Manhattan Beach Elections 2022: Problem solving over politics – Rita Crabtree-Kampe seeks community-based collaboration 

Rita Crabtree-Kampe. Photo courtesy of the candidate

by Mark McDermott

Rita Crabtree-Kampe became involved with the city government a few years ago after she started paying attention to the homelessness task force. After several meetings, and countless discussions about how to address Manhattan Beach’s homeless population, she remembered two things emerging from the task force: a new City position, and the sharing of phone numbers for people to report issues with homelessness. 

“That was great. We got our homelessness liaison,” she recalled. “But I was like, ‘What is the action?’ Well, we have these four phone numbers, and you can call them if you see something. That was it. And that’s pretty much when we started.” 

What she and other residents started was a non-profit called MB Safe, which provided actual outreach for unhoused people and helped connect them with resources to find housing and other help. Eventually the City also added “navigators” who provide outreach, as well as access to shelter beds. The combination of MB Safe and the City’s programs has resulted in a steep decline in local homelessness. 

After spending these last few years attending City Council meetings, Crabtree-Kampe began to believe she could help in more ways than addressing homelessness. So she decided to run for council. 

“I bring the ability to take people to a circumstance to discuss the problem, and hash things out in a productive manner for action, not a list of things we might do someday down the road.”

Crabtree-Kampe said her passions also happen to be priorities for the City. 

“I have a history of not just passion for our city, but a passion for the things coming up —  housing, homelessness, and environment —  and the ability to communicate with groups of people, and bring them together. Let’s figure things out.” 

Crabtree-Kampe is trained as a speech language pathologist. She attended Syracuse University in her home state of New York, where she grew up the youngest of seven in a small town upstate. Public service comes naturally to her because of her upbringing. 

“The community was our family. It was never just us seven children at the dining table,” she said. “There were usually somewhere between four and 10 other people hanging out in our house, people my parents took in because they were struggling college students, or a cousin who had falling out with his parents, AFS students…It didn’t matter who you were, it was more how could we help.”

After completing her master’s degree, she was required to do a fellowship, and came to California. On her third day in the state, she made a big discovery. 

“Oh, my gosh, beach volleyball? I have to play this game,” she remembered thinking. “I still play. I met my husband, Stefan, on the volleyball court. I’ve lured at least five or six nieces and nephews from my family out here.” 

She and her family live on a walk street. Their neighbors are their best friends. It feels like the California dream, but Crabtree-Kampe is keenly aware that not everyone has had this experience. Hence her involvement in homeless outreach. In co-founding MB Safe, she was able to bring together people of all political stripes. 

“We are not political. We are doing a service for people who need help in our community,” she said. “Just yesterday, we did a family reunification, paying for a bus ticket for a man to go back to his family in Ohio. The guy came here in June ‘I thought I’m gonna live the California Dream,’ he said to me yesterday. ‘This ain’t no dream. It’s a nightmare.’ Living on the streets is a nightmare.”  

Crabtree-Kampe hopes to bring this community-based collaborative problem solving to the council. One issue she would address is e-bike safety. 

“We have young children who have not been through Driver’s Ed, and they don’t know the rules of the road,” she said. “I think we need an actual program at the middle school where, if you want to ride any bike to school, you have to pass a course and get a sticker for your bike.” 

Likewise, she wants to push back against state housing dictates that allow such projects as Verandas, but to do so in a collaborative manner. 

“Let’s get the Council of Governments and other cities and say, ‘Okay, let’s be proactive. Let’s create a plan and create pushback on Sacramento coming down and telling us how we’re going to do housing.’ I bring an element of action and problem solving. There’s a lot of pontificating. But I don’t need to talk for hours about something. Just give your opinion, and let’s move on. The public deserves that. I bring a background of research, as well, so I’m not going to just rely on the staff reports. I will to sit down and do the research.” 

“I’m still not a politician, even though I’m running for city council,” she said. “One of the biggest things was when I looked at the list of people who had pulled papers, and were running again, and again, and again —  you know, there are a lot of people in this town, and it should be run by residents, not politicians.” ER 

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