In recent months we talked about Allied Gardens, Grantville, and Navajo Canyon, but not so much about the Community Council – what it is and what it does.
The Community Council is a private 501(c)(4) corporation. It has no formal connection to the city, but we remain in close contact with our elective representatives to advise them on the consensus on matters of concern.
Members of our Board of Directors work for the community as representatives on the Navajo Community Planners, Inc., the Mission Trails Regional Park Citizens Advisory Committee, the Friends of Benjamin Library, and the Friends of Navajo Canyon. We rely on what we hear from our neighbors during those activities, what we are told during Board and Town Hall Meetings, and what you tell us in your emails.
Holiday season and tree planting
For some 22 years, we held the Holiday Festival at Lewis Middle School at the beginning of the school winter vacation.
That event includes a performance by the school band, holiday readings by students, choruses from Foster and Marvin Elementary Schools, and a drawing supported for Barnes and Noble vouchers that is supported by the Optimist Club. The concert is followed by a reception with cookies and punch. We had to suspend the festival during the pandemic.
We would like to reinstate this event, but we need commitments from at least six folks to help us set up at the end of the school day and to remain close by for the take down after the reception.
In early December we put up the lights over the flyover bridge and at the Triangle. Later in the month, near the last day of school, we hold a tree lighting ceremony. We honor two top students from Foster and Marvin Elementary Schools by putting them to the task of flipping the switch. We close the evening with holiday songs led by a combo from Lewis.
In addition to the trees planted along Zion Avenue several years ago, Allied Gardens recently welcomed hundreds of new ‘neighbors’ to our community in the form of a wide variety of trees (pictured).
Approximately 300 trees have been planted in parkways (the strip between the sidewalk and the street) between Marvin Elementary School and Lewis Middle School in a project coordinated by SDG&E, the City of San Diego, Davey Resource Group and the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council. We are also fortunate that the City of San Diego will water and care for the planted trees for three years until they become established.
Keeping the community clean
Under the leadership of Kim Morris, the Friends of Navajo Canyon, San Diego Canyonlands, and I Love A Clean San Diego clean Navajo Canyon of trash, remove foreign species, and conduct nature walks through the area. During the work on the third Saturday of each month the community has removed thousands of pounds of trash and undesirable plants. We are engaged in a generational task to restore the canyon to its natural state. Kim is now on leave. We are looking to the members of our community to step up and to take charge of this important work.
This fall we hope to resume our San Diego Gas & Electric junction box painting. We began with the three boxes on the south side of Zion Avenue near Estrella and with the traffic control box at the corner of Waring and Zion. We have a good team signed up. Maybe you can nominate a box on your block that needs beautification.
The subscribers to our newsletter will agree that it is an outstanding publication full of information about the community. Contact us as indicated below for a courtesy copy.
Hearing from you and acting on your behalf is what the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council is all about. We would love for you to join our email contact list. Once you are in touch with our projects we are sure that you will bring your energy to the Council.
To join the contact list go to our website, www.aggccouncil.org, click on the Contact Us page and complete the communication form.
You are needed.
– Shain Haug is president AGGCC.
