Pacific Beach Town Council’s Enhancement Committee has taken on a number of community improvement endeavors, including a joint-landscaping project with City Parks and Recreation to beautify some of the gateways into the community.

One of the gateways addressed involved the Crown Point entryway on Ingraham Street.

“Parks and Rec were quick to respond, and we held a site meeting at the bus-stop park on the corner of Crown Point Drive and Ingraham Street in July,” said Susan Crowers, PBTC Enhancement Committee chair. “Although we were not able to move forward (immediately) with a project due to COVID restrictions for volunteers, we were given the go-ahead to draw up and submit plans. In September 2021, we were finally able to put our plan in motion.”

Crowers noted the project involved volunteers removing dead and dying shrubs as well as trimming back over-grown vines and low-level palms. “And we did a lot of weeding,” Crowers said adding City staffers Bill Overstreet and his supervisor, Doreen Gonzalez-Kuper, oversaw City landscaping crews, which then “hauled away debris, repaired broken irrigation lines, delivered soil amendment, and finally, installed drought-tolerant plants.

“Our volunteers logged over 120 hours on this project,” said Crowers adding “Parks and Rec placed two signs we had made up to let the community know about the project, and hopefully get the word out to have more volunteers join us on our weekly ‘Garden Guru’ projects around PB.”

Crowers said the Enhancement Committee started out “taking on the medians that were neglected in PB.”

That, according to Crowers, not only got people’s attention but their approval as well. “We got a lot of positive public feedback, people driving by and honking and waving,” she said. “Ever since we’ve done quarterly weeding and trash pickup events, mostly on the on- and off-ramps from Interstate 5 in both directions, and also over by Rose Creek Cottage and on Mount Soledad.”

PBTC volunteer work crews also refurbished the PB Wave sign on Grand Avenue, which Crowers noted had “been neglected and had one of its lights broken. We did a complete overhaul of that.”

But Crowers stressed the Enhancement Committee needs more help. “We can’t do everything by ourselves,” she said while giving kudos to Parks and Rec for assisting with their improvement projects.

“City parks provided almost all of the plants and we provided the weeding and pulled out the dying shrubs that edged it,” Crowers noted.

A core group of volunteers including Dalton Rodda, JoAnn McGill, Leslie Dufour, Susan Howe, and Steve Parsley have teamed to do much of the needed landscaping work.

Crowers said PBTC has also made a commitment to using only organic methods of weed abatement. “There was just a lot of hand weeding that went on and continues to, along with mulching to hopefully cut down on the weeds, so we can move on to other projects,” said Crowers.

Naming themselves the “organic garden gurus,” Crowers said their enhancement team meets the first, second and third Thursdays of each month, as well as the last Saturday of the month “to allow volunteers an opportunity to work on the weekend who can’t work during the week.”

Crowers said the Enhancement Committee is looking into doing a future project involving “topping off the bluffs on Loring Street,” as well as doing some weeding by the ocean that may include introducing some native plants.

“Parks and Rec has asked us to do another planter at Fanuel Street Park, and we said we’d take that on,” said Crowers. “That is definitely a project that’s in the works.”

The Enhancement Committee wants to get the word out that community beautification should be everyone’s business. “If everyone just took care of their own area, what a difference that would make,” Crowers said. For more information, or to volunteer, visit pbtowncouncil.org.