Residents voted Tuesday for a six–year planning commissioner and a two-term Manhattan Beach Unified School board member to represent them as the city’s newest council members.
MBUSD Board Member Amy Howorth and Manhattan Beach Planning Commissioner David Lesser will be sworn in as City Council members next week after winning two open seats – to be vacated by Councilmembers Portia Cohen and Mitch Ward – over candidates Planning Commission Chair Kathleen Paralusz and political activist Viet Ngo.
By the time ballot counters completed their work at 9:30 p.m., results showed Lesser on top, pulling down 39.69 percent of the vote, followed by Howorth with 33.55 percent, Paralusz with 21.95 percent and Ngo with 4.81 percent, in an election that turned out 20 percent of the registered voters in the city, including mail-in ballots and all 10 precincts reporting.
“I think the voters of Manhattan Beach put their trust in me because I’ve earned it over the last seven years as a member of the Manhattan Beach Unified School Board,” Howorth said. “Even though they voted for me, I feel like it represents my fellow school board members, PTAs and [Manhattan Beach Education] Foundation and all the people who’ve worked hard for our schools.”
“There were really competent and capable candidates I was running with,” Lesser said. “I am honored and take these responsibilities very seriously.”
A fulltime school board member and mom, Howorth, 46, is a 14-year resident and lives with her husband, Mark, and their two sons, age 15 and 14. She has also served on the Robinson Elementary Parent-Teacher Association and the city’s first Environmental Task Force.
An attorney, Lesser, 50, has lived in Manhattan Beach for 16 years with his wife, Elisabeth. The couple has a son, 10, and a daughter, 8. He’s spent the last six years on the city’s Planning Commission, which he chaired previously. He’s also served on the city’s Parking and Public Improvements Commission.
Both Howorth and Lesser celebrated their victories late Tuesday night at the Manhattan home of MBUSD Board Member Ellen Rosenberg and her husband, Mike, where City Council, school board and other community members gathered to offer congratulations.
“It was great,” Howorth said. “My good friends had a party for me. There were people there from eight years ago when I was elected to school board. And there were also a lot of new people I got to meet.”
Lesser said that the highlight of the election was bringing his kids to the Joslyn Community Center, where ballots were counted, to “watch the process, win or lose.”
Howorth said she’s used to the pace at which a municipal governing body functions and is ready to immediately begin meeting community members, getting up to speed on city issues and “diving in.”
“I’m just going to transfer my energies over to the city,” she said.
Lesser said he plans to begin meeting with City Council members and senior city staff to delve into past and current issues.
“I plan to learn as much information as possible so I can hit the ground running,” he said.
Howorth and Lesser will both be sworn in at the City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
The morning after the election, Lesser enjoyed his new status by taking his kids to school, his dog for a walk and his car to a repair shop.
Howorth picked up her after her dog.
“Some things still never change,” she said. ER
