By Kelly Fraenkel
Staff Writer
Manhattan Beach residents voted on Nov. 3 to decide which three candidates receive seats on the City Council in the General Municipal Election.
Candidates Mark Burton, Chaz Flemmings, Grettel Fournell, Joe Franklin, Phoebe Lyons, Richard Montgomery and Steve Napolitano campaigned for the three vacant seats. The city council incumbents Montgomery and Napolitano hoped to be re-elected. Flemmings is the second black candidate to run for Manhattan Beach City Council, with former mayor Mitch Ward being the first.
“I think the issues I most cared about were partnership with the schools, managing the pandemic, being environmentally conscious, dealing with the racist realities of our police department and addressing the racism of our history and how it contributed to present racism,” senior Kieran Malik said.
Semi-official results came out on Nov. 4 that show Napolitano, Montgomery and Franklin in first, second and third place, respectively. Although official results of the election will not be available until Nov. 30, current results show that with 23.13% of votes, Napolitano appears to have his spot secured. Montgomery follows closely behind with 19.25% of votes, according to the Los Angeles County Election Results. It is currently a close race between Fournell and Franklin for third place, with Franklin leading by 74 votes. Once all of the votes are counted, the three candidates will assume their positions on city council for four years.
“I liked [Phoebe Lyons’s] platform of better communication, police transparency and sustainability and the fact that such a young, impassioned leader would be representing other young people in Manhattan Beach,” Malik said.
Voters submitted their ballots at drop boxes located at the Manhattan Beach Art Center and Manhattan Beach Library. Those who opted to vote in-person did so at the Joslyn Community Center Auditorium or the Manhattan Beach Heights Community Center. Voters also had the opportunity to fill out an interactive sample ballot ahead of time so that they were prepared when they arrived at the polls.
“It’s super important for the younger voters to voice their opinions by voting since we’re going to be the group that has to live with the choices we make today,” senior Caitlin De Baets said.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the L.A. County election results show that there was a larger voter turnout for this election than there was for the 2019 general municipal election. The Nov. 3 election brought in over 48,000 voters compared to the 12, 500 voters in the 2019 election. However, the pandemic made campaigning challenging for the candidates, and not being able to meet voters in person was a major difficulty, according to Fournell.
“I would have liked to have seen more plans for managing the pandemic in the candidates’ platforms,” Malik said. “I’m worried about what the future will look like for us.”
If elected, the candidates plan to focus on an array of issues plaguing the community of Manhattan Beach. Montgomery proposed measures to help support the city through the pandemic and the recession. He voted to allow outdoor dining to help support restaurants during the outbreak of COVID-19. Franklin’s platform also includes recovery from the pandemic, as well as strong funding for the police and fire department, according to the plans stated on his website. Napolitano aims to focus on protecting the low-profle atmosphere of Manhattan Beach, his campaign announcement states.
“Not everything done nationally will affect our little beach community,” De Baets said. “But the decisions made by our elected officials locally will affect us greatly, so it’s important to voice your opinion both locally and nationally.”
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