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Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — July 23, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 July 24, 2026
Hello neighbors,
If there was a theme to this week at City Hall, it was listening. Two of our commissions met, residents weighed in on everything from park lands to potholes, and the county opened a direct line for your thoughts on our beaches. I also put some of my own listening into writing, with a new op-ed on one of the questions I hear most often: why are those utility poles still standing?
This newsletter is a little different. Almost everything in it is an invitation for you to speak up. I hope you will take at least one of them.
⚡ Why Are Those Poles Still Up? I Wrote It Down
🔹 My new op-ed in The Malibu Times takes on the utility pole question: "Telecommunications on SCE Poles: Why We Don't Always Bury the Entire Pole." Our community is frustrated over utility poles and the risks they pose, and I share that frustration. The reason they are still up, even after Southern California Edison has put its lines underground, is complicated. In the piece, I explain why the process is more complicated than it appears, what I have learned, what I am still researching, and where local government's authority begins and ends.
→ 💡 The heart of it: "This issue involves public safety, wildfire resilience, infrastructure, cost, regulation, and the authority of agencies outside the City." Understanding exactly where our leverage is happens to be the first step toward using it.
→ 🎯 Why I wrote it: You deserve a straight answer, even when the answer is layered. I would rather walk you through the complexity than hand you a slogan. Pick up The Malibu Times to read the full piece, and my post has the summary.
🔹 This is a live issue at City Hall, not just on the opinion page: Just this Monday, July 20, our Planning Commission held a hearing on a coastal permit to extend the height of an existing SCE wooden utility pole on Kanan Dume Road. Every one of these poles moves through a web of permits, agencies, and appeal rights. That is exactly the process my op-ed unpacks.
🏖️ Your Beaches, Your Feedback
🔹 LA County wants to hear from you about Malibu's beaches, and so do I: We want to hear from you about the beaches in your city. Whether it is bikes on the boardwalk at Zuma or a lack of port-a-potties in a certain area, your voices can make a change. Most of our beaches are operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors, so sending your experience directly to them puts it in front of the people who schedule the maintenance, place the amenities, and set the priorities.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The small things, a working restroom, a clear bike path, a clean stretch of sand, are what make a beach day feel effortless. The county cannot fix what it never hears about, and a two-minute note from someone who was actually there carries more weight than you might think.
👉 Share your beach feedback with LA County
🌳 Community Lands: Tell Us What You Want Built
🔹 The Parks and Recreation Commission met Tuesday, and your voice belongs in this conversation: The agenda and staff reports for the July 21 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting are posted online, and among the topics is the future of our community lands. It is important for the city to hear what residents want on the community lands. These are five city-owned properties, including the Loki and Heathercliff lots, that will shape what Malibu offers our families for generations: sports fields, a recreation center, gathering places.
→ 🎯 My take: Decisions this big should not be made in a quiet room. Let the commissions hear your voice. Read the materials, show up, or send in a comment. The residents who speak up are the ones who shape the outcome.
👉 View the Parks and Recreation Commission agenda
👉 Explore the five Malibu Community Lands
🛠️ Public Works Met This Week Too
🔹 The Public Works Commission held its regular meeting Wednesday, July 22: The agenda and staff reports are posted and available to view online. Public Works touches the parts of daily life we only notice when they break: roads, drainage, the infrastructure underneath everything else. If you want to understand where those projects stand, the staff reports are a genuinely readable place to start.
👉 View the Public Works Commission agenda and staff reports
🔹 The easiest way to never miss a meeting? Turn on the alerts: It is important for the Council to hear from you, and it is important for you to sign up for the alerts, because the public is the most important part of this whole process. You must be informed, and the most reliable way is to have the alerts on whenever a meeting or event is coming up. And I mean this sincerely: if anybody has trouble figuring out how to sign up for alerts, I will personally meet them at a café and we will do it together.
👉 Sign up for City meeting and event alerts
🚧 Getting Around This Week
🔹 Caltrans lane closures continue on PCH and Topanga Canyon through Sunday, July 26: Palisades Fire repair work means lane closures and delays at points along the coast this week. Please drive cautiously, watch for workers and changing traffic patterns, and remember that traffic fines may be doubled in construction zones. A few extra minutes of patience keeps the crews safe and the work moving.
👉 Check live road conditions on Caltrans QuickMap
🔹 Our Volunteers on Patrol have a new set of wheels: Malibu's Volunteers on Patrol received a new City-funded patrol vehicle, expanding their ability to assist the Sheriff's Department with non-emergency patrols, parking enforcement, traffic control, event support, and public safety reporting. These are neighbors who give their time so the rest of us can enjoy safer streets and beaches. Thank you, VOP.
🏛️ 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
🔹 Monday, July 27, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, Malibu City Hall (hybrid). Check the posted agenda for participation details.
🔹 Monday, August 3, 6:30 PM: Regular Planning Commission Meeting, Malibu City Hall
🔹 Wednesday, August 5, 5:00 PM: Public Safety Commission Regular Meeting, Malibu City Hall
🔹 Friday, August 7: Deadline for candidates to file nomination papers for the two City Council seats on the November ballot
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
Local government runs on a simple fuel: residents who say something. A note to the county about a beach restroom. Three minutes at a commission meeting about a future park. An email before Monday's Council meeting. None of it requires expertise, only care, and this town has never been short on care.
So pick one. Send the beach feedback, read one staff report, or take me up on that café offer. My inbox is always open at hconrad@malibucity.org, and you can follow along between newsletters on Instagram.
Have a lovely weekend, Malibu.
