The City of Long Beach is seeking volunteers to help clean up several sites in the city by participating in the 24th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 20 from 9 a.m. to noon. This year’s sites include: Pierpoint Landing, 200 Aquarium Way; Bluff Park, Ocean Blvd. between Cherry & Junipero St.; Alamitos Beach, Alamitos Ave. to 15th Place; the Beach Maintenance Yard by Belmont Pool, 4000 Olympic Plaza; Colorado Lagoon, 5119 E. Colorado St., Mothers Beach, 5839 Appian Way; and Granada Beach, 1 South Granada Ave. This event is a partnership with the California Coastal Commission, Heal the Bay, the Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine El Dorado Nature Center.
The 2008 Cleanup will look to build on the success of last year’s event, when an estimated 1,700 volunteers turned out to remove more than 7,000 pounds of debris from local beaches— the largest single event in Los Angeles County in terms of volunteers and pounds of debris.
Here in California’s fifth largest city, the trash problem is exacerbated by geography. With more than 28 communities upriver from Long Beach, there is cause for concern among local residents. The City of Long Beach lies between the mouths of two large river systems, the Los Angeles River on the west and the San Gabriel River on the east. Eighty percent of the debris found here is from other jurisdictions, carried here by the storm drain system and these rivers.
Call the City of Long Beach Coordinator Meaghan O’Neill, El Dorado Nature Center, at (562) 570-4876 for group registration or more information. Participants should wear closed-toe shoes, as well as bring hats, sunscreen and water. An adult must accompany participants under the age of 18.
