Bruce's Beach Task Force Applicants Number 86+ In Manhattan Beach

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — The City of Manhattan Beach had received 86 applications for serving on the Bruce's Beach Task Force as of Thursday afternoon, said Management Analyst Alexandria Latragna. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, Oct. 2 by midnight. Applications are available and submitted online, she said. [Link at end 0f article.]

At its Sept. 1 meeting, Manhattan Beach City Council directed staff to begin the application process for the nine residents who would serve on the task force with council members Hildy Stern and Steve Napolitano. It was also mentioned that more than nine members could serve pending City Council approval at a future meeting.

Said Stern, "Isn't it fabulous to see so much interest and willingness for our community to volunteer their time to this important topic? It is definitely going to be a challenge to narrow it down. I guess it's a good problem to have that so many people care about addressing our City's history of Bruce's Beach and being a more inclusive community."

Stern added that City Council has scheduled a special meeting for the [task force member] interviews, and the selection process "will be conducted similarly to the process we used this year in selecting the Boards and Commissions positions." Council had "a robust applicant pool then, too," she noted. "It was hard then with so many qualified and talented applicants and I expect the same for the task force as well."

Mayor Richard Montgomery told Manhattan Beach Patch the task force interviews will be held Tuesday, Oct. 13 and the task force members will be selected at the regularly scheduled city council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20. "Expanding the task force is always an option and depends on council consideration," he noted.

Council member Napolitano, who will be on the task force with Stern, said the high number of applicants "... is a good problem to have. I know some [of the applicants] are not residents even though that was a requirement, so we'll look at what different people are bringing to the table. I don't think we're looking for folks who just want to put this on their resume or don't have some stake in the outcome, because this is something the City needs to own and embrace long after the task force is gone. There will be room for lots of opinions, but we're not going to repeat past failures. If expanding it makes sense, we will, while still keeping it manageable. I expect us [the Bruce's Beach Task Force] to meet soon after the selections."

The Bruce's Beach Task Force is being convened by city council to establish new accurate wording for a plaque at Bruce's Beach that will replace the inaccurate wording on the current plaque, as well as deciding what art or other avenues of work could be useful to convey the site's true heritage, which harkens back to the 1920s when the city's board of trustees used eminent domain to strip Willa Bruce and others of their land for use as a park.

The park, renamed Bruce's Beach in 2006 to commemorate Willa Bruce who owned beachfront land nearby and ran a resort, dining and entertainment establishment for Black people, has become a controversial tale of racial injustice that hadn't been fully recognized by the city until a newly formed organization called Anti-Racist Movement South Bay Los Angeles began to call attention to the nearly 100-years-old injustices.

After learning of the city's actions and site's true history at a city council meeting in late August, the council decided to form a task force to address necessary changes and other associated issues. At its Sept 1 council meeting, they also made it clear the city could not and would not provide any monetary reparations or restitution.

The Bruce's Beach Task Force application is available on the city website. Only Manhattan Beach residents will be considered, as ordered by city council.

RELATED: Manhattan Beach Update: Bruce's Beach Task Force Applications