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Brad Waller Newsletter — August 31, 2026
📬 Brad Waller, District 1 Newsletter, August 31, 2026
Happy last Monday of August, Redondo,
If you spend any time in neighborhood social media groups, you have probably seen a version of this claim recently: "The City is ignoring the truck traffic on Palos Verdes Boulevard." It is not true, and I do not expect you to take my word for it. I was trained as a physicist, which means I show my work, so this week the full plan, with numbers, is in writing and linked below.
There is plenty of good news in here too: tomorrow night's Council agenda carries $192,500 in traffic safety grants and new public art for the Esplanade, the turtle signs officially have a map, the Nike half marathon has a date, and a big thank you goes to everyone who turned out for Saturday's District 1 community meeting at Alta Vista.
🚛 Public Safety: The Palos Verdes Boulevard Truck Plan, in Writing
🔹 This corridor is not being ignored, and the numbers prove it. For a six-month period, roughly 20 percent of all traffic enforcement in the entire city was concentrated on this one neighborhood, and traffic officers continue to spend a few hours a day, multiple days per week, on Palos Verdes Boulevard. The City has now completed five joint truck enforcement operations with the California Highway Patrol, which have produced more than 102 citations to commercial drivers and more than 50 commercial vehicle inspections. Truck traffic has been reduced, and the pressure is not letting up.
→ 💡 What this means: My plan has six parts: sustained enforcement on the corridor, continued joint operations with CHP, using resident reports and traffic data to target violations, letting the new street design do its quiet work (the protected bike lanes narrow the roadway and make it far less inviting as a truck shortcut), being honest about what license plate reader cameras legally can and cannot do, and fixing the regional routing problem at its source.
→ 🎯 My take: That last part matters most, because trucks do not stop at the city line. I have already spoken with Torrance's new mayor, Sharon Kalani, and I will be meeting with new Council Member Betty Lieu, to make the case that Torrance should move the termination of its truck route back to Sepulveda Boulevard at Hawthorne Boulevard. Solve the routing upstream, and fewer trucks ever reach our neighborhood streets. There is more work to do, but the effort is real, and it is working.
👉 Read the full truck traffic plan
🏛️ Tomorrow Night at Council: Appointments, Safety Dollars, and Esplanade Art
🔹 The Council meets tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, at 6:00 PM, and the agenda touches nearly every priority I ran on.
🔹 Commission appointments arrive (P.1). The Mayor's appointments to various boards and commissions will be considered, with the Oath of Office to follow on September 8. To everyone who interviewed last month: good luck, and thank you for raising your hand. And if you missed this round, the consent calendar also declares one Planning Commission seat vacant (H.14), with a notice of vacancy to be posted, so another chance to serve is coming.
🔹 $192,500 in outside money for traffic safety (H.7 and H.8). Two grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety are up for approval: $35,000 for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program and $157,500 for the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, both running October 2026 through September 2027. Read the truck traffic item above and you will understand why I love these: sustained enforcement takes real resources, and grant dollars let us keep the pressure on without leaning harder on our own budget.
🔹 Mosaics are coming to the Esplanade (H.13). An artist agreement with Deborah Collette and Patrice Linnett, aka DP Mosaics, would bring fabricated mosaic panels to the existing bollards along the Esplanade for a total cost of $15,400. Anyone who walks that stretch knows it is one of the most beautiful places in the South Bay, and a little public art will make a daily walk even better.
🔹 Quick hits worth knowing. The agenda also includes an asset management platform to help the City track and maintain its infrastructure smarter (H.12), exactly the kind of technology-for-better-service investment I push for, an extension of the Alternative Crisis Response Team agreement with Clear Recovery Center through December 31 (H.11), the first reading of updates to our hedge-related ordinances (N.1), and a discussion of draft zoning amendments on nonconforming uses and structures (N.2).
You can participate in person, by Zoom, through eComment, or by email.
👉 View the September 1 meeting details
🐢 Environment: The Turtle Signs Now Come With a Map
🔹 The official Redondo Beach LTN map is here. Two weeks ago I explained the Rolling Turtle signs marking the South Bay Local Travel Network, our regional system of low-speed streets for e-bikes, scooters, Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, and pedal bikes. The most common follow-up question was some version of "so where exactly do the routes go?" Now there is an official answer: the City has published the Redondo Beach LTN map showing how these streets connect neighborhoods, parks, schools, and transit across the South Bay.
🔹 Two projects are doing the heavy lifting locally. The Redondo Beach Blvd Active Transportation Corridor is improving bike and micromobility access with enhanced crossings and route options, and the North Redondo Bikeway Extension is expanding bike lanes and strengthening connections to the regional network. Our Engineering Services team deserves credit for building a network that works for every kind of roadway user.
→ 🎯 My take: Environmental sustainability sticks when the greener option is also the more convenient option. Save this map to your phone, and the next time a trip is a couple of miles or less, you will know exactly which streets were designed with you in mind.
👉 Explore the Biking and Micromobility page
👉 Visit the SBCCOG Local Travel Network page
🏃 Economic Development: The After Dark Tour Has a Date
🔹 Circle Saturday, October 24. The Nike After Dark Tour: LA 13.1 will start and finish right here in Redondo Beach, with the course passing through portions of Torrance and Hermosa Beach. Planning is still in its early stages, and the event is expected to affect the Pier, Harbor, Riviera Village, and nearby coastal neighborhoods, so I will keep sharing street and parking details as they firm up.
🔹 The resident bib drawing has closed. If you entered the form before it closed Sunday night, keep a close eye on the email address you submitted: the City's Community Services Department will contact selected runners, and proof of residency is required by the stated deadline. Fingers crossed for every neighbor who entered. Questions about the event can go to Community Services at (310) 318-0610 or to Nike's community contact listed on the City's page.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: A global brand choosing Redondo Beach as the start and finish line means visitors, full restaurants, and the world getting a good long look at our waterfront ahead of the 2028 Games. That is city revenue in running shoes, and I want us to earn more events like it while making sure residents hear about impacts early and often.
👉 Read the City's race planning update
👉 View the bib drawing post (Instagram)
🗣️ Thank You, Alta Vista
🔹 Saturday's District 1 community meeting closed out the month the right way. Thank you to every neighbor who gave up part of a Saturday morning to talk about what is working, what is not, and what deserves attention next. Those conversations set my to-do list more reliably than any staff report ever could. If you could not make it, you are never limited to meetings: hit reply to this newsletter anytime, and I will announce the next district meeting here as soon as it is scheduled.
📅 Coming Up
🔹 The Youth Commission meets Thursday, September 3, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers. Our youngest commissioners take their work seriously, and they deserve an audience.
🔹 Cruzin' the Lagoon has two Fridays left. The classic cars roll into the Redondo Beach Marina on September 4 and September 11 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. The Summer of Music took its final bow on Saturday, and to every musician and every neighbor who made those evenings over the water so special: thank you, and see you next summer.
🔹 Labor Day is Monday, September 7. However you spend the long weekend, take a moment for the people whose work keeps this city running, from our crossing guards to our public works crews. They earn this holiday every single day.
👉 View the commission calendar
🥕 Weekly Markets
Farmers' Market by the Pier (Veterans Park), Thursdays, 8am to 1pm. 309 Esplanade.
Riviera Village Farmers Market, Sundays, 8:30am to 1pm. Triangle Lot, 1801 S. Elena Ave.
North Redondo Beach Farmers Market, Wednesdays, 2pm to 7pm. Green Lane at Artesia.
📱 Access Redondo
Do you have a problem or need to report an issue to the city? Use the Access Redondo App. It is the fastest way I know to turn a sidewalk complaint into a work order, and every report becomes a data point that helps the City fix problems where they cluster. That pothole is not going to report itself.
👉 Download the Access Redondo app
🏘️ Redondo Roundup
Proof of what's happening on Palos Verdes Boulevard, grant dollars headed toward safer streets, a turtle map worth saving, mosaics on the way to the Esplanade, and a race date worth circling in October. My humble request this week is simple: give tomorrow's agenda two minutes of your time, and if something on it matters to you, be in the Chamber, on the Zoom, or in the eComments at 6:00 PM. Your voice lands differently when it arrives before the vote.
As always, if anything here sparks a question, an idea, or a correction, hit reply. I read every message.
Have a wonderful week, Redondo.
