2026 February General Meeting Minutes

  

Pacific Beach Coalition
“Trash in the Bin, not in the Pelican!”

February General Meeting

February 10, 2026
6 – 7:45 pm @ Sharp Park Public Library in Pacifica, CA

Mission Statement 
The Pacific Beach Coalition is dedicated to preserving the ocean, coastal habitat and wildlife, and ending litter through advocacy, education, community-building and citizen action.

2026 January General Meeting Minutes

Introductions, Welcome New Friends!
Meeting opened at 6:07pm

Present: ​​Jim, Myrna, Jana, Sarah P., Chloe, Robin, Christine, Bill, Jeff, Greg, John, Barbara, Patrick, Danila, Margo, Shari, Pete, Cecily, Chris, Ted, Wendy

  • Meet Wendy: Wendy Figone is a certified Forest Therapy Guide and Trails Consultant, an expert-level Myofascial Release therapist, and a Stanford Compassion Ambassador.

Christine Boles, Mayor

  • One Shoreline (San Mateo County Flood & Sea Level Rise Resiliency District) – Brought support letter to look at offshore reef at Sharp Park to improve resiliency. The Pacifica City Council approved the letter of support. Pending the grant, we will be working with scientists & engineers at UC Santa Cruz. 
  • Interviewing new city managers. Current city manager’s last day is March 11, 2026. 
  • March 7, 2026 – Pacifica City Council Meeting, goal setting. Bring your new ideas! All are welcome, there is a public comment period at 9am, be in person or send in written comments publiccomment@pacifica.gov with subject line “Goal Setting”. Meeting will be livestreamed.

    PBC/Lynn’s Party Recap

    • Questions about donations: There is a PayPal button for donations to the Penny Keating School Fund (school education-related expenses). $705 donated via PayPal, in addition to cash/checks, thank you!
    • Great turnout at the party, we didn’t burn down the school! Thanks everyone for organizing and helping at the event, and thanks to La Perla for the delicious food.

    MLK Recap

    Read the blog post about the MLK Day of Service here.

    • Greg:
      • Beach cleanup – almost 100 people; Habitat restoration had 100 people
      • 376 plants in the ground. They take effort to keep them watered, if you want to join the Water Warriors, reach out to greg@pacificbeachcoalition.org or sasha@pacificbeachcoaltion.org.
      • Learn more here about Water Warriors.
        • Bill: Susan and Freidel do the watering, we would like to get more people trained on the plant watering, so we don’t lose the plants.
        • Greg: We have a few people joining us later this year, it’s a small team of 5 currently. Water Warriors meet typically Wednesday afternoons from 1-2pm.
        • Patrick: We’re working with CivicSpark fellows on a system to know whether plants have been watered (or it rained) that week. Density of the established native plants is a point of pride for us.
        • Myrna: new cal native plants need to be watered for a year and after that they are pretty much solid, with their long roots and all. 
        • Greg: All flagged plants at Linda Mar are ones that were planted this year. We removed the flags from last year’s plants that are self-sufficient. The goal is to have them watered once a week for one year, and currently we are on track there, though we will need more support to grow the efforts.
      • Community questions about Marking Flags used in habitat restoration activities:
        • Patrick: we’re looking at biodegradable options instead of metal and plastic flags. Commercially available options can be prohibitively expensive, it’s both a materials and methodology review, and we are exploring sisal rope, bamboo stakes, wooden markers, and producing flags may be a fun school / EcoFest activity.  
        • Cecily: could we mark ‘plant’ on the flags?
        • Greg: hard to keep track of flags if they aren’t labeled, need to have a system. Please provide feedback on ideas for the flags to greg@pacificbeachcoalition.org
        • Bill: see this article on flags and planting sticks here as an example.
        • Myrna: see this flag resource page here.

    Site Captain Reports, Information

    • Thornton Beach: Shout out to the Thornton team dealing with the fence. 
    • Rockaway: Continues to be a large site, estimating @100 people in attendance.
    • Mussel Rock: Interesting finds – a bowling ball and RC car!
    • WE ARE RECRUITING volunteer site captains

    Naturalists’ Report

    • Julie hosted a Tidepools activity at Rockaway Beach, our group observed healthy sea stars, anemone, crabs and nudibranch (PBC’s 2023 Earth Honoree).
    • Sea Stars:
      • Myrna: Sea stars wasting disease? 
      • Patrick/Pete: They know what is causing it (bacteria from cat litter), but not sure if they have solved it. Some of the sea stars are bouncing back.  
    • Ice Plant:
      • Patrick: Ice plant was sown to hold the sand. We try to replace it with native plants that may serve the same purpose, while also providing crucial co-benefits to habitat ecosystem.
      • Christine: the ice plant is very heavy on the bluffs, they pull down soil when the leaves are heavy with water

    Director’s Report

    • Please reach out with any questions/comments: patrick@pacificbeachcoalition.org
    • Clean Community Designation from “Keep California Beautiful” with a 4×5 sign to put next to the highway. However, according to City officials, CalTrans says “no” even though their name is on the sign as program partner. Stay tuned on where the sign will be placed. The city has also expressed interest in buying a few more signs.
    • City of Pacifica would like our support hosting events at some of our sites, e.g., a Marine Science Institute field trip (500-900 attendees) to Linda Mar in May. They are asking if we can help facilitate the project – it’s not our responsibility but they are asking if we can help. TBD on what that might entail.
    • Vapes – tied to cigarette filter problem. Will meet with Recology this Thursday. 

    Board and Financial Report

    See pie chart below

    • If you are interested to learn more about the finances in greater detail, all are welcome to attend our monthly Board meeting. Meetings are held on every 4th Tuesday of the month at the same Zoom meeting link above.

    Earth Day EcoFest – April 18, 2026

    • We had our planning committee kickoff meeting on Wednesday, February 11. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17 at 6pm – use the same Zoom link as above. Planning to send a Save the Date to obtain interest in tabling, activities and sponsorship opportunities.
      • We have the art for the steelhead trout. 
      • Looking into options during EcoFest for:
        • San Pedro Creek demo to raise awareness for habitat restoration and protection
        • Walking tour along the Linda Mar habitat restoration path
        • Somatic therapy at the beach led by Wendy for mental health and well-being – 75 headsets available 
        • Mycelium Youth Network climate gaming (think Dungeons and Dragons); what if you had to respond to climate change related scenario?
        • Pillar Point Harbor Master has expressed interest in activities planning as well

    Communications Team

    • Margo:
      • Clean up at San Pedro Creek with Troop 74: We received many, many thank you messages for the work we do! Lots of love.
      • Chloe is preparing the education kit for Earth Day
      • Steelhead 2026 – launching in the month of March
      • Emails: typically one part education, one part general best practices to help with pollution, such as microplastics. Do you have tips, educational information, or videos to share in future communications? Share with: com@pacificbeachcoalition.org
    • Patrick:
      • Coastside Gives (May 7, 2026): We are going to participate again for the second time, however there was some confusion about whether the Coastside Gives reaches all the way to Pacifica. The organizers maintain a territory scope of Montara to Pescadero (within which we DO maintain regular PBC operations). If you want to be part of the campaign, to help spread the word to increase awareness, please contact us com@pacificbeachcoalition.org

    Pelican Squad!

    • Teen site captain training session on Saturday, February 21st, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Esplanade Beach
    • Greg, Patrick, Sasha and Gail will be meeting to see how we can incorporate the Pelican Squad into our Earth Day event, so that the teens have more opportunities to share their knowledge and demonstrate leadership.

    Roundtable: Let’s hear it from you!!!

    • Earth Day ideas: If you have more ideas for the EcoFest, please contact barbara@pacificabeachcoalition.org
      • Cecily: Land art, beach art
      • Myrna: Booth event idea: panel of local native plant nurseries on a specific topic like dune erosion, other. She will contact the nurseries to see if it can be organized.

    Meeting adjourned at 7:34pm.