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Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — September 18, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 September 18, 2026
Dear Malibu,
My week started with dirt under my fingernails, and I would not have it any other way. Last Saturday morning, a hardy crew of volunteers joined me on the bluff at Point Dume Headlands to pull the invasive weeds crowding out the native plants that hold our coastline together. Three hours, sore backs, and a stretch of preserve that breathes a little easier heading into winter. Thank you to every single person who showed up.
That word, winter, threads through almost everything in this issue: a pier that cannot wait for it, a CERT class that gets you ready for it, and a forecast El Niño season that will not care whether we prepared or not. But first, a hillside of flags comes down today, and a couple thousand athletes arrive tomorrow. Here is the rundown.
🇺🇸 Remembrance: The Flags Come Down Today
🔹 Volunteers welcome at Alumni Park, 10 AM to 2 PM today: After two weeks standing watch above PCH, the 2,977 flags of Pepperdine's 25th anniversary Waves of Flags display will be lowered and retired today, with the same care and the same volunteer hands that planted them. If you missed the installation or the September 11 ceremony, this is the last chance to be part of it this year.
→ 💙 Why this matters: Taking the flags down is not the end of remembering. It is the promise to put them back up. Communities keep memory alive through small, repeated acts, and this one belongs to all of us.
👉 Visit the Waves of Flags page
🚨 Preparedness: Sea Level Drive, and Getting Winter-Ready
🔹 Repairs continue on Sea Level Drive: Ten days after the sinkhole that forced 31 households from their homes, shoring and repair work on the private road continues under City permits, with the initial estimate putting the work at roughly five weeks. The evacuation order remains in effect, and the City is continuing to coordinate with County Fire, the Sheriff's Department, and utility partners. To our displaced neighbors: this town has not stopped thinking about you, and my inbox remains open for anything you need help navigating.
🔹 CERT training starts Tuesday, and it is free: The City's Community Emergency Response Team course begins Tuesday, September 22, from 5 to 8 PM at the Malibu Library, running Tuesday and Thursday evenings through October 8. If Sea Level Drive taught us anything, it is that emergencies do not schedule themselves around our convenience. I want as many trained neighbors on every street as we can get.
→ 🎒 Your move this week: Confirm you are registered for emergency alerts, grab a CERT seat, and put the Safety Resource Fair on Saturday, September 26, from 11 AM to 3 PM at City Hall on your calendar. Preparedness Month only counts if we actually prepare.
👉 Read the latest City updates
👉 Register for emergency alerts
🛍️ Economic Development: A 2,500-Athlete Weekend
🔹 The Zuma Beach Triathlon arrives Saturday and Sunday: Up to 2,500 athletes will swim, bike, and run at Zuma this weekend, and Sunday's bike leg runs along PCH between Zuma Beach and Leo Carrillo, so plan for delays in western Malibu. Here is how I choose to see it: thousands of visitors, their families, and their appetites landing in our town at the tail end of a bruising construction summer. If you own a shop or restaurant, this is your weekend. If you live here, point a hungry athlete toward a local table.
🔹 And the Farmers Market keeps its Sunday rhythm: Now in its third week back home at the Malibu Library parking lot on Civic Center Way, the market runs this Sunday, September 20, from 10 AM to 3 PM. A 25-year tradition nearly slipped away this summer. The way we keep it is beautifully simple: keep showing up.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Every dollar spent locally this weekend is a small vote for the Malibu we want to still have next year. Our businesses have carried the cones and detours all season. Let them carry full registers for once.
👉 Browse City business resources
📚 Education & Youth: Programs in Motion, and a Seat at the Table
🔹 Fall recreation is officially underway: Monday marked the first week of fall programs, from Marlins swim to dance, art, engineering, surfing, and dog obedience. If your family missed the start, do not assume you are out of luck. Check whether your program still has room, because these classes are where Malibu kids build the confidence and friendships no screen can replicate.
🔹 Students, this commission is yours: The Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission holds its first meeting of the school year on Thursday, October 1, at 7 PM at City Hall. If you know a young person with opinions about this town, and I have yet to meet one without them, that room is where those opinions become recommendations that reach the Council.
→ 🎯 My take: We ask our kids to care about this community. The least we can do is hand them a real microphone when they do.
🌊 Environment: Thank You for the Bluff, and a Pier on the Clock
🔹 Point Dume got some love Saturday: I spent Saturday morning pulling weeds at the Headlands alongside volunteers and our State Parks partners, with continued thanks to Restore Malibu Creek for getting this restoration effort rolling. Seventeen years of surf mornings and trail rides in these hills taught me that this landscape gives far more than it asks. Every root we pulled helps the natives that anchor our bluffs before winter storms test them.
🔹 The pier fight continues: I shared it again this week because it bears repeating: forecasters are pointing to a strong El Niño winter, meaning bigger swells and more coastal erosion, while the ocean end of Malibu Pier remains closed for structural reasons and the Adamson House sits right beside it. Both are state properties, so the City cannot make the repairs ourselves. What we can do is demand a plan, a timeline, and honest public updates, and I am doing exactly that, in print and at the dais. The time to act is before the emergency, not after it.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Salt water does not read structural reports. Every month without a stabilization plan raises both the risk to a piece of California history and the price of eventually saving it.
👉 View the pier post (Instagram)
👉 See the restoration post (Instagram)
👉 Explore environmental programs
🛣️ PCH Safety: Your Input Is In, the Cameras Are Next
🔹 Thank you for showing up Wednesday: Caltrans held its public workshop at City Hall on Wednesday evening on safety improvements for PCH between Las Flores Canyon and Carbon Canyon, covering intersection upgrades, signals, crossings, and bike facilities. The concepts are still preliminary, which is exactly when public input matters most, and I will keep pressing to make sure Malibu voices stay in front of the designers as these plans take shape.
🔹 The warning period starts within days: The 60-day warning phase for the PCH Speed Safety System begins in late September, with citations following in late November. Quick refresher: nothing is recorded unless a vehicle is going at least 11 mph over the limit, penalties are civil, start at $50, and add no license points. You have heard my ask before and you will hear it again: do not wait for an envelope in the mail. Slow down now, especially on school mornings.
👉 Learn how the speed cameras work
🗳️ City Hall: Monday's Meeting, and the One to Circle
🔹 Council met Monday night: If you missed the September 14 meeting, the full agenda and video replay are posted at the Agenda Center, and I always encourage a skim. Watching how decisions actually get made is the best civics class this town offers.
🔹 Circle Monday, September 28: The Community Lands Project comes to the Council for review, shaping the future of more than 61 acres of City-owned land. As a member of the ad hoc committee, I can tell you the summer survey results will be in that room, and so should you. This is the rare agenda item that will outlive every one of us currently arguing about it, and I want it decided with the whole community watching.
👉 View meeting agendas and video
👉 Explore the Community Lands project
🏛️ Get Involved: Three Commissions, Three Days
🔹 Next week is a commission sampler: Planning meets Monday evening, Arts on Tuesday morning, and Public Works on Wednesday afternoon, three chances in three days to watch local policy get built from the ground floor. Every meeting welcomes public comment, no appointment necessary. And if watching turns into wanting a seat, Malibu's commissions, including Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, and the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission, accept applications year-round. Some of the most consequential decisions in this town start in those rooms, made by neighbors who simply decided to raise their hands.
👉 Browse upcoming commission meetings and agendas
👉 Apply to serve on a commission or committee
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Today, Friday, September 18: Waves of Flags lowering, 10 AM to 2 PM, Alumni Park, Pepperdine University, volunteers welcome. Tonight: Charmlee Sunset Hike, 6 to 7:30 PM, free with pre-registration.
🔹 Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20: Zuma Beach Triathlon at Zuma Beach. Sunday's bike leg runs on PCH between Zuma and Leo Carrillo, so expect delays in western Malibu.
🔹 Sunday, September 20, 10 AM to 3 PM: Malibu Farmers Market at the Malibu Library parking lot on Civic Center Way.
🔹 Monday, September 21, 6:30 PM: Planning Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers.
🔹 Tuesday, September 22, 9:30 AM: Arts Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall. That evening, free CERT training begins, 5 to 8 PM at the Malibu Library, continuing Tuesday and Thursday evenings through October 8.
🔹 Wednesday, September 23, 3:30 PM: Public Works Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Saturday, September 26, 11 AM to 3 PM: Safety Resource Fair, Malibu City Hall.
🔹 Monday, September 28, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, City Hall (hybrid), including review of the Community Lands Project.
🔹 Thursday, October 1, 7 PM: Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Looking further out: The Public Safety Commission next meets Wednesday, October 7, at 5 PM, and the Parks and Recreation Commission, which held its regular meeting this past Tuesday, September 15, next meets Tuesday, October 20, at 6:30 PM, both at City Hall. Agendas post at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Ongoing: Sea Level Drive remains closed under an evacuation order while repairs continue. Westward Beach Road and the Point Dume Beach lot remain closed, with the beach still open on foot from the Zuma side. PCH and Topanga work zones continue with reduced speeds, and fines are doubled in work zones.
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
Somewhere between the weeds on the bluff and the flags on the hillside, this week settled on a theme: the work you do before you need it. Nobody pulls invasive roots because the bluff looks bad today. Nobody takes a CERT class because tonight is dangerous. We do these things because winter is coming, in the literal, El Niño sense, and because towns that prepare together recover together.
So pick your version of before. Stand under the flags this morning, cheer an athlete or feed one this weekend, claim a CERT seat for Tuesday, and mark September 28 for the Community Lands discussion. And if something in your corner of Malibu needs attention before it becomes a problem, tell me about it at hconrad@malibucity.org. Catching things early is a team sport.
Stay ready and stay connected, Malibu.
Haylynn Conrad
Councilmember, City of Malibu
