Manhattan Beach: Here's Your Bruce's Beach Task Force!

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — The Manhattan Beach City Council chose 15 residents to fill 13 spots and two alternates on the Bruce's Beach Task Force during last night's regularly scheduled City Coucil meeting. Council chose from close to 100 applicants.

Said Mayor Pro Tem Suzanne Hadley, "We were fortunate to have 100 highly-qualified, committed, generous, spirited residents apply for a spot on the Bruce's Beach task force. Truly an 'embarrassment of riches.' I'm grateful for all who applied. The task force members are an impressive group who will bring their own unique perspective to memorializing and teaching the history of Bruce's Beach. I'm looking forward to their recommendations."

City Council worked through the list fairly quickly and appointed the following Bruce's Beach Task Force members [in order of selection]

1. Allison Hales
2. Anthony Lee
3. Isla Garraway
4. Lindsey Fox
5. Taylor Gamble
6. Amanda Park
7. Stephanie Caridad
8. Kristin Long Drew
9. Tyler St. Bernard
10. Lana Rizika
11. Kristi Ramirez-Knowles
12. Michael Jenkins
13. Jarett Margolis
14. Alternate Seat: Eyana Carballo
15. Alternate Seat: Laura Kainsinger

Said Lindsey Fox, "I am very honored and thankful to Council member Stern, Council member Hersman and Council member Napolitano for the appointment. I really look forward to the work of honoring the history of Bruce’s Beach, the incredible legacy of Willa Bruce and the healing that I hope the task force can bring."

Council members Hildy Stern and Steve Napolitano will chair the task force. They expect to have their first meeting within the next two weeks.

The Bruce's Bach Task Force was created after activists pushed for the Manhattan Beach City Council to formally hear the accurate history of what transpired 100 years ago [give or take] to Willa Bruce, a Black woman who owned oceanfront property and operated a successful and popular business where Blacks could dine, lodge, enjoy entertainment and go to the beach during the Jim Crow era.

The Bruce's Beach park in Manhattan Beach has a monument with a plaque on it, however, that plaque has been called out for not being 100% accurate. The task force will look into how to handle the existing monument and plaque, as well as other creative ideas to commemorate the history of Bruce's Beach.

Said Napolitano, "I'm excited about the task force, we had a great group of applicants, it really was an embarrassment of riches. I wish we could have appointed all of them but we had to keep the group manageable so we can accomplish our goals. Nobody should be discouraged though; we're going to encourage involvement along the way throughout the process.

"How fast we do things will depend on the group," he noted. "It will be important to stay focused, but we've got a lot to discuss too and everyone is bringing something unique to the group. We want to let that shine. It took us nearly 100 years to get to this point, so for me it's more important to take what time is necessary to get it right more than get it done quickly. We'll be making our recommendations to council, because council will need to approve any spending. Whether it's one thing at a time or a package will be discussed at the task force, just depends on what we can get done and how any one idea is connected to the others."

Said Stern, "I am thrilled to see so much interest and willingness from our community. Selecting only 15 members from a pool of 100 talented, passionate applicants who bring such varied and relevant experience was difficult. In the end, we have a group who certainly represent a wonderful cross section of our community. I am truly looking forward to working with each of them and am grateful for their contribution to this effort. I also hope that those who were not selected will continue to be in this conversation as well.

"We have received a wide range of ideas as to how to address the history of Bruce's Beach and each member of the task force has their own unique perspective as well," said Stern. "I have also been in contact with Supervisor Hahn's office, who is taking this issue seriously and is very interested in being a part of this effort. There have not been any decisions as yet, as to specifically what will be done. The task force will be making its recommendations to council for approval so the timing of when we will have the first concrete recommendation is not clear at this time. I am definitely impatient to get to work."