Manhattan Beach Intel · SBI

The five-ish things worth knowing about Manhattan Beach this week.

Independent, source-backed reporting on the decisions shaping daily life in Manhattan Beach.

City Council meets September 15, 2026 at 6:00 PM — see what's on the agenda →

Issue #3 · September 19, 2026 · 4 minutes

What Matters This Week

  • Wave Rider extended 7 months — 3-2 vote, Mayor Franklin + Councilmember Charelian dissenting
  • Parking ordinance 26-0011 introduced 5-0 — returns for adoption at a future meeting
  • Project Pulse: council directed staff to bifurcate the two sites, no tunnel, return December 1

City Council

Wave Rider survives — barely

Manhattan Beach City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to extend the Wave Rider on-demand microtransit pilot under Option 3: three vehicles, three days per week (Friday through Sunday), 30 hours per week. The extension runs seven months. Mayor Franklin and Councilmember Charelian voted no.

Wave Rider is a pilot on-demand shuttle providing car-free connections within Manhattan Beach — primarily to the beach, downtown, and key commercial corridors. It's grown fast: ridership jumped from roughly 1,300 rides in June to around 2,100 in August. The no votes centered on cost-effectiveness relative to that ridership.

The three-day, weekend-only format of Option 3 reflects a compromise — keeping the service alive for the highest-demand days while cutting operating costs versus a full-week schedule. Staff will bring back a performance report before the extension expires. If ridership doesn't improve, the math gets harder at the next vote.

Watch the vote

▶ Watch the 3-2 vote in the meeting video (5:36:39) →

Source: Manhattan Beach City Council Regular Meeting, September 15, 2026

City Council

Coin meters are on their way out

Council voted 5-0 to introduce an ordinance rewriting the city's parking-meter code, clearing the way for pay stations, license-plate-based sessions, and mobile apps — a real overhaul of how you'll pay to park downtown, not just paperwork. This was a first reading; it comes back for final adoption at a future meeting. There was no meaningful pushback tonight — a few clarifying questions about credit-card fees and merchant permits, nothing more.

Watch it

▶ Watch the introduction vote in the meeting video (1:21:58) →

Source: Manhattan Beach City Council Regular Meeting, September 15, 2026

City Council

Project Pulse: no tunnel, two separate sites, back December 1

Council gave staff direction on Project Pulse, the long-running effort to reimagine the area around Sepulveda Boulevard and the downtown core. The direction: bifurcate the two project sites rather than treating them as a unified development, and remove the tunnel option from further consideration. Staff returns December 1 with revised concepts.

Project Pulse has been in planning for several years and has generated significant community debate about scale, traffic, and what kind of development belongs at the gateway to downtown Manhattan Beach. The December 1 return is the next major public milestone.

One nuance worth keeping in mind: Tuesday's direction came from Council members each saying they agreed, one after another, not from a formal roll-call vote — this is staff-facing direction, not a locked-in decision. And the site's history is muddier than it looks at a glance. Back in June, a resolution pulled $4.7 million in capital funds away from four bundled projects, including 400 MB Blvd, to pay for a community center renovation instead. That figure was never broken out per project, and nothing in the resolution ever called Project Pulse itself paused or canceled — it's easy to misread that reallocation as a bigger signal than it actually was.

Timeline: how we got here
Project Pulse — 400 MB Blvd & Parking Lot 3 Redevelopment
DateWhat happened
2026-03-11Planning Commission study session considers redeveloping two city-owned sites — the former U.S. Bank building (400 MB Blvd) and the Lot 3 parking lot (1155 Morningside Dr.) — under the name 'Project Pulse.'
2026-06-02Council adopts Resolution 26-0049, reallocating $4.7M in prior capital funds — combined across 400 MB Blvd and three unrelated projects — to the Senior and Scout Community Center renovation.
2026-09-15Staff wraps up a year-long public engagement program and presents conceptual designs for both sites, asking Council for direction.
2026-09-15Council reaches consensus direction: treat the two sites separately, drop the underground tunnel option, and have staff return with revised concepts on December 1.
Watch it

▶ Watch the direction discussion in the meeting video (3:57:07) →

Source: Manhattan Beach City Council Regular Meeting, September 15, 2026

Upcoming dates

Upcoming Dates

Tue, Oct 6 · 6:00 PM
City Council Regular Meeting
Tue, Dec 1 · 6:00 PM
City Council — Project Pulse revised concepts return

Stories We're Following

Wave Rider's next performance report

The 3-2 vote signals Wave Rider is on borrowed time unless ridership numbers improve. Staff is required to return with a performance report before the seven-month extension expires. The program's future likely depends on whether weekend-only service can show the kind of utilization that justifies continued spending — Mayor Franklin and Councilmember Charelian have already said no once.

Issue archive

Manhattan Beach briefings

Issue #3: Manhattan Beach City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to extend the Wave Rider on-demand microtransit pilot for seven more months. Mayor Franklin and Councilmember Charelian voted no. The other three prevailed — but the debate made clear the program has a ceiling. Here's where things stand.4 minutes →Issue #2: Last issue, we reported that Council voted to send its business license tax overhaul to the November ballot. That was wrong — Council actually reached consensus not to proceed, after two hours of public comment made clear the measure didn't have the votes. We've corrected the record; here's what really happened, why some residents saw a premature ballot announcement anyway, and who's running for Manhattan Beach's two open Council seats now that filing has closed.4 minutes →Issue #1: Manhattan Beach's push to overhaul its decades-old business license tax collapsed at the August 4 City Council meeting — Council reached consensus not to send it to voters, opting instead to study the issue further over the next two years. It was one of the biggest debates at City Hall this summer. Plus: a Farmer's Market push for the north end, a Planning Commission variance that got real neighborhood scrutiny, and a seat opening up on the City Council.5 minutes →