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Brad Waller Newsletter — July 19, 2026
📬 Brad Waller, District 1 Newsletter, July 20, 2026
Good afternoon, Redondo,
Every blood donation has the potential to save lives, and on Wednesday I got to watch that truth play out one donor at a time at the Redondo Beach Police Department Blood Drive. It was inspiring to see so many people step up to help neighbors they may never meet, and it set the tone for a week that had plenty of good news in it.
There is more of that below: the Council takes up crossing guards, hedges, and your November ballot tomorrow night, the bike lane gap on Palos Verdes Boulevard is officially closing, and our newest park now has a name worth remembering, plus an invitation to help cut its ribbon next Tuesday.
🏛️ Tuesday Council Preview: Crossing Guards, Hedges, and Your November Ballot
🔹 The Council meets tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21, at 6:00 p.m., and three discussion items stand out. Here is what each one is about and why it deserves your attention.
🔹 Crossing guards, guided by data (N.2). The Council will consider formal policy goals and objectives for administering the City's Crossing Guard Program, including an annual review process. The core idea is to enhance public safety on our City streets through proactive education and permanent, year-round traffic engineering solutions, rather than relying on short-term resources or enforcement whenever possible. The Program will maintain one crossing guard at each of the 10 school-based locations, in collaboration with on-site school officials and Redondo Beach Unified administrators, while the eight at-large locations get reviewed for overall value, benefit, and necessity to the community.
→ 💡 How the annual review works: The City's Transportation Engineer, working with Police Department personnel, will collect and analyze data throughout the school year, including multimodal traffic counts and prevailing conditions, then prepare an annual report with recommendations. Those go to the Public Works, Safety and Sustainability Commission at their June or July meeting for review, discussion, and public input. If the Commission agrees with staff, the changes take effect the following school year. If it disagrees or wants modifications, the City Council makes the final determination.
→ 🎯 My take: You have heard me talk about crossing guards before, and this is the structure I want to see: engineering professionals making corners safer at all hours of the day, objective data driving the decisions, and a public process every year. If you have feedback on the Program, it should go to the City's Transportation Engineer and the City Manager's Office so it becomes part of that annual review.
🔹 Hedge rules get a look (N.1). The Council will discuss possible modifications to the hedge-related ordinances in the Redondo Beach Municipal Code. Hedge height and placement rules sound small until they involve your property line, your view, or your privacy, so if this touches your household, tomorrow night is the time to weigh in.
🔹 Your November ballot takes shape (N.3). Under Article XXVII of our City Charter, proposed major changes in allowable land use must go to the voters. The Council will consider the ballot text and question for the November 3, 2026 Los Angeles County General Election, along with who submits the argument and how the measures are lettered. This is the next step in the General Plan work we have been doing all year, and the wording that comes out of tomorrow's discussion is the wording you will see in your ballot booklet, so I take this one seriously.
You can join in person, over Zoom, through eComment, or by email, and the full agenda will be available on the Council calendar before the meeting.
👉 Check the Council calendar for the July 21 agenda
🚨 Public Safety: Rolling Up Sleeves at the RBPD Blood Drive
🔹 Wednesday's Police Department Blood Drive brought out the best of this community. I was proud to join Councilmember Kaluderovic, Officer Kyle Loftstrom, our dedicated on duty and off duty officers, and so many generous residents from across the community. Watching people give a little of themselves for neighbors they will never meet is something I will not forget anytime soon.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Events like this are a reminder that public safety is about more than emergency response. It is also about community, service, and looking out for one another. Thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered, and helped make the day a success. Redondo Beach always shows up when it matters most.
👉 See the Blood Drive post (Instagram)
🚴 Environment: The Palos Verdes Boulevard Bike Lane Gap Is Closing
🔹 Protected Class IV bike lanes are coming to Palos Verdes Boulevard from Irena to PCH, expected to be complete by October. The City has approved the project, and my thanks go to our Public Works, Safety and Sustainability Commission, City staff, and my Council colleagues for making it a priority to close this gap with high quality infrastructure. One detail worth knowing: the plans call for concrete curbs, not plastic flex-posts, which means real, durable protection between riders and traffic. Class IV is the highest level of on-street protection a bike lane can get, and our friends at the South Bay Bicycle Coalition put together a great map showing exactly where the new protected segment will run.
→ 🚲 What comes next: This project will link the existing bike lanes along Palos Verdes Boulevard into one continuous protected route. Looking further ahead, the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan envisions this continuing into Torrance and connecting with the protected bike lanes along Prospect Avenue. We are building a network, one segment at a time, and every new segment makes it that much easier to choose two wheels for a school run, a commute, or a Saturday ride along the coast.
👉 See the bike lane map (Instagram)
🌳 A Park Named for Bill Brand, and You Are Invited to the Ribbon Cutting
🔹 Our newest open space now has a name: Bill Brand Gateway Park. The Council selected the name for the new park at the gateway to our city, honoring the late Mayor Bill Brand, whose persistence in securing a license for the land from Southern California Edison made the whole project possible. Crews broke ground last fall, and the finished park features native plants and a walking path in a spot every visitor passes on the way into Redondo Beach. It is also the first new park our city has opened in decades, which makes this one worth savoring.
→ 📅 Come celebrate with us: The ribbon cutting ceremony takes place Tuesday, July 28, at 3:00 p.m. at the southwest corner of Herondo Street and PCH. Street parking is available on Herondo Street, and be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes. A park at the front door of the city, named for someone who fought for parkland, is a fitting welcome sign all on its own. I hope to see you there.
👉 See the ribbon cutting details
👉 Read the story behind the name (Easy Reader)
☀️ Out and About
🔹 Cruisin' the Lagoon keeps getting better. Friday afternoon I rolled into the Redondo Beach Marina in my 1966 Corvette with the top down, and there is nothing quite like pulling into a car show surrounded by classic cars and fellow enthusiasts. The turnout and momentum continue to grow week after week. The cruise-in runs every Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. through September 11, so there is still plenty of summer left to come see it for yourself.
👉 See the Corvette rolling in (Instagram)
📅 Coming Up
🔹 Last call for free Shakespeare under the stars. Macbeth arrives this week: Friday, July 24, at 7:00 p.m. at Veterans Park and Saturday, July 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Dominguez Park. If you want a Bard's Bites picnic with reserved seating, preorders close 72 hours before each show, which means the window is closing fast. Admission is free, so grab a blanket and make a night of it.
🔹 Free concerts on the Pier, twice a week. The Summer of Music series continues at Fisherman's Wharf with shows Thursdays and Saturdays from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. through August 29. Dinner from a Pier restaurant, a low-back chair, and live music over the water is a hard summer evening to beat.
👉 See the Summer of Music schedule
🥕 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
Spotted something around town that needs the City's attention? While the Access Redondo app finishes its rebuild, the City website is the place to file those requests, and it works smoothly from your phone. After a career spent shipping software, I can tell you the wait for a well-built relaunch is always worth it.
🏖️ Redondo Roundup
Neighbors giving blood for strangers, a protected bike lane moving from approval to asphalt, a gateway park named for a mayor who loved open space, and a Council agenda tomorrow night that touches everything from school corners to your November ballot. That is a full week in a city that does not sit still. If you can make it to one thing in the next ten days, make it the ribbon cutting at Bill Brand Gateway Park next Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. New parks do not open every day, and this one belongs to all of us.
If anything in here sparked a question or something you want to share, hit reply. I read every message.
