MEASURE A – Battle lines drawn over Measure A parcel tax
by Mark McDermott The item on the City Council agenda Tuesday night proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) in which the City of Manhattan Beach would agree to collect the parcel taxes proposed by the citizens’ initiative, Measure A, and establish an oversight process for how those funds are to be spent. The discussion that ensued, however, went far beyond the M.O.U. and into the pros and cons of Measure A itself. Dozens of residents weighed in, often passionately, and two council members, Joe Franklin and Suzanne Hadley, came out against the ballot initiative. Political season for the June 7 election, largely confined to social media, arrived within City Council chambers in the first fully live, in-person Council meeting since before the pandemic. The Council did ultimately approve the M.O.U. in a 3-2 vote, with Franklin and Hadley opposing, which was a necessary item of business as Measure A arrives in mail ballots next week. The M.O.U. is unusual because the previous parcel tax, enacted in 2018, as well as previous bond measures supporting local schools, leaves oversight in the hands of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. But Measure A is different because it…
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