WHY WE BEAUTIFY

We beautify Point Loma — our corner of earthly paradise — to make it even more beautiful and pleasant, to enhance its character and charm, and to improve our quality of life and outlook.

HOW WE BEAUTIFY

We transform paved, barren medians and parkways in prominent locations throughout Point Loma into beautifully landscaped sites. We remove asphalt and cement and reintroduce earth and our eyes to the beauty of nature by planting and caring for a variety of trees, flowers and plants. We keep our Peninsula clean and safe by picking up debris and litter, and removing graffiti. We also enhance community entrances and corridors, and create community landmarks by installing community signs, lights, landmarks, benches, banners, public art and sculptures.

MAINTAINING BEAUTY

The Mean Green Team is the heart and soul of the Point Loma Association. Each Friday morning a stalwart group of volunteers gather at one of 20 work sites throughout the Peninsula. The Mean Green Team plants, fertilizes, irrigates, prunes, weeds and collect debris and trash. Some even sharpen and fix tools and repair irrigation systems. We proudly maintain these landscaped sites to beautify our neighborhood.

Our team, in bright green vests, is a familiar and welcome sight in the neighborhood. We’re a group of community volunteers comprised of varying ages, backgrounds, and professions of all types.

The Mean Green Team is open to everyone interested in working with us to improve our neighborhood. Come every week or whenever you may be available. After each work session we gather at a local spot for coffee, conversation, fun and camaraderie. It’s amazing how much we enjoy our labor and enjoy the company of our teammates.

VISIT our Facebook page for each week’s Mean Green Team work site. Join us — You’ll be warmly welcomed!

CREATING CHARM

Starting with bottlebrush trees and then the iconic jacarandas on Rosecrans in the early 1960s, the PLA has undertaken multiple, major beautification projects throughout the years. We planted gold medallion, sycamore and pepper trees on Cañon, transformed the Catalina & Cañon median, and enhanced seven median and parkway landscapes along the Nimitz Parkway corridor from Interstate 8 to North Harbor Dr.

Financing of these projects has involved a combination of fundraising by the PLA, grants from the City and County of San Diego, and generous contributions form private donors. These projects represent the best of true public-private partnerships. Tireless efforts by PLA volunteers resulted in the planning, permit approvals, financing, construction and maintenance of these islands of community beautification.



THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

ENHANCING AN ENTRYWAY

Community volunteers and the city have agreed on visual improvements for the Voltaire Street Bridge, which is undergoing a 75-year overhaul. We can enjoy a graceful bridge on a key entryway to Point Loma if we collectively raise funds to pay for this community beautification project. The Point Loma Association is acting as the trustee for this endowment.

Noted architect Joe Holasek of NOAA Associates has designed a landmark bridge, pro bono, that creates the illusion of a suspension bridge, an elegant swooping railing with vertical rods that will be mounted next to the required chain link. Ornamental or historic style lamp posts will provide a look the community is accustomed to seeing elsewhere on the Peninsula.

DISTINGUISHING PLACE

San Diego is a vibrant city with thousands of special events and dozens of unique neighborhoods. Banners can be one of the most colorful and festive means available to create a stronger sense of community and promote your information. Banners may be used to distinguish unique characteristics about neighborhoods, celebrate special holidays, announce cultural events and market extraordinary exhibits.

Banners cannot be political or religious in nature and cannot be used to advertise a product or corporation. You’re not required to use designated experts for your banner exhibit. However, you’re required to receive approval from the community in which you hang your banners to use their poles and obtain a banner permit from the City of San Diego. The banner districts in which you hang your banners usually have additional requirements. Like in Point Loma, there may be a contract with a specific installer, insurance requirements and a fee to rent banner poles.

Because of the upfront cost to create them, the most effective use of banners is to use them multiple times. Banner design needs to be attractive, simple, two-sided and meet city quality standards, which include use of 9.25 oz acrylic marine canvas or comparable material. Banner sizes, grommets and sleeves are to be made custom for the poles you are renting. Pole locations can be provided by your banner district managing group.

ADDING CHARACTER

Since 2005, the PLA has transformed ugly transformer boxes into works of art with the help of talented artists. Most of the utility box art has been paint, but we’ve even done a few vinyl wraps starting in 2013. The utility boxes require a good scrub and reapplication of UV protectant every few years, a task with which the Urban Corps has assisted.

Utility box art projects have brought together high school students, elementary students and other civic organizations. Along Catalina and Talbot, look for boxes highlighting Kiwanis Club of San Diego, Point Loma Association, Point Loma Lions Club, Point Loma Optimists, Point Loma Rotary and The Thursday Club.

Many thanks to the many artists from the Point Loma Artists Association who have lent their artistry to the project. We’ve also had help from many other talented folks, including:

With paint, materials, and artist stipend ($200), each box costs approximately $400. We use specialized water-based metal paints, which can cost $20 a can. The UV protectant runs about $80-$100 per gallon.

The Point Loma Association has also brought public art to the Peninsula by way of a sculpture. In 2017, the PLA commissioned kinetic wind sculptor, Jeffrey Laudenslager, through a generous donation from Point Loma philanthropist, Dorothea Laub. The result is Taiji, a kinetic sculpture located in the Nimitz Blvd median near W. Point Loma Blvd — a sight enjoyed daily by thousands of people that pass by.

RESTORING BEAUTY