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Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — October 23, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 October 23, 2026
Dear neighbors,
Nineteen minutes. That is how long it took the City to stand up its Emergency Operations Center after the Bryson Fire sparked near Encinal Canyon Road and Mulholland Highway at 4:41 PM on Thursday, October 15, with Santa Ana winds blowing through a red flag warning. Four days later the fire was fully contained at 146 acres with zero structures lost. Then, as if this town needed one more test, Wednesday night brought the first rain of the season, nearly half an inch in some canyons, and Malibu handled that too.
So this issue starts with gratitude: to the firefighters, deputies, volunteers, and City staff who held the line, and to every one of you who took the warnings seriously. There is plenty to do with that gratitude this week. Free sandbags and a kids' Halloween carnival this afternoon, a ballot box opening at City Hall tomorrow, Council on Monday, and an El Niño workshop Tuesday. Here is the rundown.
🚒 Public Safety: The Bryson Fire Showed Us Who We Are
🔹 Contained at 146 acres, zero structures lost: The Bryson Fire broke out in the mountains above western Malibu on Thursday, October 15, and the response moved fast: the Emergency Operations Center was activated by 5:00 PM, evacuation warnings went out for zones MAL-C113 and MAL-C114, and the City proclaimed an emergency. By Monday evening, October 19, CAL FIRE reported 100 percent containment, with no structures damaged or destroyed, one firefighter with minor injuries, and a cause still under investigation. Crews protected homes and a county juvenile facility through four hard days of work.
→ 🙏 Thank you, in every language we have: LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, Assistant Chief Drew Smith, and their firefighters. Sheriff's Captain Dustin Carr and his deputies. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and the County Office of Emergency Management. The Sheriff's Volunteers on Patrol, the Community Brigade, and Arson Watch. And our own City staff, who kept traffic signals running on generators, worked with carriers to keep cell towers powered, opened a Wi-Fi and charging center with SCE at Malibu Bluffs Park, and kept information flowing on KBUU 99.1 FM. This was coordination you could set your watch by.
→ 💡 What this means: Staff walked the Council through the full response at Wednesday's special meeting, and the lesson I take from it is simple: preparation is not paperwork, it is time. Every alert sign-up, every CERT class, every drill bought minutes when minutes mattered. One housekeeping note: the household hazardous waste collection event planned for October 17 was canceled during the fire, so watch the City's news page for a make-up date.
👉 Read the City's Bryson Fire update
👉 Read The Malibu Times coverage
🌧️ Preparedness: The First Rain Was a Pop Quiz
🔹 Nearly half an inch, right on schedule: Wednesday's storm dropped 0.43 inches at Big Rock Mesa and 0.47 inches at the Monte Nido Fire Station by early Thursday, with a flood watch along the Malibu coast through Thursday afternoon. The forecast now flips to sunshine, with a sunny weekend in the low to mid 70s. Treat that as your window. Clear gutters and drains, walk your evacuation plan, and if your home sits near a slope or a creek, use this dry stretch while you have it.
🔹 Free filled sandbags this afternoon, 3 to 5 PM: Supervisor Lindsey Horvath's office is hosting a sandbag distribution today, Friday, October 23, at the Malibu Equestrian Park at 6225 Merritt Drive, off Morning View Drive near PCH. County staff will be there to answer questions and help load your car, with a limit of 25 bags per household. Half an inch of rain is a courtesy knock. The El Niño storms will not knock.
🔹 Round two of the El Niño workshops is Tuesday: The City hosts its second community preparedness workshop Tuesday, October 27, from 4 to 6 PM at City Hall, with City Manager Joe Irvin joined by LA County Fire, the Sheriff's Department, LA County Flood Control, Water District 29, and other partner agencies, plus time for your questions. If you missed the first session, the video is posted and worth your time.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Forecasters still put the odds of a very strong El Niño above 90 percent. This week handed us a live-fire drill and a light first rain back to back. I want every household in Malibu to treat both as the warm-up act they were.
👉 Get the sandbag event details
👉 Visit the City's El Niño preparedness page
👉 Watch the first workshop video (YouTube)
🗳️ Your Vote: The Ballot Box Opens Tomorrow
🔹 Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and voting starts now: An 11-day Vote Center opens at Malibu City Hall tomorrow, Saturday, October 24, running 10 AM to 7 PM daily through November 2, then 7 AM to 8 PM on Election Day itself. Vote-by-mail ballots have been arriving since the start of the month, and there is a secure 24/7 drop box at the Malibu Library. Starting Saturday, October 31, three more vote centers open at the Malibu Library, the Christian Science Church on PCH, and Malibu High School. You can even register and vote in person at any center, right up through Election Day.
→ 🎯 My take: You will never hear me tell you how to vote, but you will always hear me tell you to vote. A town that packs its council chambers for soccer fields and creek workshops should pack its ballot boxes too. Ten minutes at Stuart Ranch Road, and you have done the most Malibu thing possible: showed up.
👉 Read the City's election guide
👉 Find any vote center in LA County
🛍️ Economic Development: Sunshine Is a Gift Card, Spend It Locally
🔹 Our businesses just lost a week to smoke and rain: Between fire warnings and the first storm, foot traffic took a hit at exactly the wrong moment in an already hard construction season. The forecast says sunny and low 70s this weekend, so here is my ask: pick one local stop you would not normally make. The Farmers Market runs this Sunday, October 25, from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Malibu Library parking lot on Civic Center Way, and it pairs beautifully with a second stop anywhere a Malibu register rings.
🔹 The pier patience project continues: The roughly 18-month rehabilitation grinds on, with Malibu Farm Pier Cafe still closed and the Ranch at the Pier shop operating from the Malibu Cabana near the pier entrance. Fiber crews also remain on Malibu Canyon Road, Webb Way, Stuart Ranch Road, and Civic Center Way through December. Orange cones are temporary. The habit of supporting the businesses behind them should not be.
👉 Browse City business resources
📚 Education & Youth: Costumes at 3, Big Plans All Year
🔹 Bu Bash is this afternoon at Bluffs Park: The City's Halloween carnival for kids ages 2 to 10 runs today, Friday, October 23, from 3 to 6 PM at Malibu Bluffs Park, with carnival games and prizes, bounce houses, face painting, a trick-or-treat street, a costume catwalk, and spooky stories with the Malibu Library, plus a food truck for the grown-ups. Admission is $10, pre-registration is recommended, and a limited number of walk-ups may be available. Yes, it overlaps with the sandbag event, so divide and conquer: one adult to the Equestrian Park for sandbags, everyone else to the costume catwalk.
🔹 Why we build for families, in my own words: Last week The Malibu Times ran my op-ed, "A historic moment for Malibu's families," on what the soccer fields decision really means: giving families reasons to stay and kids the space to grow up here, not over the hill. If you have ever wondered why I will not let go of this issue, it is all there on the page.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: A carnival this afternoon and fields down the road are the same investment at different timescales. We keep Malibu young by making room for the young.
👉 Read my op-ed in The Malibu Times
🌊 Environment: After the First Flush, Give the Ocean 72 Hours
🔹 The first real rain is the dirtiest one of the year: That first flush carries months of accumulated oil, ash, and grime off our roads and hillsides straight to the surf line, which is why the standard public health advice is to stay out of the ocean for about 72 hours after significant rainfall. I surf these breaks too, and sitting out a few days is annoying. Getting sick is worse. With sunshine returning this weekend, check conditions and give the water the time it needs.
🔹 Put native roots in the ground before the big storms: The Native Plant Giveaway lands at Legacy Park on Sunday, November 8, at 9:30 AM, and after watching half an inch of rain find every weak spot in town this week, I will say it again: native plants are slope insurance you can hold in one hand. Free slope insurance, two weekends from now.
👉 Explore environmental programs
💛 Community: Thank You for the Joy
🔹 Romeo's Roadshow rolled through Malibu on October 10: In a month heavy with fire trucks and rain gauges, a visit built purely around delight was exactly what this town needed, and the kind words and belated birthday wishes that came with it genuinely made my week. Thank you. I talk constantly about resilience as sandbags and evacuation plans, but resilience is also this: neighbors who go out of their way to make Malibu more joyful and more soulful. That spirit is not a bonus feature of this town. It is the foundation.
🏛️ City Hall: Monday Night Has Range
🔹 Council meets Monday, October 26, at 5:30 PM: City Hall, hybrid as always, and the agenda is a tour of everything I love about this job. The consent calendar includes the Malibu Surf Legend Award (1B5), because this is a town that gives out surf legend awards, and the formal acceptance of the Malibu Permanent Skate Park Project (1B7), a quiet line of paperwork that represents years of pushing for places our kids can actually use. The main agenda brings back the City Hall Solar Power Project (7A) and an overview of the Capital Improvement Program (7B), which is where my commitment to putting our dollars into infrastructure gets tested line by line. We will even set the proposed 2027 Council meeting calendar (8A). If any of it moves you, Monday night is your microphone.
👉 Read the October 26 agenda (PDF)
🤝 Get Involved: Four Commission Meetings in Two Weeks
🔹 The next two weeks are a civic buffet: The Arts Commission meets Tuesday, October 27, at 9:30 AM, and the Public Works Commission follows Wednesday, October 28, at 3:30 PM. The Planning Commission convenes Monday, November 2, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers, and the Public Safety Commission meets Wednesday, November 4, at 5 PM, which after the week we just had should draw a crowd. All of them meet at City Hall and all of them welcome public comment. The Parks and Recreation Commission held its October meeting on the 20th and returns Tuesday, November 17, at 6:30 PM, and the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission posts its next agenda at the Agenda Center. If the Bryson Fire left you wanting to do more than watch, a commission seat is the most direct way in, and the application never closes.
👉 Browse upcoming commission meetings and agendas
👉 Apply to serve on a commission or committee
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Today, Friday, October 23, 3 to 5 PM: Free filled sandbag distribution, Malibu Equestrian Park, 6225 Merritt Drive, limit 25 per household.
🔹 Today, Friday, October 23, 3 to 6 PM: Bu Bash Halloween carnival, Malibu Bluffs Park, ages 2 to 10, $10.
🔹 Tomorrow, Saturday, October 24: The 11-day Vote Center opens at Malibu City Hall, 10 AM to 7 PM daily through November 2, then 7 AM to 8 PM on Election Day.
🔹 Sunday, October 25, 10 AM to 3 PM: Malibu Farmers Market, Malibu Library parking lot, Civic Center Way.
🔹 Monday, October 26, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, City Hall (hybrid), agenda at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Tuesday, October 27, 9:30 AM: Arts Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Tuesday, October 27, 4 to 6 PM: El Niño Preparedness Community Workshop, City Hall.
🔹 Wednesday, October 28, 3:30 PM: Public Works Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Saturday, October 31: Halloween, plus three additional vote centers open at the Malibu Library, the Christian Science Church, and Malibu High School. Costumes, dusk, and PCH are a tricky mix, so please drive like the trick-or-treaters are yours.
🔹 Monday, November 2, 6:30 PM: Planning Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers.
🔹 Tuesday, November 3: Election Day. Vote centers open 7 AM to 8 PM, and mailed ballots must be postmarked by this date.
🔹 Wednesday, November 4, 5 PM: Public Safety Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Looking further out: The Native Plant Giveaway comes to Legacy Park on Sunday, November 8, at 9:30 AM. The Parks and Recreation Commission next meets Tuesday, November 17, at 6:30 PM, and the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission posts its next agenda at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Ongoing: Sea Level Drive remains closed under an evacuation order while repairs continue. Severe erosion hazards persist from Westward Beach Road into Point Dume State Beach, with the Westward Beach lot still closed and the beach reachable on foot from the Zuma side. PCH work zones continue with reduced speeds and doubled fines, the speed camera warning period arrives in November, and fiber construction continues on Malibu Canyon Road, Webb Way, Stuart Ranch Road, and Civic Center Way through December.
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
Nineteen minutes to activate an emergency center. Four days to contain a fire without losing a single home. Three days of patience before the ocean is clean again. Eleven days to cast a ballot. Civic life keeps time at every speed, and this week Malibu was on tempo for all of them.
None of that was luck. It was the compound interest on years of drills, workshops, volunteer hours, and people who treat readiness like a neighborly duty. So keep the streak alive: grab sandbags this afternoon, cheer the costume catwalk, vote early at City Hall, and bring your questions to Tuesday's workshop. And if the fire or the first storm showed you a weak spot in your corner of Malibu, a drain, a slope, a stretch of road, tell me about it at hconrad@malibucity.org. Every reply reaches me, and this week proved how much the early word matters.
Stay ready and stay grateful, Malibu.
Haylynn Conrad
Councilmember, City of Malibu
