Pismo Beach’s South Palisades Park, colloquially known as Beachcomber Park, will now bear a different name to honor the city’s first elected mayor.
At its Sept. 1 meeting, the Pismo Beach City Council voted 4-0 to rename South Palisades Park to Mary Ann Reiss Park in recognition of Reiss’ 30 years of elected service. Reiss, a sitting council member, abstained from the vote.
“When I first heard the news, I was completely humbled,” she said at the meeting. “To be considered for a permanent fixture in our city’s landscape is an incredible privilege.”
The proposal to rename the park arrived in August from Councilmember Scott Newton.
Reiss was first elected to the City Council in 1996 and hasn’t lost an election since. She made local history in 2004 when she became Pismo Beach’s first directly elected mayor. Reiss held on to the top role until 2010 before stepping down and running for a City Council seat. This is her 30th consecutive year in elected office.
Pismo Beach has other parks named after notable figures, like the Margo Dodd Park to honor a former president of the Chamber of Commerce; Ira Lease Park named after a local businessman who donated land for it in the 1950s; Mary Herrington Park named after a community member who helped the local Lions Club; and Price Historical Park to honor Shell Beach area founder John Michael Price.
Originally, Newton proposed renaming Palisades Park on Florin Street after Reiss.
But during the City Council discussion after the public comment period, he changed the proposal to renaming South Palisades Park on Beachcomber Drive instead.
“The only item up for discussion is really if it should be Palisades Park renamed or South Palisades Park. South Palisades kind of sounds like it’d be a remnant left over,” Newton said at the meeting. “Regardless, one is wrong.”
He deferred to Reiss who confirmed she preferred renaming South Palisades Park.
However, Pismo Beach resident Rosemary Wrenn told New Times that the eleventh-hour switch could be a Brown Act violation.
‘The Pismo Beach City Council materially changed the action item by casually switching out the park to be renamed.’
—Rosemary Wrenn, Pismo Beach resident
“I have served on boards governed by the Brown Act, and it is my understanding that a public body may not vote on an item that is not on the agenda,” said Wrenn, who served as chair of the Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School governing board. “The Pismo Beach City Council materially changed the action item by casually switching out the park to be renamed.”
A Pismo Beach resident for 33 years, Wrenn clarified that she doesn’t have a problem with honoring Reiss but took issue with the process of renaming the park.
“I understand this is different than installing a seawall or doing major construction, but generally, when there’s a change to be made, there’s a little posting in the area that’s going to be affected,” she said. “There’s nothing up at the park [Palisades] or anything like that, indicating that.”
Wrenn isn’t alone in her dissatisfaction. On Nextdoor, other locals aired their concerns ahead of the City Council meeting.
“I am not opposed to naming a park after someone; however, they have just put up new Palisades Park signs and now they’re proposing to make this change which would cost approximately $15,000,” a resident named Mary G. posted. “This probably does not take into account all the money that’s already been spent on the new signs that have just been installed.”
The city staff report classified the cost as a “minor fiscal impact,” that would cost less than $15,000. The funding would come from the fiscal year 2027-28 general fund’s general contingency budget.
The design of the two park signs at Palisades was recently completed. City Manager Jorge Garcia told council members that the signs are reusable and the letters on them are removable.
“When we originally designed them, we knew at some point, some signs would be damaged,” he said. “If the City Council did in fact approve the recommendation for the resolution to rename the park, we would take the existing park signs and remove the lettering and keep them in our inventory.”
Garcia told Newton that amending the resolution to make the switch to South Palisades Park wouldn’t be a problem since that park also has two signs. He added that the city prefers eliminating the name of a facility that shares its name with another because it would help avoid confusion for visitors and also prevent health and safety resources from being sent to the wrong location during an emergency.
Garcia didn’t address New Times’ question about the Brown Act violation allegation.
“The city of Pismo Beach properly noticed the staff report for the agenda item that was presented at the City Council meeting on Sept. 1, 2026,” he said via email. ∆
