Here's What We Did In July

We teamed up with Surfrider - Anticipating that the beaches would be extra trashed after the 4th of July celebration, Surfrider initiated a special "morning after the mess" cleanup. Bright and early on the 5th (no easy task after a night of celebration but hey, it's for the environment right?) Vernon and I met up with Surfrider buddy Mike Epeneter on the beach by the pier. We handed out cleanup supplies to approximately 20 people who were happy to help out. Just look at those smiles!

We got some extra help from the City - While there was plenty of small stuff remaining - cig butts, balloon pieces, and (curses!) styrofoam - we were all pleasantly surprised to see that the beaches were looking pretty good. Not your typically morning after the 4th! Apparently the city staff had been working all through the night and into the early morning to make that happen. I heard several positive comments from beach goers and even got some inquiries from adopt a beach team members. Kudos to Dennis Reed and all the workers for an awesome job.

We had another amazing month of Adopt a Beach team activity. Now for the 4th month running we have managed to get every section of the beach cleaned at least twice. You guys continue to raise the bar - for July every beach was cleaned no less than 3 times and one section was cleaned 14 times! There has never been anything like this in the history of the Adopt a Beach program. This month we had 18 teams (4 more than last month!)who contributed their time and energy to the community. I'll include a link at the end of this posting so you can see who they are.

There is a special place in my heart for those teams that consistently go out and do the cleanups every month and get their data sheets sent in to me like clockwork. Joe Zoller and his buddies come to mind, although there are others. Mark Aubrey (the Beach Master) once again deserves special recognition for going above and beyond. He is the reason why all of the beaches are getting the minimum cleanup. This month I counted 11 sections that would have had zero activity if not for Mark.

Here is a summary of what we accomplished this month:

Volunteer Stats:
18 teams were active and 22 sections were cleaned. A total of 135 cleanings were completed in July. There were 111 bags and 38 buckets used in the cleanup. There were 116 volunteers, logging in 92 hours.

Items Collected in June:
2185+ pieces of plastic counted, 240 glass, 174 cans, 4188+ cigarette butts, 10 animal waste, 1530 straws, 1741+ pieces of Styrofoam, 1558+ pieces of paper, and 724balloons.

Catch of the Month: I had a bit of a struggle reading the handwriting, but if I interpreted it correctly the San Clemente Green Team reported finding 3 action heroes in the sand! They didn't note which ones... I wonder if the heroes were there to help counteract some of the more dangerous things that were reported this month. Here's what I am talking about - The Zoller team reported finding and removing broken whiskey bottles in the tide line and a hypodermic needle and syringe (!)in the North Beach area. Another needle and syringe and 18 alcohol bottles were removed by the Miller/Wood team in the area of Lower Linda Lane Park. The Hikawa team reported finding several nails near the railroad tracks on the beach side of the North Beach Train Station to North Beach Burger section. I think these guys are the real super action heroes in disguise (don't worry we won't make you wear funny costumes)for getting these hazards out of our environment. Nice work!

The Party is on! By now you should have all received the invitation to the Adopt a Beach Team Social. They were sent out by Mary Vondrak in the Environmental Programs Department. Please mark the date on your calendars and be sure to send Mary your RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Thanks to Mary for handling the invitations and to Nanci Mavar for securing the location and funding for the event.

That's all the news I have for now. As always,I encourage you to post your comments and suggestions. Oh, and be sure and check out the Monthly report.
For the full report click here: