By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The Pacific Palisades Community Council board meeting on Thursday, September 25, included several updates, including the approval of additional grants, an update on Marvin Braude Bike Trail repairs and Santa Monica Canyon Channel Outlet restoration, and a presentation on Palisades Long Term Recovery Group.

The board approved five additional grants from donations received by PPCC that were recommended by its Grants Committee, chaired by Quentin Fleming: Pali LTRG, Lotus Rising LA, Friends of Marquez, St. Matthew’s Parish School and Pacific Palisades Baseball Association.

Pali LTRG received $17,500 to support its Senior Recovery & Resilience Program, while Lotus Rising LA received $4,000 to “help defray the cost of producing a ‘Ready Rebuild – Prefab 101’ event,” which took place at American Legion Ronald Reagan – Palisades Post 283 on September 27.

Friends of Marquez received $11,833 to purchase a “large ‘pole tent’ to be used for student, family and school-wide events” at the Marquez Charter Elementary School campus, and St. Matthew’s received $25,000 to go toward the renovation of its outdoor gathering spaces.

PPBA received $50,000 to go toward the restoration of the “Field of Dreams,” as well as associated facilities at Palisades Recreation Center, including replacing landscaping, fencing and storage infrastructure; rebuilding a burned dugout; replacing destroyed equipment containers; replacing maintenance equipment, including lawnmowers; and purchasing replacement equipment for league and community use.

Later in the meeting, Kerjon Lee and Yggy Ruiz of Los Angeles County Public Works gave a presentation with updates on the Marvin Braude Bike Trail repairs and Santa Monica Canyon Channel Outlet restoration—with work expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The “region’s most popular bike path,” with an estimated 10,000 users per day, Marvin Braude Beach Trail stretches 22 miles from Will Rogers State Beach to Torrance. An extended portion between Will Rogers State Beach and Santa Monica with a new trail added for cyclists opened to the public in May 2023. It was then damaged in February 2024 following a series of storms where the Palisades saw about 15 inches of rain, Lee explained.

Repair work began on Monday, August 4, according to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. The project was approved in December 2024, with FEMA authorization granted on May 20 and a construction contract executed on May 27. The project is FEMA eligible, due to a federal disaster declaration, Ruiz explained.

Repair work, with a budget of $4.2 million, includes restoring and improving the bike trail, Ruiz said, as well as modifying the channel outlet for “better flow and erosion control.” This will “enhance safety, resilience and recreational access.” Trail improvements include a bike path shift, eliminating the lower loop near the tidal zone, grading and replacement of the new trail, and enhanced durability and accessibility, Ruiz reported.

The final presentation of the evening was given by Jim Cragg, president of Pali LTRG, which is part of the VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Assisting in Disasters) network and established after the Palisades fire to provide “recovery assistance to the community”—particularly to “vulnerable and/or at-risk residents, including those without insurance and the elderly.”

Jessica Rogers serves as vice chair/executive director, with Richard Lombari as vice chair, Martin Hak as finance chair/treasurer and Elynor Chiu as secretary. The group launched on August 8 at Post 283

Its primary goal is to provide “disaster case management to affected residents with unmet needs.” Secondary and supporting efforts include communication, wellness and education, construction and safety, volunteers, and small business and employment.

“Disaster Case Managers serve as the primary link between people with disaster-related unmet needs and the LTRG,” read the presentation. “Families and residents often don’t know what assistance is available, how to access it and where to turn for support. Those in greatest need … may require specific forms of information and communication.”

VOAD works with 40-plus charity organizations, like the Salvation Army and Red Cross, Cragg explained, with roughly 10% of the population qualifying for support through the effort.

“These major relief organizations have turned to our group to help identify and vet over 10,000 Palisades families in need of money, manpower, materials and information to get their lives back,” Cragg said at the launch event in August. “Palisadians are relying on us.”

The other 90% of the population will be able to benefit from other efforts Pali LTRG will put on, including classes and informational fairs.

For more information, including links to the presentations, visit pacpalicc.org.

The Student-Led Movement’s Goal is to Plant 5,000 Trees in the Next Three to Five Years

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Seven Arrows Elementary School students participated in the TREEAMS kickoff event on Wednesday, October 1, at the EF Academy campus in Pasadena.

The gathering of students, educators and community leaders, a student-led movement for reforestation and restoration, was anticipating a speech by world-renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, who died earlier that morning.

TREEAMS is the brainchild of Margarita Pagliai, head of school at Seven Arrows and founder of both Seven Arrows and Little Dolphins by the Sea preschool.

Uniting students from Altadena to Pacific Palisades following the January fires, TREEAMS (which stands for Trees + Dreams) is designed to empower youth to learn, grow and move forward together as they transform Los Angeles into a model of ecological renewal and harmony for generations to come.

Through environmental education, tree mapping and large-scale tree planting, the project seeks to transform grief into action by restoring burned landscapes, replanting lost trees and cultivating resilience.

The facility’s gym was converted into an auditorium with a makeshift stage. Seven Arrows participants were among 1,000 students invited from schools on the Westside, Los Angeles and Altadena, including Rosebud Academy, Saint Mark’s, Loyola, Windward, Brentwood, Crossroads, Archer, Marlborough, New Roads, Calvary Christian and Santa Monica Pacifica Christian.

The event began with adults and kids singing “Let it Grow” from the 2012 animated movie “The Lorax,” based on the 1971 children’s book by Dr. Seuss.

“When you plant a tree, you feel good and the earth feels good,” said Pagliai, who conceived of the idea in the aftermath of the January wildfires. “Jane told me 42 years ago that if we work together we can accomplish anything … she’s one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever met.”

Speaking next on behalf of the Jane Goodall Institute, Erin McCombs stepped to the podium to announce that the famed primatologist (known best for her 60 years of study and research of chimpanzees in Tanzania) had just died at the age of 91. A moment of silence was observed, after which a video message was shared in Goodall’s memory from a talk she had given at the EF Global Student Leaders Summit in Costa Rica in 2015 during which she shared her thoughts on the environment and youth empowerment.

“I’ve been working on trying to make this a better world for animals, people and the environment since 1986 … and one of my greatest reasons for hope is the youth,” she said in the four-minute clip. “The key thing is to realize that everyday on this planet you make a difference and if you start thinking about the consequences of the small choices you make—what you buy and what you eat—and if millions of people are thinking like that then you start to get the kind of world that we cannot be too embarrassed to leave to our children.”

Then, at Pagliai’s direction, everyone in the room shouted in unison one of Goodall’s messages: “Together we can, together we will, together we must change the world.”

Now with key partners, including Jane Goodall Institute, Roots & Shoots Foundation, Steadfast LA, TreePeople, UCLA School of Education, Saint Mark’s School, EF Academy Pasadena, the SoLa Foundation and EcoRise, plus dozens of other public and private schools across LA as well as local expert advisors on tree planting, the goal is to plant more than 5,000 trees over the next three to five years.

“This movement shows what is possible when schools and communities unite in a shared purpose,” Pagliai added. “I’m very concerned about the depression among young people. We want to provide the scaffolding for students across Los Angeles to lead the way in turning loss into a vision for a brighter and greener future, and we’re honored to stand beside them.”

The kickoff event concluded with a ceremonial tree planting of a coast live oak on site at EF Academy, a private high school that partnered with Saint Mark’s School in the immediate aftermath of the Eaton fire to house the Catholic school’s 250 kindergarten through sixth-graders.

“Hosting the launch of TREEAMS and planting the first tree in support of this incredible program on our campus is both a privilege and a responsibility,” said Dr. Sally Mingarelli, head of school at EF Academy Pasadena. “Our students understand healing the earth begins in our own communities, and they’re eager to lead with compassion, courage and action.”

The students also created a time capsule box into which they dropped handwritten   letters containing their hopes and dreams for the future of Los Angeles. One such message, penned by Nathaniel, said: “I hope future generations do not pollute the world so much” and was read out loud by Pasadena City Councilmember Rick Cole.

“Through TREEAMS, our students aren’t only planting trees, they’re planting seeds of hope, unity and leadership,” said Jennifer Tolbert, head of school at Saint Mark’s School. “This initiative shows how young people can take real action to address the climate crisis while also rebuilding their communities after hardship, something we know first-hand after losing our beloved campus in Altadena.”

TREEAMS goals are four-pronged: unity (bringing together public and private schools, students and community in Altadena and the Palisades), healing through connection (connecting to process the emotional toll of the January wildfires through nature), ecological restoration (planting 5,000 trees in the Palisades, Altadena, Malibu and beyond) and student empowerment (teaching students environmental literacy and leadership skills).

Over the next six months, the TREEAMS leadership team will be focused on fundraising, organizing participating schools and educating students before the planting phase is slated to begin on April 22, 2026—Earth Day—with a large-scale tree-planting event at Will Rogers State Historic Park.

The Jane Goodall Institute is a global, community-led conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Goodall in 25 chapters around the world. JGI uses research, community-led conservation, best-in-class animal welfare standards and the use of science and technology to inspire hope and transform it into action for the common good.

Through its Roots & Shoots program for young people of all ages, presently active in 75 countries around the world, JGI is aiming to create a movement of compassionate people who will help create a better world for people, animals and the environment.

Immediately following the assembly, the first tree of the project’s 5,000 was planted in Goodall’s honor on the EF Academy campus. Supervisor Kathryn Barger joined Cole, Mingarelli, Tolbert and Pagliai in digging the hole in which the tree was placed and leaders of the Gabrielino-Shoshone Nation of Southern California sang a song, the lyrics of which translate to “Good day to ancestors.”

“It’s devastating news that casts a shadow over this because students didn’t get to see her today, but hopeful in the sense that she wanted to be here,” a teary-eyed Cole said. “Her name was Goodall and she was the epitome of that. We’re going to hold her in our hearts.”

Shortly after, the Jane Goodall Institute released the following statement:

“The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States. Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”

To learn how to get involved with TREEAMS, visit treeams.org.

Community members were invited to gather along Pampas Ricas Boulevard in The Huntington on Sunday, October 5, with around 650 people registering to enjoy a meal at “The Longest Table.”

The event, hosted by Team Palisades, The Longest Table, Huntington Palisades Property Owners Corporation and Council District 11, included a “potluck lunch, stories and connection.”

“The Longest Table brought together Palisades residents from across the community in a wonderful celebration of unity and connection,” Councilmember Traci Park said. “Thank you to Team Palisades, our dedicated block captains and ambassadors for organizing this outstanding event.”

Tables and chairs were provided, with guests encouraged to bring enough food for their party.

Team Palisades is a “neighbor-led support network formed in the aftermath” of the Palisades fire. It is “built on the Block Captain framework developed” by After The Fire USA.

Team Palisades’ Lee Ann Daly, who is focused on the social and emotional well-being of residents after the Palisades fire, noted the importance of the community convening. She described the event as “really amazing” with an “excellent” turn out.

The organization will continue to bring events like this to the community, Daly said: “It’s all absolutely needed.”

The Parish of Saint Matthew announced weekly worship is set to resume at its home location at 1031 Bienveneda Avenue beginning October 19 at 10 a.m.

“This return marks another significant milestone since the Palisades fire for St. Matthew’s, led by its Return to Bienveneda Task Force,” read information shared by the church. “The homecoming service on October 19 will include a blessing of the Parish in honor of its reopening.”

St. Matthew’s has temporarily been convening at its partner church, St. Augustine by-the-Sea in Santa Monica, which has “graciously hosted the St. Matthew’s community” for worship services and events since January. It will continue to share its space for activities that will not yet return to the Palisades.

“While the church sanctuary doors will be open wide, all other areas of the campus will continue to be off limits as remediation progresses in thoughtful stages,” the church wrote. “During this transitional phase, all visitors will be required to stay within posted boundaries for safety reasons.”

—SARAH SHMERLING

Gallery 169 will host an artist opening reception on Saturday, October 11, from 5 to 8 p.m. for Palisadian Jeff Lipsky’s “The Polaroid Years.”

“Jeff’s Polaroids capture passion from an earlier era,” read information about the exhibition. “Created between 2001 and 2010 on medium and large format cameras, most were shot during editorial assignments for publications such as Vogue, Esquire, Premiere, Outside, Vanity Fair and Men’s Journal. Originally used as a preview for large-format film shots the Polaroids soon became a focus of their own. Drawn in their unique colors, textures and character, each Polaroid is one of a kind.”

Billed as “an evening of community, filled with art, food and drink,” the reception will include complimentary valet parking. The gallery is located at 169 West Channel Road. For more information, visit gallery169.com.

—SARAH SHMERLING

Pacific Palisades Community Council has partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to create a communitywide survey “focused on recovery and rebuilding after the Palisades fire,” which is now available to complete.

“The findings will help PPCC advocate for policies and resources that reflect the community’s vision—ensuring residents’ voices are heard and their preferences are communicated to decision makers,” according to PPCC.

Survey invites come from ppccstudy@norc.org with a personalized link that “cannot be shared or forwarded to others, and are only sent to verified Pacific Palisades residents.”

Those who did not receive an invitation but believe they should have can provide PPCC their name, address, email and phone number through a contact form available at pacpalicc.org.

Questions about the survey can be directed to ppccrebuild@outlook.com.

—SARAH SHMERLING