1. Public Safety - We need to restore public safety to North Torrance. Our Torrance Police Department is understaffed by nearly 40 officers and this number has not really gone down over the last 4 years. Fully staffing our Police Department and ensuring our Fire Department retains its Class 1 Rating needs to be our top priority. Over the past 4 years, burglaries have risen by 80% in North Torrance and Police response times are often in the 10-15 minute range. This is unacceptable.
2. Fiscal Responsibility - We need to scrap the disastrous "Friendship Cities" program that my opponent has championed. This program takes our City Councilmembers and provides them with all-expense paid international trips. Taxpayers are footing the bills at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Torrance staff confirms that this program has generated 0 (ZERO) new businesses over the last 4 years. This program has repurposed staff members from our Economic Development department, so the cost plus the lost revenue opportunity means that this program has cost Torrance residents MILLIONS of dollars.
Torrance is not doing as well financially as our neighboring cities. The ratio of new business to lost businesses shows that we are losing ground to other cities in our region.
3. Transparency - Transparency in our city has eroded and I want to fix this on day one. An effort to decrease our city commission meetings serves to decrease our voter’s ability to be heard. City Council Committees were intended to streamline efficiency. Instead, they have been used in a way that limits transparency and public input.
One recent example is the attempt to annex the neighborhoods of Alondra Park/El Camino Village, which when we take into account the amount Torrance would make from property taxes, would cost taxpayers over $150mm over the next 10 years.
The City Council recently increased its travel budget by $70,000 and specifically stipulated that there was no reporting requirement.
I grew up in the South Bay, earned my AA at El Camino College, before transferring to get my BA. My family has owned a business headquartered in Torrance for over 30 years, which is where I work.
When it came time for my wife and me to buy our first home - where we would start our family - we fell in love with our neighborhood in North Torrance.
I currently serve as Chairman of the City of Torrance Planning Commission. I've been on the Planning Commission for 6 years and have been elected Chair for the last three consecutive years.
Before that, I served on the Torrance Parks and Recreation Commission. Timing was right for that Commission and I was able to ensure that Torrance worked with LA County to keep our parks open during COVID - even while our neighboring cities closed their parks.
I've served on the Torrance Refinery Community Advisory Panel.
I served as an El Camino Community College District Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee Appointee ensuring taxpayer dollars were spend appropriately.
My family is very active in the community - my wife and I both serve as Coaches and Board Members for North Torrance AYSO. I serve on the boards of the Torrance/South Bay YMCA and Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation.
Previously, I have served on the Torrance Rose Float Association, Torrance Chamber of Commerce Technology Committee, and El Camino College Foundation.
In addition to my traditional AA and BA degrees mentioned earlier, I have certificates in:
Financial Markets with Honors - Yale University
Certificate in Hazardous Materials/WMD Incident Response - University of Missouri, Columbia, Fire and Rescue Training Institute
Certificate of Entrepreneurship - 10,000 Small Businesses
