LA Times: Plan to return Bruce’s Beach wins unanimous approval.
LA Times relies on the Bruce's Beach History Report on our city website and repeats multiple falsities about Manhattan Beach.
Republished below is an article from the folks at BruceBeachGetTheFacts@gmail.com (BBGTF) that was written in response to the LA Times article dated June 28, 2022, regarding Bruce’s Beach. The Times article talks about paying the Bruce Family $413,000/yr with an option to buy the land for $20Mil. The Times fails to mention the elephant in the room that descendants of owners of the other 28 lots will naturally expect equal treatment and sue the city if necessary to get paid.
But that’s not all. The Times continues to repeat the numerous falsities in the History Report which the “Concerned Resident” from BBGTF debunks with facts.
We thank the folks at BBGTF for this article below and their tireless effort over the last 16 months to investigate the history documents, review the Task Force and History Advisory Board meetings, attain the elusive Bruce’s Beach court documents, speak with history professionals, and regularly report the facts to our residents. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.
Let them know what you think: BruceBeachGetTheFacts@gmail.com.
‘We are finally here’: Plan to return Bruce’s Beach wins unanimous approval.
LA TIMES HEADLINE 6/28/2022
Read the LA Times article [HERE].
As usual, The LA Times put a Far Left spin on the story of Bruce's Beach. So here is the real story as witnessed firsthand by residents of Manhattan Beach from the summer of 2020 until the fall of 2021.
First of all, this was never a public movement. Changing the plaque at Bruce's Beach to say MB was guilty of racial discrimination was forged by politicians from the start in what appears to be a scheme to support Governor Newsom's stated desire to ignite a Reparations Movement across the country.
And the LA Times article needs a fact check. The Bruce’s were not run out of town. Everyone on both sides of this issue agrees that the Bruce’s were paid a price for their land, property, and business that far exceeded market value and they were not prevented from buying alternative property after being bought out, which is exactly what 5 other Black families did after being bought out at high prices.
And nobody disagrees that every property that was bought out received equal treatment under the law during the legal proceedings that lasted over 4 years.
Another fact - there is no evidence that the Bruce’s or their son ever worked again after being paid, but there is evidence they bought a second home and a commercial property.
Before telling what went on in our fair city, let's address a glowing omission by the Times article.
If it is true that the Bruce's property was taken illegally based on racial discrimination, then all the other property owners affected by this “illegal,” Eminent Domain proceeding must also be compensated in a similar fashion as the Bruce Family.
MB Mayor Steve Napolitano led the charge as LA County Supervisor, Janice Hahn (a woman he worked closely with for years at the County Supervisor's office), orchestrated the plan from on high.
In the summer of 2020, before the Task Force was assembled, Napolitano outlined his comprehensive plan for Bruce's Beach. Read Mayor Napolitano's plan contained in his answers to Mitch Ward's questions put to candidates before the November 2020 election [CLICK HERE TO READ HIS POSITION ON BB]. He had announced his position that the city's actions were racist and the city should issue an apology to the Bruces and erect a revised plaque.
In October 2020, City Council hurriedly appointed a Task Force, two weeks before the elections, of all Far Left, amateur residents to research the history of Bruce's Beach. Napolitano and Far-Left Councilmember Hildy Stern were conveniently appointed as co-chairs.
And get this, at the first Task Force meeting, before any research had begun, Stern appointed a subcommittee to start drafting an apology to the Bruce’s Family and a second subcommittee to compile a list of ongoing "Continued Efforts" to fight the presumed racism in present-day Manhattan Beach. It's abundantly clear that "the fix was in" from the beginning.
In March 2021, the Task Force released their recommendations, which included an Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, plus a Compliance Auditor to reign over City Hall and the MB Police Department, Community Forums on racism, and over 20 other far-reaching measures to fight against what they called systemic racism throughout present-day Manhattan Beach with no supporting evidence.
Over a thousand MB residents sent emails to Councilmembers and over 400 residents called into the Zoom meeting in March 2021 wherein the Task Force recommendations were considered for adoption.
Residents demanded that (i) the Task Force be disbanded, (ii) that the City does not issue an apology based on the incomplete and embellished history report submitted by the Task Force, and (iii) retain independent, expert historians to audit the draft history report compiled by partisan amateurs.
At that point, even Napolitano voted to disband the Task Force and not issue an apology, that he authored, once he saw that his plan for Bruce's Beach was unpopular with voters.
But that didn't stop Napolitano's efforts. He kicked the can down the road regarding the idea of hiring experts and later killed the idea in order to protect the plaque language he wanted from the start.
And based on the climate expressed by voters, Council did not have the nerve to present the "Continued Efforts" that were buried in the last two appendices of the Task Force report and they tabled the discussion of historical experts, which were never retained.
Some Councilmembers thought that the Task Force simply being disbanded was a “win” for the community and they took victory laps around town trying to take credit for something achieved by residents who were outspoken on these issues.
Soon after the Task Force was disbanded, Napolitano orchestrated an effort to appoint a "History Advisory Board" to complete the history report, but this smaller Advisory Board was comprised of all Far-Left carryovers from the original Task Force.
Napolitano strategically let this process drag on for 6 months to allow the heated issues surrounding Bruce's Beach to die down in public conversation. Meanwhile, the History Advisory Board inserted content received from lots of unauthorized contributors, once again on the Far Left. This included a spokesperson for the Bruce's Family, Far-Left professors, and UCLA Center X, the controversial group that specializes in race and gender doctrine for K-12 schools, including at MBUSD.
By this time, residents had grown tired of the fight. In November 2021, in a final effort to maintain control over the plaque language, Napolitano orchestrated a vote for Council members to appoint themselves as yet another group of amateurs to make the final decision for the plaque to state that MB’s actions were “racially motivated.”
The right move for the city all along would have been to do what other cities do when it comes to monuments...allow experts to recommend historically accurate language.
At the completion of this 16-month saga, ALL 5 Councilmembers voted for the plaque language that states the City of Manhattan Beach was guilty of racial discrimination.
Council was warned by many sources several times that this would not hold up to scrutiny and this falsified plaque would cause our city lots of harm in the future. And here we are, the harm has begun with false reporting across the country that smears the reputation of our city.
And now a heads up for MB residents.
Once the falsified plaque is erected, there is a good chance that Napolitano will push for approval of some or all of the 21 "Continued Efforts" recommended by the Task Force that have still not been brought before the City Council for a vote.
The list includes:
(1) Facilitating the development of affordable housing units in the city like the Highrose project and councilmembers currently searching for a property to repurpose as affordable housing.
(2) Incentivizing property owners to dedicate rental units for use as affordable housing.
(3) Appointing a DEI committee and hiring a DEI compliance auditor for the city.
(4) Organizing community forums and events at Bruce’s Beach. City Council recently voted against allowing large events at Bruce's Beach, but Napolitano created some wiggle room by saying Council should consider such events if they are "sponsored" by the city.
City Council’s Legacy.
Undoubtedly the contrived manner in which Bruce's Beach was handled has forever falsely tainted Manhattan Beach as a racist city. Every news report from today on will repeat the false narrative contained in the history report posted on our city's website and memorialized on a public plaque.
This unjustified stain of racism on our city will never go away and will stand as this City Council's legacy.
Napolitano has two more years in office to fulfill his vision for Bruce's Beach according to the answers to Mitch Ward's questionnaire in 2020 [click to see Napolitano's answers HERE].
Councilmember Hildy Stern and then-Mayor Suzanne Hadley led the vote on June 15, 2021, to adopt the history report without a professional audit. Both are up for re-election this November.
-A Concerned Resident at BBGTF
The far-left’s telling of the history of Bruce’s Beach can be read [HERE].
This is fixable
Although our City Council did not protect our city by allowing far-left residents with an agenda to write our city’s history, please remain hopeful that you can participate in undoing the harm that was done by voting this November for City Council candidates that promise to right these wrongs.
The right course of action is easy to execute.
Hire a professional historical firm that is bipartisan to audit and rewrite the history report according to professional standards.
Rewrite the plaque to be erected at Bruces Beach to reflect the revised history.
Determine if it is appropriate to rename the park based on the revised history report.
Citizens who desire to run for public office should contact the City Clerk’s office at mbvote@manhattanbeach.gov OR call (310) 802-5056 Monday-Thursday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Friday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
The nomination period is from July 18, 2022, to August 12, 2022.
~MBStrong
About MBStrong…
MBStrong is for residents from all political parties, particularly Liberals who feel the Democrat party has moved too far left, and Conservatives who feel Republicans “in name only” are not listening to them.
We are MB residents bringing common sense, not politics, to the conversation.