📬 Councilmember Ray Jackson | Hermosa Beach | May 26, 2026

Dear Hermosa Beach,

This newsletter shifted from Monday to Tuesday this week because Monday belonged to something bigger than a city update. Memorial Day is one of the few days on the American calendar that asks all of us to stop, remember names, and reckon honestly with what was paid so the rest of us could be free to pursue happiness, argue, build, vote, and live the way we do. Thirty years in uniform taught me that the right way to honor those who did not come home is to live a life worth the cost. That is not a sentence I write lightly. It is the standard.

Here in Hermosa, our city government got back to work today after a long Memorial Day Weekend that brought Fiesta Hermosa to the sand, a great deal of music, food, and visitors to our small beach town, and tonight, a City Council meeting that pushes the third budget conversation of the fiscal year forward. Here is what you need to know.

🚨 Public Safety

🔹 Two HBPD officers honored with the Life Saving Award. Last week, Officers Kevin Jones and Luis Pineda were recognized with the Life Saving Award, alongside a special acknowledgment for Hermosa resident Grant Currie. The award is given for the kind of police work residents rarely see and rarely think about: showing up in the worst possible moment for a stranger and having both the training and the will to make the outcome different.

→ 🎯 My take: This is the version of policing that builds trust over decades, one call at a time. Officers Jones and Pineda made the right decisions under pressure, and a life was saved because of it. I am proud they wear the HBPD patch, and grateful to Grant Currie for stepping up when it counted. The blue uniform on Pier Avenue should mean something specific in this city, and weeks like this are why it does.

👉 View the Life Saving Award post (Instagram)

🌊 Environment & Protecting Our Coast

🔹 Coastal Commission, San Pedro: three days in the books. Last Wednesday through Friday, the California Coastal Commission convened at the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor Hotel in San Pedro, just down the coast from us. As a Coastal Commissioner, this was a meeting where the South Bay had geography on its side, and where coastal access, public protections, and the ongoing pressure on California's shoreline got the kind of substantive hearing they deserve.

→ ⚡ Why this matters for Hermosa: Decisions made at the Commission do not stay in the meeting room. They shape what is permitted along our shoreline, what counts as public access, and how aggressively the state defends what voters secured in 1972. My job at that dais is to bring the South Bay perspective into every one of those conversations, and I will keep doing that.

🔹 Young ocean advocates: voices heard. One of the highlights of the San Pedro meeting was watching three young people, Joe Holscher, Arshayan Desai, and Teal Greene, deliver testimony on coastal and marine protection with the kind of clarity and conviction that often goes missing in adult policy debates. Through their organizations Surfers Who Serve and the Blue Goa Initiative, they are doing real work to protect the coastline and marine ecosystems most of us take for granted.

→ 🎯 My take: The next generation is not waiting for permission. They are showing up, doing the homework, and making the case. The Coastal Commission gave them a real audience, and they earned every minute of it. I will keep advocating for youth voices at every level of coastal policy because the people who will live longest with our decisions deserve a seat at the table.

👉 View the post on the young ocean advocates (Instagram)

🔹 Memorial Day weekend, coastal access, and a fiftieth anniversary worth defending. This past weekend, hundreds of thousands of Californians headed to the coastline, including thousands right here in Hermosa Beach. That access is not an accident. It is the direct product of the California Coastal Act, which turns fifty this year. Without it, large stretches of California beach would be private, not public. With it, every Californian gets to call the shoreline their own.

→ 💡 What I am watching: With the Act at fifty, the political and legal pressure to weaken it is not going to slow down. Coastal protections are by the people, for the people, and for the coast, and that promise is worth defending every legislative session. I will continue using my Commission seat to make that case.

👉 View the coastal protections video (Instagram)

🔹 Next stop, San Diego, June 10 through 12. The Coastal Commission's June meeting will be held Wednesday, June 10 through Friday, June 12 at the Wyndham Bayside, 1355 N. Harbor Drive in San Diego. South Coast and San Diego items will headline the agenda. The meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on Cal-Span for anyone who wants to follow along from home.

👉 View the Coastal Commission meeting schedule

💰 Budget & Finance

🔹 Tonight, May 26: third budget conversation of FY 2026-27. Council convenes at 6:00 PM in Council Chambers at City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive. This is the third budget meeting in a sequence that started April 28 and continued May 12, and the fiscal picture in front of us is not abstract. Staff has presented a balanced FY 2026-27 budget achieved through department consolidation, selective hiring freezes for non-essential positions, and operational efficiencies, but the broader fiscal challenge facing Hermosa is real and will require both spending discipline and revenue work to maintain the quality of life residents expect.

→ 🎯 Where residents fit in: If a budget line item matters to you, whether it is public safety staffing, parks investment, pier-related work, or anything else, the meetings happening now are when those priorities harden into a draft budget. Show up in person, submit an eComment, or watch and weigh in. After tonight, the conversation continues.

🔹 What is coming on the budget calendar. Mark these dates if you want to follow the rest of the process: Thursday, May 28 brings a CIP Study Session where Council reviews Capital Improvement Program recommendations from the Parks and Recreation and Public Works commissions. Tuesday, June 9 is a Budget Study Session that will also take up the continued Fee Study public hearing. Tuesday, June 23 is the night Council votes to adopt the final FY 2026-27 Budget.

→ ⚡ Why I am flagging the full sequence: Budgets do not get fixed in a single meeting. The most useful resident input comes across multiple sessions, before the numbers are final. That window is open right now.

👉 View City Council agendas and meeting information

🔹 From the May 12 dais: dog park feasibility study advances 3-2. Two weeks ago, Council voted 3-2 to direct staff to conduct a feasibility analysis for a local dog park, with Valley Park East as the primary site and the Greenbelt as a secondary option, including possible ballot measure information for the Greenbelt location. Bark for a Park has committed to covering all project costs, study, construction, and maintenance. I voted no on that specific motion, and I posted a longer explanation on Instagram for residents who want the full picture.

→ 🎯 My position in short: I have supported Bark for a Park from the beginning. The need is real. My concern is with siting and impacts. South Park already has parking, ADA-accessible bathrooms, water access, shade, buffering, and an underutilized area that could work with fewer impacts and far less construction than fencing off open space at Valley Park currently enjoyed by kids and families. I believe South Park is the practical compromise this 1.4-square-mile city can actually deliver.

👉 Read my full explanation of the dog park vote (Instagram)

💼 Economic Development & Around Town

🔹 Upper Pier Avenue, one year in: Stecca Taverna. Last Wednesday, the ribbon was cut on the one-year anniversary of Stecca Taverna, the next-level dining concept on Upper Pier Avenue. Big congratulations to James and Wimberly Meyer, Chef Giorgio Vizia, and the entire team on a strong first year and many more to come. The energy in that room had me thinking, not for the first time, about how good an Upper Pier block party could feel.

→ 💡 Why this matters: Small businesses that invest in our downtown, hire locally, and add character to a corner of the city are exactly what keeps Hermosa, Hermosa. Anniversaries like this one are not just nice. They are evidence that our food scene has room to grow.

👉 View the Stecca Taverna post (Instagram)

🔹 South Hermosa block party recap, and an idea worth exploring. A week ago Sunday, the Good Neighbor Block Party for the grand opening of Good Neighbor Laundromat & Cafe on 2nd Street drew a real crowd, with live music, food, and a lineup of South Hermosa businesses, including Mickey's Deli, Yellow Jersey, Hermosa Smoke & Gift, Uncle Stavros, Proudly Serving, and Bolt. It was the kind of low-lift, high-energy afternoon that reminds you what a small beach town actually feels like at its best.

→ 🎯 An idea I am floating: Talking with folks at the block party, the concept of an off-season recurring event, something like a "2nd Sunday on 2nd," kept coming up. Same template for parts of the North End or Upper Pier could work too. Cheap to produce, easy to scale, good for businesses, and great for neighborhood energy during the slower months. I want to explore what it would take to turn this into a real proposal.

👉 View the South Hermosa block party post (Instagram)

🔹 Hermosa Cyclery: free bike corral is back. Hermosa Cyclery brought back the free bike corral just south of the pier. It is a small thing on paper, a big deal in practice. Reliable, free, supervised bike parking in the busiest part of town reduces friction for everyone who wants to ride down rather than drive, makes active transportation more attractive, and shows what a single local business can do for the public realm without waiting on a study.

👉 View the bike corral post (Instagram)

🇺🇸 In Our Community

🔹 Fiesta Hermosa wrapped up Memorial Day weekend. Saturday through Monday, the sand and the surrounding blocks hosted three days of music, food, local business booths, and CBVA volleyball tournaments north of the pier. Fiesta is one of the events that, for a lot of us, marks the unofficial start of summer in Hermosa Beach. Big thanks to the organizers, vendors, public safety teams, and city staff who put the work in to make a weekend of this scale go smoothly.

🔹 National Public Works Week: a real thank you to the team in orange. Last week was National Public Works Week, and our Public Works team deserves the spotlight. They keep the water moving, the streets safe, the public spaces functional, and a hundred other systems running around the clock that most residents never have to think about. That is exactly the point. When Public Works is doing its job well, you do not notice.

👉 View the Public Works Week post (Instagram)

🔹 Congressman Ted Lieu's CA-36 Youth Town Hall: Saturday, June 6. Congressman Ted Lieu is hosting a Youth Town Hall on Saturday, June 6 from 2:30 to 4:00 PM via Zoom webinar, featuring his Youth Advisory Council and a Q&A on a range of issues. It is a real opportunity for young people across CA-36, including ours in Hermosa, to engage with federal representation directly. I would encourage parents, teachers, and students to share the invite.

👉 View the Youth Town Hall post (Instagram)

📅 Upcoming

🔹 Tuesday, May 26, 6:00 PM: Regular City Council meeting and third FY 2026-27 budget session. Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive.

🔹 Thursday, May 28, 6:00 PM: City Council Meeting and CIP Study Session. Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive.

🔹 Saturday, June 6, 2:30 PM: Congressman Ted Lieu's CA-36 Youth Town Hall (Zoom webinar).

🔹 Saturday, June 6, morning: First Saturday Veterans Memorial cleanup. The monthly cleanup at the Hermosa Beach Veterans Memorial continues.

🔹 Tuesday, June 9, 6:00 PM: Budget Study Session and continued Fee Study public hearing. Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive.

🔹 Wednesday, June 10 through Friday, June 12: California Coastal Commission meeting at the Wyndham Bayside, 1355 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego.

🔹 Tuesday, June 23, 6:00 PM: Adoption of FY 2026-27 Budget. Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive.

👉 View City Council agendas and meeting information

👉 Learn about the Hermosa Beach Veterans Memorial

📱 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

Memorial Day is the bookend of one season and the start of another in our beach town, and this year it lands during a stretch of decisions that will shape what next year looks like in Hermosa. A balanced budget that still asks hard questions. A coastline turning fifty under the protection of the Act. Young leaders speaking up at the Commission. Small businesses investing in our downtown blocks. None of it gets done in one meeting. All of it is happening because residents kept showing up.

As always, please reach out anytime with questions, concerns, or anything you think I should know.

Working together to build an ever better Hermosa Beach.

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