Elected Official? Create newsletters in minutes, not hours.
Transparent, authentic, comprehensive newsletters to maximize constituent representation and civic engagement.
Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — September 25, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 September 25, 2026
Good morning, Malibu,
One hundred rebuild permits. Three hundred seventy planning approvals. And one front door on Big Rock that opens again, for the first family to come all the way home since the Palisades Fire. Those numbers landed this week, and I want you to sit with them the way I did, because behind every one is a household finding its way back.
It was also a week that asked us to hold grief and gratitude at the same time, with a heartbreaking loss felt across this town. Both belong in this issue, along with a Safety Resource Fair tomorrow at City Hall, an El Niño workshop Tuesday, and a Monday Council night that will shape 61 acres of Malibu for generations. Here is the rundown.
💙 A Loss That Touches All of Malibu
🔹 Remembering Presley Gerber: Malibu lost one of its own this week. Presley Gerber, who was raised here and graduated from Malibu High School, passed away on Sunday, September 20, at just 27 years old. In recent years he spoke openly and courageously about mental health and addiction, conversations that are never easy and always necessary. His family has asked for privacy, and I hope we give them exactly that, along with our whole hearts. As a mom raising two kids in this town, I am holding mine a little closer this week, and I suspect I am not alone.
→ 💙 If you or someone you love is struggling: Free, confidential support is available 24/7 by call or text at 988. Reaching out is strength, not weakness.
🏠 Rebuilding: The First Family Is Home
🔹 A Certificate of Occupancy worth celebrating: At the September 14 Council meeting, Big Rock residents Denise and George Toberman received the City's first Certificate of Occupancy for a home rebuilt after the Palisades Fire, eleven months after their permit was issued. The same week, the City issued its 100th rebuild permit, and as of mid-September we have 370 planning approvals with 66 more projects in building plan check. The Tobermans have spent months encouraging other fire-affected families to keep going, one step at a time, and now their story is proof it can be done.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Milestones are not just numbers. They are evidence that the system we built, from the Rebuild Center to fee waivers for like-for-like projects, is moving families from paperwork to front porches. There is still a long road for many neighbors, and I will keep pushing to make every step of it faster and clearer.
👉 Watch the rebuild milestone video
🚨 Preparedness: A Fair Tomorrow, a Workshop Tuesday
🔹 The Safety Resource Fair is tomorrow, Saturday, September 26: From 11 AM to 3 PM at City Hall, you can get practical advice on home hardening and brush clearance, learn about El Niño risks like debris flows and coastal erosion, try live fire extinguisher training, meet our Public Safety staff, local law enforcement, and the CERT Malibu team, and even win a raffle prize. Bring the kids. Preparedness is a family skill.
🔹 New this week: El Niño Preparedness Workshops begin Tuesday, September 29: The City announced the first in a series of community workshops, running 3 to 5 PM in the Council Chambers, with our Community Development, Public Works, and Public Safety teams joined by Caltrans. Topics include storm readiness, flooding and debris flow risks, erosion, and the ongoing work along PCH. If you cannot attend, video will be posted afterward on the City's YouTube channel.
🔹 Sea Level Drive, where things stand: The City has demobilized its Emergency Operations Center as the incident moves into the repair and recovery phase, but the evacuation order and red tags remain in place for all 31 properties, and The Malibu Times reports roughly 60 percent of the roadway is gone. There is no return timeline yet, and I know how heavy that uncertainty is. To our displaced neighbors: you remain on this town's mind, and my inbox stays open for anything you need help navigating.
→ 🎒 Your move this week: Come to the fair tomorrow, put Tuesday's workshop on the calendar, and confirm you are registered for emergency alerts. Winter will not wait for us to feel ready.
👉 Read the workshop announcement
👉 Register for emergency alerts
🛍️ Economic Development: A Big Weekend Delivered, and Fiber Is Coming
🔹 The Zuma Beach Triathlon gave more than it took: Last weekend's two-day event brought athletes of all ages and abilities to Zuma, paired with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, support for the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, and complimentary entries for athletes affected by the Palisades, Franklin, and Eaton fires. Organizers say Malibu endurance events have raised more than $20 million for charitable causes over the years. Thousands of visitors saw our town at its best, and I hope plenty of them found a local table while they were here.
🔹 The Farmers Market runs this Sunday, September 27: Same time, same place: 10 AM to 3 PM at the Malibu Library parking lot on Civic Center Way. A Sunday habit is the simplest economic development program we have, and it happens to come with excellent peaches.
🔹 Regional fiber work starts in Malibu next month: Beginning in October and running through December, crews will install roughly 8,000 feet of underground fiber connecting City Hall and our traffic signals along Civic Center Way, part of a 38-mile regional network funded through Measure M with no new taxes. Expect construction activity on portions of Malibu Canyon Road, Webb Way, Stuart Ranch Road, and Civic Center Way. Faster, more resilient communications for public safety and traffic operations is exactly the kind of unglamorous investment I love, and it is a fitting first headline for our new Assistant City Manager Jesse Mays, who helped deliver citywide fiber in Culver City.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Short-term cones, long-term backbone. Better connectivity strengthens emergency response, traffic management, and the foundation our local businesses operate on.
👉 Read the fiber project announcement
👉 Browse City business resources
📚 Education & Youth: A Microphone for Students, Stories for the Littlest
🔹 The Youth Commission convenes Thursday, October 1: The Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission opens its school-year run at 7 PM at City Hall. If there is a student in your life with strong opinions about Malibu, and every student I have met has several, this is where those opinions become recommendations that actually reach the Council dais. The agenda posts at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Nature Walk and Storytime is back at Legacy Park: The fall series for children ages 5 and under kicked off Wednesday morning, blending storytelling with wildlife watching and a first lesson in why native gardens matter. The next sessions are October 21 and November 18 at 10:30 AM. Raising kids who love this landscape starts exactly this small.
→ 🎯 My take: From preschoolers learning about waterfowl to teenagers advising the Council, civic life in Malibu has an on-ramp at every age. Use them.
👉 See the Legacy Park fall lineup
🌊 Environment: Caution at Point Dume, Cleaner Water at Kanan
🔹 Please take the Point Dume erosion warning seriously: The City is cautioning beachgoers that severe erosion has exposed pilings, concrete, and steel in the sand and water from the end of Westward Beach Road into Point Dume State Beach, with steep sand cliffs and little walkable sand outside of low tide. The beach is not closed, and the road into the lot stays open to pedestrians and cyclists when crews are not working, but give exposed structures a wide berth and check with lifeguards before entering the water.
🔹 A stormwater win heads to Council Monday: The consent agenda includes awarding the Kanan Dume Biofilters Project, infrastructure that filters runoff before it reaches the ocean, alongside the annual Earth Friendly Management Policy report. With an El Niño winter bearing down, treating the water racing toward our coast is not a nice-to-have. You will hear me say this often: environmental protection here is infrastructure, not decoration.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The same ocean that carved away Sea Level Drive and the Point Dume shoreline is the one we surf, swim, and build our lives around. Respecting it this fall means both caution tape and biofilters.
👉 Explore environmental programs
🗳️ City Hall: Monday Is the Night for the Community Lands
🔹 Circle Monday, September 28, at 5:30 PM: The Community Lands Project, Item 7B, comes to the Council for review, carrying this summer's survey results and the future of more than 61 acres of City-owned land. As a member of the ad hoc committee, I have said it before and will say it again: this is the rare item that will outlive all of us, and it deserves a full room. The same agenda brings the City Hall Solar Power Project (7A) and a proposed declaration of local emergency for potential Malibu Creek flooding during the coming El Niño season (7C).
🔹 The Council also held a special meeting Wednesday: The September 23 session heard an appeal of a Planning Commission decision on a Vantage Point Terrace coastal development permit. The full record is posted at the Agenda Center if you want to dig in.
→ 💡 What this means: Monday's agenda is really one question asked three ways: how do we prepare this town, power this town, and shape this town for the decades ahead? Come help answer it, in person or online.
👉 View Monday's meeting agenda
👉 Read the Community Lands report (PDF)
🏛️ Get Involved: The Rooms Where Malibu Gets Decided
🔹 October is a fresh page for every commission: Youth Commission on the 1st, Planning on the 5th, Public Safety on the 7th, with Parks and Recreation, Arts, and Public Works following later in the month. Every one of those meetings happens at City Hall, every one welcomes public comment, and every one shapes policy long before it reaches a Council vote. If you have ever left a meeting muttering that you could do better, I have good news: the application is open year-round, and I genuinely hope you use it.
👉 Browse upcoming commission meetings and agendas
👉 Apply to serve on a commission or committee
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Tomorrow, Saturday, September 26, 11 AM to 3 PM: Safety Resource Fair, Malibu City Hall, with live fire extinguisher training, preparedness resources, and a free raffle.
🔹 Sunday, September 27, 10 AM to 3 PM: Malibu Farmers Market, Malibu Library parking lot, Civic Center Way.
🔹 Monday, September 28, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, City Hall (hybrid), including the Community Lands Project (7B), City Hall Solar (7A), and the El Niño flood emergency declaration (7C).
🔹 Tuesday, September 29, 3 to 5 PM: First El Niño Preparedness Community Workshop, City Hall Council Chambers. CERT training also continues Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5 to 8 PM at the Malibu Library, through October 8.
🔹 Thursday, October 1, 7 PM: Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Monday, October 5, 6:30 PM: Planning Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers.
🔹 Wednesday, October 7, 5 PM: Public Safety Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Looking further out: The Parks and Recreation Commission meets Tuesday, October 20, at 6:30 PM, followed by the Arts Commission on Tuesday, October 27, and the Public Works Commission on Wednesday, October 28, all at City Hall, with agendas posting at the Agenda Center. Legacy Park hosts Nature Walk and Storytime on Wednesday, October 21, at 10:30 AM, and a Native Plant Giveaway on Sunday, November 8, at 9:30 AM.
🔹 Ongoing: Sea Level Drive remains closed under an evacuation order while repairs continue. Use extreme caution near exposed debris from Westward Beach Road into Point Dume State Beach; Westward Beach Road and the Point Dume lot remain closed, with the beach reachable on foot from the Zuma side. PCH work zones continue with reduced speeds and doubled fines, and the 60-day speed camera warning period arrives with the end of the month, so build the slower habit now.
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
Eleven months passed between the Tobermans' rebuild permit and the morning they got their home back. Thirty-one households on Sea Level Drive are earlier in that same kind of wait, and a grieving family this week faces the longest road of all. Home, it turns out, is not a place so much as a direction, and this town is at its best when we help each other keep walking toward it.
The weeks ahead give us plenty of ways to do that: a fair tomorrow, a market Sunday, a Council chamber Monday, a workshop Tuesday. I will be doing this work at City Hall, and I want your voice in it. If something in your corner of Malibu needs attention, or if this week simply left you needing to talk to someone at the City, write me at hconrad@malibucity.org. I read every note.
Take care of each other out there, Malibu.
Haylynn Conrad
Councilmember, City of Malibu
