Hi! My name is Jim Light. I am honored to have served as Redondo’s Mayor since the tragic passing of Mayor Brand. I have accomplished more that I thought possible in my time as Mayor, but there is more to do. I am asking for your trust and your vote to continue as your Mayor for the next four years.
I am running for Mayor because I care about our city and our quality of life. The city is at a critical juncture in its history and I just can’t walk away.
The Air Force stationed me at LA AFB in 1989. I chose to live in Redondo Beach because of its seaside village character, its great beach, and its recreational harbor. I fell in love with the community and left the Air Force so I could stay here.
Since then, I have been fighting for the quality of life of the residents and character of this city for 24 years – from Heart of the City in 2000, to Measure DD, to successfully fighting against a new power plant, to Measure C and harbor revitalization, to improving critical infrastructure. We have turned the corner from two decades of stagnation and are gaining positive momentum across the city on more projects and issues than the city has ever tackled. The city is facing both significant opportunities and significant threats. There is the very real threat of overdevelopment, especially with recent state housing mandates that erode our local control.
We are at a critical juncture in our City’s history and I am committed to protecting the city from the potential downside of these state mandates. I am just as committed to taking advantage of the opportunities before the city to revitalize and refine Redondo into the crown jewel of the South Bay.
I was honored when the Council chose me to fulfill the remainder of Bill Brand’s term after he passed away. I showed up at City Hall and discovered my education, my training and my experiences in university, in the USAF, and in the aerospace industry were directly applicable to city projects and budgets, to mentoring and working with staff, to integrating between departments and organizations, and to actually getting my hands dirty doing work to offload our overburdened city staff. With the log jam of two decades of stagnation now broken open, staffs’ plates are overflowing. Being retired has allowed me to spend nearly every single workday in City Hall – helping to move the ball forward on critical activities. After looking at the other mayoral candidates, I did not see any who could do more or do better. And after working for our quality of life for 24 years, I just couldn’t turn my back and walk away.
After just ten months of serving as Mayor, I was pleasantly surprised and honored by the number of people from all corners of the Redondo political spectrum who have encouraged me to run. This also contributed to my final decision to run.
I hope you will recognize my decades of dedication, commitment, and results and will allow me to continue to serve as your Mayor for the next four years.
My wife, Pat, and I are both retired and live in our Redondo Beach home. Our adult daughter, Alli, works in the feature motion picture industry and lives nearby in Los Angeles.
How long have I lived in Redondo
I first moved to the City in 1989 when the Air Force stationed me at LA AFB in El Segundo. I chose to live in Redondo Beach because of its unique seaside village character, beautiful beach, and iconic small harbor. I loved it here so much, I got out of the Air Force and stayed.
Professional Career Background and Why It Matters
Education: I have a degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) specializing in leadership and strategy. Since retiring I have also become a certified California Naturalist.
Background and Professional Career: I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. I was brought up to contribute and serve my community. As a result I wanted to serve our great nation, so I applied for and won an Air Force ROTC scholarship at Penn State for a degree in Aerospace Engineering. After graduation, I served as an officer in the Air Force and worked space programs for most of the 13 years I served. And after I got out of the Air Force so I could stay in Redondo, I worked in the aerospace industry for another 27 years until my retirement three years ago.
I worked projects from Space Shuttle, to space communications systems. to a variety of space launch systems, to building launch pads and related facilities, to keeping satellite and launch related facilities and services up and running. In the Air Force I moved up from systems engineer, to project engineer, to Commander. And in the aerospace industry, I worked my way from program director to executive leadership and board membership in several start-up companies. I developed and executed the strategy for one company to grow from start up to over 400 people. I also was part of a team of three who conceived of, developed, and executed the concept of applying internet technology to satellite command and control called Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC). The resulting system is still in use today tasking some of our most sophisticated satellites.
My education and experience in the Air Force and aerospace industry provide foundational experience and expertise for my role as Mayor. My education and experience allow me to understand both the technical and administrative perspective of city projects and efforts. I have deep experience in government budgeting and budget management as an Air Force officer. I have experience with government acquisition and contract management of large project and services contracts from both sides of the fence – as an Air Force officer and as a government contractor. I have 40 years of experience with setting and executing successful vision, strategy, and execution at levels from a system engineering level, to project level, and to executive and board level. And over those 40 years, I have demonstrated proven success in effective leadership and delivering results.
Three Decades of Community Service
Local Community Service: Once I settled in Redondo, I wanted to continue to serve at a local community level. In 1994, I started on the executive committee for the local South Bay Surfrider Foundation Chapter. It was at a meeting related to surfing localism that I first met Bill Brand, and we grew to be best friends. In 2004, when Bill started South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC), he asked me to be on the founding board of directors. I have been on the board ever since and served as President twice. I am very proud of the impact SBPC has had on our community in its 20 years – expanding habitat for the endangered El Segundo Blue Butterfly, reestablishing native plants at Wilderness Park, and building Redondo’s first Community Garden. These projects have engaged literally thousands of Redondo residents, many of them kids from our local schools. In 2005, we needed a non-profit to tackle overdevelopment issues in the town. So, I formed Building A Better Redondo (BBR), a 501-C4 non-profit, that was needed for efforts such as Measure DD, Measure A, and Measure C. And we won on two of those initiatives: Measures DD and C. At the suggestion of City Attorney Mike Webb, BBR also intervened on state deliberations of a new power plant at the AES site. I have served this community on these key non-profits for 30 years.
Service on City Committees and Commissions: In 2008, I was appointed to Mayor Mike Gin’s Citizen Growth and Traffic Committee along with over 20 other residents representing all sides of growth issues across Redondo. Despite the group coming from diverse perspectives, most of our recommendations to the Council were unanimous. I learned that when we can sit down at a table and truly communicate, as opposed to the 3 minute sound bites at a City Council meeting, we can usually achieve a broad consensus and reasonable compromise. The committee delivered its recommendations and was disbanded in 2009.
In 2016, I was appointed to the Harbor Commission and continued in that role until I was appointed to fulfill Mayor Brand’s term after he passed away. On that Commission, I worked on the King Harbor Public Amenities Plan, which we are executing on today. I was on the subcommittee for the redesign of Seaside Lagoon and was a source selection committee member in the City’s selection of the design contractor. To help relieve the City Staff work overload and expedite momentum, I also drafted a Request for Proposal for the design of the Coastal Commission-required boat ramp, and then served on the source selection committee for that contract. The Commission also expressed concern to the Council about the decades-long erosion of the Harbor Patrol function, which the Council has recently reversed.
In parallel, I was appointed by Mayor Brand to the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC). Because of the make up of the Council at the time, I feared the 27-person committee was stacked with members who prioritized development over resident quality of life. But once again, I found when we take the time to discuss the merits of all perspectives, we can achieve broad agreement and often improve on what either side would have recommended independently. The outcome of the GPAC has already been half approved with the rezoning required to comply with our certified Housing Element. The remainder of the GPAC recommendations will be going to the voters as required by Measure DD, now Article XXVII of our City Charter, later this year. The GPAC had its last meeting in January 2024.
Other community service accomplishments: In addition to the issues, committees, and commissions mentioned previously, I have been active on major issues facing our city since 2002. A few highlights:
2002 – with Chris Cagle, Bill Brand and others, we led the referendum fight against Heart of the City, which rezoned the harbor and AES site for 3000 condos and over 600,000 square feet of additional commercial development.
2004 – 2005 – worked with Bill Brand to successfully stop rezoning of Torrance Blvd for hundreds of condos.
2008 – coauthored Measure DD with Bill Brand – which passed by a wide margin and now gives us the right to vote on major zoning changes in the city.
2008 – started building the evidence with Bill Brand opposing a new power plant at the AES site.
2013 – worked with Bill Brand and the No Power Plant team to phase out the current power plant via Measure A which rezoned the power plant site for a mix of parkland and commercial development. Measure A barely lost against a huge campaign by AES threatening power outages and lawsuits that would bankrupt the city.
2015 – successfully worked with Bill Brand and Todd Loewenstein’s Redondo Residents for Responsible Revitalization (R4) to oppose AES’s Measure B, which proposed to develop the AES property with over 600 condos plus commercial development with no requirement for any parkland.
2016 – authored Measure C, adding zoning constraints that would preclude overdevelopment of the harbor and prioritizing the existing public amenities within the Harbor. Worked with Nils Nehrenheim, Bill Brand and Rescue Our Waterfront to successfully oppose the CenterCal mall in the harbor and to pass Measure C. Measure C passed by a large majority across all Districts in the City and was certified with zero changes by the Coastal Commission in 2017. It is the only resident initiative to be approved by the Commission with no changes.
2018 – worked with Audubon Society to document the birds using the active wetlands at the AES site. Provided photographic evidence to the City that AES started draining the wetlands resulting in a letter from the Coastal Commission to AES to stop the unlawful dewatering.
December 31, 2023 – I was honored when Bill Brand asked me to emcee the event commemorating the final shutdown of the AES Power Plant. I flew back early from our Christmas trip to relatives in Florida to emcee the event. I am glad I did, this turned out to be Bill’s last public event.
Accomplishments as Mayor
As Mayor since February 20, 2024, we’ve made much more progress than I would have thought possible in just 10 months. I attribute this to applying the experience and capabilities I have previously described, combined with my ability as a retiree to devote significant time to driving key issues and efforts at City Hall, and of course the support of the Council and City staff. Some of the accomplishments in my time as Mayor include:
Of course none of this would have been possible without a supportive City Council and City staff. I feel fortunate that the Council has largely been supportive of and collaborative with the efforts I have championed.
When I accepted the role of Mayor, I never dreamed I would be putting in so many hours at City Hall and achieving so much in just ten months. I am at City Hall nearly every day it is open and work on days it is closed as well. My retirement status affords me the time needed to work with city staff to help accelerate projects and activities.
You can help me win by donating, displaying a lawn sign, volunteering, and by formally endorsing me. Thanks in advance for your support!