📬 Councilmember Ray Jackson | Hermosa Beach | June 8, 2026

Hello Hermosa Beach,

This past Saturday marked the 82nd anniversary of D-Day. As a veteran, I keep coming back to the ordinary people who did something extraordinary on the beaches of Normandy, and to the simple obligation the rest of us inherit from them: to remember, to serve where we can, and to take care of what they handed down.

That idea of stewardship runs through this week's update. It shows up in keeping our coast public as the California Coastal Act turns fifty, in the budget Council adopts tomorrow night, and in the businesses and neighbors who keep showing up for one another across town. Here is what you need to know.

🌊 Environment & Protecting Our Coast

🔹 Fifty years of public beaches did not happen by accident. The California Coastal Act turns fifty this year, and the anniversary is a good moment to remember where our public coastline actually came from. It started in 1972 with Proposition 20, a ballot initiative pushed not by government but by ordinary Californians, conservationists, and community leaders, including the photographer Ansel Adams.

→ 💡 Why this still matters: Travel to other states and you will find long stretches of sand fenced off behind "private beach" and "no trespassing" signs. Because of the Coastal Act, you will not see that here. In California, public access to the water is the default, and that is a fifty-year-old promise worth understanding and defending.

👉 See the story of how our coast was saved

🔹 The Coastal Commission meets in San Diego, June 10 to 12. This month the Commission convenes at the Wyndham Bayside in San Diego for three days of permit hearings, public testimony, and coastal policy decisions.

→ 🎯 My stance: Protecting public access is the whole job, and that includes keeping California's coast off-limits to new offshore oil drilling. I will keep saying that plainly from my seat on the Commission. For anyone who wants to follow along, Cal-Span typically carries the livestream.

👉 View the Coastal Commission meeting schedule

🔹 Hermosa is planning for a higher tide. At its most recent meeting, Council awarded a contract worth up to $473,875, over roughly three years, to the engineering firm Moffatt and Nichol to prepare a vulnerability assessment and sea level rise adaptation plan for the city.

→ ⚡ Why it matters: A coastal town that does not plan for rising seas is planning to be caught off guard by them. This is exactly the kind of unglamorous, forward-looking work that protects our beach, our infrastructure, and our property for the next generation.

💰 Budget & Finance

🔹 Council adopts the new city budget tomorrow night. On Tuesday, June 9, Council takes up adoption of the Fiscal Year 2026 to 2027 budget at City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive, with open session at 6:00 PM.

→ 📊 What is in play: Coming out of the spring budget sessions, staff was directed to bring back analysis on potential revenue measures, parking pricing strategies, early data from the new license plate reader enforcement vehicles, and a community engagement process before any expanded metering on residential streets.

→ 🎯 Where you fit in: If a line item matters to you, tomorrow is the meeting to say so, in person or by eComment. Once a budget is adopted, the window to shape it narrows fast.

👉 View the agenda and submit an eComment

🔹 A heads-up on trash rates. Council approved the annual rate adjustment for Athens Services, with new maximum solid waste rates taking effect July 1, 2026.

→ ⚡ Why mention it: Nobody loves a rate change, but a clear heads-up beats a surprise on the bill.

🔹 Save the date: a public hearing on streetlights and landscaping, June 23. Council has set a public hearing for Tuesday, June 23 on next year's assessment for the city's Landscaping and Street Lighting District.

→ 💡 Plain English: That assessment helps pay for the streetlights and the landscaping in our public right of way. If you want to understand or weigh in on the levy, that hearing is the place to do it.

💼 Economic Development

🔹 A Hermosa beer just landed on Costco shelves. Hermosa Brewing Company's Hazy IPA is now stocked at Costco, including the Hawthorne and Torrance warehouses, a genuine milestone for one of our hometown breweries.

→ 🎯 My take: When a local business grows from a beach-town tap room into the aisles of Costco, that is the South Bay small-business story working exactly the way it should. Support local, drink local, and root for the home team.

🔹 A strong week for local business. It was a busy stretch on the small-business front. I joined the Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach Chambers for the grand opening of Details Tile and Stone on Cypress Avenue, and our three South Bay chambers came together for the grand reopening of Seymour Jewelers, a shop carrying a 74-year local legacy forward under new ownership.

→ ⚡ Why it matters: Every one of these openings is a bet on Hermosa's future, and the regional partnerships behind them are how small beach cities punch above their weight. If you are hunting for a new spot this week, Martha's crew at The Chicken Shack and Scott and Mary at Covinten Cafe are both worth a visit.

🏖️ Around Town

🔹 Hundreds turned out for the You Are Enough 5K. Neighbors walked and ran between the Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach piers for the fourth annual You Are Enough 5K, a community event built around mental health awareness and the reminder that no one is alone.

→ 💡 Why it matters: Events like this turn a hard subject into a visible show of support and make it a little easier for people to ask for help. My thanks to everyone who showed up, ran, cheered, and shared their story.

🔹 On the election: careful counting is a feature, not a flaw. With California's June 2 primary now behind us and ballots still being tallied, it is worth remembering why results take time.

→ 🎯 My take: An accurate count is worth more than a fast one. Every legitimate ballot deserves to be counted, verified, and observed, and the deliberate pace of that work is a sign the system is doing its job. If you have ever wondered how it all works, the process is open to the public.

📅 Dates & Community Events

🔹 Tuesday, June 9, 6:00 PM: City Council meets to adopt the Fiscal Year 2026 to 2027 budget. City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive. Agendas post at least 72 hours in advance.

🔹 Wednesday, June 10 to Friday, June 12: California Coastal Commission meets at the Wyndham Bayside in San Diego.

🔹 Friday, June 19: Juneteenth. A day to reflect on freedom and the history still being written.

🔹 Tuesday, June 23: City Council public hearing on the Landscaping and Street Lighting District assessment.

🔹 All month: Pride Month. Hermosa Beach stands for inclusion, and all month we celebrate a community where every neighbor belongs.

📱 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

None of this gets done in a single week, and that is the point. A budget gets adopted, a coastline keeps its promise, a hometown brewery makes the big leagues, and a few hundred neighbors run a 5K for one another. Every one of those is somebody choosing to show up. I am grateful you make the time to follow along, and I would always rather hear from you than not, so please reach out anytime with a question, a concern, or anything you think I should know. I will see you at the next meeting or around town.

Working together to build an ever better Hermosa Beach.

Ray Jackson
Councilmember, City of Hermosa Beach
rjackson@hermosabeach.gov