A Palisades Rotary Club project to beautify the corner of Temescal Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway has been completed, and a ceremony to honor those involved was held last Thursday. ‘These are the moments I enjoy the most,’ said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, ‘when we get something done through a partnership between the community and the city. Now, as we drive up Temescal, on our way to the beautiful Palisades, we can see something really nice.’ More than two years ago, fellow Rotarians John Gundershaug and Perry Akins, who viewed the corner as a gateway to the Palisades, were disgusted at the site: a parcel with overgrown brush, trash, graffiti and a dumpster in front of the chain-link fence that surrounded the DWP low-flow diversion pump station (which was also filled with litter). ‘We do plan to outlive the project,’ Akins told the Palisadian-Post when he and Gundershaug began their work. They sought the help of a third Rotarian, David Card, a landscape architect, and contacted Rosendahl’s field deputy, Andrea Epstein. She waded through jurisdiction issues to find which parties were responsible for the corner, as well as having the Pacific Palisades sign fixed. In addition, Senior Park Maintenance Supervisor Brad Haynes had a crew trim the trees and clear the dead brush. Card drew up a landscape plan that utilized native and drought-resistant vegetation. During the construction improvements at Will Rogers State Beach, resident Stuart Muller noticed the large rocks that were being dug up in the parking lot and suggested that they be used for landscaping. Card contacted the Gonzalez Construction Company, which not only donated the rocks, but carted them to the site and placed them where Card requested. ‘We were lucky to get them so easily,’ Card said. ‘Just moving them takes three or four men and a truck.’ The Rotarians applied for and received a $2,000 grant from the Palisades Junior Women’s Club in order to install a solar controller for the irrigation system to be used for the new vegetation. The Rotary Club funded purchase of the plants, as well as two three-foot wide clay pots made by Nava Skolnick, which are placed next to the chain-link fence. The urns are planted with cat-claw vines that will eventually cover the fence. ‘Once I heard about the project, I was immediately excited about this task as my Eagle Scout project,’ said Palisadian Jamie Hubbs, a Palisades High student. ‘I drive by the pump station nearly every day as I make my way to my PE surfing class, and I see so many people stranded in traffic at that everlasting light.’ He felt that motorists needed something better to look at than trash and dead brush. He organized community, high school and Boy Scout volunteers for the physical portion of the project, which included pulling weeds, mulching and planting. Earlier this year, Card received a Sparkplug Award from the Palisades Community Council for his overall leadership efforts at the corner. At last Thursday’s ceremony, he thanked everyone who participated, including the Bureau of Sanitation’s Terry Dickinson, who will be responsible for supplying the water for the vegetation. As far as who will maintain the finished project, Card said that the Rotary Club is planning to have work parties four to six times a year. When asked if Recreation and Parks would also help, Haynes said, ‘Whatever it takes.’
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