Elected Official? Create newsletters in minutes, not hours.
Transparent, authentic, comprehensive newsletters to maximize constituent representation and civic engagement.
Ray Jackson Newsletter — June 21, 2026
📬 Councilmember Ray Jackson | Hermosa Beach | June 22, 2026
Hi everyone,
Summer has officially arrived in Hermosa, and with it comes the most consequential night on the city's calendar. Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 23, Council votes to adopt the budget that funds our police, our parks, our streets, and nearly everything else the city does over the next year. After a spring of study sessions and some genuinely hard math, the numbers finally become real. Below you will find what is on the table for Tuesday, plus a look back at a full stretch of council decisions, a Pride season worth celebrating, and a community that keeps taking care of its own.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 HBPD's quick thinking kept two small children safe. Earlier this month, Hermosa Beach police responded to a reported home invasion in the predawn hours, with two children, ages three and five, asleep upstairs. Officers were on scene in about two minutes, set up a perimeter with help from Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo, and took the suspect into custody without anyone getting hurt. The children were found safe in their room.
→ ⚡ Why it matters: This is the version of policing that rarely makes headlines and matters more than almost anything that does. A frightening call ended with two kids safe and a suspect tied to other local thefts off the street.
→ 🎯 My take: I am proud of how our officers and our neighboring departments worked this one, fast, coordinated, and focused on the right thing. The other half of a response like this is community awareness, so if something looks off on your block, trust your gut and report it.
👉 Learn about Neighborhood Watch
🌊 Environment & Protecting Our Coast
🔹 On International Surfing Day, a reminder that our coast is everyone's responsibility. This past weekend, the Surfrider Foundation and its partners marked International Surfing Day by standing up against new offshore drilling off our coastline. As a Coastal Commissioner, I could not agree more with the message: protecting California's shoreline is not someone else's job, it is ours.
→ 🎯 My stance: Keeping new oil rigs away from our beaches is one of the clearest lines I will hold from my seat on the Commission. The Coastal Act has protected public access and a healthy ocean for fifty years, and it stays strong only when residents pay attention, speak up, and vote for leaders who will defend it.
💰 Budget & Finance
🔹 Tomorrow night, Council adopts the budget for the year ahead. On Tuesday, June 23, at 6:00 PM in Council Chambers at City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive, Council takes its final vote on the Fiscal Year 2026 to 2027 budget. Staff has built a balanced budget without layoffs, achieved through department consolidation, selective hiring freezes on non-essential positions, and operational efficiencies.
→ 📊 Where things stand: The balanced budget is real, but so is the longer-term challenge. Council is even weighing a possible citywide hiring freeze of twelve to eighteen months as a future item, a sign of how seriously we are taking the math.
→ 🗳️ How to weigh in: Once a budget is adopted, the window to shape it closes fast. If a line item matters to you, whether it is public safety, parks, or anything else, tomorrow is the night to say so in person or by eComment.
→ 🛣️ Also on the agenda: A public hearing on the assessment for the city's Landscaping and Street Lighting District, the levy that helps pay for the streetlights and landscaping in our public right of way. If that affects your block, Tuesday is the time to weigh in.
👉 View the agenda and submit an eComment
🔹 I voted no on raising fees at our pickleball courts. At the June 9 meeting, Council voted to raise the annual membership and hourly reservation rates at the Kelly pickleball courts. I did not support it.
→ 🎯 My take: I understand the need to cover costs, but our public courts should stay accessible, and I would rather find savings elsewhere than raise the price of a healthy habit that gets neighbors outside and moving. It is a small line item, but the principle matters to me.
👉 Read the full June 9 Council recap
🏠 Housing
🔹 Council is weighing new renter protections as part of its short-term rental review. As it continues working through short-term vacation rental policy, Council has flagged tenant eviction protections as part of that broader conversation. Nothing is decided yet, and that is exactly why it is worth following now.
→ 💡 Why I am flagging it early: Housing is one of the hardest issues a small, built-out beach city faces, and decisions about renters and vacation rentals touch real people on both sides. You deserve to know what is on the table before it firms up, not after, so keep an eye on upcoming agendas if this affects you.
👉 Read about short-term rental rules
💼 Economic Development
🔹 Our farmers market is locked in for the next three years. At the June 9 meeting, Council approved a three-year agreement with the Rotary Club to keep operating our local farmers market through 2028. It is the kind of behind-the-scenes vote that never makes a splash but quietly keeps a community staple running.
→ ⚡ Why it matters: A weekly market is more than fresh produce. It is local growers earning a living, neighbors running into each other, and a reliable reason to shop small right here in town. I am glad we kept it on solid footing.
👉 Visit the Hermosa Farmers Market page
🔹 New rules are coming for the events that bring our downtown to life. Council also moved forward on an updated special events ordinance and fee structure, built to keep our events high quality while managing the public costs they create. With summer here and the calendar filling up, the goal is simple: more of the energy that fills Pier Plaza and supports local business, with fewer headaches for the neighborhoods that host it.
👉 Learn about special event permits
🤝 Around Town & Community
🔹 Happy Pride, Hermosa Beach. This Pride Month, our city flew the rainbow flag, our Council formally recognized June as Pride Month, and our community said clearly what it believes: every neighbor deserves to feel seen, valued, and welcome here. Pride has never been about special treatment. It is about dignity, belonging, and the simple idea that everyone belongs.
→ 🌈 Why it matters to me: A community is strongest when every single person in it feels safe and at home. That is a value worth celebrating loudly, and not only in June.
🔹 Celebrating Juneteenth in the South Bay. On Friday, June 19, I joined our neighbors in Manhattan Beach at Pollywog Park to celebrate Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans in Texas finally learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Bravo to Manhattan Beach for putting on a celebration that honored the history, resilience, and contributions that make all of our communities stronger.
→ 🖤 Why it matters: Juneteenth is freedom delayed and finally delivered, and it is a day worth marking out loud. I was proud to stand with our South Bay neighbors for a celebration that belongs to all of us.
🔹 Leadership Hermosa left us something that will last. The Leadership Hermosa Class of 2026 wrapped up its community-building project with a brand new mural, a lasting reminder of what happens when people roll up their sleeves and invest in the place they call home. Hat tip to the whole team.
🔹 Hermosa rallied around the Fredrickson family. This month, our community came together for the Fredrickson family and the Love Like Dani effort, turning out in force for a family facing the hardest kind of news. It was Hermosa at its very best, the part of a small town that closes ranks when one of our own is going through it. My heart is with Danielle and her whole family.
🔹 Welcome to our newest commission members. At the June 9 meeting, Council appointed Erin Bender and Nate Flory to the Public Works Commission and Rebecca Noble to the Civil Service Board. These are the volunteer seats where a lot of the real work of running a city actually gets done.
→ 💡 One ask: If you have ever thought about serving, there is a seat at the table for you too. This is how a city gets better, one neighbor stepping up at a time.
👉 Get involved with a board or commission
🔹 A few more moments worth marking. We paused on Friday, June 19 for Juneteenth, a day that asks us to reflect on freedom and on the distance we have traveled toward it, and still have to go. And a couple of weekends back, I had a great time wandering the Hermosa Beach Fine Arts Festival and catching up with our local artists, including a stop at Don Adkins' booth. Our arts scene is one of the quiet things that makes this town special.
📅 Dates & Community Events
🔹 Tuesday, June 23, 6:00 PM: City Council meets to adopt the FY 2026 to 2027 budget and hold the Landscaping and Street Lighting District public hearing. Council Chambers, City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive.
🔹 Saturday, July 4: Independence Day, and this year the nation marks its 250th. Watch for Hermosa's one-of-a-kind Ironman down by the pier, where the tradition is to run, paddle, and, well, you know the rest.
🔹 All month: Pride Month. Hermosa stands for a community where every neighbor belongs.
🔹 Every week: The Hermosa Beach Farmers Market is back on solid footing for the next three years, with fresh produce, local vendors, and a good reason to shop small.
📱 Stay Connected
If you spot a pothole, a broken streetlight, or anything else that needs City Hall's attention, the Go Hermosa app is the fastest way to get it to the right department.
👉 Report a service issue with the Go Hermosa app
For updates and conversation between newsletters, you can always find me on Instagram.
The budget Council adopts on Tuesday will quietly shape Hermosa for the next twelve months, from the officers who answer your call at 2:00 in the morning to the condition of the street in front of your house. Thank you for caring about the parts of city government that never trend, because those are usually the parts that matter most. If something on that agenda matters to you, come to City Hall, send an eComment, or watch from home, and tell me what is on your mind before the vote rather than after. I read every message that comes my way, and I will see you Tuesday night and out on the sand all summer long.
