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Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — July 2, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 July 3, 2026
Dear Malibu,
Two hundred and fifty years. Tomorrow, on the Fourth of July, America marks a quarter millennium since the Declaration of Independence was signed, and our little stretch of coast gets to celebrate a milestone most generations never see. How will you celebrate our country and our community this Fourth? I am grateful to live in a country where we can agree to disagree and still live in harmony, and I can think of no better place to feel that than a Malibu street lined with neighbors, golf carts, and flags on a summer morning.
This newsletter has the full holiday rundown, plus a word on public trust that I shared this week, the opening of candidate season for our own City Council, and some good news for our swimmers, our artists, and our hillsides. Plenty to cover before the long weekend takes over, so let's begin.
🇺🇸 America's 250th, Malibu Style
🔹 The Point Dume Parade rolls Saturday morning: Malibu's most beloved Independence Day tradition returns Saturday, July 4, for its 27th year, stepping off at 10:00 AM at Point Dume with decorated golf carts, classic cars, bikes draped in red, white, and blue, and plenty of neighbors on foot. A community picnic at Malibu Elementary School follows, with awards for the best entries around noon. There is no better snapshot of who we are as a town.
→ 💙 What I love about it: Malibu does not do fireworks, and honestly, I think that says something good about us. In a community that knows fire the way ours does, we celebrate with wheels, watermelon, and each other instead. On a 250th birthday built around community, that feels exactly right.
👉 Browse the local July 4 weekend guide
🔹 Holiday hours and a heads-up for the weekend: City Hall, the Rebuild Center, and the Senior Center are closed today, Friday, July 3, in observance of the holiday, and the Malibu Swimming Pool is closed both Friday and Saturday. City parks stay open daily from 8:00 AM to sunset, and yes, the new Skate Park at Malibu Bluffs Park is open on the Fourth from 8:30 AM to sunset. Expect heavy traffic on PCH all weekend, especially near Zuma, where the creek underpass remains closed due to flooding.
→ ⚡ Before you head out: Leave early, pack your patience, and please help keep our beaches, trails, and PCH clean and safe while we host visitors from all over. Remember that personal fireworks are illegal here, and in a town this dry, that rule protects every home on every hillside.
👉 See the full list of City holiday closures
💙 Public Trust: Honoring Donor Intent for the Brigade
🔹 A word on the stewardship of funds raised for the Malibu Community Brigade: This week I spoke publicly about donor intent, and I want to share that message here too. Donor intent is not a technicality. It is a fundamental principle of charitable giving and public trust. People contribute their hard-earned resources because they believe those funds will be used for the purposes they were raised for.
→ 🎯 My position: I believe any remaining funds and assets connected to those donations should continue to be used in a way consistent with donor intent. This is not about personalities or organizational disagreements. It is about honoring the expectations of donors, protecting public trust, and making sure resources raised from Malibu continue to benefit Malibu. I encourage transparency around designated funds and assets, so that donors, volunteers, residents, and stakeholders can have confidence in how they are managed. For Malibu, by Malibu.
👉 Read my full statement (Instagram)
🏛️ Community Engagement: Candidate Season Opens for Your City Council
🔹 The nomination period for the November election opens Monday, July 13: Two City Council seats will be on the November 3 ballot, and residents interested in running can pick up nomination packets from the City Clerk's Office at City Hall between July 13 and August 7. Our local elections are nonpartisan and focused squarely on the issues that shape daily life here, from rebuilding and roads to schools and open space.
→ 💡 Why I am sharing this early: Serving on this Council is demanding, humbling, and one of the most direct ways to shape Malibu's future. If you have ever sat in the audience thinking you would do things differently, this is the moment that thought becomes real. Talk to your family, do your homework, and consider stepping forward. Our city is stronger when good people run.
🔹 Council also meets that same Monday, July 13, at 5:30 PM: After the fifth-Monday break, the Council returns to Chambers, with remote participation available for anyone who cannot make it in person. The agenda posts ahead of the meeting, and public comment is always open to you.
👉 Get election dates, forms, and voter information
🏊 Education: Our Sensory Swim Program Just Won a Big One
🔹 Malibu's Sensory Swim program earned the 2026 Innovative Program Award: The Southern California Public Pool Operators Association has honored our Community Services Department for Sensory Swim, a water safety program that lowers the noise and calms the pool environment so swimmers with sensory sensitivities and diverse needs can feel relaxed, safe, and included. It is run in collaboration with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and the Malibu Esperance Center.
→ 💡 Why this award belongs to all of us: In a town where so much of childhood happens in and around the water, making sure every kid can experience it safely is not a nice-to-have, it is who we are. Congratulations to our Community Services team. This is what inclusion looks like when a city takes it seriously.
👉 Learn about the award and the program
🌿 Environment: Powering Down the Fire Risk, Literally
🔹 Construction is underway to underground the Merlin Circuit: On June 24, leaders from the City, Supervisor Horvath's office, L.A. County Public Works, and the Chamber joined Southern California Edison to mark the start of construction on undergrounding the Merlin Circuit. Moving these power lines below ground reduces wildfire ignition risk and improves power reliability for the neighborhoods they serve.
→ ⚡ Why I am watching this closely: Overhead lines and dry hillsides are a combination this community knows too well. Every mile of line that goes underground is one less way a red flag day turns into a catastrophe, and I want to see this kind of hardening continue across Malibu. It is slow, expensive, and absolutely worth it.
🎨 Around Town: Surf, Skate, and a Final Call
🔹 "Carving Canvas" opens at the Malibu City Gallery next Friday, July 10: The Arts Commission hosts a free opening reception at 6:00 PM at City Hall for this community exhibition of local artists celebrating the creativity, energy, and culture inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The show then runs July 13 through August 21, and admission is free. It is a fitting summer companion to our brand-new skate park.
→ 🎨 Worth your Friday evening: Our local artists keep proving that Malibu's surf and skate story is not just recreation, it is identity. An evening at the gallery is an easy way to thank them for it, and to see this town through their eyes.
👉 Get details on the opening reception
🔹 Last call: Surf Legend nominations close next Friday, July 10: One week remains to submit a name for the 2026 Malibu Surf Legend Award. If someone in your life belongs in the story of Malibu surfing, do not let this deadline pass without putting that name on paper.
👉 Nominate a 2026 Malibu Surf Legend
🏛️ Get Involved: Malibu's Commissions
🔹 Want to plug into one of Malibus commissions? Planning, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Public Works, Arts, and the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission all meet monthly at City Hall, and every one welcomes public comment. So much of our local policy actually starts in these rooms, and if serving on one has ever crossed your mind, the application is open year-round.
👉 Browse upcoming commission meetings and agendas
👉 Apply to serve on a commission or committee
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Friday, July 3: City Hall, the Rebuild Center, and the Senior Center are closed for the Independence Day holiday. The pool is closed today and tomorrow.
🔹 Saturday, July 4: America's 250th birthday. The 27th Annual Point Dume Parade steps off at 10:00 AM, with a community picnic at Malibu Elementary School to follow.
🔹 Friday, July 10: Final day to submit nominations for the 2026 Malibu Surf Legend Award.
🔹 Friday, July 10, 6:00 PM: "Carving Canvas" opening reception, Malibu City Gallery at City Hall. On display July 13 through August 21.
🔹 Monday, July 13: Nomination period opens for the two City Council seats on the November 3 ballot. Packets available at the City Clerk's Office through August 7.
🔹 Monday, July 13, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, Malibu City Hall (hybrid).
🔹 Wednesday, July 15, 12:30 to 2:00 PM: Malibu Rebuild Meeting, Malibu City Hall.
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
A 250th birthday invites us to pause and think. This country has never been a finished project, and neither is this town. What has carried both through two and a half centuries of hard chapters is the same thing that will carry us through the next one: neighbors who can disagree about plenty and still show up for each other, at a parade, at a rebuild meeting, or in a Council chamber on a Monday night.
So tomorrow, wave at someone you have argued with. Cheer for a golf cart. Thank a firefighter. And when the weekend winds down, know that the work of making Malibu safer, kinder, and more resilient picks right back up, and there is a seat in it for you. You can always reach me at hconrad@malibucity.org, and I read every note that comes in.
Happy 250th, Malibu.
