RIch Schmitt/Staff Photographer
By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
Palisadian Bianca Gomez, equipped with a face mask, gloves and a bucket, picked up litter along Sunset Beach this past weekend—marking the start of her effort to rally the community and help keep Pacific Palisades clean.
Gomez was inspired to lead a local cleanup crew after noticing a buildup of trash at Sunset Beach.
“I live about two blocks away, and I like to walk down to the beach and walk around Gladstones,” Gomez said to the Palisadian-Post. “There’s just tons of trash, it’s pretty disgusting. It’s a lot of plastic bottles, bottle caps, beer bottles, beer cans, you name it.”
She said she made the conscious decision to take a few minutes out of her walks and pick up items of trash. She also joined a Santa Monica-based cleanup crew on Nextdoor.
“I thought, ‘Well, they never schedule any cleanups here in the Palisades … I’m just going to organize one here,’” Gomez said, “and make it more convenient for me and for other people to join.”
Gomez launched the Palisades Clean-Up Crew on Nextdoor just two weeks ago with the intent of organizing local and beach cleanup events. Saturday, May 8 marked the group’s first organized cleanup event, and Gomez deemed it a success.
Gomez was joined by Palisadian Roxanne Tanemori and her daughter on Saturday morning. The trio met at the Gladstones’ parking lot at 9 a.m.
“The group is fairly new, we’re in the beginning process, there were only three of us and it was so much trash,” Gomez said. “We picked up trash for almost an hour and we filled up trash bags really quick, we didn’t get to everything. But it was fun, it’s nice to do it as a group with other people.”
The group is planning to walk along Sunset Beach again Saturday morning, May 15. Gomez encouraged community members to post and report areas or locations where trash cleanup is needed.
“One of the members on Nextdoor suggested Los Liones Drive, [they] said there is a ton of trash from people going up and down the trail … so that might be an upcoming [event],” Gomez said to the Post. “I think for the most part, Palisades is really clean, people are very environmentally cautious and good about picking up after themselves. I think the places I’ve noticed more trash are where there are people coming from … other cities, like the beach or trails.”
Gomez invited the community to join her in her efforts to keep the town clean through Nextdoor. With one cleanup under its belt, the Palisades Clean-Up Crew has recruited just about 17 members.
If community members plan on participating, she suggested bringing gloves, a bucket and trash bags.
Gomez shared hope the community can rally behind the idea.
“One thing I’ve noticed in the Palisades is … there are so many kids,” she said. “If parents could get their kids involved and excited—especially right now since COVID has had so many kids not going to school—it would be a nice activity to get involved.”
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