The SBCCOG at 30: A Legacy of Success, A Vision for Tomorrow

As the South Bay Cities Council of Governments Gears Up for its Anniversary Celebration at the 25th General Assembly, Former Board Chairs Explore the Organization’s Accomplishments and Value

In the early 1970s, the South Bay Cities Association (SBCA) formed when the communities of the burgeoning South Bay began meeting to informally exchange ideas and information regarding interjurisdictional issues such as transportation.

SBCA was a voluntary organization of South Bay cities. It was composed of elected officials representing each participating entity. However, over time it became increasingly evident that informal  communication among the cities no longer met the newly emerging demands and opportunities facing the subregion.

In 1992, the SBCA agreed to serve as the subregional body to participate in the Southern California Association of Governments’ Comprehensive Plan process.

The SBCA began in-depth discussions of regional and subregional issues. In 1994, the SBCA formally became the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) through a joint-powers agreement. Its original members were Carson, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Los Angeles (Harbor Gateway/San Pedro areas), Manhattan
Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates and Torrance.

L.A. County became an official member of the SBCCOG in 2009, with representatives on the SBCCOG board of directors from the 2nd District and 4th District.

THEN AND NOW

As the SBCCOG celebrates its 30th anniversary at the March 27 General Assembly, speakers will explore the SBCCOG’s progress, as well as chart a path to address challenges in sustainability and
resilience. As the event draws near, board members who served as chair were invited to reflect on the organization’s impact over the last three decades.

TACKLING SUBREGIONAL TRANSPORTATION

Bob Pinzler recalls the early years when the SBCCOG met in a small conference room at Torrance City Hall. It became so crowded that some attendees sat in the hallway. The organization focused mostly on transportation issues such as traffic signal synchronization on one of the South Bay’s largest thoroughfares, Hawthorne Boulevard, tapping into Executive Director Jacki Bacharach’s expertise as former founding chair of The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) and other transportation roles.

Fast-forward to the present. The SBCCOG continues to play a role in shaping transportation in the South Bay. In partnership with Metro, Caltrans and South Bay jurisdictions, the SBCCOG manages the expenditures of more than $906 billion available from the South Bay Measure R Highway Program and $1.9 billion from Measure M Subregional Programs. These funds have helped fund major transportation improvement projects including the Mary K. Giordano Regional Transit Center in Torrance, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in Redondo Beach, improvements to Pacific Coast Highway throughout the subregion, and the SR-47/Vincent Thomas Bridge on/off ramp improvements at Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro.

THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

“When I was chair, we had our first General Assembly, which I think was the final statement that we were here and (the first step in) getting expert speakers to talk to the
general audience about common problems and solutions,” Pinzler said. “It was relatively small, and Jacki and (deputy director) Kim (Fuentes) brought lasagna.”

The General Assembly has continued for 25 years and has grown into a much larger annual event attended by hundreds of civic leaders and community members. It serves as a forum for the region’s thought leaders to gather, share ideas and discuss important issues.

MENTORING AND CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP

As a junior council member in Manhattan Beach, Linda Wilson credits the SBCCOG for giving her more confidence in her new role. She took lessons from other seasoned civic leaders such as former Torrance Council member and Mayor Dee Hardison, who served as the SBCCOG’s second chair in 1998/1999.

“I was such a novice in the government area. It was a steep learning curve for me, and all these folks around me seemed to know a lot of what was going on in other cities. I think it’s good to have both—the wider perspective and the neighborhood ‘picnic,’ so to speak.

BREAKING THROUGH POLITICAL BARRIERS

“I found the solutions we (the SBCCOG) came up with were more accepted because they had been put together by people who otherwise would have been politically different,” Wilson said. “No one is 100% right and no one is 100% wrong. There’s something great in the commonality.”

LEADING THE WAY TO A GREENER SOUTH BAY

In the early 2000s, California faced an unprecedented energy crisis as low supply and idle power plants led to record electricity prices. The City of Redondo Beach responded in 2003 by applying for and receiving funds from the California Public Utilities Commission to implement a program to incentivize—through instant rebates—the purchase of Energy Star® appliances. The Redondo Beach city manager suggested promoting the program throughout the entire South Bay and asked the SBCCOG to take on its execution.

The success of the program led to partnerships with Southern California Edison and SoCalGas for marketing, education and outreach programs for the entire SBCCOG geographic area. This eventually prompted the formal naming of this SBCCOG program as the South Bay Energy Savings Center. With further expansion and partnerships with other utilities, including West Basin Municipal Water District, it eventually became the South Bay Environmental Services Center.

Judith Mitchell specifically recalls passage of Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006, intended to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

“That filtered down into what local government had to do. And the SBCCOG very, very smartly marched forward with that,” said Mitchell. The momentum served as the impetus for the SBCCOG to work with cities in 2005 and 2007 to complete GHG inventories for each city. Using this baseline carbon footprint, the SBCCOG later worked with cities to develop climate action plans to help
them set GHG-reducing goals.

Through the years, additional partnerships were forged with Southern California Regional Energy Network, Water Replenishment District, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, L.A. Metro, and City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to provide energy efficiency, water conservation, waste mitigation, shared mobility options (e.g., van pool and carpool), telecommuting and traveler information, and recycling resources to cities, school districts, businesses and residents.

These efforts have helped cities and schools save 14,355,145 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 207,765 gas therms.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE LOCAL-USE TRAVEL MODES IN THE SOUTH BAY

In 2008, state Senate Bill 375 passed, requiring cities to combine their local land use planning with transportation planning, which presented challenges for the South Bay.

Mitchell recalls that this legislation proved pivotal to the SBCCOG’s exploration of what’s known as “micromobility” and the use of electric-powered, low-speed, zero-emission travel modes as a solution to increased congestion to prompt the additional lowering of emissions. These modes include neighborhood electric vehicles, pedal bikes, e-scooters and other devices that operate at
25 mph or less.

“We are transit poor (in the South Bay), so there weren’t a lot of ways for us to comply,” she said. “One of the really innovative activities that came out of that was a program called the Local Use Vehicle (LUV) Project.”

The LUV project utilized seven neighborhood electric vehicles equipped with GPS that could only be driven on local lower-speed roads. They were loaned to South Bay residents with the objective of learning where residents were going and their trip purpose. It revealed that 70% of subregional trips are 3 miles or less, leading to the conclusion that it makes sense to “right-size your ride” to such microdevices for local trips.

Thirteen years later, in 2023, the SBCCOG launched phase one the Local Travel Network in El Segundo, a street network that will support the growing use of micromobility for local trips. The proposed 243-mile route will eventually connect the South Bay, with streets marked by “rolling turtle” signs that notify drivers of cars that they may be sharing the roadway with slower-speed micro vehicles.

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Late 2020 marked the culmination of a 15-city municipal partnership forged by the SBCCOG to create a broadband infrastructure that would provide an essential public asset and resource to city governments and create opportunities to bridge the “digital divide” in broadband underserved communities.

The completed middle-mile, fiber-optic ring, named the South Bay Fiber Network (SBFN), provides 1 gigabyte service to South Bay cities and other agencies. Lateral service connects various municipal buildings and public agency sites to the network.

The SBFN lays the groundwork to eventually extend a low-cost comprehensive network to residents and businesses throughout the South Bay. To date, more than 40 circuits are operational on the SBFN.

During his time on the board and as chair, Christian Horvath helped the SBCCOG secure $6.6 million in Measure M funds for the project by demonstrating to Metro that a resilient fiber network is essential to a modern transportation system, through benefits such as traffic signal synchronization, improved traffic management and reduced traffic through facilitating telework (the trip not taken).

“We were looking at it from a perspective of … how can we set cities up for success in terms of connectivity and being able to utilize connections throughout the city for public works, for transportation, even in their own IT (information technology) to function as an efficient and effective government,” Horvath said. “And we considered how we could ultimately use it as a backbone to create true municipal broadband—something that would have a clear, direct impact on residents and commercial businesses, possibly even as an economic development driver for the South Bay.”

ACHIEVING FUNCTIONAL ZERO HOMELESSNESS

Through the passage of Measure H, which created a one-quarter cent sales tax to generate funding for homeless services and short-term housing, the SBCCOG has taken a regional approach with its member cities to address homelessness. The SBCCOG engages cities through co-investment opportunities, while leveraging cities’ unique position to improve housing access.

Successful interventions include 1) Client Aid just-in-time funding for security deposits, application fees and other housing expenses; 2) case management services to guide participants through the rehousing process; 3) Homeless Court to repair individuals’ backgrounds necessary to access the private housing market; 4) SHARE!™ housing to employment; 5) housing location services to find Section 8-friendly landlords; and 6) increased interim bed capacity through investments in shelter, single-room occupancy homes and motel beds.

Last year, the SBCCOG worked with the City of Redondo Beach to develop a pilot program to help cities achieve Functional Zero Street Homelessness (when the inflow of homelessness is less than the outflow) to help cities track and ensure their progress toward ending homelessness.

“It was first recognizing a need and having conversations about it (ending homelessness), but then it grew to the SBCCOG hiring individuals to focus solely on homelessness,” said Horvath. “Now the SBCCOG really is an essential conduit for the cities to address homelessness in their communities.”

SHINING A LIGHT ON ALL SOUTH BAY CITIES

This year Gardena hosted the SBCCOG’s second South Bay Climate and Energy Awards at its Nakaoka Community Center. The event highlighted energy-saving efforts of cities, awarding gold, silver and bronze designations based on their achievements.

According to Gardena Mayor Pro Tem and current SBCCOG Chair Rodney Tanaka, such opportunities give smaller cities like Gardena the opportunity to shine with their larger counterparts.

“As a small city with 60,000 people and 6 square miles, we get a lot of value through funding for Measure M, Measure H and environmental initiatives that we don’t have in our small budgets,” he said. “It’s amazing how much input we have through the SBCCOG within our South Bay communities, and the work that we accomplish together.” •