Manhattan Beach Council Candidate Marcy a hometown kid makes his bid
by Jefferson Graham
After serving three terms as president of the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair, Joe Marcy wanted to go to the next level of serving his city by becoming a City Council member. He is one of six vying for the three spots in the 2024 election.
Born and bred in Manhattan Beach, where he graduated from Mira Costa High School in 2003, the 39-year-old tourism executive sees planning as the biggest issue facing the city.
The currently shuttered parking lot in the downtown that was deemed unsafe in 2024 was signalled two years ago as a potential issue, but the council kicked the can down the road and didn’t deal with it properly, he says.
“I would have had a contingency plan,” he says. “The council took a wait and see approach” on the now closed parking lot, “and that highlights the process….It will cost more money to address it this way instead of having a proper plan in place.”
Marcy, who was recently named to the Mira Costa High School Hall of Fame, along with outgoing councilmember Steve Napolitano, works for a company 300 plus miles up the road, for Monterey County tourism. He’s been doing it remotely for eight years. He only leaves Manhattan Beach to visit Monterey quarterly, he says.
For See Monterey his tasks are to work with businesses to meet at the convention center and hotels, something he wouldn’t want to replicate here.
“We don’t have a convention center. I don’t want to bring in tour buses. Our tourism is a different model. We have the culture of a small beach community and we like it like that.”
Marcy serves on the Manhattan Beach Parking and Public Improvement Commission, and he was instrumental in helping to get the rainbow crosswalk by the Strand and the Pier.
As he campaigns in Manhattan Beach and knocks on people’s doors, the top issues that people bring up to him: Infrastructure and police visibility.
Residents would like to see more police presence in the streets, he says, and the parking situation tackled.
On the sales tax initiative that’s on the ballot to raise money for fixing things like broken parking lots, Marcy supports it. “We need the funds.”
On his website, he notes what he’s against: “Wasting your tax dollars on distractions that don’t benefit our community.” For clarification, Marcy says that means “expensive feasibility studies and the mishandling of the Parking Lot Structure 3.”
Of Manhattan Beach, the town where he still lives with his parents, who he is helping to take care of, he says, “I’ve travelled quite extensively, but there’s no place like home. The climate is fantastic, the local businesses and dining options are incredible. Why leave the bubble?” ER