District 1 Newsletter, November 2, 2026

Happy November, Redondo,

Saturday afternoon, Catalina Avenue was filled with costumes instead of cars. My wife and I made the rounds through the Village, caught up with friends along the way, and stayed for dinner after the candy wrapped up at 6:00 PM. Thank you to the Riviera Village Association and every shop that kept the buckets full. Thousands of kids got a safe, happy Halloween, and the Village got an afternoon to remember.

Then Sunday handed us all an extra hour, and the calendar got right down to business. Tonight brings overnight roadwork on PCH. Tomorrow brings Election Day and a Council meeting in the same breath. Thursday stacks a Chamber celebration, a playground ribbon-cutting, and an El Niño meeting into one very full day. November is not easing in, so let’s get you caught up.

🗳️ Tomorrow Is Election Day: Ballots In by 8:00 PM

🔹 My ballot is already in the box. I dropped mine at an official drop box this weekend, and now it is your turn. You have until 8:00 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, to return your ballot at an official drop box, or you can vote in person at a Vote Center. If you are mailing or dropping, remember to sign and date your envelope. And yes, Measure ART is on your ballot; I have covered my reasons for voting yes in my last two editions, and nothing has changed.
👉 Find a Vote Center or drop box

🔹 The recommendations I promised are posted. Last week I told you my remaining ballot picks were coming, and this week I published them: Who and What I Support in the November 3, 2026 Election. The post covers the El Camino College Board Area 5 race, Insurance Commissioner, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Measure ART, along with a short explanation of my thinking on each. Agree or disagree, I believe you deserve to know where I stand and why.
👉 Read my election recommendations

🏛️ Tomorrow Night at Council: Flood Barriers, Hotel Taxes, and Streaming

After you vote, the Council meets tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, at 6:00 PM. Three items deserve your attention.

🔹 Flood barriers that have to pass the test first (H.17). A consent item would authorize up to $100,000 for portable, modular flood control barriers from Garrison Systems, LLC, to protect against the compound extreme high tide events forecast for later this year. The purchase only goes through after staff complete live testing of demonstration barriers and confirm with other users that the product performs as promised.

→ 🎯 My take: Sandbags have been our default for decades. They are cheap, but they have real limits. A reusable barrier system that deploys quickly could be a meaningful upgrade for our low-lying coastal areas, right as storm season arrives. Test first, buy second. That is exactly how I want the City to spend your money.
👉 Read the flood barrier item (H.17)

🔹 A hotel-tax question for the March ballot (N.1). The Council will discuss placing a measure on the March 2, 2027 ballot to raise the maximum transient occupancy tax rate from 12 percent to 16 percent.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: This tax is paid by overnight visitors staying in our hotels, not by the people who live here. My first priority has always been strengthening city revenue without leaning on residents, and a visitor-paid rate sits squarely in that lane. If the Council moves it forward, the final decision belongs to you in March.
👉 Read the hotel tax item (N.1)

🔹 Finalizing the streaming fix to the utility users tax (N.2). On October 13, the Council directed staff to modernize the utility users tax ordinance and draft ballot language for March 2027. Tomorrow night the revised ordinance wording and proposed ballot question come back for review, edits, and direction.

→ 💡 What this means: We already pay this tax on electricity, natural gas, and phone service, and the dwindling number of cable TV households pay it too. Streaming video has replaced cable in most homes, but the ordinance has not kept up, so streaming services are not collecting it. Updating the definitions treats all video services the same and protects funding for core city services. Our tax rules should not depend on which wire a show arrives through.
👉 Read the utility tax item (N.2)

🔹 Make yourself heard. You can participate in person, over Zoom, through eComment, or by email. If one of these items matters to you, tomorrow night is the moment to say so.
👉 View meeting details

🚧 Public Safety: Overnight PCH Work Tonight, and a Seat at the Oversight Table

🔹 Heads up: overnight roadwork on PCH tonight. A Caltrans contractor will repair sewer lines along Pacific Coast Highway at Garnet Street and Knob Hill Avenue tonight, Monday, November 2, into early Tuesday morning, working from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM. The repairs are needed because City sewer lines were damaged during Caltrans fiber equipment installation in its right-of-way. Scheduling the work overnight keeps daytime traffic moving and should wrap everything up in a single night. If you live nearby, expect some construction noise, and thank you in advance for your patience.
👉 View the roadwork post (Instagram)

🔹 El Niño prep comes to the Main Library Thursday. City staff and public safety personnel host the citywide El Niño Community Preparedness Meeting this Thursday, November 5, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM on the second floor of the Main Library, 303 N. Pacific Coast Highway. They will cover what El Niño could mean for Redondo Beach, practical steps to protect your home and family, and how the City is preparing. Three days away. If you remember our last soggy winter, this hour is a smart investment, and the flood barrier item above shows the City is doing its own homework too.
👉 Read the meeting announcement

🔹 Help watch every Measure FP dollar. The City is accepting applications for the Measure FP Citizens’ Oversight Committee, the independent body the Council established in August to review and report on how bond funds are spent on new Fire Stations 1 and 2, a new Main Police Station, and Police Annex renovations. Applicants must be Redondo Beach residents, at least 18, and registered voters, and experience in finance, auditing, capital budgeting, or construction management is a plus. The first application review happens November 30.

→ 🎯 My take: When the bond financing came before the Council in October, I said my job from here is stewardship: every dollar tracked, every milestone reported back in plain English. This committee is how residents hold us to that. If you have the background, I genuinely hope you apply.
👉 Apply for the oversight committee

☀️ Environment: A Bigger Rebate for Home Batteries

🔹 Clean Power Alliance just raised the incentive for battery storage. CPA’s Sun Storage Rebate base incentive jumped from $750 to $2,000 for residential customers who pair a qualifying battery with home solar panels, and additional incentives for eligible households can push the total as high as $3,500. Batteries let you bank your own solar power, lean less on the grid during peak hours, and keep the lights and refrigerator running when the power goes out.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: Environmental sustainability is one of my core priorities, and the best sustainability programs are the ones that also pay you back. With storm season approaching, backup power at home is not just a green upgrade, it is a resilience upgrade. Rebates are first-come, first-served while funding lasts, and you can apply before installation or within three months after, so do not sit on this one.
👉 Read the rebate announcement

🎃 Around Town: Costumes on Catalina and Future Leaders at City Hall

🔹 Halloween in Riviera Village delivered again. Trick-or-treating ran from 3:00 to 6:00 PM, and even after the candy ran out, Catalina Avenue stayed closed to cars until 8:00 PM so families could linger. We made an evening of it, and judging by the packed restaurants, plenty of you did too. A street full of costumed kids is the best kind of traffic jam this city produces.
👉 See my Halloween post (Instagram)

🔹 Students ran the city for a day. The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation’s Mayor and Council Members for a Day program gave local students a first-hand tour of how their city actually works, from meeting elected officials to visiting City Hall, the Police Department, the Fire Department, and Harbor Patrol. As a longtime PTA volunteer, I never pass up the chance to cheer for programs that turn civics from a textbook chapter into a lived experience. Thank you to the city teams who opened their doors, and to RBEF for making it happen.
👉 See the recap post (Instagram)

📅 Coming Up

🔹 Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3. Ballots are due by 8:00 PM, and the City Council meets at 6:00 PM the same evening. Details on both above.

🔹 Thursday, November 5 is a tripleheader. The Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 119th Anniversary and Community Awards at The Portofino Hotel & Marina, 260 Portofino Way, with doors at 11:00 AM and the program from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. At 3:00 PM, the City cuts the ribbon on Franklin Park, our first all-accessible play space, at 807 S. Inglewood Avenue. Then at 6:00 PM, the El Niño preparedness meeting convenes at the Main Library. Pick one, or be ambitious and hit all three.
👉 Read the Franklin Park announcement

🔹 Blue Zones Project Week continues through Saturday, November 7. Community events and healthy-habit activities are running all week; details ran in last week’s edition.

🔹 Redondo Beach Veterans Day Tribute, Wednesday, November 11, at 1:00 PM at Veterans Park. Put it on the calendar now, and come honor the neighbors who served.

🍍 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. With the first storms of the season on the horizon, it is also the fastest way to flag a clogged storm drain, a dark streetlight, or standing water on your block. One report reaches the right department the first time, and every report helps the City fix problems where they cluster.
👉 Download the Access Redondo App

🏖️ Redondo Roundup

A ballot due by 8:00 PM tomorrow night, a flood barrier that has to earn its purchase order, a battery rebate that pays you to prepare, and a Thursday with three good reasons to leave the house. If you only act on one thing in this edition, make it this: vote. Democracy is the original neighborhood project, and tomorrow is its big day.

Questions, ideas, or corrections: hit reply. I read every message. Have a great week, Redondo.