"This is my first time here. It is just beautiful," Mayor Moore told MB News, noting that it was currently a humid 98 degrees back home. "I am definitely coming back!"

A formal ceremony led by Manhattan Beach Mayor Richard Montgomery began soon after, as the titles to all five vehicles – four cruisers and an SUV – were given over to Mayor Moore for the benefit of her small, but growing, hometown of 1,300 residents, mostly retirees, with a median income of about $23,000, as Moore explained. 

The town currently has two police cars, one more than the single car that Perkins had in January, when Moore and Montgomery met at a mayors' conference.

Moore listened at the conference as the Manhattan Beach mayor spoke to a few colleagues about how the city had just made plans to buy several new police cars to replace older ones.

Moore said, "I took that opportunity to ask: So mayor, what are you going to do with those old cars?"

"Probably sell them to a used-car dealership," Mayor Moore recalled Montgomery saying.

"Would you like to give those to Pickens? Because we could use some cars," Moore replied, and, as Moore said Wednesday, "the rest is history."

Showing off a pair of Skechers shoes that she wore for the occasion, Mayor Moore thanked the city council, police department and the donors who made shipment of the cars to Perkins free of charge to her town. The donors include Chevron, Skechers and LA Car Guy. Westdrift Hotel offered the Pickens mayor free accommodations in town for the ceremony.

Mayor Moore explained to MB News that her town's current police and fire vehicles are maintained by their police chief, Joe Davis, who "is really good with his hands when it comes to fixing things... We can't really afford to have someone else to keep them running."

Adding five vehicles to the public safety fleet won't just increase the available police units, but probably will mean that their fire chief can have a proper ride. Currently, he uses his personal car. "We really need to provide him something for emergency situations," Mayor Moore said. 

Mayor Montgomery said, "You don't realize the impact – what you can do, until you try."

Montgomery said the city has been unable to find any other examples of California city donations of police vehicles, especially to another state. But he did note the philanthropy of local organizations and businesses to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Harvey (2017). 


MB News was first to report on the police vehicle donation last week.