What is going on at 40th street?
Sand replenishment goes awry. The pipe that is buried under the sand from the Santa Ana River flood control channel to 40th street was fastened to the ocean floor away from the jetty but because of all of the storms and wind we have had lately the pipe came away from it’s anchor. The contractor fastened it again to the ocean floor but again it broke free. So now you can literally see the sand and water combination coming out of the pipe. They are doing this work to get the channel back to design grade so that there won’t be a chance of flooding but in the mean time it is making quite a mess. Our chapter has been in contact with the OC health department where they have assured us they are doing testing to make sure it is safe to swim nearby. That being said do you really want to swim near this? The project should be done in early May and we are talking to the Army Corps of Engineers who has control of the channel to see if they can implement a device to stop the sand from getting into the channel so that it doesn’t have to be dredged. Need more information or want to get involved? Email Darrel Ferguson at dferguson@newportbeach.surfrider.org
Spur of the moment beach cleanup
The beach by 40th street received a lot of love on Saturday January 28. Over 10 awesome citizens came out and helped us make it look like a beach again and not a dump. I’m so grateful for that. For more info see here.
Beach Cleanup location moving for the New Year
As you probably know we have a 1st Saturday of the month beach cleanup for our chapter of Surfrider Foundation. Come join us on February 4 this coming Saturday at Prospect Street and West Ocean Front and help us clean the beach. Need a map Here it is. We start at 9 AM and end at 11 AM. Please come early as parking can be a challenge if the waves are good. Want more information? Go here.
Banning Ranch granted permit to drill more wells.
A lot of people have taken notice that the Banning Ranch developer is not going to be developing homes but the owners will continue and expand oil operations on Banning Ranch. Most notably 77 new wells to be drilled in banning ranch. Read more
What is happening at the Santa Ana River Jetties
A large dredging project is to say the least. Read more here.
November 8 was a very special day for California
Proposition 67 passed. A “yes” vote supported upholding the contested legislation banning certain plastic bags that was enacted by the California State Legislature as Senate Bill 270. This ends millions of plastic bags going into a landfill each year. Now hopefully people will take matters into their own hands and reuse cotton bags or bags made from other natural sources for shopping. Even if they use paper bags it will be better since paper is compostable where plastic is not.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to Chapman University for cleaning up all of the trash around Mcfadden square in Newport Beach on Sunday, October 20. If you didn’t know better you would of thought they were having the greatest time. They collected the data on what they picked up and I will release the total findings soon. They picked up over 1000 cigarette butts. Yuck.
Thanks
October 20 is get your Halloween bag day 3-6 PM
We are handing out 25 green and 25 orange Halloween bags on October 20 at Sprouts on E. 17th street in Costa Mesa. The bags are from Chico bags, the classic bag that folds into a small pocket size bag. We will also be giving away our regular Surfrider bags to urge people to vote on proposition 67. Come out and say hi and get a bag.
Phone Bank, Yes on prop 67
Our chapter of Surfrider Foundation was in Costa Mesa on Saturday, October 15, phone banking to urge voters to vote yes on prop 67 the bag ban. We did it at Crashlabs which is an awesome place to work in a temporary office or meeting room. We had about 10 people there calling locals to urge their yes vote on prop 67, the CA statewide bag ban. Thanks to SideCar donuts and Keane Coffee for donating their delights.
