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Ray Jackson Newsletter — August 10, 2026
📬 Councilmember Ray Jackson | Hermosa Beach | August 10, 2026
Hello, Hermosa Beach,
If you caught my Instagram post yesterday, you know the Jackson household spent part of the weekend marveling at the mysteries of teenage logic. I spent thirty years in the Army and a career practicing law, and I have yet to encounter negotiators as creative as the two young men who live under my roof. Judging by the reactions, plenty of you are raising members of the same debate team, and I find real comfort in that.
The rest of the weekend belonged to the athletes, with the Hermosa Beach Triathlon filling the ocean, the Valley and Ardmore loop, and The Strand on Sunday morning. Behind us is a week that included National Night Out at Clark Field and a countywide conversation hosted right here in town. Ahead of us: street crews starting today, a Coastal Commission meeting practically next door on Wednesday, and a downtown sale worth planning your weekend around. Here is what you need to know.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 National Night Out delivered exactly what it promised. On Tuesday, August 4, the Hermosa Beach Police Department turned Clark Field into a community block party, complete with K9 and drone demonstrations, police vehicles, games, and food. Thank you to the men and women of HBPD for hosting, and to every resident who came out to shake an officer's hand.
→ 🎯 My take: Trust between a police department and its community is built at picnic tables and demo lines, long before it is ever tested on a tough night. An evening like Tuesday pays dividends we will collect for years.
→ 💡 Stay informed: If you want a regular window into public safety here, HBPD publishes a weekly crime summary on the City's website, and subscribers to the Public Safety eNotification list get it by email.
👉 View the City's news updates
🚧 On Our Streets This Week
🔹 Slurry seal crews are out today and tomorrow. Pavement Coatings Co., the City's contractor on the citywide slurry seal project, is applying fresh slurry seal on various streets today, Monday, August 10, and tomorrow, Tuesday, August 11, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Expect temporary street closures while the seal is applied and cures, no parking where signs are posted, and driveway access that may be restricted for several hours.
→ 💡 Plan ahead: If your block is signed, move the car early and schedule errands around the cure time. Questions can go to Assistant Engineer Magvern By at 310-318-0257 or mby@hermosabeach.gov.
→ 🎯 My take: Sealing a street today costs a fraction of rebuilding it later. Finishing this work before fall is the kind of quiet, unglamorous efficiency I want more of at City Hall.
🔹 A two-month sewer rehabilitation starts today on our north end. Sancon Technologies, working for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, begins rehabilitating the sewer line beneath Hermosa Avenue and Manhattan Avenue today, with work running weekdays from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM through Friday, October 2. Expect around-the-clock lane closures on both avenues between 14th and 21st Streets, traffic control and alley closures on Palm Drive between 16th and 21st, occasional odors near manholes while the pipe liner is installed, and intermittent construction noise. Local access for residents will be maintained, and there is one small silver lining: some spaces along the Hermosa Avenue median will be un-metered, free, and labeled for the duration.
→ ⚡ Why it matters: This is a County project rather than a City one, but it runs straight through our neighborhoods, so you deserve the full picture. Aging pipes do not repair themselves, and a planned rehabilitation now beats an emergency dig later. Build a few extra minutes into your drive and give the crews room to work.
👉 Read the sewer project notice
🌊 Environment & Protecting Our Coast
🔹 The Coastal Commission gavels in this Wednesday, and it is close to home. The California Coastal Commission's August meeting begins Wednesday, August 12 at the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro, the Commission's closest stop to the South Bay this year, and I will be there in my Commissioner's seat. A quick civics note for newer readers: the Commission was created by the voters themselves through Proposition 20 in 1972 and made permanent by the Coastal Act of 1976, and in partnership with coastal cities and counties it plans and regulates the use of land and water in the coastal zone. Decisions made in that hearing room reach every block of our beachfront.
→ 🗣️ My ask: Public comment is open to everyone, no title required. If you care about coastal access, habitat, or the businesses that depend on a healthy shore, Wednesday is an unusually convenient chance to be heard.
👉 View the August meeting agenda
🔹 A lunch hour spent on the future of our coast. Last Wednesday, August 5, I joined California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot and a panel of leaders for his Secretary Speaker Series conversation on California's coastal future. We dug into what is at stake for the coast, the communities and businesses that rely on it, and why Californians should make their voices heard.
→ 🎯 My take: The through line was simple. Our coast is not just scenery, it is jobs, public access, and a way of life, and protecting it is an economic strategy as much as an environmental one. That is the lens I carry into every Commission vote.
💼 Economic Development
🔹 Downtown has a new sound. Over the weekend I stopped into Kasai Records, a listening lounge where the records spin live, the food holds its own, and the whole room carries an atmosphere you will not find on every block. It is something genuinely fresh for Hermosa.
→ 🎯 My take: Every time a local entrepreneur tries something inventive here, our whole business district gets more interesting. Stop in, order something, flip through the stacks, and give a new neighbor a strong welcome.
🔹 The Summer Sidewalk Sale takes over downtown this weekend. From Friday, August 14 through Sunday, August 16, the Chamber's Summer Sidewalk Sale and Celebration returns with an expanded footprint: a pop-up market from ShopFest Collective on the Upper Pier sidewalk, Chamber member booths on lower Pier Avenue and Pier Plaza, back-to-school deals throughout downtown, and live music at Java Man all weekend long. Parking tip: there is plenty of public parking in the Upper Pier district, so plan your route before you go.
→ ⚡ Why it matters: Every dollar spent on Pier Avenue does double duty. It keeps a local shop healthy, and it helps fund the city services we all count on. Deals are nice; keeping them on our own blocks is nicer.
🤝 Community & Collaboration
🔹 A countywide conversation came to our beach. This past week, Hermosa Beach had the honor of hosting Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell's Second District Racial Justice Learning Exchange. My thanks to Team Mitchell, to the panelists who brought their expertise and candor, and to everyone who showed up ready to listen as well as speak.
→ 🎯 My take: Conversations like these are not always comfortable, and that is precisely their value. A community confident enough to talk honestly about hard subjects is a community that keeps getting stronger, and I am proud ours raised its hand to host.
🏖️ Around Town
🔹 Triathletes at sunrise. The Hermosa Beach Triathlon returned Sunday morning, sending athletes through a quarter-mile ocean swim, a ten-mile ride on the Valley and Ardmore loop, and a three-mile run along The Strand.
→ 🙏 A thank you: To the organizers, the volunteers who reported for water-station and finish-line duty before sunrise, our public safety teams, and every resident who navigated the morning street impacts with patience. Events like this run on a small army of early risers, and ours delivered again.
🗳️ A Note on November
🔹 Reinforcements from the other coast. Campaign season produced two of my favorite moments this week. The Gibsons, dear friends who now live on Long Island, came back to town and jumped straight into the effort as if they had never left. And I somehow managed to show up matching a friend's outfit, so thank you, Wally, for being a good sport and a better supporter. Serving this city is a privilege I never take for granted, and the people who keep showing up to help are a big part of the reason why.
📅 Dates & Community Events
🔹 Monday, August 10 and Tuesday, August 11, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM: Slurry seal application on various city streets. Watch for posted no-parking signs on your block.
🔹 Monday, August 10 through Friday, October 2, weekdays 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM: LACSD sewer rehabilitation along Hermosa and Manhattan Avenues, 14th to 21st Streets, with 24-hour lane closures. Expect delays.
🔹 Wednesday, August 12: California Coastal Commission meeting, Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro.
🔹 Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16: Summer Sidewalk Sale and Celebration throughout downtown Hermosa Beach.
🔹 Tuesday, August 25, 6:00 PM: Regular City Council meeting, Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive. Agendas post at least 72 hours in advance.
🔹 Saturday, September 5: First Saturday cleanup at the Hermosa Beach Veterans Memorial.
🔹 Thursday, September 10 to Sunday, September 13: Wedbush Hermosa Beach Open at the Pier. Free admission all four days.
👉 View City Council agendas and meeting information
👉 View the City calendar of events
📱 Stay Connected
If you have a service issue to report, the Go Hermosa! app is the most direct way to get it to the right department at City Hall.
👉 Submit a service request via Go Hermosa!
For community updates and commentary between editions, you can follow me on Instagram.
👉 Follow @RayForHermosa on Instagram
Street crews this morning, a Coastal Commission gavel on Wednesday, and a downtown full of music and deals by Friday: some weeks the calendar does the talking. If the construction reaches your block and something is not working the way it should, send it through Go Hermosa! or write me directly, because that is what the tools and the Councilmember are for. And if you make it to the Sidewalk Sale this weekend, take a moment to thank a merchant for betting on this town. I remain grateful for the chance to serve you, and for every one of you who reads along each Monday.
