Carolyn Chun, a lead planning associate for the City of Torrance, said she is retiring after 35 years with the city and reflected on projects that reshaped downtown and the city’s business districts.

Chun told City Cable host Christine that she started in the planning department “fresh out of college” amid an office remodel and quickly became part of the redevelopment agency’s work, helping to shepherd projects and assist new businesses with permits and entitlements. “We had 4 projects in the city that are redevelopment,” Chun said, naming efforts including Skypark along Hawthorne and industrial projects that brought companies such as Honda and Sunriders to Torrance.

Her list of projects included the Torrance Center 2 area, where Chun said she worked with tenants and property owners around businesses and facilities including Sakura Finetech, the Miyako Hotel, ZCNR, Eastgate Plaza and Mitsui. “So we helped them expedite their building permits and their entitlements if they needed an entitlement to get in there,” Chun said.

Chun described the downtown entryway sign — a council-funded archway — as a personal highlight that she saw completed near the end of her career. “It came in a good time because now I’m retired,” she said, calling the ribbon cutting a meaningful capstone. She also cited the program to install and expand decorative downtown “twinkle lights” as an ongoing placemaking effort she helped advance.

Beyond planning projects, Chun described community work with a city employee singing group that performed at local fundraisers such as Relay for Life and the Festival of the Trees. The group’s members raised money and visited convalescent homes; Chun recalled dressing in a vintage fifties-style set for performances and said the experience strengthened staff ties.

Chun said her coworkers and the city felt like a second family. She noted personal changes during her tenure — she was single when she began and now is married with a college-age child — and praised colleagues who attended a recent retirement party. “I appreciate everybody that came out. It was very touching,” she said.

As a farewell to potential applicants, Chun urged those considering city work to lean on coworkers and supervisors and to use the workplace to grow: “Torrance is a big family,” she said. Christine closed the program by directing viewers to the city’s job page at torranceca.gov/jobs for current openings.

The interview aired as a retrospective of Chun’s career and community contributions; no formal city actions or votes were recorded during the program.