Centennial Beach Ball: Your Thoughts on the Process

Correction: In a 4-1 vote on June 8, 2011, City Council approved a list of proposed events the centennial committee would stage, including the beach ball on the sand. Councilman David Lesser cast the dissenting vote. Manhattan Beach Patch apologizes for not including this fact in this article when first published and has corrected any perceived misrepresentation of it [as of 8:49 a.m., May 3] after verification by watching the June 7, 2011 City Council meeting and consulting the posted minutes of that meeting.

Correction: The beach ball estimate was not $294,000 as previously reported in this article; it was $254,000, with in-kind donations of $30,500. The article has been corrected [as of 8:22 a.m., May 2] to reflect this.

City Council's special meeting Monday night to discuss the city's remaining 2012 centennial celebrations brought out many opinions, some heated, as Council used the public forum to sift through the centennial committee's previously staged centennial year events and expenses and approve future events and budgets.

In the end, council canceled a previously planned Sept. 22 ball on the beach and approved the planned parade and historic picnic on Saturday, May 19. A final event, purportedly some sort of merging of the previously planned July 7 open house downtown/pier festival and the Sept. 22 beach ball, depending on available funds as raised by the centennial committee and perhaps as contributed by the city, will be designed by centennial committee members and council member Amy Howorth.

Under the impression that council had approved the beach ball [council approved the concept 4-1 with Lesser dissenting in a June 7, 2011, council meeting at 1:15 a.m. on June 8] and where alcohol would be served [on the beach or in a parking lot near the beach], were fine with the ball's basic outline and could not or would not reverse the decision for any reason, centennial committee members had solicited sponsors using the beach ball, which would have been staged as a free event for sponsors per donation amounts, to attract and/or secure donations, according to a staff report.

The beach ball would have included a limited number of public tickets for a fee; the number of available tickets and cost had yet to be determined but a projected cost for the beach ball was estimated at $254,000, with in-kind donations of $30,500. 

If you paid attention to the meeting last night, how did you follow it: by attending the meeting in council chambers; by watching it live on TV or the Internet; via live tweets.

And, do you think council made the best decision?

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