Pier to Pier — Issue No. 9

The one thing. Tonight (Tuesday, July 7) Manhattan Beach votes on new parking rates: downtown summer on-street jumps 60%, to $4.00 an hour, citations rise $6, effective August 1. Off-peak downtown actually drops to $2.00. eComment closes at noon today: comment on tonight’s agenda →. Full context: the agenda, translated →

Also tonight: the housing rules go final. Ordinance 26-0009, the ADU-and-zoning rewrite we flagged June 30, gets its final reading at the same meeting — pass tonight, and it’s law. Building an ADU, or bracing against one next door? The same noon eComment deadline applies; we’re still reading your replies.

Your money. A new federal break for overtime earners: up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay ($25,000 joint) is now deductible on top of the standard deduction, phasing out above $150K/$300K MAGI. Most households here will phase out, but a spouse’s shift work or a college kid’s summer job might not. How the deduction works →

At city hall. Hermosa still hasn’t published minutes from its June 23 budget-and-ballot meeting, so which tax measures advanced, and by what votes, can’t be confirmed; we don’t report outcomes we can’t source. What is dated: higher parking-citation fines take effect August 1. The tallies run when the minutes post. The June 23 agenda, item by item →

The market. The 30-year mortgage slipped to 6.43%, a seven-week low, worth roughly $118 a month on an illustrative median-MB payment, per Freddie Mac. The MB and HB medians didn’t move this week; the standing numbers live on the data page →

Schools. MBEF’s annual appeal closed at about $5.2M against a $6.8M district deficit — a $1.6M gap absorbed by reserves, trims, or some of the ~60 flagged staffing cuts. The record wine-auction haul we covered June 26 is already inside that math. MBEF’s appeal page →

The pulse. A long south swell is filling in — the Santa Monica Bay buoy reads 4-plus feet at 17 seconds, so check the flags before you paddle out. County water quality: no advisory posted for MB or Hermosa.

On the dining front. Manhattan Beach lost Ocean View Cafe to an eviction; Easy Reader ties the squeeze to steep lease-renewal costs. Hermosa’s Pier Plaza filled two vacancies the other direction: Malendrina Wine Bar and Kasamar, chef-owner Stephanie de los Santos’s Filipino-influenced seafood spot, in the old Bonaparte and Playa Hermosa spaces. Easy Reader has the details →

This week.
• Sat–Sun 7/11–7/12: 63rd Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix (MB) · downtown closures, racing Sunday · City calendar
• Thu 7/16: Free Shakespeare by the Sea, Macbeth, opens at Polliwog Park (MB) · the best free night of the summer · City calendar

One question. An owed answer on the World Cup ask: Zinc at Shade and Rock & Brews are carrying the knockouts through the July 19 final. Now the dining churn: which spot do you miss, and which newcomer earned your regular order? Reply; every answer gets read.

— Written and edited by Jamie Marsh