Jacki Bacharach was rummaging through the garage of her Rancho Palos Verdes home and found a copy of a letter she had written to her junior high school principal. It offered a list of suggestions for how to make the school a better place. Although she doesn’t remember if the suggestions were implemented, the letter inspired her to run for student council.

She ran every semester during junior high and high school—never winning a single election. But in the face of defeat, she remained undeterred.

“Some kids might say, ‘Oh, they didn’t vote for me, I’m not going to run anymore,’ but I remember not feeling defeated and instead thinking, ‘I have all these ideas, and they are not taking advantage of them,’” Bacharach said.

Her interest in making things better led her to study the inner workings of government as a political science major at UCLA, where at a party she met her future husband—an engineer at South Bay aerospace firm TRW. The love-at-first-sight union led to their wedding five months later.

After graduation Bacharach worked for two years as a social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services until she had her first child. Her growing family then moved to Palos Verdes, where over the years she served as president of the League of Women Voters, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Coordinating Council and the Friends of the Library. She was also appointed to the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission.

HELPING REGIONAL TRANSPORATION TAKE SHAPE

From left: Attending the recent Starry Night Harbour Lights gala, which benefited Helping Elders Live Productively (H.E.L.P.), are Frederique Bacharach, Jacki Bacharach’s daughter in- law; Scott Houston, board member, West Basin Water District; Larry Bacharach, Jacki’s son; Jacki Bacharach, executive director, SBCCOG; Omar Fuentes; Kim Fuentes, deputy executive director, SBCCOG; Steven Bradford, California Senate member, 35th District.

In 1980 voters finally took notice of her ideas. They elected Bacharach to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, where she served for 14 years—four of them as mayor. Her council role led to her involvement in the South Bay Cities Association, where she eventually served as president, and a 12-year appointment on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, the region’s primary transportation planning arm until the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) was formed in 1993.

“Transportation is something everybody uses, especially seniors, so it was a good nonpartisan issue to get involved in. At the time no one was focusing on rail, so I became chair of the rail committees. It was like getting a PhD in rail,” she said. In May 2023, Metro reported that 3.3 million monthly senior ridership fares were collected.

Bacharach served as chair of the commission’s Planning and Rail Construction Committees and eventually the entire commission. As chair, she led the development of the overall rail plan for Los Angeles County and oversaw the construction of the Metro Blue Line and Green Line.

During her time in public office she became founding chair of The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink), and founding vice chair of the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency, which oversees improvement to LA-San Diego Amtrak service. She served in numerous other high-profile transportation roles as well, including an appointment to the National Commission on Intermodal Transportation by Federico Peña, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation at the time.

After 14 years Bacharach left public office and tried transportation consulting. But she soon began to feel that familiar nudge that her ideas weren’t being put to use.

“I was getting all these jobs, but what they really wanted was my name. It was not fulfilling because I really wanted to do things and not just get paid to have my name used,” she said.

BRINGING THE SOUTH BAY TOGETHER

In 1994 the South Bay Cities Association formally became a council of governments and a joint powers authority. Four years later, the Southern California Association of Governments agreed to fund one year for the executive director of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG). At that time, the SBCCOG was administered by the City of Torrance. Bacharach accepted an offer to lead the organization.

Cities soon recognized the organization’s value and agreed to pay their own dues. After that, the organization took off. Through the SBCCOG, the 15 South Bay cities, City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County have worked together for nearly 30 years to develop programs to address a variety of issues impacting the subregion.

Its transportation and land use program manages Measure R and Measure M Subregional Transportation Funds. It also created the Local Travel Network, a network of streets to promote the safer use of zero-emission, lightweight vehicles, such as e-bikes. The SBCCOG has developed environmental programs with utility providers to promote energy and water conservation through the South Bay Environmental Services Center. Through its technology program the SBCCOG is working to bridge the digital divide through the creation of a low-cost municipal broadband network called the South Bay Fiber Network. The SBCCOG also advocates for the interests of the subregion by monitoring and coordinating responses and positions on legislation that impacts the South Bay.

BUILDING AN AGE-FRIENDLY SOUTH BAY

The SBCCOG also created a Social, Welfare, Equity and Access program to develop effective strategies for preventing homelessness. The program also supports awareness among cities of various programs that serve the community’s older adults to promote an age-friendly South Bay. Focus areas include mobility, wellness and housing strategies.

The Senior Services Working Group has been meeting for 10 years to advance these goals. Among its accomplishments are introducing cities and community members to resources, such as the Palos Verdes Peninsula and South Bay Villages, 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that help older adults in South Bay communities stay in their homes with the help of volunteers.

PEER RECOGNITION

Although her ideas may not have drawn attention during her early life, Bacharach’s more than five decades of service with the SBCCOG and the community have not gone unnoticed. In June the South Bay nonprofit Helping Elders Live Productively (H.E.L.P.) honored Bacharach with its 2024 Inspiration Award, following a nomination by Olivia Valentine, former Hawthorne council member and SBCCOG chair.

“Jacki’s vision, creativity and leadership ability have made her the leader of many great projects in the South Bay, even before the South Bay Cities Council of Governments,” said Valentine. “It’s about her unique talent to become aware of a problem that needs solving, to envision how that problem can be solved, to do the research to justify moving forward, and then to know how to mobilize support for that project, from community leaders to local and state legislators.”

Bacharach shows no sign of slowing down. “It’s so much fun working intergenerationally,” she said of working with colleagues that span from Gen Z to baby boomers. “It’s really hard to stop because I love all these issues, and I do love being involved in making improvements for the community I live in.” •