Newsletter No. 64

• Kalani running for mayor

• Public health breakaway stopped

• SST saves Torrance

• Fun with Jeopardy

Sharon Kalani used her March 8 birthday to give Torrance residents a gift: She announced she will run against George Chen in the 2026 mayoral election.

Kalani is following in the footsteps of then-Council members Ken Miller and Frank Scotto, the only people who previously have challenged a Torrance sitting mayor.

Both won.

They ran because they were upset over mayoral actions. Kalani has also been troubled by a number of Chen’s actions, which is clear from her campaign motto: Back to the Business of Torrance.

One example of Chen’s focusing on non-essentials is his whimsical projects such as annexing El Camino Village. That effort would cost the City’s general budget $11 million a year. And that’s after investing $27 million in startup costs. Kalani has said that money could be better spent on improvements in Torrance.

Back in the day, Miller was the first to attempt to oust a mayor when he opposed Al Eisen, who had served multiple terms. This was before term limits, which Miller provided leadership to enact once he became mayor.

Miller started the era of good government and was followed by Mayors James Armstrong, Katy Geissert and Dee Hardison.

Then along came Dan Walker. And in four years, Walker’s actions behind the scenes eroded 32 years of good governance.

Scotto, unhappy with some of Walker’s moves, took him on and won decisively. He then quickly created the Blue Ribbon Committee on Ethics and Integrity, which recommended — and the Council passed — several important rules.

One prohibited candidates from using City sites in campaign literature. Chen violated that in his first election post.

Another limited donors to $1,000 each. Chen avoided the ceiling by using PACs to try to get his 2024 Council candidates elected. Both of his candidates failed, proving money isn’t everything. And in November Torrance voters restricted PACs, but some question whether that’s enforceable. 

Kalani is well-positioned against Chen. She has become the leader of the Good Government 4. District 2’s Bridgett Lewis, District 3’s Asam Sheikh and District 6’s Jeremy Gerson have followed her lead on several key matters where Chen’s leadership was sub-par.

Future newsletters will continue to show how each has approached important issues, starting with a perfect example below.

Public health’s breakaway buried:

At the March 4 Council meeting, staff made its fourth – and last – presentation on the proposal to break away from the LA County Public Health Department.

At each session, staff has listed huge negatives, starting with uncertain costs. Pasadena and Long Beach report annual budget shortfalls in the millions. Pasadena’s public health department opened in 1892 and Long Beach’s in 1906. 

This time around, the Council heard that Torrance Memorial and Providence had zero interest in supporting the push. The South Bay Cities Council of Governments told the City that it would not collaborate and suggested it approach the Beach Cities Health District. However, BCHD is having its own problems these days – it lost its measure on the November ballot – and has no capacity for supporting a city’s goal of starting its own public-health agency.

Why was the Council so interested? Well, it started in August 2022 with Mattucci’s campaign to break away during Covid. He got some national notice for his efforts. The Washington Post quoted him in an article about anti-maskers trying to avoid County restraints. He went on CNN and drew days’ worth of online ridicule from NextDoor posters.

Since then, Chen and Kaji have supported Mattucci’s push.

“Just thinking out loud,” Chen said as he launched into another rambling talk about why a breakaway would be good for Torrance. But he got shot down when he started talking about what staff could do in the way of research. City Manager Aram Chaparyan said that would require more resources, including an outside consultant.

The three breakaway supporters were looking to West Covina, which had voted to start its own health agency, to show them best practices for a Torrance split. But the state is continuing to delay that city’s move. Chen wanted staff to make its next presentation one year after West Covina had succeeded.

Kalani, however, after reviewing all time the staff had spent on this project, had seen enough and made a motion to drop it. Gerson quickly seconded it, saying he had not been on the Council for the first three reports but could see that this was a waste. Lewis and Sheikh joined them.

Budget update:

Kaji, chair of the Council’s Finance Committee, gave a glowing mid-year budget report. The sales-tax increase, which Chen, Kaji and Mattucci had campaigned against, made the good news possible.

Lewis said she wanted “to set the record straight” and remind residents that “SST has allowed us to provide contracts to our police and fire services. It has allowed us to buy equipment that was very much needed.”

Kalani asked Finance Director Ian Dailey what SST had done for the city. He responded that it “brought us back from the brink.”

Fun with Jeopardy:

Kurt Weideman won the first Torrance Public Library Jeopardy Challenge in 2024, and the competition begins March 29 for his successor.



The qualifying rounds, which start at 2 p.m., will be held at Walteria Library on March 29, El Retiro Library on April 12, Southeast Library on April 19, Geissert Library on April 26, Henderson Library on May 10 and North Torrance Library on May 24. Then the final championship round will be June 7 at the Geissert.

How late was it?:

The March 4 meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m. A new trend?

Before I go:

The City’s deadline for correspondence to be included in the Council’s pre-meeting public supplemental is 5:30 p.m. the Monday before the meeting. The Council will receive anything that comes in later before the meeting, but it won’t be posted until Wednesday. It will be at the top of the agenda. You can also leave voicemails to be included as Oral Communications in the supplemental. Call 310-618-2404 to leave up to a two-minute recording that will be transcribed. Voicemails have the same deadlines as the emails.

Want to tell the City Council your opinion on an agenda item or address any concerns? Send it to CityCouncil@torranceca.gov; in the subject line put the agenda item or the topic. The City has changed how to have your comments appear in an agenda item’s Staff Report. You should use the OneMeeting Public Portal at https://torranceca.primegov.com/public/portal?fromiframe=true.

Jean Adelsman

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