Elected Official? Create newsletters in minutes, not hours.
Transparent, authentic, comprehensive newsletters to maximize constituent representation and civic engagement.
Ray Jackson Newsletter — June 28, 2026
📬 Councilmember Ray Jackson | Hermosa Beach | June 29, 2026
Friends and neighbors,
Happy Pride, and, coming up this weekend, happy 4th of July too.
Tuesday night, your City Council closed the books on a budget season that began back in April. After months of study sessions and hard tradeoffs, we adopted a balanced budget for the year ahead, sent a revenue question to the November ballot for you to decide, and locked in the assessments and fees that keep our streetlights on and our sewers running.
That was the headline, but it was not the whole week. There is news on our coast, a conversation worth having about one of our public spaces, and a few neighbors worth celebrating. Here is what moved, and what is coming next.
💰 Budget & Finance
🔹 The FY 2026-27 budget is adopted, and it closes a real gap. On Tuesday, June 23, Council voted 5 to 0 to adopt a balanced budget that erases a $3.2 million structural deficit, mostly by trimming about $4.5 million in spending while protecting the services and staff residents count on.
→ 💡 What that actually means: The balance did not come from cutting the people who answer your calls or maintain your parks. Council also moved roughly $2.07 million into the Capital Improvement Fund and set aside a projected surplus of about $1.3 million for a midyear check, so we keep a cushion instead of spending every dollar the moment it lands.
→ 🎯 My take: I voted yes. Closing a multimillion-dollar gap without gutting services is exactly the kind of disciplined, unglamorous work a small city owes its residents, and it leaves us on steadier footing heading into next year.
👉 Read the full June 23 Council recap
🔹 A half-cent sales tax question is headed to the November ballot. To get ahead of the financial pressure still on the horizon, Council voted 4 to 1 to send a revenue question to voters. Staff will draft language for a half-cent local sales tax measure aimed at the November 3 ballot.
→ 🗳️ Why it matters: This one is your call, not ours. If it qualifies, you will decide whether to raise local revenue that stays here in Hermosa rather than heading to Sacramento or the county. I supported putting the question to voters because a decision this size belongs in your hands.
🔹 One vote where I landed in the minority: the fee schedule. Council adopted an updated citywide fee schedule on a 3 to 2 vote, deferring increases on some items pending process and zoning improvements while phasing in partial cost recovery on others. Mayor Detoy and I voted no.
→ 🎯 Where I stand: Consistent with how I approach these calls, I want to be careful about what we ask residents and small businesses to absorb, and I would rather see more of that process work finished before we move ahead. I will keep pressing for fee policy that is fair, transparent, and simple to follow.
🔹 A few other things Council finalized that touch your wallet. After the public hearing we previewed for weeks, Council set the Landscaping and Street Lighting District assessment at $41.45 per dwelling unit for the coming year and approved the annual sewer charges on the county tax roll, both unanimously. Separately, Council updated parking penalties starting August 1, with most fines, including expired meters and time limits, set at $75 and street sweeping tickets at $55.
→ ⚡ Why I am flagging the parking change: Late penalties escalate faster now, so an unpaid ticket gets expensive more quickly. Nobody enjoys a citation, and a clear heads-up beats an unwelcome surprise. If you get one after August 1, pay it promptly.
🌊 Environment & Protecting Our Coast
🔹 Remembering a mentor who taught me to think past today. This week I found myself reflecting on the late Bill Brand, the former Redondo Beach mayor who shaped how I see this work. When I was new to the Council, he opened my eyes to coastal access, green space, and the idea that the truest measure of a decision is the legacy it leaves the next generation.
→ 🎯 Why it stays with me: That lesson sits underneath almost everything I do on the coast. We are not just managing a shoreline for this summer. We are keeping a promise to people who are not in the room yet.
🔹 The California Coastal Act turns fifty, and the job is never finished. Fifty years ago, Californians came together to protect something we all share, and the result is a coastline that belongs to everyone rather than a patchwork of private beaches. Fifty years later, well-funded interests are still pushing to weaken those protections.
→ ⚡ Why I keep raising it: The coast is never permanently saved. It is always being saved, one legislative session and one Commission vote at a time, and grassroots voices are what have kept that promise alive. From my seat on the Commission, I will keep making that case.
👉 See my post about the Coastal Act
🔹 The Coastal Commission is back at work July 8 through 10. The Commission's next meeting runs July 8 through 10, with permit decisions, public testimony, and coastal policy on the agenda. The meetings are open to the public and livestreamed for anyone who wants to follow along from home.
→ 💡 Where you fit in: You do not need a title to weigh in on coastal decisions. Public comment is open to every Californian, and the schedule and livestream links are posted ahead of each meeting.
👉 View the Coastal Commission meeting schedule
🏞️ Our Parks and Public Spaces
🔹 A conversation worth having about the lawn bowling green. The Hermosa Beach Lawn Bowling Club has used its spot near the center of town for ninety years, and lawn bowling has real value. About a year ago, I asked our Parks, Recreation and Community Resources Advisory Commission to take a closer look at the property: who owns what, who maintains it, what legal restrictions actually exist, and what options the community might have going forward.
→ 🎯 The question I am asking: This is not about taking anything away. It is about whether, as Hermosa grows, that publicly owned space serves the broadest possible slice of our community for the next ninety years. A skate park, a public pool, futsal courts, more room for youth and families, or lawn bowling exactly as it is now. There are no answers yet, just a conversation the Commission will open soon, and one we owe ourselves before any decision gets made.
👉 See the conversation about this space
🔹 July is Parks and Recreation Month. Council recognized July as National Parks and Recreation Month, a fitting nod in a beach town where so much of daily life happens outdoors.
→ 💡 Why it fits right now: Our parks, greenbelt, and open spaces are not extras. They are part of what makes this 1.4-square-mile city livable, and they are worth both celebrating and planning for.
🌴 Around Town
🔹 Congratulations to Leadership Hermosa Beach, Class of 2026. A big hats-off to the newest Leadership Hermosa Beach graduates on finishing the program. Cohorts like this one prove a simple point: stepping up, serving others, and working shoulder to shoulder is how a community gets stronger.
🔹 Coastline Cares: neighbors helping neighbors. If you know someone who could use a hand, Coastline Cares is worth knowing about. The group, led by folks like Joyce and Karen, connects volunteers with South Bay neighbors who need a little extra support, whether that is a yard cleanup, a home project, or help through a hard stretch.
→ 💙 Why I am sharing it: A few hours of kindness can change someone's week, sometimes more. If you want to volunteer, or you know a neighbor who could benefit, reach out to them directly.
🔹 Celebrating Pride and inclusion across the South Bay. As Pride Month wraps up, the South Bay closed it out with a Pride paddle and lunch on the water in Redondo Beach, a warm, festive afternoon built around community and belonging. My thanks to the organizers who put in the work to make it happen.
→ 🌈 What it comes down to: Hermosa is at its best when every neighbor feels seen, safe, and welcome. That is true in June, and it is just as true the rest of the year.
👉 See the South Bay Pride paddle
🚔 Public Safety
🔹 A safety heads-up heading into the holiday weekend. Our Police Department has leaned into heavy enforcement as World Cup crowds fill the South Bay this summer, with extra patrols and a steady reminder to celebrate responsibly. With our Fourth of July weekend just ahead, and World Cup matches still drawing visitors to the region, that same focus carries right through the holiday, so expect a visible police presence around the pier, the Strand, and our neighborhoods.
→ 🎯 My ask of you: Enjoy every bit of the Fourth, and look out for one another while you do. Line up a ride if you plan to drink, keep a close eye on kids and less confident swimmers near the water, and give our officers and lifeguards the room to keep the day safe. A great holiday and a safe one are not a tradeoff. They come together.
👉 Sign up for Alert South Bay public safety alerts
📅 Dates and Community Events
🔹 Saturday, July 4: Independence Day, and America's 250th. This year's Fourth of July marks 250 years since the founding, and Hermosa will celebrate the way only Hermosa can, with sand, surf, and our beloved Ironman tradition down by the pier.
🔹 Pride Month runs through June 30. A final few days to celebrate a community where everyone belongs.
🔹 July 8 through 10: California Coastal Commission meeting. Open to the public and livestreamed, with the schedule posted in advance.
🔹 Tuesday, July 28, 6:00 PM: next regular City Council meeting. Council takes its usual midsummer pause, with no meeting in mid-July, and returns to Chambers at City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive, on July 28.
📱 Stay Connected
If you have a service issue to report, the Go Hermosa! app is the fastest way to get it to the right desk at City Hall.
👉 Submit a service request in the Go Hermosa app
For updates and conversation between newsletters, you can follow me on Instagram.
👉 Follow @RayForHermosa on Instagram
Budget season is behind us, summer is fully here, and the months ahead are lighter on meetings but not on the work. If there is a single thread running through this week, it is the long view: a budget built to hold up next year, a coastline protected for the next generation, a public space we are weighing for the next ninety years. Good local government is not only about now, but also about the people who come after us. I will keep that front of mind on the coast, in our parks, and at the dais. My door stays open all summer, so if you have a question I have not answered, an idea worth chasing, or a concern you want on the record, send it my way.
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.
