Manhattan Beach Year in Review: new beginnings
It’s been a year of new beginnings for Manhattan Beach. The city hired a bundle of new leaders – a city manager, police chief, fire chief, city attorney and a handful of police officers and fire fighters. The council approved schematic designs for the new $22 million Manhattan Beach library, construction for which is expected to begin in February of 2013.
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District welcomed more than 70 new employees and for the first time in four years and didn’t face layoff-triggering budget cuts. The school district also implemented new programs, including the iPad pilot, and test scores continued to rise.
Police busted 40-year-old con-artist Gia Christina Hendricks, who stole a Manhattan Beach man’s credit card and charged it with $9,000 of merchandise, and 27-year-old Christopher Wayne Gray, a Mira Costa instructional assistant charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.
Rolling into the new year is especially exciting for Manhattan Beach, as 2012 marks the city’s centennial year.
A new library in progress
PHOTO COURTESY OF MANHATTAN BEACH
The new Manhattan Beach library is underway – the $22 million library is to double in size and will include adult reading areas, a teen and children section, and a 100-seat community meeting room. Officials expect a groundbreaking in the beginning of 2013.
This year, the city, county and community discussed, in depth, the meaning of a library in a digital age.
“What is a library in this day and age and what will it be in 20 to 30 years?” Councilmember David Lesser once asked at a City Council meeting. With e-readers and tablets becoming more and more popular, he wondered if the concept of a library would eventually become obsolete.
Miguel Acosta, assistant to the county librarian, said the infrastructure would be built for maximum flexibility. “Some pundits have claimed that the birth of the e-book will mean the end of the library – this is far from the truth,” Acosta said. “Underneath some of the book stacks, we’ll be installing electrical and data ports, so that if we find that we don’t need as many stacks some day, when we remove them, we still have the infrastructure to add more seating, more computers or more program area.”
County Librarian Margaret Todd said the library would still serve the community, whether as a meeting place, cultural center, or to provide materials that are not available digitally. “It will still be a place where people come to work and study,” she said, adding, “Parents are still going to enjoy using picture books with children.”
New city leaders
Dave Carmany assumed his position as city manager in January.
Prior to this, Carmany served as the city manager for Seal Beach, where he managed a budget of $48 million— similar to Manhattan Beach’s roughly $49 million budget — and directed 91 employees in five departments, including police, public works, administrative services, marine safety lifeguards and development services.
This year, under Carmany’s leadership, Manhattan Beach maintained its AAA bond rating.
Chief of Police Eve Irvine. Photo by Alexandra Mandekic
During Eve Irvine’s early years at Inglewood Police Department, a high ranking official in the department asked her about her long-term goals. Irvine said she’d like to make captain of the department.
He scoffed. “The day we have a female captain in Inglewood is the day pigs fly,” she recalled him saying.
Twenty years later, Irvine made captain. A week later, she noticed a flying pig toy at a swap meet. It’s been prominently displayed in her office ever since.
In June, the 29-year law enforcement veteran was sworn in as the Manhattan Beach’s new police chief.
As chief, Irvine oversaw this year’s Charlie Saikley Six Man Tournament, during which 57 police personnel and 54 private security personnel were deployed to keep the community safe.
That weekend, Irvine wasn’t just managing her staff – she also made an arrest of her own. While driving, she noticed the woman in the middle of Manhattan Beach Boulevard in her own vomit. When the police went to pick her up, the woman urinated. Irvine arrested her for being drunk in public.
Roxanne Diaz was hired to serve as the city attorney in September. Diaz has worked for the law firm, Richards, Watson and Gershon, since graduating from law school from University of California, Hastings College of Law just over 15 years ago. She’s currently the city attorney for Hidden Hills and chief assistant city attorney for Beverly Hills.
Since assuming her post, she’s had to oversee a handful of claims and lawsuits filed against the city of Manhattan Beach.
On June 13, Robert Espinosa, the 29-year fire veteran retuned to his South Bay roots and took over as chief of the Manhattan Beach Fire Department.
“My heart’s always been in the South Bay,” said Espinosa, who started firefighting for the El Segundo Fire Department after he was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1982. “I’ve always enjoyed small-town firefighting. When this position opened up, it was a no-brainer for me.”
PHOTO BY ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
Technology in the classroom
New technology has been implemented throughout the district this year – iPads are being used by one grade level at each elementary school, in the science department at Manhattan Beach Middle School and in eight different classes at Mira Costa High School.
Later this academic year, the School Board will examine the effectiveness of the iPad pilot for students and teachers to determine how to move forward. “These are the kids, at three years old, that are driving around in the back seat with smart phones, intuitively using technology,” said Ellen Rosenberg, board president. “If we don’t have something in place, we’re going to be missing out.”
With the iPads, students have access to a more individualized education, said Karina Gerger, the teacher on special assignment for 21st century learning. “Teachers can facilitate small groups of students at different levels,” Gerger said.
No more plastic bags
Illustration by Keith Robinson
In 2008, the Manhattan Beach City Council passed an ordinance banning the use of plastic carry-out bags and requiring that paper bags provided by local businesses be recyclable.
What followed was a three-year legal battle that crossed its finish line in July in front of the California Supreme Court – ultimately, the city of Manhattan Beach was able to enact a plastic bag ban.
Since then, multiple cities have followed suit. Huntington Beach, Burbank, Glendale and Beverly Hills are working on enacting plastic bag bans.
When Manhattan Beach initially passed the ordinance, a coalition of plastic bag retailers and a plastic bag recycling company sued the city, alleging that the ban did not meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
A series of decisions and appeals ensued, until the case was finally brought to the state Supreme Court.
In July, the high court ruled to uphold the plastic bag ban in Manhattan Beach, reversing rulings by two lower courts that required the city to prepare an environmental impact report before implementing the ban.
Manhattan Beach plans to roll out the ordinance next month.
While small businesses aren’t affected by the ban, the city council hopes that the ordinance will also cause small businesses to question their use of plastic bags. “We’re not trying to be oppressive here, we are showing the public that we have a choice,” said Councilmember Richard Montgomery.
City bans smoking on The Strand
The City Council voted unanimously in August to ban smoking on The Strand and along Veterans Parkway/Greenbelt in Manhattan Beach.
“The Strand has become a designated smoking area for people who know they can’t smoke on the beach,” said Councilmember Wayne Powell, noting the dangers of secondhand smoke and that The Strand is littered with cigarette butts.
Powell fought to put this ordinance on the city work plan, and noted that it’s a personal matter for him – his father died of lung cancer at 52, and his mother suffered from a lung disease and died of a stroke. Both his parents were smokers, he said.
Both of Councilmember Amy Howorth’s parents died of smoking-related diseases as well, she said. “I’m really proud to do this,” she said.
Smoking or secondhand smoke accounts for about 438,000 deaths each year in the United States, according to a 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Downtown partying leads to changes for next year’s Six Man
MBPD Police Chief Irvine discusses the Six Man with residents. PHOTO BY ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
This year’s Charlie Saikley Six Man Volleyball Tournament came and went – drawing about 60,000 people to the Manhattan Beach pier. While the city was able to crack down on alcohol and partying on the beach, residents complained the party moved to residential areas downtown.
The event was responsible for 39 arrests, and homes on The Strand were rented out for upwards of $10,000 for the weekend, said Chief Eve Irvine of the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
The six-man will continue next year, with significant changes. The city approved a mid-week tournament scheduled for a Tuesday and Wednesday, the idea being to reduce security costs and decrease partying downtown. This could also reduce entry fees, which increased this year from $600 to $1,100 for unsponsored teams and $1,000 to $2,500 for sponsored teams.
Event organizers, including Scott Hubbell who handles the sponsorships and Jay Saikley, were proponents of a mid-week event. “It’s ugly up in the city,” Hubbell said, adding, “It’s about playing volleyball. I like to party, but at the same time I don’t want to do it at someone else’s expense.”
Locked up
Christopher Wayne Gray. Photo courtesy of MBPD
Christopher Wayne Gray was arrested on Oct. 5 for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. He was charged with nine counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.
“It’s a difficult time for all of us,” Michael Matthews, district superintendent, said at the time. “When something like this happens to one of our students, it’s very upsetting.”
The alleged victim is a female student at Mira Costa High School under the age of 14. The victim’s parents contacted the police, police said in October. It was reported that the alleged acts had been taking place since the spring of this year.
The Manhattan Beach resident has a wife and two kids, police said. He had been an employee with Manhattan Beach Unified School District since November of 2010 and started at Mira Costa this fall. Prior to that, he worked at Manhattan Beach Middle School. As an instructional assistant, Gray worked with special education students. The victim is not a special education student.
Gray’s preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 12. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 24 years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
Gia Christina Hendricks. Photo courtesy MBPD
Gia Hendricks, a con-artist who charged $9,000 to a Manhattan Beach man’s stolen credit card was arrested in November, bringing justice to individuals beyond the South Bay – Hendricks was wanted for similar offenses in Washington and Oregon.
She “befriends unsuspecting people, gains their trust and then uses their identity to obtain cash and property,” police said, at the time.
She was convicted and sent to jail for just over 1,000 days. Her scheduled release date is in 2013.
The holiday fireworks festival in Manhattan Beach. The festival also kicked off the city’s centennial.
Rolling into Manhattan Beach’s centennial
This month marked 100 years since the founding of Manhattan Beach. The Centennial Committee and the city are hosting a heap of events next year to celebrate, including a centennial carnival at the Manhattan Village mall on Jan. 29 and a centennial-themed parade that will feature a picnic in Polliwog Park with an historic photo display, food and entertainment on May 19. The city is also hosting the Centennial Beach Ball on Sept. 22.