"Keep The Esplanade Beautiful" Group Expands As More Volunteers Work To Beautify Redondo Beach

REDONDO BEACH, CA — After people at City Council District One meetings were "complaining" about how "trashed out" the Esplanade area was getting, Redondo Beach resident Joan Irvine decided to take action. In September 2013, Irvine started the Facebook group "Keep the Esplanade Beautiful" to organize grass-root efforts to solve a problem that "seemed to affect everyone who lived there," she said.

While the group was originally created for community members to take action towards cleaning the dirtied Esplanade, Irvine soon realized the group should work together with the City of Redondo Beach Public Works Department.

"We decided that we needed to work alongside Public Works and the Police Department to see what their plans were," she said, "so something that seemed simple ended up being a lot more involved than you might think."

The group slowly grew, starting with monthly clean ups where the community could get together and pick up trash. "Public Works even brought us bags and gloves," according to Irvine, and they now meet once per quarter with the City's Department of Public Works.

Today, the group is rapidly evolving as more members join and more structure is formed to the originally "casual" Facebook group. August is a big month for "Keep the Esplanade Beautiful": They will be conducting a National Night Out on August 1, and a Saturday Sweep on August 5. National Night Out is "an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships," according to the National Night Out website.

"We contacted the Watch Captain Program instead to let them know we wanted to participate, but informally," Irvine said. "More of a 'Hey, just get out that night and meet your neighbors.' It's a feel good thing."

The Saturday Sweep on August 5 is a "Keep the Esplanade Beautiful" tradition: every first Saturday of the month the group meets at 9 a.m. at Avenue I and Esplanade to pick up trash along the sidewalk and oceanside, Irvine said. It takes "about an hour" and Public Works helps to haul the trash away.

To stay up-to-date with "Keep the Esplanade Beautiful," or to get more information about upcoming events, check out their Facebook page.

Photo via "Keep the Esplanade Beautiful" Facebook group