City Council - Special Meeting

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Good evening. We will now reconvene the city council meeting. It's 4:07 p.m. City Clerk, may I have a roll call, please? Yes, your honor. Council member Gerson, present. Council member Kaji, here. Council member Khalani, present. Council member Lewis, here. Council member Matuchi, here. Council member Shake, present. Mayor Chen, present. I want to welcome everyone joining us in the council chamber as well as those watching remotely. We have been in close session. City Manager, do we have any actions to report out? Good evening, your honor. No actions to report. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to item two, flag salute and invocation. We honor those who make it possible for us to be here today. There's anyone here in the audience, it looks like quite a bit who is on active duty or a military veteran, please stand or raise your hand so that we may recognize you. [applause] Please remain standing and all arise. And Councilwoman Khalani will lead us in a flight salute and Councilwoman Lewis in the invocation.

Please join me as we pay tribute to our flag and our country. to the flag of the United States of America and to the standice for all.

Gracious God, we come before you in gratitude for our city and its leaders and its community. In the wake of contentious times, we ask for your guidance, wisdom, and peace. Unite our leaders with a shared vision for common good and grant us the strength to serve with humility, integrity, and compassion. We ask you to heal divisions within our community and inspire all of us to work together for fairness, prosperity, and love of our country. May your love and light guide us forward. Amen.

Thank you both. Moving on to oral communications. This portion of meeting is reserved for comments on items that are not on the agenda since there's only one item on the agenda, but you can speak on any other items. Under Ralph and Brown Act, council chamber council cannot act on items raised during public comment, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed, request clarification, or refer the item to staff. Speakers and orals are limited to no longer than one minute per speaker. Time starts when you step up to the microphone. If presenting handout material to the council, please provide 11 copies to the city clerk before speaking. Handouts will be distributed while you speak. Any members that signed up, city clerk?

I don't have any sign up list, your honor.

So, any p any anyone from the public want to speak on non-aggenda items, please step up to the microphone. You have one minute per speaker. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I [clears throat] just want to e echo Councilwoman Lewis's prayer that we all need to work together on this. And uh I think a big contributor to us not being able to work together has been the change in the council rules. Council rules to where uh we don't hear what the council's thinking before we had a chance to comment as members of the public. we don't have a chance to pull agenda items uh especially on the consent calendar and all of those things have led to more isolation of the council from the public and I would encourage you to reconsider your council rules and to fix it so that there would be more public comment because I don't think we would be where here today if there were more public comment. Thank you. Afternoon, [applause] Mr. Mayor, Council. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak today about uh a notice that I received via your notification um application and I appreciate receiving notifications like this. Specifically, this one today talks about an unplanned flaring event from the refinery over there um off of Krenshaw. And I would like to invite the council to consider uh supporting uh a report to be drafted either by the staff themselves or by independent uh organizations in order to identify potential health risks that exist from the more than a dozen in recent memory unplanned flaring events that we've seen from the refinery. Thank you.

All right. I want to be really quick, but I want to echo uh uh Gary's uh concerns. I here we are about three years into this new administration and public comment is only one minute during oral communications for members of the public. I think that's still ridiculous. That needs to change and I think the short-sighted nature of this whole issue coming up next is part of the reason why that's a problem. Roondo Beach allows three. Huntington Parch allows three minutes. So I don't understand why you're limiting our public comment in general. Anyone else wish to speak in their oral communications number one? Okay, I don't see any. Appreciate your comments. Moving on to administrative matters. Item 4 A from the Armed Forces Day Standing Committee, City Manager and Chief of Police. Is there a staff presentation?

Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council. Jen Chun, public engagement manager, city manager's office. Item 4 D is a recommendation of the Armed Forces Day Standing Committee. city manager and chief of police that the city council reconsider and provide direction on the 2026 Armed Forces Day Parade and Celebration event location. On December 2nd, the city council approved relocating the Armed Forces Day parade in celebration to the Torrance Airport, which is option four. Following the decision, city received significant community input, expressing a desire to keep the long-standing tradition on Torrance Boulevard, particularly in conjunction with America's 250th anniversary celebrated in 2026. On December 9th, the city council voted to reconsider the event location. Tonight, staff is requesting direction from city council on the location of the 64th annual Armed Forces Day parade in celebration in order to move forward with implementation consistent with the council's vision. staff is available for questions.

Okay, thank you very much. So I mayor, if I may, city manager, in regards to today's timing of the special meeting, staff just wants to clarify. We're just trying to get direction so we can plan in advance with the holidays coming. Uh I realize there's some concerns about the meeting being so close and not allowing further public comment, but the intent here was to seek council direction. Thank you and my appreciation to staff for turning this around such a short notice and to mayor and council for being here today in the community. Thank you.

Understand and just uh I think the uh the original item was on the December 2nd agenda items. Uh so the agenda packet comes out long before that. I believe um the public had comments on we received before December 2nd. after the decision from December 2nd. I think we've been receiving some emails since then and we I believe we receive uh emails uh even after the uh the vote for reconsideration. Uh this is a time for uh what we're going to first I'll check with the city clerk. So um we'd love to hear from you. Anyone signed up ahead of time? Okay. So members of the public this is your time to you know give your comments. You do have one minute. So I would suggest you know give us your comment on where what you want to do with which route and uh and get to that quickly. Thank you. You could you could queue up on the microphone and uh if you agree with the the person before you you could say I agree and go on if you don't want repeat the same thing but if you want to you have the freedom to do that as well. Go ahead sir.

Good afternoon Mayor Chen city council and city staff. Thank you for being here today um and uh this special session to discuss one of our city's honored traditions. My name is Edward Apadaka, a 22-year resident here in Torrance Gardens. I am here to urge you to vote for option one in keeping the parade route along Torrance Boulevard. My neighbors and I have long supported the Armed Forces Day parade in celebration for decades. I do understand the rising cost of the parade in the city and the need to lessen the financial impact on our city. Our city has done a great job with partnering with our business community and perhaps the city can leverage that to gain corporate sponsors. Perhaps the annual Torrance Armed Forces Day presented by XYZ Corp. As far as attendance, we need to work on a traffic flow plan to make the route more accessible. This past year, I volunteered at the 5K for Freedom. It was almost impossible for me to get back right here to Terry Avenue hours before the parade began. If you need you need to be lined up by the Thank you, Ed.

Hi, good afternoon. Michelle Brooks, uh, Torrance, uh, resident. Um, I echo a number of things that he just stated. Um, I'm really delighted that there was the motion to reconsider and the opportunity to discuss this further. um ideally to allow the parade to continue to march down Torrance Boulevard as a reminder of those who currently serve for the causes of safety and freedom in our country and to inspire the next generation to do the same. So, I really hope we can work it out to continue the parade down Torrance Boulevard. Thank you,

members of the council, honorable mayor, I come to you as a member of the airport commission. We had no idea that we were going to move the airport move the armed forces day parade to the airport. We had no advanced notice. You know, we're here as an airport commission to help you kind of figure these things out and we didn't get anything. Uh I'm here to urge you that if you choose the airport option that you would at least give the airport commission a chance to have a hearing. We've already asked for it to be put on our January 8th agenda. And if that's I understand the cheaper option, but if you're going to go that route, please give the airport commission a chance to have a public hearing so we can get more input from the public because I believe we've the if if I I'm I'm a guy who wants to save money, but I also realize how important tradition is in this city and especially in the 250th year of our independence. I I think we need to be careful with this. Thank you.

[applause] Um, yes, your honor. Um, commissioners are not allowed to speak at council meetings as a commissioner unless the commission themselves have nominated them to be a representative of their commission. All right. Appreciate it. Okay. Go ahead.

Good afternoon. I am Charlie Selenus. I'm a member of chapter 53 Vietnam Veterans of America South Bay chapter. Uh we had a 5-tonon truck and a helicopter in the parade and some men carrying a banner. Uh we'd like to carry on that tradition if you please keep it on Torrance Boulevard. The only parade that goes around in the circle is at the circus under the big top. Parades go in a straight line. Uh cut down on expenses. How about having the residents park their cars to block the streets if you could make it work. uh and uh cut back on those uh banquetss. We don't really need those as part of it. Thank you for letting me speak.

Good evening. Thank you for letting me speak. Steve Wagner, United States Army Ranger. I was wounded in action, spent three months in the hospital. This our parade, not by the way, I since I've been about 10 years old, went through all the elementary schools, West High and all of that. I love the city of Torrance and I will not be able to say what I want to say, so I'll just say it directly. If you take this away from Torrance Boulevard, where it's always been, you're going to hurt many, many veterans and many, many families that have veterans, people that have died. This is special. You move it over to the airport and you're going to kill it. I mean that. Seriously. There's not the room. This is nostalgia. It's been wonderful since 1960. We've had it right here. Now you want to move it to the airport. Come on. Have a heart. I know you guys are looking at money, but money.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for your service.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Council. Uh this is Marty Nelson and um I'm a resident of Torrance Park Delamo neighborhood and just wanted to also voice my support to uh keeping the event on the Torrance Boulevard location. Um it's a very uh walkable event. Um being part of a a very crowded Torrance neighborhood over in Park Delo, uh we get a lot of uh people, families that come up to the event um with uh chairs, coolers, they walk up with their kids. uh we have a lot of uh kind of a um just a lot of interest uh since it's so close by and and so just uh wanted to continue to support that location. Thank you,

Mr. Mayor and Council. Um I'm Jim Olds. I'm a resident of Torrance. I'm a former city employee. I'm in a lot of groups. I'm representing today the Sons of the American Revolution, the original patriots who created our country. 250 years ago. Uh my unit marches in the parade and we've done so for five or six years as our color guard grew. Um and I'd just like to uh uh uh support the comments to have it here in Torrance down Torrance Boulevard as it's been for 63 years. And I uh have heard some of the questions from the city people about the participation of the public and the response from the military. And I would like to offer my services and those of some of my other groups, the Rotary clubs, uh history groups, the S, the D. We have a lot of people that

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

My name is Arthur Schopper. I was born in the city of Torrance and I still live here. This is a terrible decision moving it to Sky Park. I can't believe what the majority of you were thinking. Well, I actually got a taste of that. Councilwoman Lewis shared with me, "Well, it's the police department's event and they want to move it." I don't care what they want. It's about the community. This is our event, not just the police departments. Councilman Gerson shared, "Well, you're insulting me by questioning me on this." Well, we didn't have transparency and it doesn't matter how you feel. This is a bad decision. I was really insulted by Councilwoman Colani calling me going, "Well, how are you today?" I said, "Terrible. You moved this without transparency. It belongs in Torrance Boulevard. It's always been there. You need to do what's best for the community." I love what one person shared on the social media profiles. Read the room. The community wants it back on Torrance Boulevard. So restore it there. And you didn't really think this through in the first place. One lady was commenting, "Did you even talk to the FAA about moving it to the airport? Come on, put it back where it belong."

Good afternoon, honorable body. Uh my name is Ken Goff. I'm a lifetime resident of Torrance. That's born the same year the parade started. My wife and I have the privilege of living on El Prao Park for the last 33 years. We had the wonderful experience of waking up to armor in front of our house for many years, watching the various armed forces units compete against each other and join a barbecue, have camaraderie against those services, have many family and friends, watch this party for multiple years. I'm appearing today because I regretted not appearing before council when you decided to move fireworks. I worked seven years as park and wreck supervising that facility. And then I've heard many times mentioned the reason we canled was we didn't want people from other cities attending. This was supposed to be a Torrance event. Well, this event is a community event for the whole area and should be continued. Torrance is a very proud city. To get rid of this would be a disgrace. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Mark Choy. I've been very public online about my thoughts on the parade and so I think you can read them all. I think everyone's read them all I'm assuming about my thoughts and all my points but I just wanted to say you know Torrance is still a small town. I'm raising four children here ages 12 to seven. We go to the parade. We get to see the recently enlisted uh active duty members do their oath of office. It's great under the shades of the eucalyptus trees. And then I imagined us going to the airport, sitting under the blazing hot sun, carrying my chair with my four kids and shuttling there from some other parking lot. And that's a disaster. And so I ask, you know, just to move it back. I think everyone here seems like they want it back. 90% of the people I've talked to want it back. And the few that didn't said they just don't want roads being closed. I think everyone wants it back. So we ask you please, please put it back. Thank you.

[applause]

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and committee. Um, uh, my name is Kevin Biden. I'm a Torrance business owner. Um, and I, like Jim, Mr. Olds, uh, march in the color guard every year. I've done that for the last eight years. Um, we really enjoy mar marching down Torrance Boulevard. It's down a street with the veteran banners there hanging over the street. We in this city, we really do commemorate our veterans and I think it's important to have that um presence with the armed forces parade on Torrance Boulevard. Um I I did read in the the memorandum that the military presence during the march was down. Um and maybe there's something we can do about that. I know that over the years the crowds have been growing. I think the parking option is better where it is on Torrance Boulevard than other than over at the airport. and I urge the committee to please bring it back to Torrance Boulevard. Thank you.

Uh good afternoon mayors and members of city of council. My name is Lauren Offfield. I'm an um United States Army veteran who served nearly a decade in active series um in Fort Lewood, Fort Lewis, Fortin Camp House in Korea, Bharter Germany, Fort Wuka, Arizona, and deployment to Bosnia. My son serves in Army National Guards as now. This issue is personal to me. My father was an army I mean I mean excuse me he was a United States Navy veteran in World War II who fought in the battle of Guad Canal. For 65 years Torrance has honored the armed forces daily in public on Torrance Boulevard where families lined in the streets. Veterans knew their service still mattered. I understand the concerns that raised rising cost of barriers logistics declining participation in lunchon. But these are management problems with real solutions not reasons to move this honor out of sight. Shorten the route. Reduce the footprints. Use targeted street closures to lower barriers and staffing costs. Moderize the lunchon. Partner with veteran organizations. Improve outreach so younger veterans and families are included. Secure sponsors. Apply grants. Bring veteran groups into planning as partners. Veterans didn't serve because it was easy. And on

Thank you, sir.

Hi, D Masters. Uh the I was a little bit shocked that the airport commission wasn't informed of this and I feel like the parade has been kind of going downhill for a while. If Torrance wants to get rid of the parade then this is another good step on getting rid of it. Uh people will not want to go to a park and pick up on a bus to get there. Uh, but I I feel like it's something that's unique to Torrance and worth doing. And that's the deal. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well or stop doing it. Thank you.

Well, hello. Uh, my name is James McGyvern and I am a commercial pilot and flight instructor at KTOA Zampirini Field. And I'm I just want to say that uh all the pilots that I know down there would support having the uh the parade there. We have, you know, uh Memorial Day there. We have the Museum of Flight. We have the Civil Air Patrol. We have Lewis Zampirini. We have a lot of patriotism and support for the uh four branches now five branches of uh our defense and we would welcome it. Um, however, I can understand everybody's passion for the, you know, for it to remain on Tor right here on Torrance Boulevard. But I just want to say, you know, the pilots down at the field would host it gladly if you so choose. Thank you. Anyone else from the public who wish to speak, please come up to the microphone.

Good afternoon, Mayor, city council and staff. Uh, I know you want to cut down the budget. I know it cut down the cost. Why is the city spending $38,000 for the VIPs? As far as I know, the VIPs are the veterans. We're the one that saved the world. You have to remember as far as cutting down the budget, but you have to remember the veterans save the world. We're the VIPs. [applause] Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the public wish to speak? I'm just give you a little time. Some of you may want to come up and they want to cut you short. Okay. Anyone anyone has feel the proud of speak? Okay. There you go.

Good evening, mayor and members of the council. My name is Denise Off. Yes, that's the Air Force base in Omaha. It's a distant cousin killed in World War I, not to mention ones we lost in Vietnam. I do not understand the reason to move this to a general aviation airport. I can't imagine the FAA thinks this is a good idea. Torrance Boulevard is a perfect location for this and should not be changed. If you need to look at the budget, then look at the budget. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? You're a spokes, sir. So, we're going to see if anyone else appreciate it. Appreciate your appreciate all the service from uh all the veterans in in this audience and those who are watching remotely. I know not everyone can make it for a 4:00 meeting on a Friday afternoon. I just want to make sure we don't come to the council and I want to make sure we hear everybody's comments. Okay, I think it's I think I'm okay to come to the council now. I mean, if there's council members who has questions, we may have a question, but let's Any comments or uh questions from members of the council? I see Councilwoman Khalani clicked in. Councilman Colani.

Thank you, sir. Um, first of all, I just want to appreciate um those of you that came out in support of the parade that wrote wrote correspondence and um let your voices be heard through social media. And I'm grateful to the people present that have served and those that are that are listening that have served or are currently serving. It's important to me that the parade becomes and stays sustainable and it's current. I think one of our guests spoke that they've seen it diminishing over time. That's not what I want for Torrance. That's not what I want for all of you. You deserve to be recognized and you do deserve to be recognized even more than we currently are. So, I'm glad to see that all of you are here. I hope that this renewed attention to this event is going to help revitalize it. And for those reasons, I will be supporting bringing it back to Torrance Boulevard. Rebecca, I just want to let you know I don't have the ability to deselect.

Thank you. Any other members of the council wish to speak? Councilwoman Lewis. Uh thank you, mayor. I just wanted to clarify some um information that uh we heard today. Um someone mentioned the uh VIP banquet. The VIP banquet is for those service members that the city has invited to come and spend the weekend with us. They're the honored guests and the banquet is to uh basically end after the parade the day of wonderful festivities. Um it's not for any one of us on this deis to have a party. I think I heard it referred to by someone or um any of the former electeds. It is solely for the service members who the city has invited to come and be a part of armed forces day weekend starting with the the welcome um hour at the hotel um all the way [clears throat] excuse me to the concert and [snorts] then the VIP banquet is the the culminating event for for the entire weekend. So, I want to make sure and clarify what um the who the VIPs who are being honored at that banquet, who they are and who it's for. Um definitely [clears throat] uh appreciate the community coming out for um to to give us our comments and the emails and the the text messages and all the other communication, good or bad. Um I think that um decisions are this sometimes bad decisions are made sometimes you look at the at the um decision that's made and sticking to a decision that may not agree with everybody because you will

never get everybody to agree on one single thing. I think um the leadership from the council to have the courage to bring it back and talk about the decision um says that indeed we're looking for the community. So um the other question that I would have would have to go to Jen. So, um, one of the options that, well, it's not actually an option was kind of like a split version. Keep the parade, uh, on Torrance Boulevard, uh, ending at Madrona and possibly having the rest of the activities at the airport. Was that something that was considered at all? And if so, can you walk me through that?

No, that was not an option.

Not an option. Um, my thought process behind maybe doing it that way is maybe we could bring in more air assets and possibly land some military air assets at the airport and that be uh other static displays. I know there would be like kids, heck, even adults, even me, uh, that would love to see maybe more of that. Um, it make no mistake, every community in the country is going to want to have a parade or a celebration or something to honor uh, Armed Forces Day, especially on the 250th. So, I know that the ability to be able to get assets is going to be really tough. And so I'm thinking if we're thinking out of the box um and not just focus on road vehicles and maybe we're able to fly in some things, maybe have a a plane fly over the airport with a parachuter um like we've done on Torance Boulevard many times before that that may be considered.

Councilman, city manager, all options can definitely be considered. uh something to keep in mind to be able to create a secure parameter at the airport may require will require additional staffing and resources but if that's council's desire staff can definitely explore options the concentration of events in one area is is helpful for our police and public safety personnel by adding another component away from the airport will require additional support to what form that's something we can investigate as far is needing additional uh public safety, police personnel away from the the vicinity of the civic center or bring in private security and what that may entail. Those are all options we can

we can explore. The because the issue that I see is that if we're going to use most of the civic center and the uh city yard for for staging, where are all the people going to park? And and I'm sure those people in the Torrance Garden areas are not going to appreciate. I mean, they're not even going to be able to get there because they're going to be there going to be barricades there. So, that's the typical layout that we experience every year, but if we anticipated I know one of the directions last time was a 50 mile radius uh campaign to increase attendance.

We can look at alternative areas. I know the county court parking lot, while we don't have a uh commitment at this time, that's one of the areas that we will also be exploring. the the the office complex north of us is also another alternative and we have a reciprocity agreement with them that allows us to utilize the space for events

and the employee lot at this um city will be another option. So, we'll explore all the since we're displaced from the former Montgomery Ward site at Fashion Way in Madona, the display area will shift into this city yard. Allow us the time between now and um hopefully in January when the committee reconvenes to explore the various layout options and we'll come back with more specifics and and provide council and the community an update.

Okay, that that sounds great. And then my last uh request is um I got a wonderful um recommendation from um one of the residents in district 2 um who is a marketing professional who says let's bring in some professional marketing support to help us market the parade to bring in more participants, more people. Um, and and as as I was thinking about the idea, it could also help our internal team here at the city on on giving us pointers on how to market other stuff in the future. So, it could be a win-win for both. It'll help us uh put more exposure out there for the parade, market it uh professionally, and then pick up tips for for future um campaigns that the city might do. Um, I know we do the best that we can with with uh you know, you know, Jyn's only one person and and she has a lot of she has some support, but I think having a someone that specializes in marketing events, uh, particularly for parades and particularly for cities would help us not only with this event, but all future events. So, and I think that would be money well spent to get people in here to help raise their participation. Thank you.

Thank you. I think uh good comments. I think uh the key focus of tonight's thing I think a lot of options are definitely possible, right? I mean picking a route down Torrance Ba does not prevent military air assets to go to Torrance airport any time. Um thank you for the comments. You know the comments about you know asking for sponsors. Those are good comments. Um appreciate it. I think the key thing I think as city manager shared us back at the uh the meeting on December 2nd was uh we'll focus on the main parade route today and then staff will work out all the options that uh that's been thought about. Council Matuchi,

thank you. Uh thank you, Mayor. And um yeah, great comments from the public and also from our fellow council members. Um, yeah, I think the main thing is to concentrate on bringing it or keeping it, I should say, uh, on Torrance Boulevard. Um, I think it's just a just a nicer, you know, layout. Um, it's part of the our tradition. That's I think that's that's the key point here. Uh it is more expensive but you know it's it's really our it is our biggest and most beautiful event that Torrance has year after year. So I think it's very important that we keep it alive. Uh I like the idea of bringing in uh some uh professional marketing. Not that you're you guys aren't doing a good job, but uh we do need to attract uh people from uh surrounding neighborhoods and areas to uh to come and check out what we got. You know, I think it would be would be nice to add a few a few new faces. And um I would definitely support Torrance Boulevard. Uh I'm not necessarily crazy or sold on the idea of uh putting the equipment at the airport, but I mean we can leave that as an option, but I would prefer to be in a uh gated uh setting such as the cityard. I think it would make it a lot easier to I mean we would have to make space, but I'm sure we can figure it out. And it's also closer, I believe, than the airport.

Once the event is uh event location is decided, um staff will bring back details to the committee as early as early January. But tonight really is just the event location. Yeah. All right. I would like to keep it on Torren Boulevard for myself. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Shay.

Uh thank you, Mayor. And first of all, thank you for all the uh emails, the phone calls, and everyone who is here today to express your concern and your uh uh making sure that your voices are heard. And obviously we try our best to reach out to you whichever way we can to get your input and I think that has been in the past. We have been transparent and uh uh what I wanted to say that uh we have been doing that obviously for years and sometimes it is difficult to say have little change. The idea was to just see and get more input from from the community and you obviously gave us what you need and we wholeheartly holistically we want this go back to where the community wants. This is a community event and if community wants there we will find the funds. We will work our hard work hard to make sure that uh we don't have any dent for other areas to cut but we will make sure we uh provide the services to the community what they desire. Uh just couple questions from our staff. Uh I see under the nonwage cost, the main one is the barriers that we have about $180,000. Do we explore any other ways to find different alternatives?

Councilman, other alternatives will entail using K rails and staff time and resources. We we have used Torrance Transit vehicles. We've used city fleet. Um but because of heightened security concerns, the the prudent option that we explored and we support is the the barriers. This is a a single turnkey operation where a the operator is able to install and remove and given the the extent of the the route we leverage what resources we already have. This helps us create that additional support and coverage and barriers. So our recommendation would be to maintain the course of the barriers and the funding is available just for clarification. This is just a matter of long-term assessment of resource by the military public participation. But as far as the agency, we are able and capable to have a parade uh with whichever location. I have the most confidence in our team ability to be able to provide an amazing program and we hope again as council members have mentioned to be able to raise a profile and bring the community out and I think this as difficulty may have been to get to this point we definitely have raised the profile of the challenges and that that in itself is a huge win for our community. Thank you.

Thank you for the detailed answer. I think uh we want to let community know that we do have funds and we will whatever whatever this uh body decide we will go ahead and take care of that. Uh I think one of the main concerns when some of the contacts were made and little counter questions to them uh the traffic and the attendance has gone down quite a bit. At one point I hear that was close to 60,000. Those are those were anecdotal numbers. Now we rely on actual aggregate cell phone data which is scientifically much more in line with the real attendance. And this year, assuming based on your direction, if the parade does return to Torren Boulevard, we'll be able to run the same program and be able to determine if we see a year-to-year actual scientific data comparison to to establish the baseline. I've heard a number as high as 100,000 which may have been the case over the years but I know since the we did have a break during the pandemic and it may just be a factor of getting the the numbers back up and again depending on the level of military participation. We hope uh the 250th will create that opportunity for us to since we are the longest running department of defense or department of war sanctioned parade in America to be able to get the attention and hopefully increase participation and leverage we have almost 30,000 credit to our team um speaking of marketing we we're almost at 30,000 Instagram followers and I imagine most of those individuals are from torrent uh and we'll be able to leverage additional resources should there be need for marketing to to further promote the parade.

Thank you. Thank you. And I believe at one point American Honda provided us so many vehicles as well without any cost. Correct.

Most of we we have partnerships with the area dealerships including American Honda and they've been partners and we encourage others who may want to continue to contribute and support the parade to to we'll be reaching out and we're available um to continue that partnership. Uh do you know why the the there is less attendance? Any reason? Did we do any research? Did we look at uh what people want and we're not giving it to them? We we have resources available now uh to be able to leverage. The software we utilize is called Zen City and Zen City provides uh opportunity for us to place public surveys and we can start leveraging that resource to be able to have opportunities for the public to state why have you been to a parade in the last five years? Do you plan on attending next year? Why why do you attend? Why don't why don't you attend? What will make you more likely to attend? Any input you have for improving the circumstances? So, we can definitely one of the things we're doing, as you know, Aaron council is using datadriven decision making.

Right. And we'll be able to leverage available resources to be able to determine and respond to your questions. No, thank you. I just want to say, yeah, we are uh very transparent. we will go ahead and uh make sure we do everything possible to reach out to the community. This event is for the community and if they want it uh we should provide this event to them and also whichever way we can work out internally to reduce any of the cost we we always try for that.

Yes. And uh just to plug the page torrenca.govd we have set up a standalone website which has the latest updates. Thank you to our communications team for the dynamic updates and as soon as you provide direction this afternoon or this evening, we'll be able to reflect that change and then we'll use that uh depository page as the updates are available to the community and there's a forum for public to engage as well and provide us feedback. Yeah, I'm getting also text that how can we assist with AFD committees and things like that. people are willing to participate in any way they can and give you the feedback. Uh thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And as city manager stated earlier in this interchange and December 2nd, option one is fully funded. Just want to make sure the community is clear and uh and the things that you know if other corporate sponsors want to you know provide vehicles and monetary donation you know we uh we're very open to that and uh bring it in right this is uh we want to make sure that the armed forces day parade we honor all veterans and active duty uh especially the 250th year and there's any way we can make it better I'm sure staff will be reaching Uh, we've been doing well. I know I think Council Matu and I probably rode in seven parades already during our tenure. And as we go down Torrance Boulevard, would you agree with me? It's just as packed every year. So, I know data is sometimes when you don't use actual cell phone data compared to eyeball data, it's it's really hard to determine participation, but it is for the whole South Bay, not just Torrance.

Councilman Gerson.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, first I want to go back to how I started my comment when uh council members started to reveal where they were leaning. Um, and I started off by saying I'm surprised that the council reached to option four so quickly because whenever you have something that's been 50 plus years, um, ground becomes hallowed. And it doesn't matter if it's a parade or anything. Um, anytime the community is involved, you already know that that sentiment will be there. And um, and I talked about the challenge of of that art reaction. Um, and I was surprised we got there so fast and I and I still am. And I'm not surprised that we're back here again so quickly. The second thing, um, Council Member Shake, I know you said if and you did a very good job of not revealing how you're going to vote, but at this point, I haven't revealed how I am, but we're already at five, so we already know where this vote is going. Um, the the things that I that I do want to bring up is, and the mayor did touch on it, is first of all, option one was always fully funded. Um, it's in the budget, totally covered, and uh that was never the issue. Um even as I said at my last comment, if you can save a quarter of a million dollars, you know, that's pretty amazing. Um my concerns are something that the entire council has always talked about as their number one priority, which is public safety. um those Meridian barriers that the $180,000 that council member Shake mentioned was an addition last year and already in the first year of use stopped a vehicle one block from the parade route, tore it up. Um they work just as advertised and and they are super amazing. Um, and this calls in the entire uh police department. And if you look at the protection of the play uh

parade route, you will see more than Torrance police officers at the parade route itself. So, we're already kind of overextended in that protection of the route. And so, when there are other issues around Torrance, we never discuss that. Um, but mutual aid is covering that. We have Roondo Beach, we have Manhattan Beach, we have Elsagando, we have other police departments that come in and we never really discuss that. And and I still think that that needs to be a continuing conversation, not just this year and ongoing years in that we continue to talk about how we protect not only our dignitaries and parade uh um participants and spectators, but our entire city in in how we are protecting us. Um, the second thing is is I wanted to take a moment because um to recognize our most famous veteran, Zampirini. Um, I'm a I'm a tarter. I played on Zampirini Field, which um, you know, the school district honored Louis Zampirini. Um, we all know, veteran, war hero, survived um, capture, was an Olympian. so much inspiration. And the city also honored Louis Zampirini by by naming Zampernini airfield um our Torrance airport after him. And so there is I want to I just want to nod to staff that in your recognition that when you did list that as an option that you were honoring our most famous veteran and again I I commend you. Um, so in your attempt to increase public safety and in your attempt to recognize our most famous veteran um, and save us money, I again I commend you just as I did at the last meeting. As this motion goes forward, there there are a couple other things I would like to talk about. Um, the innovation of the

parade. So last year was the 250th anniversary of the army and I heard the mayor ask uh Lieutenant General Braa um can I skydive in? And obviously with the buildings, the trees, the power lines, um wasn't safe. I will just say that at the airfield you could have skydived in. But um I know the fireworks um I was not around, but I've been told by institutional memory that there used to be fireworks around the armed forces day. Um, Zampirini Field offered the introduction of um of a drone show um a more environmentally friendly version for today and um and I was excited about that notion that I heard. Um but when the motion comes forward, there's something that nobody discussed that was discussed at that meeting prior to our vote to um move the parade to Zampirini Field. Um the mayor had said that he um did not want the hometown heroes banners up during armed forces day. He wanted the 250 anniversary and president's uh images. If when the motion comes forward, I'd like to solidify that our hometown heroes do appear on the parade route. That would be important to me. Um because our hometown heroes is to me that that's a big part of our parade. And so I' I'd like to see those solidified as secure um even if it's um presidents on one side, hometown heroes on the other side, however it's done, but I would like to see their pictures remain on Torren Boulevard. Thank you. [applause] Just so you know, um I think the possibility of parachuting down has done before, but that was supposed to be a surprise. So, you just spoil the surprise.

So, go the night inside tandem. I will do it but no one else supposed to know. Okay, Councilman Kaji.

Thank you, honor, and thank you citizens for being here today. Uh we're here for a single issue, whether or not to hold the parade at the airport or return it back to the traditional parade route. As one of three members who voted against moving the parade, that was always my decision to make on behalf of my constituents from District 1. Also, [clears throat] for those veterans, since I've mentioned before that uh being the son of a World War II veteran who served in the Pacific Theater and having attended this parade as a child uh with my father, It's special today. I think it's important that all of you are here because it's special to each one of you. It's special to you personally, your families, your grandchildren, the buddies you serve with, some of whom never came back, some of whom were missing in action, and the impacts on their families. That's why the parade needs to be here. Something else I want to mention on the December 2nd meeting that we held, there were two there were a couple of items on the agenda. One was the Armed Forces Day parade. The second was whether or not the city should rename Colombia Park after our local Torrance resident

Ted Tanoi. There was a there was a vote on that issue because I brought it forward. It was 42 against naming Colombia Park after Ted Tanoi and there were comments made about what that cost impact would be. As far as I know, the only cost impact would be to change the wooden sign that's a standard at every single one of our city parks and changing out the name. That's all. When you visit the airport, there's a beautiful sign on Pacific Coast Highway announcing Zampirini Field. That's great. That's wonderful. Some members have mentioned to me, well, Mr. Tanoi is already recognizing the city of Torrance. The armory, National Guard Armory has his name on it. There's a a memorial in front of Torrance High School. His name is out here on the corner of the Civic Center campus. But you know what? As I've gone around the city of Torrance and I've asked people, residents, some who are relatively new to the city, and I've asked them, "Do you know where these memorials are?" They go, "I never knew. There's no signage on the street. I've driven by that flag pole a thousand times. I thought it was just the high school flag pole." There's a difference in having a name written large and an eightoint type. So I see that there's a motion uh by two of my colleagues and I'm sure the motion is to return the parade from the airport to Torrance Boulevard. But I would like to make an amendment to the motion which I assume is that I believe it's timely and appropriate to

add a name to our armed forces day parade. I don't know if any of you have watched the minisseries the Pacific which sort of bookended Band of Brothers but the Pacific covered those service members who served in the Pacific theater. One of those members who's uh who's covered in the miniseries was a marine named John Basselone. John Basselone fought on Guadal Canal where for his actions he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Even though he came back and he was selling war bonds, he decided to reenter and he went to Camp Pendleton. He was an instructor there. And even though he had a choice, he he didn't have to go back into the battlefield, he chose to join his men and he went to Euima and that's where he was killed. More importantly, his little town of Raritton, New Jersey, population 8,000 people, decided to hold an annual parade in his name. A US Navy destroyer was christened in his name. interchanges, bridges. His bust is in San Diego. You go to Camp Pendleton, there are streets named for John Basselone. You go on the 405 freeway, you see his name on the 405 freeway. What makes John Basselone and Ted Tanoi any different? They both gave their lives. They both serve heroically. We have a legitimate American hero. who was friends with Louis Zampirini. And according to his family, he knew who Louie was. But since Louisie was a bad

boy, his family said, "Don't hang out with him." That's fact. But I would like to add to this motion that if we return the parade from the airport to Torrance Boulevard, we also name it, consider naming it the Ted Tanoe Armed Forces Day Parade. Thank you. [applause] Okay, I think we have a motion. And uh Councilwoman Colani, did you want to Whoops. Okay, I did not touch this. These these these things are coming in and out. Councilwoman Lewis, do you really want to speak?

Not really, but yeah. No, I do I do want to speak.

Okay. Um, [clears throat] a I think I've said this before, but um I am the daughter of an army guy that served in Vietnam who got injured and from his injuries received 100% total and complete disability from uh the army and um spouses and children of uh army vets that have gone through um injuries and have gone through battle. Um there's a lot that they bring home with them. Um and what I mean by that is sitting in your bedroom as a kid and being woken up in the middle of the night because your dad is having flashbacks of what this what his service did to him. Um, the military did several things for me. I I was a for those of you who are familiar with military benefits, I was a campus VA kid. Um, I I got um the opportunity to to go to college on my dad's um GI Bill. um and um did a lot when I was I mean I was 13 years old going to to uh Veterans of Foreign Wars and and the Junior League of Veterans of Foreign Wars um meetings um with my parents. So Arms Forces Day is is pretty special to me. And although um I understand council member Kaji's um want to name it after someone. Um

I do take issue with we refuse to rename the park because that wasn't the issue. The issue on the agenda was to was to um not rename the park but to come up with the outreach plan on renaming the park. So, I want to make that very clear. No one on this day is, if you go back and read the agenda, it says very clearly to provide staff with direction on the outreach plan for the park. You can shake your head all you want to. It's there on public record.

You did in that in that thing, but that was not the agenda item. The agenda item was to give staff direction to go out for the outreach plan of the park. And yes, you did make a motion. So the we're getting way off point. This is not about the park. This is about the parade. And my point about the parade is that the parade is aptly named after every veteran who served in any branch of the military. and what they what they gave to our community. That that is it. [applause] So, this the the naming [clears throat] of this parade honors all of our veterans. We don't want to we want to focus on all of them. Okay? And I can already tell by the push back somebody's going to say, somebody's going to try to insinuate things that aren't true. But when I think of the Arms Forces Day parade, it's because I'm thinking of every single member of our community, whether you live in Torrance, whether you don't live in Torrance, and the sacrifices that you and your family made being in the military. Thank you, [applause]

Councilman Gerson. I also have trouble when when we're not being entirely accurate. Um, so this motion about the park was made twice and the agenda item was never about naming a park. First one was to file and accept a report and the chair of the committee made the motion to rename. Um, and at our last meeting that this is still up for discussion because as a as a council we sent it to the parks and recck commission. Um they have put out what kind of outreach they want to do. Um they've set out a time frame they want to do it and this is a conversation that the people of Torrance will be having and there is no yes or no yet because the people of Torrance are going to be discussing it. The commission is going to be discussing it and it may still happen. Like the I know people have asked me my personal opinion and I'm like I'm I'm like a a judge right now. I have no personal opinion. My opinion right now is to receive information. Um and the the the conversation that that I heard from everyone today is we would have liked the same consideration for Armed Forces Day parade um as the park naming. So hence we're here again and um and listening to people's um input. So I I just wanted to make that clear that there has been no yes, there has been no no. It is with the parks and rec commission for conversation right now. That was all I wanted.

Thank you. I see two more clickins. I just want to make sure that we're talking about the Armed Forces Day parade route that is on the agenda tonight and that's where we're trying to do. So, Councilman Shake.

Yeah. Thank you. I just want to be very brief. I know that some comments are made earlier. They're not accurate. We just hear from so many people. They're saying whenever you make a decision, reach out to them. And again we're making a decision without reaching out to you. Let's not do that. The agenda is again to reiterate is about the parade not adding something else without community input. Let's reach out to again let's bring it back to agenda. Let's talk about asking what our community want. I don't want I don't want one person come here and say I want this thing because I have certain affiliation. That's not the way our government works. We are you are the bosses. I say that over and over again. I reach out to all of you. I want your opinion what matters to you. So let's not just change the subject and let's just stick with what we are and let's not make any amendments without reaching out to the community. Thank you, [applause]

Councilman Kanji. This is just my opinion, but I believe there's a double standard. The of course tonight we're talking about relocating the parade back to Torrance Boulevard and that will be the motion and I hope we call the the motion soon like right after I speak. But when it comes to renaming the park and comments made that there was insufficient public input. Five public meetings have been held on that issue but apparently it's going to drag out longer. Whereas discussion about changing the parade route from Torrance Boulevard to the airport went forward with how much public discussion. That's why you're all here on a Friday afternoon and I hope you get home in time for dinner. But what happened? We had two issues. One has had continues to get dragged out and the other was made by a 4-3 vote without any input from people on Torrance Boulevard, everyone in the city. And that's why we're here because so many of you just said, "Wait a minute. How did this happen?" So, if we're going to apply a standard, make sure it's the same standard applied to all issues. Thank you.

All right, Councilman Gerson. Apples, bananas, oranges, grapes. Um, you're talking about a park that that is used that name is used daily not just within the city of Torrance but throughout it's used it is common language of the people of Torrance and so that issue is a completely different issue this was a weekend and a parade and it wasn't seen because it is a weekend and so yeah the council went ahead we heard the people we've stepped back and said we hear you understand thank you. And now we're going to vote to make a It looks like a correction.

Councilman Kaji, I'd like to call the question and and have the motion brought forward. Well, I think at this moment, uh, Councilwoman Kehani is the mover, so I'm going to let her

make the motion and then, uh, then we'll take the vote. Uh motion to hold the 2026 Armed Forces Day parade and celebration on Torrance Boulevard and to um allow staff along with the Armed Forces Day Committee to work out the details and bring it back in a very transparent way to the public. Thank you. Can I make an amendment to that motion?

Can I also add that uh I understand what council member Kajji was saying and perhaps that we can have our local grand marshall of the parade actually be the tan away family. Would you support that? I would I I would. But is it appropriate for us to make that decision now or should that be going back to

Yeah, let let me jump in on this point. Um because I know we're all trying to be kinded and understanding for every everyone. Um you know I think that's idea if we want to do it we could do it maybe for a future event. My suggestion would let this agenda be picking the route because we have a way of honoring each of the honor branch each year and I know we've already we've already started reaching out to the leadership in the US Marine Corps. I I said local.

Right. Right. So, uh I think we'll let the staff come back with recommendations. I think my suggestion is this is a good motion. Let's take a vote on that. And as staff hear everybody's desire, they can come back and see what is possible. Otherwise, we could be here till midnight. In that case, I'll uh second uh Councilwoman Colani's original motion. Start voting, please. Your honor, that motion carried unanimously. Okay.

Thank you for everyone for showing up. You know what I want to share with you a little bit is as we uh get ready for the long uh Christmas holiday uh for everyone, the city staff, you know, for every council meeting, we we do the best as far as I know, publish the agenda and allows public to get comment. Um so you're you're and as elected officials the way I been my experience has been is you the people elect us to represent your wishes and your desires and sometimes you're not here but you have entrusted to us and if we did something that did not represent you then sort of the giant is awakened and you made comments to us and this is an example of what happens too And uh but you know we don't intentionally do things so that you're not allowed you can't make comments. You can always make comments and we do the best we can with all our our outreach and uh uh we do appreciate your comments and all your emails come in are heard. So uh thank you for my colleagues here. I know that uh uh you know we had to do a quick meeting as we conclude tonight's meeting. I want to thank not only those here, those who uh who actually are connected to us online today. The the body language here is a little different to be in here watching it than remotely, but I appreciate you. This moment, I'll take a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting.

Motion to adjourn tonight's meeting to Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM. Second. Start voting, please. Your honor, that motion carried unanimously. Thank you. Good evening. It's 5:17 p.m.