Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade 2026

I was at the Council meeting and I spoke in favor of the traditional parade route. That said, I’m going to try to inform you of what happened at the meeting, why it happened, and what to expect next.

First, let’s break down the timelines. Let’s start with the infamous “City Council Committees.” As with the renaming of Columbia Park and the suggested annexation of El Camino Village and Alondra Park, these were done through the Council Committee process. Unfortunately, Council Committees are not well publicized or attended. ALSO, a decision was made to not have these meetings recorded by the City Clerk as is done with City Council Meetings AND City Commission meetings. So, it’s very difficult to find minutes and there are no audio recordings for public record. I have a Public Records Request out of minutes and audio recordings from both of these meetings - if they exist.

There was an Armed Forces Day Committee on January 6th 2025 and July 1st 2025. At the July meeting, those in attendance confirm that one of the Councilmembers suggested making the parade no longer an annual tradition. Thankfully, that option was not presented to the full council.

In February of 25, the Federal Legislative Advocacy Committee took a trip to Washington. You may remember that this was a political firestorm when the trip to DC only included the Mayor and his allies, then that group went beyond what they were authorized to do by Council including meeting with military officials about the parade. All of this was done without proper authorization or reporting.

After that meeting, the parade had the lowest military presence yet. At the presentation to City Council it was explained that the military is less and less excited about continuing its partnership with the City of Torrance.

The May 2026 Armed Forces Day is rapidly approaching, City Staff and the Torrance Police Department are desperately in need of direction. So, Council was presented with a 4 options and Jin Chun from the City Manager’s office and Lieutenant Fischer for the Torrance Police Department did a fantastic job presenting the options to council.

Option 1 was a the traditional parade that includes a half a million dollar price tag.
Option 2 is a Downtown Torrance version that would cost over $700,000
Option 3 is a parade down Skypark Drive near the Airport costing a quarter of a million dollars.
Option 4 is the one Council voted to approve which would entirely take place within the Torrance Airport - Costing just under $200,000

Pros and cons were presented for each option. And ultimately, the decision was made based on five criteria:
1. Price - The city saves a quarter of a million dollars moving it to the airport.
2. Safety - Bringing the parade to the enclosed Torrance Airport makes it easier to secure the event.
3. Military interest - the hope is that a re-envisioned version of the parade would reinvigorate the interest form the US military and the location at the airport would allow them easer access to bringing in exciting military assets like jets.
4. Public interest - A case was made that the a parade with less military involvement leads to less public interest and that is shown to be true with attendance data at the previous parade. Also, a major event at the airport could be something that could be advertised and more people in the community would be excited about.
5. The staging area traditionally used by Del Amo Mall is no longer available.

Initially, the council had voted for option 1, but the Mayor realized the option voted on did not include the VIP welcome reception or concert, so a motion to reconsider was heard - a motion to reconsider basically nullifies the last vote and lets the council change their mind. After some discussion, the council ended up landing on supporting Option 4.

Now, as for what happens next - I would LOVE to see this item be reconsidered and come back for more public input.

Ok. About a half an hour after I shot this video, council met and a brave member made a request for reconsideration to encourage more public input. That member was Councilmember Sharon Kalani. The council followed her leadership and concurred. This does not necessarily mean that they are bringing the item back, this just means that at the December 16th meeting they will consider bringing it back at a future meeting. My expectation is that they will do this, but they’ll need to work fast as City Staff and the Torrance Police Department need the council’s direction to begin planning this event now.

Now my next video is going to be about political distractions. I know you have all seen this before, but highly emotional items like the one I just spoke about are often used to distract from very important decisions that are about to be made, and there is one coming to the next city council meeting that could dramatically decrease your ability as a resident to impact city decisions

As always, to learn more, please visit David4Torrance.com