"Let me state unequivocally that the state of our city is strong," began Manhattan Beach Mayor Suzanne Hadley at Tuesday's State of the City address.

The annual event, sponsored by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, featured talks by city representatives who described the challenges and highlights of the past year. Across the board, city leaders emphasized that Manhattan Beach has been resilient throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the twists and turns it has encountered. 

"COVID threw everything it had at us," said Hadley. "But the city of Manhattan Beach has faithfully and seamlessly carried on as before. Our staff has pivoted like a ballerina to find new ways of doing business."

Hadley added that city staff had continued to provide public safety, upgrade city infrastructure, respond to emergencies, keep the peace, pave streets, tend to parks, offer recreation programs, launch a small business loan program, and conduct City Hall business such as elections and city council meetings. "Our fire department even found the bandwidth to send firefighters to fight California wildfires," she noted.

Hadley added that city leaders were always open to feedback and suggestions.

"If you’re unhappy with something, I beg your continued patience. We don't have all the answers, but please continue to let us know directly. Lobby for what you want and you might just get it," she said. "Many of our best ideas have come from residents."

Manhattan Beach City Manager Bruce Moe concurred that the city had pressed through difficult times to continue serving residents.

"I never thought I'd see the day when City Hall was closed for more than a holiday weekend, let alone a year," said Moe. But, he added, the city had turned around instantly by providing services for older adults and at-risk residents, by launching new programming for recreation, and by conducting city council meetings - as many as three per week at the beginning of the pandemic - on Zoom. (The Zoom meetings, he noted, had higher attendance and participation than the in-person meetings of the past.)

"I'm so proud with how we have adapted to this," he said.

City directors - including Mark Leyman, director of parks and recreation; Steve Charelian, director of finance; and Carrie Tai, community development director and acting director of public works - then rolled out a series of progress reports of accomplishments for the year.

Of note: Leyman announced that the city had won an award from the California Park and Recreation Society for its innovative recreation programs launched during the COVID pandemic.

The event rounded up with remarks from Police Chief Derrick Abell, who spoke about challenges of the past year.

Despite managing the difficulties of the pandemic, the bioluminescence event that drew thousands of spectators to the then-closed beach, and demonstrations throughout the summer, the police department was still able to go out and conduct over 30,000 calls for service, he said.

Abell described how the department has had to adapt and learn new skills: "Thirty years ago I would never have imagined we would have to use social media to connect with people," he said. "[But this year] Zoom has been our best friend. Aside from that, we have also communicated through Nixle, Facebook, and Instagram."

He added that he too was looking forward to a time when things were back to normal. "I love the connection we've had with the community through social media, but I look forward to the day we can get back to meeting in person," he said.

A video of the event is expected to be available on Wednesday at the Chamber of Commerce website.