Beachside Patrol Lives On In 2010
Despite a nail-biting deadline, Manhattan Beach’s private security force appears to have rallied enough support to continue operations throughout 2010.
Though Beachside Patrol hasn’t yet made an official announcement, leaders from the group say they received last minute pledges that brought them into the black. Beachside Patrol President Albert Hasson has also stepped down, and the force is now at the helm of Ted Kleynerman.
Kleynerman said that the last days were crucial in saving the force. The group had not gotten nearly enough responses, so Kleynerman pulled out membership rosters from the last several years and began dialing about 150 former members, one by one.
“I was disheartened because the numbers that we received initially from people calling in or pledging was pretty small. But then I contacted people and realized that people didn’t know what they had to do. People didn’t realize it wasn’t a suspension, but a request for support in 2010. Once people realized that we began getting the numbers we needed,” Kleynerman said.
It appears 2010 is going to be a good year, noted the newly-appointed leader.
“It looks good,” said Kleynerman. “It looks like we’ll have more members than we did in the previous years.”
He added that they secured enough pledges to provide equal coverage in the area as they had last year.
In his new role as president, Kleynerman aims to push forward with two goals. Chief among them is to have patrols 24-hours, seven-days-a-week.
“It’s a little bit of an ambitious goal, but we have some plans going forward, and some new strategies to get membership,” he said.
He also hopes to end the perception that Beachside is politicized, favoring one of Manhattan Beach’s two community groups more than the other. He hopes to “kick the politics out of the patrol,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll get the people on the sidelines to realize we’ve taken no political position and are just working on security.”
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