Bruce's Beach: City Council Candidates State Their Positions

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Former Manhattan Beach Mayor Mitch Ward asked each of the candidates for Manhattan Beach City Council in the upcoming election to answer questions on Bruce's Beach, race relations, helping all businesses and not just downtown, and whether or not they have accepted any PAC funds. His website is now live with those answers.

One of the most provocative questions, Ward, who lives in Manhattan Beach and was the first Black individual to serve on City Council and as Mayor, posited is this: "What will you do to alter the perceived or real notion that Manhattan Beach is not a city welcoming to Black and Brown people? What policy proposals will you recommend to be implemented by Manhattan Beach City Council which would ensure that people of color know that they are always fairly and equally treated when they encounter our police officers?"

All seven candidates provided answers to Ward's six questions, which cover a broad spectrum beyond race, including construction noise and the Manhattan Beach Youth Recognition Award scholarship he began in 2000. Ward said the annual award was given to one Manhattan Beach student and "a Los Angeles County inner city student who possessed academic excellence and who needed financial assistance to achieve their dream to attend higher education after high school."

Ward, who owns a small business in Manhattan Beach and is an actor and model, was instrumental in the 2006 renaming of what is now known as Bruce's Beach. He was on city council at the time and helped delve into the history and have the park's name changed to Bruce's Beach in honor of a Black couple who lived in Manhattan Beach operating a business for Blacks so they could enjoy the shoreline, beach, and ocean in the early 1900s. The city took the property via eminent domain in the late 1920s under the guise of needing a park when historical documentation now shows they were discriminated against and city officials did not want Black people owning property.

The webpage showing the candidates' positions is here. Ward has made the page available as a downloadable PDF. Here is another [perhaps easier when online] way to view the page.