a practicing attorney, a very active mother of three kids, and a heavily involved volunteer in everything from the Jimmy Miller Foundation to the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation. But to those […]
Manhattan Beach City Council Candidate Komatinsky doing the work
by Mark McDermott During candidate forums that tend to be long on verbage and short on actionable plans, Karen Komatinsky likes to remind herself of something outgoing Councilperson Steve Napolitano once advised her. “Remember,” he told her, “you’re going to govern very differently than you’re going to campaign.” This doesn’t mean Komatinsky’s campaign promises are […]
Manhattan Beach Council Candidate Franklin incumbent mayor and MB believer
by Mark McDermott Very early most mornings, when The Strand the pier are mostly isolated and the most wakeful population of Manhattan Beach are its surfers and sea birds, you will find a man with a shock of white hair walking alone along the beach, stopping every so often to pick something up, almost like […]
The Man Who Would Be Judge: Steve Napolitano exits the Manhattan Beach political stage and runs for the judicial bench
by Mark McDermott In 1990, Manhattan Beach was still a scruffy yet beautiful little beach town. But it was also rapidly changing in a manner that threatened to leave its middle class roots behind. Strand lot prices hit $1 million, and other signs of gentrification were arriving, including high-end shops and a proliferation of real […]
MB CITY COUNCIL: Outdoor dining pilot program nixed, Lot 3 demolition ok’d
by Mark McDermott The Manhattan Beach City Council Tuesday night rejected a proposed pilot program that would have extended the sidewalks outside three downtown restaurants. Later in the meeting, the Council also approved the demolition of Parking Lot 3 and the creation of 90 temporary parking spaces throughout the downtown area. The two issues were […]
ELECTION 2024: Manhattan City Council candidates face off at Rotary Club forum
by Mark McDermott The six candidates vying for three seats on the Manhattan Beach City Council in the November 5 election squared off for the first time Monday morning in a forum organized by the Rotary Club. The candidate forum, which took place at westdrift Hotel, was moderated by outgoing Councilperson Richard Montgomery and resident […]
AN AMERICAN DREAM: Beach Chinese, a local takeout food institution, closing shop after Sunday
Video by Jefferson Graham by Mark McDermott In 1989, Kim Ngo and her husband Son Dang saw an opportunity on Rosecrans Avenue. They’d arrived in the United States a decade earlier as “boat people,” a term that was popularized after media coverage showed thousands of refugees fleeing Vietnam, adrift on boats. They were flown to […]