Last time I wrote, I expressed concern that our Council had voted against allowing County ballot collection boxes in the City of Torrance. The feedback I received from you was overwhelming- dozens of residents replied expressing their desire to vote via a secure ballot box due to their concerns with the postal mail or in person voting due to covid. Seeing this, I kept fighting to have the Council reconsider the previous decision, making an impassioned speech and reading several of your emails into the record. I’m now proud to report, that by a 5-2 vote, the Council reversed course and there will be a ballot box option for Torrance residents! In fact, I voted this morning alongside former California Treasurer and Torrance resident John Chiang. In the ten minutes I was there, two other residents dropped off their ballots on the way to work as well.

I think we can all agree that the right to exercising our democratic right to vote in a safe and secure manner is one of the things that makes this country great- It's something I enlisted in the military to protect. Unbelievably, I've now found myself fighting to protect it again, only this time at Torrance City Hall.

Council has been incredibly busy handling many different issues these past few months, but I want to keep you updated on what's happening. Some key issues covered here include State housing bills/local control, City Manager retirement, common sense Police reform, and the #Dare2Care program:

Whether you or a loved one have become ill from COVID-19, you lost your job or business, or you’ve experienced loneliness from not being able to leave your house, we’ve all experienced unique challenges in these last few months.

Improvise. Adapt. And Overcome. This is one of the many things I learned while in the military in order to deal with adverse conditions. Here at City Hall, that lesson has certainly been valuable over the past month and it’s one we can all draw upon now.

As you may know, one of my priorities is to revitalize Old Torrance and I'm proud to report good news on several fronts. Last week, Old Torrance made the news, not once, but twice. The first was from a great article in the LA Times highlighting some of our local businesses that make it a great tourist destination. 

There are some very significant changes in how Torrance votes and I'm writing to make sure you're aware of them.

Last week, the Mayor gave his annual State of the City address and I can proudly say that things are moving forward in the City of Torrance!

You may recall that one of the issues I campaigned on during my re-election last year was bringing technology businesses to Torrance. While I'm working on many different ways to accomplish this goal, I've come to realize that perhaps the most effective way to do this is to revitalize Old Torrance.

At the City Council meeting this week, something exciting happened: the Council unanimously authorized staff to issue a Request for Proposal to hire a consultant to revitalize Old Torrance. In layman’s terms, this is the first step in a process to realize the potential that our downtown area offers by redeveloping it, something last attempted nearly 40 years ago.