Manhattan Beach City Council candidate profile: Howorth offers experience amid uncertain times
By Mark McDermott
Nobody has more experience in Manhattan Beach governance in this century than Amy Howorth.
Howorth entered public service as a trustee and two-time board president for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. She served from 2003 to 2011, when she was elected to the City Council. She served two council terms, ending in 2019, and then returned to the council in 2022. She has served as mayor three times.
Howorth touts several policy accomplishments, including the city’s plastic bag and smoking bans, its first comprehensive development impact fee program (aimed at mitigating impacts of state-mandated housing projects), and this year’s funding commitment to finally build the Scout & Senior Community Center.
In seeking a fourth term on council, her priorities include shaping the future of two city-owned downtown parcels, protecting what local control the city still has over housing, and preparing the city for both climate change and artificial intelligence.
But perhaps most fundamentally, Howorth believes she offers a steady and experienced hand during a period of great uncertainty.
“I’m running because this is a really scary time, both locally and globally,” Howorth said. “The world seems like a very uncertain place with the rapid and intensifying changes brought about by artificial intelligence, the climate impacts that we are seeing, whether it’s fires or hurricanes, strong winds, flooding in places, high temperatures. With my experience, I bring so much knowledge and relationships to the table, but I’m not putting my head in the sand and saying, ‘Well, nothing can ever change.’ Because simply we can’t. Everything is changing around us.”
She emphasizes her broad experience as a local elected official, and particularly her longstanding ties, as a former trustee, with the school district. She prioritizes the city maintaining a close working relationship with MBUSD. Howorth is also a consultant, working with public agencies throughout the state to improve their management practices, thereby also gaining a broader view of how different cities are run.
But the job Howorth credits for how she sees the future came before her time in the public sector. In 1993, she was the first photo editor at Wired magazine, then a brand new publication devoted to the digital age.
“I was sitting in with the editors in chief and visionary thinkers, and it really helped shape how I think about the present and the future,” she said. “I’d like to believe that it makes me someone who’s realistic about changes coming, but also knowledgeable about how to make it work for us.”
Nowhere is that change more pressing than housing. Howorth counts 21 state laws passed since 2021 that limit local control over development. Huntington Beach, which has refused to adopt a state-approved housing element, is now paying $50,000 a month in penalties, she said. Some have argued Manhattan Beach should become a charter city to escape state housing mandates. Howorth said it would not.
“The state has declared a state of emergency over housing, affordable housing,” she said. “Because of that, charter cities are not exempt. I’m not sure residents realize that if we get on the wrong side of this, we lose all permitting authority. So even if you want to do a bathroom remodel, you have to go through the state of California to get approval, and I don’t think anyone wants that. I’m not going to do something that jeopardizes taxpayer dollars just because it feels good to shake my fist at Sacramento.”
Howorth said this will be her final campaign. What brings her back is unfinished work downtown.
“This is my last time I’m running. I know people say that, but I know why I’m running, and it’s because I want to finish some work,” she said. “We have a really great opportunity with two parcels in our downtown.”
Those parcels are 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, the former Union Bank site the city purchased after the 2024 election, and Parking Lot 3, across from Metlox. Howorth credited City Manager Talyn Mirzakhanian with spotting the opportunity, allowing the city to better control the future of its downtown.
“It was very important to me that we do this so that you didn’t have some large multi-story building,” she said.
At a recent council meeting, architects presented early concepts for the site. Howorth pushed back. That willingness, she said, is what experience buys.
“When I was first on council, if I had seen the plans that the architects proposed, I might not have known that I could say, ‘Wait, why are we trying to look like Metlox?'” she said. “That’s what experience gives you. It gives you the confidence and courage at the dais to say, ‘Hey, look, I know you’ve all worked hard on this, but let’s try something different.’ I don’t have to call them idiots.”
Four years ago, Howorth’s platform led with the Scout & Senior Community Center and a new Begg Pool. The center is funded. The pool ran into tens of millions of dollars in road and accessibility costs. “Not giving up on the pool,” she said, “but right now it’s too much of a heavy lift.” Meanwhile, the city is exploring a deal under which Bay Club would build and operate an aquatic center on city land, with public access, and contribute $1 million toward Begg Pool.
Howorth also wants the city ready for artificial intelligence. The city is drafting an AI policy, she said, and has doubled its cybersecurity efforts. She wants AI to open up public records.
“It’s really hard if you want to find somebody’s track record on something,” she said. “I hope that AI makes it easier for residents to access records in a more meaningful way, to aid transparency. There’s so much that can be done, but a good policy is key.”
Environmental issues have long been among Howorth’s top priorities. She warns against complacency in a city long considered a leader, and calls for building codes that are “not just sustainable policies, but maybe even regenerative ones.”
“We can’t take our eye off that ball,” she said. “I saw this futurist at this Cal Cities conference who said climate change is imperiling capitalism. That should be a wake-up call for some people.”
Howorth grew up in Coshocton, Ohio, where her father and grandfather owned the town bar.
“I grew up on 30 acres of land, and I now live on a 30 by 90 lot,” she said. “In Coshocton, Ohio, you say hello to people on the street, and you buy the raffle tickets from the school kids, and you go to the fire department pancake breakfast, and you do the same things here in Manhattan Beach. There may be changes coming, but we need to treat each other like that. Let’s show all the new people coming to Manhattan Beach who we are, and let’s welcome them in and get them buying those raffle tickets and the pancakes.” ER
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