City of Manhattan Beach
1400 Highland Avenue
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Meeting Minutes - Final
Thursday, March 10, 2022
6:00 PM
Bruce's Beach Park Plaque Language
Zoom Meeting
City Council Study Session
ELECTED OFFICIALS
Mayor Hildy Stern
Mayor Pro Tem Steve Napolitano
Councilmember Richard Montgomery
Councilmember Joe Franklin
Councilmember Suzanne Hadley
March 10, 2022City Council Study Session Meeting Minutes - Final
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CITY ARCHIVES THE VIDEO RECORDINGS OF ALL
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS AND THE VIDEO FOR THIS MEETING IS HEREBY INCORPORATED BY THIS REFERENCE. ALSO IN SUPPORT OF
MORE TRANSPARENCY AND THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) COMPLIANCE, THE CITY OFFERS CLOSED CAPTIONING FOR REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS. FOR A COMPLETE RECORD OF THIS CITY COUNCIL MEETING, GO TO:
www.manhattanbeach.gov/departments/city-clerk/city-council-meetings-agendas-and-minutes A. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Mayor Stern called the meeting to order.
B. PLEDGE TO THE FLAG
Mayor Stern led the Pledge of Allegiance.
C. ROLL CALL
Roll Call by City Clerk Tamura.
Mayor Stern, Mayor Pro Tem Napolitano, Councilmember Montgomery, Councilmember Franklin, and Councilmember Hadley
Present 5 -
D. PUBLIC COMMENTS (3 MINUTES PER PERSON)
Mayor Stern opened the floor to public comments. The following individual(s) spoke:
Kristin Long
Seeing no further requests to speak, Mayor Stern closed the floor to public comments.
March 10, 2022City Council Study Session Meeting Minutes - Final E. GENERAL BUSINESS
1. 22-0112Consideration of the Language for and Placement of Plaques at Bruce’s Beach (City Manager Moe).
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
City Manager Bruce Moe introduced Policy and Management Analyst Alexandria Latragna who provided the PowerPoint presentation.
Policy and Management Analyst Latragna and Isela Gracian, Senior Deputy of Homelessness and Housing from Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s Office, responded to City Council questions.
Mayor Stern opened the floor to public comments. The following individual(s) spoke:
Rod Stoddard
Fred Taylor
Heather
Mike Michalski
Amy Howorth
John Chaykowski
Tina Shivpuri
Seeing no further requests to speak, Mayor Stern closed the floor to public comments.
COUNCIL DECISION POINT: LANGUAGE
A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Napolitano to adopt his proposed plaque language with amendments.
The City Council worked together to edit Mayor Pro Tem Napolitano’s suggested plaque language.
A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Napolitano, seconded by Mayor Stern, to adopt his proposed plague language as amended by the City Council and to send the language to a grammarian for review. The motion carried by the following vote:
Aye: 5 - Stern, Napolitano, Montgomery, Franklin and Hadley
March 10, 2022City Council Study Session Meeting Minutes - Final The adopted plaque language is as follows:
“After being turned away from other coastal cities, Willa and Charles Bruce purchased property along the Strand in Manhattan Beach to create a beach resort for the area’s Black community on February 19, 1912. By 1916, the resort known as “Bruce’s Beach” was a thriving fixture for visiting Blacks, with a restaurant, dancehall,
changing rooms, and showers.
Soon after, several other Black families purchased property and built homes in the area where this park is now, including Major George Prioleau and Mrs. Ethel Prioleau, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary R. Sanders, Milton and Anna Johnson, John McCaskill and Elzia L. Irvin, and James and Lulu Slaughter.
Unfortunately, not everyone in Manhattan Beach welcomed the Bruces’ enterprise and its crowds of Black patrons in that era of Jim Crow and racial segregation.
The Bruces, their patrons, and the other Black property owners in the area faced harassment, intimidation, and discrimination by some ,
including City Hall. The
purpose of these actions was to make Manhattan Beach inhospitable to Black residents and visitors.
Enough White residents ultimately pressured the City Council to exercise its power of eminent domain to acquire the land for use as a public park. The City condemned the properties of the Bruces, Prioleaus, Johnsons, Patterson, and
Sanders. Twenty-five White-owned properties that sat undeveloped among the Black-owned properties were condemned as well.
The City’s action at the time was racially motivated and wrong. Today , the City acknowledges, empathizes, and condemns those past actions . We are not the Manhattan Beach of one hundred years ago. We reject racism, hate, intolerance, and exclusion.
This park is named in memory of Bruce’s Beach and in recognition of Manhattan Beach’s next one hundred years as a city of respect and inclusion .” COUNCIL DECISION POINT: PLACEMENT
A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Napolitano, seconded by Mayor Stern, to place the plaque within Bruce's Beach Park in an area determined to be appropriate and accessible to all, have Parks and Recreation staff return with the selected location for final approval, and to remove the old plaque. The motion carried by the following vote:
Aye: 3 - Stern, Napolitano and Montgomery
Nay: Franklin and Hadley2 -