Co-Presidents Cindy Kirven and Betsy Collins organized the Village Green’s 50th Anniversary. Kirven is being recognized as Citizen of the Year by the Pacific Palisades Community Council.
Photo: Rich Schmitt/CTN
The Pacific Palisades Community Council will honor five residents and an organization at its holiday dinner and awards celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. on December 6 at the Draycott. The community is invited to join the celebration. ‘The cost, which includes a glass of “bubbly,” and a three-course sit-down dinner is $125 per person, $240 for a couple and $975 for a table of 8 (reserved for organizations). click here.
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR:
This year CINDY KIRVEN will be honored as Citizen of the Year. She was co-president of the Village Green last year and is the president this year. She is vice chair of the Palisades Forestry committee, where she researched and wrote the first draft of a position paper on the restrictions of tree planting in Los Angeles. She volunteers for the bocce league at the park and also volunteers at the Forestry Station in Rustic Canyon.
GOLDEN SPARKPLUGS:
LAURA SCHNEIDER is being honored for her role as President of the Friends of the Pacific Palisades Library Association. “From art shows to Youth Writing Contest to celebrity talks (Martin Short and Eugene Levy) and even PPCC meetings, she is being recognized for bringing back the heart of our literate community.”
For years JOHN DWIGHT has cleaned and beautified the bus stop at the Sunset/Bienveneda corner. He has planted flowers around the adjoining trees, weeded and cleaned the planters. He puts out trash bags, removes the filled ones and cleans litter from the heavily used bus stop. There are no city receptacles at the stop.
SARA MARTI is the social media lead for Resilient Palisades, the towns environmental group. When she started posting across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Nextdoor and Threads there were less than 50 followers. Now the following is more than 2,500. Most recently she joined the Village Green and is creating an online presence for that organization.
STEVE CRON is being recognized for his work on PPPC over the past seven years as an Area 2 Representative. After Palisades News reporter Sarah Stockman reported on the deplorable conditions at the Temescal Ridge Trailhead, Cron has kept after the City to ensure that the restrooms will be repaired, cleaned and reopened.
A Coastal Commission report said the bathroom has been cleaned twice in six years and the adjacent bathroom was never opened to the public. Cron works to get the bathrooms reopened.
PRIDE OF THE PALISADES
The Award Selection Committee may determine, at its discretion, that an individual who is not a resident or qualified in all respects for the Citizen Award or Sparkplug Award should receive “Pride of the Palisades” recognition for extraordinary service to the Palisades community.
This year this award was given to P.R.I.D.E. (Protect and Renew our Identity and Environment) is being honored for “being a huge support to the community and PPCC.”
In making the award, the PPCC wrote that “Tacky advertising benches at bus stops in and around town have been swapped for new, more decorative and comfortable benches designed of stone and/or metal slats. Streamlined trash containers have replaced the concrete monstrosities, and in the recent past the Village boasted nearly two dozen new trees and more than a dozen turn-of-thecentury antique-style lampposts festooned with colorful hanging flower baskets.”
Many of the medians in town have been planted and maintained by PRIDE. The donor bricks on Sunset, near Erewhon are installed and maintained by PRIDE. John Padden is the current president and PRIDE is currently on the PPCC board.
The median at Sunset and Chautauqua is maintained by PRIDE.
The year the awards committee consisted of PPCC Vice President Sue Kohl, PPCC Area 4 Representative Second Alternate Daphne Gronich, Area 2 Second Alternate Diana Danielle, Ryan Craig who represents Resilient Palisades on PPCC and PPCC Recording Secretary Beth Holden-Garland.
Huzzah to Steve Cron for his relentless pursuit of cleanliness in favor of the miserable
and complicated ownership of restrooms on Temescal Ridge. Hikers, bikers and visitors take hats off to this fine guy!