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Brad Waller Newsletter — September 14, 2026
📬 Brad Waller, District 1 Newsletter, September 14, 2026
Good morning, Redondo,
Friday at 8:46 a.m., twenty-five years after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, neighbors stood together in front of the Council Chambers and let the morning go quiet. A quarter century is long enough for a whole generation to grow up, and not nearly long enough to forget. Thank you to everyone who came to City Hall to remember.
The rest of the week kept moving, as weeks do. Beach Cities Transit announced route changes coming to Lines 102 and 109 in October; the NRBBA introduced a print shop with a mission far bigger than paper, and tomorrow night's Council agenda carries the Seaside Lagoon rehabilitation, winter funding for the pallet shelter, and a backup plan for our 9-1-1 center. One more thing before you scroll: I am hosting a District 1 Zoom meeting on September 22, and I would love to see you in that grid of little squares.
💻 Save the Date: District 1 Zoom Meeting, September 22
🔹 Bring your questions, skip the parking. I will host a District 1 community meeting over Zoom on Tuesday, September 22, at 7:00 PM. I’ll open with updates on Fire and Police Bond progress, Measure ART information, and more. Register in advance, and a confirmation email with everything you need to join will land in your inbox. August's meeting at Alta Vista set my to-do list for weeks, and this virtual edition is for everyone whose Saturday mornings are already spoken for. Whether it is Seaside Lagoon, bus stops, hedges, or the pothole that haunts your commute, bring it. You talk, and I will take notes.
👉 Register for the September 22 Zoom meeting
🕊️ Twenty-Five Years, Still Personal
🔹 Redondo paused at 8:46 a.m. on Friday. Our community gathered at the 9/11 Memorial in front of the Council Chambers to mark twenty-five years since September 11, 2001, honoring the lives lost, the families who carry that loss still, and the first responders and survivors whose health has been affected in every year since. In my post marking the day, I shared photos from a visit I made to the September 11 Memorial in New York several years ago, where it is impossible to miss that each name etched in that plaza was a whole life: a family, a future, and a story. May we honor them through compassion, service, and care for one another.
👉 Read my September 11 reflection (Instagram)
🏛️ Tomorrow Night at Council: Seaside Lagoon, Shelter Beds, and a 9-1-1 Backup Plan
🔹 Seaside Lagoon reaches its big paperwork moment (N.1). The Council meets tomorrow, Tuesday, September 15, at 6:00 PM, and the headline discussion item is the Seaside Lagoon Rehabilitation Project at 200 Portofino Way. On the table: approving the project's environmental documents and authorizing the final preparation and submittal of a Coastal Development Permit application to the California Coastal Commission.
→ 💡 What this means: Coastal Commission approval is the gate every waterfront project must pass through, and submitting the application moves the lagoon from renderings toward reality.
→ 🎯 My take: The lagoon is one of the city's landmarks, and done right, its rehabilitation serves both of my favorite goals at once: a healthier waterfront environment, and a destination that brings visitors, and their dollars, to our harbor. I want this application polished, submitted, and moving.
🔹 Keeping the pallet shelter open through the wet months (H.12). The consent calendar includes an amendment to the funding and operation agreement for the City's emergency homeless shelter, in an amount not to exceed $145,927.74, covering October 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027. Shelter beds matter most exactly when the weather turns, and pairing compassion with a clear contract and term is how this work should be done.
🔹 A backup plan for your worst day (H.6). An agreement with the City of Torrance would establish a temporary answering point for Redondo Beach 9-1-1 calls if our communications center ever suffers an equipment failure or needs to be evacuated. Redundancy is never glamorous, but it is what keeps a bad moment from becoming a worse one, and I am glad to see our dispatch system get a safety net.
🔹 Quick hits worth knowing. The agenda also includes a design agreement for traffic signal improvements at Beryl Street and North Maria Avenue, up to $79,700 (H.8), an agreement with the South Bay Galleria's owner reimbursing up to $90,000 per year for overtime police deployment at the mall (H.10), the Police Department's annual military equipment report, a transparency requirement I appreciate (H.11), second reading and adoption of the hedge ordinances that have been working their way through the process (H.18), and the Mayor's appointment to fill the Planning Commission vacancy (P.1). You can participate in person, by Zoom, through eComment, or by email.
🔹 A note of sympathy. Tomorrow's meeting will adjourn in memory of Doko "Sopen" Kaluderovic, father-in-law of Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic, who passed away last Sunday. Our thoughts are with the whole Kaluderovic family.
👉 View the September 15 meeting details
👉 Read the agenda (PDF)
🚌 Transit: Lines 102 and 109 Get New Endings in October
🔹 Same routes, new endpoints, one transfer at the Pier. Beginning in October 2026, Beach Cities Transit will adjust Lines 102 and 109 to improve schedule reliability, following the service plan laid out in the 2023 BCT Transit Study. Line 109 will begin and end at the Redondo Beach Pier; Line 102 will begin and end in Riviera Village, and nine southern stops, along Catalina Avenue from Pearl Street to Elena Avenue plus Palos Verdes Boulevard at Via Valencia, will move from Line 109 to Line 102.
→ 💡 What this means: If you board at one of those stops, your stop stays put, but your bus number changes. Riders continuing between the two lines will transfer at the Redondo Beach Pier, which will also connect to Torrance Transit Line 3 toward Long Beach. Now you can take Line 102 from Riviera Village to North Redondo, including the Farmers Market, without a transfer.
→ 🎯 My take: Those stops sit squarely in District 1, so this change lands on our neighborhoods first. A schedule you can actually trust is what turns an occasional rider into a regular one, and reliability is the whole point of this adjustment. Check the updated route maps before October so your first new-route morning is completely boring, exactly the way a commute should be.
👉 Read the BCT rider updates
👉 See my transit post (Instagram)
☕ Economic Development: A Print Shop That Opens Doors
🔹 The NRBBA meeting served coffee and a mission. At this month's North Redondo Beach Business Association meeting, we heard from Ed Lynch of Mychal's Learning Place, a nonprofit that works with young adults with developmental disabilities to build the skills and confidence that lead to greater independence. Mychal's Print Shop, now located at 2107 Artesia Boulevard, and Mychal's Café turn that mission into real paychecks through hands-on training and genuine workplace experience.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: I can tell you that a first job changes the trajectory of a life. When the order you place supports the trainee filling it, that is economic development doing double duty.
Your next print run or coffee outing is an easy vote for that mission. Thank you, Ed, for sharing the story, and thank you, NRBBA, for keeping our business community connected.
👉 Learn more about Mychal's Learning Place
👉 See my NRBBA post (Instagram)
🚒 One More Salute for Chief Butler
🔹 The helmet was officially passed to its next wearer. At last Tuesday's Council meeting, Fire Chief Pat Butler received the Key to the City after four years leading Redondo Beach Fire; Chief Brian Regan took his Oath of Office; and our newest board members and commissioners raised their right hands. In my send-off note to Pat, I wished him a retirement full of new adventures, plenty of time with his grandchild, and cats who will be delighted by the improved staffing levels at home. Running a fire department means answering for both the community's safety and the well-being of the people who answer the call, and Pat handled both with care. Thank you, Chief Butler. Welcome, Chief Regan.
👉 Read my send-off for Chief Butler (Instagram)
📅 Coming Up
🔹 Tonight at the Harbor Commission: a wave pool, seriously. The Harbor Commission meets tonight, Monday, September 14, at 6:30 PM, and the agenda is a waterfront buffet: a presentation on a wave pool design concept at the Seaside Lagoon site, a discussion of amplified music on recreational vessels in the King Harbor main channel, and a conversation about designated fishing areas along the waterfront. If the harbor is your happy place, this meeting earns the calendar slot.
👉 View the Harbor Commission meeting details
🔹 Hispanic Heritage Month begins tomorrow. The Mayor will proclaim September 15 through October 15, 2026 as Hispanic Heritage Month at tomorrow's Council meeting. It is a fitting month to celebrate neighbors whose culture, history, and contributions make Redondo Beach stronger.
🔹 The Planning Commission meets Thursday. Thursday, September 17, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers. Commission rooms are where the fine print gets shaped, and there is always a seat for you.
👉 View the commission calendar
🥕 Weekly Markets
Farmers' Market by the Pier (Veterans Park), Thursdays, 8am to 1pm. 309 Esplanade.
👉 Read more
Riviera Village Farmers Market, Sundays, 8:30am to 1pm. Triangle Lot, 1801 S. Elena Ave.
👉 Read more
North Redondo Beach Farmers Market, Wednesdays, 2pm to 7pm. Green Lane at Artesia.
👉 Read more
📱 Access Redondo
Do you have a problem or need to report an issue to the city? Use the Access Redondo App. In a week, when the Council is voting on backup dispatch systems, take it from me: the best city services are the ones built to just work, and this app remains the fastest route I know from "someone should fix that" to a work order with a number on it.
👉 Download the Access Redondo app
🏘️ Redondo Roundup
A quiet minute at 8:46, a lagoon inching toward its permit, winter shelter beds on tomorrow's consent calendar, new endpoints coming to our bus stops, and a print shop on Artesia that hires like it means it. Two small asks this week: give tomorrow night's agenda a few minutes of your attention, and register for the September 22 Zoom meeting so I can hear what is on your mind from wherever your couch happens to be.
Questions, ideas, or corrections: hit reply. I read every message. Have a great week, Redondo.
