Episode 2: 2025 Recap

In the second episode of the Moving Forward podcast, host Chris and organizers Alex, Brianna, and Liam recap the year’s organizing wins at South Bay Forward. Focusing on the group’s pillars of housing, transit, and mobility they provide a run down of the most significant accomplishments in each category, and also discuss ongoing opportunities.Beginning with housing, Alex gives an overview of the various housing developments that were approved in the cities of Torrance, Gardena, and Redondo Beach, with a nod towards Manhattan Beach’s residential overlay district. Projects mentioned: Fashion Square at Del Amo (260 townhomes), 3610 Torrance Blvd (449 apartments, 45 affordable), Normandie Crossing (333 units, 7 affordable), City Ventures (35 townhomes, 4 affordable in Torrance; 43 townhomes, 3 affordable in Redondo).Many of these projects were made possible by state law, including the density bonus law which provides incentives in exchange for the inclusion of affordable units. We were involved with submitting support letters and activating local advocates to speak in support at Planning Commission and city council hearings. Importantly, every new unit entitled is another home that we need to build a more inclusive and affordable South Bay.  Next for transit, Brianna begins by celebrating the opening of the LAX Metro Transit Center and the North-South through-running of the K Line, which opened in early June. We also started a campaign to advocate for the Vermont Transit Corridor South Bay extension, and got Beach Cities Transit to sign up as a Metro GoPass municipal agency. South Bay Forward was selected to serve as a CBO for the C/K Line Extension to Torrance in May and the Final EIR was released in September. We talk about what this project means for the South Bay and how the benefits can get lost within the lengthy environmental review process. We talk about why it’s so important we continue to champion the project to make it happen.We also had a recent win at the South Bay Cities COG level to maintain the subregion’s support for the project, and are gearing up for the Metro Board Meeting on Jan 22, 2026. We held our 2nd Annual South Bay Transit Summit in October which was a huge success and we look forward to continued partnership with Torrance Transit and other partners to make each Transit Summit better than the last.(A win that we did not cover here was that we successfully advocated for the Metro South Bay Service Council to change their meeting times weekday mornings to weekday evenings – formerly 2nd Friday mornings, now 1st Monday evenings – a change that will make these meetings more accessible to the public. The next South Bay Service Council meeting will be held on Monday, Jan 5 at 5 pm.)Hopping on a bike, we lear