🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad

📅 April 13, 2026

Hello Malibu,

Two things happen tonight. The City Council gavels in at 5:30 PM at City Hall, and International Dark Sky Week officially begins across our coast. Both are small invitations to show up: one inside Council Chambers, the other by simply stepping outside on a clear night and looking up at a sky most of the country can't see anymore. That pairing sets the tone for the week. There is plenty to weigh in on, plenty to learn, and plenty to get ready for.

This edition covers tonight's Council meeting, a new community workshop on Malibu's Mass Evacuation Plan, the busiest stretch of Earth Month, an imminent visit from one of the country's most important climate voices, and a few thoughts on animal preparedness and the work still ahead on recovery.

🏛️ This Week at City Hall

🔹 Regular City Council Meeting tonight, Monday April 13: The Council convenes at 5:30 PM in Council Chambers at Malibu City Hall. Meetings are hybrid, so you can attend in person or tune in from home. Community input at these meetings is not a courtesy, it is how the hard decisions actually get shaped. If an item on tonight's agenda matters to you, please show up or log on.

👉 View tonight's City Council agenda

🔹 Special Budget Workshop, Wednesday April 15: Council also holds a Special Budget Workshop at City Hall this Wednesday. Budgets are where priorities stop being talking points and start being line items. If you care about where our tax dollars go, whether that is public safety, infrastructure, schools, or parks, this is the room to watch.

🚨 Emergency Preparedness & Public Safety

🔹 Mass Evacuation Plan Community Workshop, Tuesday April 28: The City is updating Malibu's Mass Evacuation Plan, and residents are invited to a public workshop at City Hall on Tuesday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the Council Chamber. Attendees will identify their evacuation zone, learn how evacuation decisions get made, and have a real chance to give feedback on the draft plan before it moves forward. No registration required.

→ 🎯 My take: After what this community has lived through, a stronger evacuation plan cannot be a document sitting on a shelf. It has to be something every household understands before the next emergency, not during one. I want to see a packed room for this workshop.

👉 Read the Mass Evacuation Workshop details

🔹 Horse & Large Animal Emergency Evacuation Meeting, now Tuesday May 12: A community meeting for horse and large animal owners across Topanga and Malibu is coming up at Fair Hills Farms, 2735 Santa Maria Rd, Topanga, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. The agenda is exactly what every large animal household in these hills needs to walk through: evacuation protocols, coordination with Animal Care & Control, Pierce College shelter operations, property, trailer and documentation readiness, and how to plug into the community coordination network. The response to this one has been so strong that the original date was pushed back to accommodate turnout, which tells you how much this community wants to get ready. RSVP to Róisin O'Brien at 818-640-5318.

→ 🎯 My take: Preparedness plans tend to focus on people, and they should. But in a community with horses in the hills, livestock on working farms, and wildlife all around us, the animals in our lives deserve a plan of their own. The Palisades Fire reminded all of us how quickly the window for decision-making can close. If you have horses or large animals, please make this meeting a priority.

🌿 Earth Month in Full Swing

🔹 International Dark Sky Week begins today and runs through Friday, April 17: Starting tonight, Malibu joins the global effort to reduce light pollution and protect wildlife, habitats, and the night sky most of the country no longer gets to see. Dark skies are one of the quiet gifts of living where we live. Turn off what you don't need this week, shield what you do, and take a minute to step outside and look up.

🔹 Bill McKibben at the Malibu Library Speaker Series, Wednesday April 22: This one is special. Bill McKibben, one of the most influential climate authors and organizers of the last generation, will speak at Elkins Auditorium at Pepperdine on Earth Day at 5:00 PM as part of the 2026 Malibu Library Speaker Series and Pepperdine's Climate Calling conference. His book The End of Nature was the first to bring climate change to a general audience, and it has since been translated into 24 languages. Admission is free and no RSVP is required.

→ 💡 Why this matters: We don't often get a chance to hear from someone who has spent four decades carefully thinking about the same questions Malibu is now living through. Bring a neighbor.

👉 Read the McKibben event details

🔹 A full week of Earth Month events coming up: The calendar is packed. Dr. Anna Jacobsen's Malibu Monarch Project lecture on chaparral resilience is Wednesday, April 15 at City Hall. Saturday, April 18 is HHW/E-Waste Collection and document shredding at City Hall. Sunday, April 19 brings the Pollinator Plant Giveaway at Legacy Park. Tuesday, April 21 is the Pepperdine Earth Day Fair. Friday, April 24 adds a Sunset Hike at Charmlee Wilderness Park (RSVP required), and Sunday, April 26 is a Pollinator Garden Installation at Malibu Bluffs Park. This is one of the best stretches on our city calendar all year.

👉 See the full Earth Month lineup

💼 Economic Development & Small Business

🔹 Recovery is built in ribbon cuttings, not headlines: Every week I am reminded that Malibu's economic recovery is not going to happen in one big announcement. It is going to happen in the steady rhythm of businesses reopening their doors and new ones betting on us. If you have the budget this week for a long dinner out, a new pair of sunglasses, a Pilates class, or a coffee with a friend, please spend it here. Every dollar spent locally is a vote of confidence in a town that has earned it.

🏗️ Rebuilding & Recovery

🔹 Design Professionals Rebuild Meeting, Tuesday April 14: The next meeting for architects, engineers, and builders working on Malibu rebuilds is tomorrow from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at City Hall. If you are a design professional involved in fire recovery, this is your room.

👉 View rebuild events and resources

📅 Dates to Know

🔹 Monday, April 13, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, Malibu City Hall

🔹 Monday, April 13 through Friday, April 17: International Dark Sky Week

🔹 Tuesday, April 14, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM: Design Professionals Rebuild Meeting, City Hall

🔹 Wednesday, April 15: Special City Council Budget Workshop, Malibu City Hall

🔹 Wednesday, April 15, 6:30 to 7:30 PM: Malibu Monarch Project Lecture with Dr. Anna Jacobsen, City Hall Multipurpose Room

🔹 Friday, April 17: Deadline for Arts Commission Storm Drain Public Art applications

🔹 Saturday, April 18, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM: HHW/E-Waste Collection and Document Shredding, City Hall

🔹 Sunday, April 19, 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM: Pollinator Plant Giveaway, Legacy Park

🔹 Monday, April 20, 6:30 PM: Regular Planning Commission Meeting, Malibu City Hall

🔹 Tuesday, April 21, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM: Pepperdine Earth Day Fair

🔹 Wednesday, April 22, 5:00 PM: Malibu Library Speaker Series with Bill McKibben, Pepperdine

🔹 Thursday, April 23, 1:00 to 7:00 PM: Board of Forestry Zone 0 Regulatory Advisory Committee Meeting, Calabasas Community Center

🔹 Friday, April 24, 7:00 to 8:30 PM: Sunset Hike at Charmlee Wilderness Park (RSVP required)

🔹 Sunday, April 26, 1:00 to 4:00 PM: Pollinator Garden Installation, Malibu Bluffs Park

🔹 Monday, April 27: Regular City Council Meeting, Malibu City Hall

🔹 Tuesday, April 28, 6:00 to 8:00 PM: Mass Evacuation Plan Community Workshop, City Hall Council Chamber

🔹 Through May 1: "Heading Home" exhibition, Malibu City Gallery at City Hall

🔹 Tuesday, May 12, 6:30 to 8:30 PM: Horse & Large Animal Emergency Evacuation Meeting, Fair Hills Farms, 2735 Santa Maria Rd, Topanga

🐝 One Last Thought

A Council meeting, a star-dark week, a workshop on how we get out of here safely, and a free lecture by a man who has spent forty years studying the sky we are trying to protect. Put those four things next to each other and you start to see the outline of what civic life actually looks like here. It is not one big moment. It is a lot of small ones, stacked, week after week, by people who keep choosing to show up.

I hope to see you tonight in Council Chambers, or online, or at any of the events coming up the calendar this month. If something in this newsletter raised a question or sparked a thought, please reply to this email.

Thank you for caring about this place.

Together, we're building a community and better future that works for everyone. Thank you for staying connected!

Haylynn Conrad
Councilmember, City of Malibu
hconrad@malibucity.org