By Geoff Page
Judging by the size of the crowd and the overall positive vibe from everyone, the cleanup effort at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Saturday, August 3, noticed here in The Rag last Thursday, August 1, was a big success.
The event was organized by a partnership between two civic-minded groups. One a 501(c)nonprofit called Cans4Books , the work of Tisha Goolsby. The other group is a creation of OB’s own Tracy Dezenzo, a familiar face in local civic endeavors.
Tracy is a past director on the OB Town Council and has been on the OB Planning Board for years. She is also a commissioner on the City of San Diego’s Arts & Culture Commission. Tracy’s new group is called “Desborder:Together for a Cleaner Environment.”
Both groups are committed to cleaning up the environment, educating the little ones about the environment and recycling, and using some of what is recovered to do something positive, such as buying books.
The event was clearly, very well organized with all the necessary supplies for the work, and refreshments as well, set up and ready to go. It all started at 8:00 a.m. with information and very short speeches after which everyone spread out to pick up trash until 11:00 a.m.
The centerpiece of the event was a creation by a local contractor with some obvious artistic talent. Matt Nelson, of Nelson Built, created the amazing whale sculpture, and recycling container, in the picture below.
Nelson related that he built the sculpture in his garage and had about 100 hours in it. He is a finish carpenter, a trade that is very artistic itself. Nelson was inspired by the project and hopes to create more art in the future.
Nelson built the whale from recycled materials. Much of it very thin tin that he riveted in place because the material was too thin to weld with conventional welding equipment. The use of springs for the bottom jaws nicely simulate baleens just like the whale of that name.
Some art students from SDSU also helped with ideas about the look and shape. There is more detail and there are progress pictures showing the whale being created on the Desborders website site.
While the whale is intended to be an inspirational symbol, it also has a practical purpose as a recycling container. Aluminum cans go into the big jaws. Nelson built doors on each side behind the jaws for easy unloading of all the cans later.
The picture below shows Maverick and Summerly Freischlag standing proudly in front of the whale loaded with the morning’s take of cans. The two are wearing T-shirts with the name of another civic group, “Love Thy Neighborhood” their folks are involved with.
Pix#2 Full whale
With a bit of hoopla, the organizers finally revealed whale’s name. Reef. Reef will travel around from place to place for more of these kinds of events. In a world full of worry and uncertainty, some positivity is good for everyone. Cans4Books and Desborders hope more and more people will participate in coming events.
The picture of the banner below shows the participation that helped this event happen. Some local names are recognizable, prominently displayed.
It was very cool to see it in action. I can tell a lot of work went into all of this.