Getting approval for Earth Day seems like a simple thing to do; the amount of details involved made it an agenda item for the council.
At the City Council meeting of February 23, 2026, Action Item 2 heard from the Mobility and Traffic Engineering manager Andrew Maximus on the staff report. Taking on the Earth Day celebration on April 22, he said that the city was “Building on the success of the 2025 event that was held adjacent to the tri-school campus…feedback from students, families and school administrators was overwhelming positive.”
In 2025, closing the street from the intersection of Coombs Avenue and Elenda Street allowed pedestrians and bike riders to roam freely, student organizations greeted walkers with packets of seeds to plant, and T-shirts were celebrating the day.
Council member Bubba Fish, who noted that he was in favor, also questioned some of the the costs estimated for the event.”It says in the report that we have 17 police officers, and this 0.3 miles of street. We do want everyone to be safe, but that seems like a lot of police presence for such a small amount of space.”
Staff reflected that reconsiderations of the need for public safety support could be looked into.
Mary Daval, who spoke from the podium, urged the council to support the event and to expand it to Washington Boulevard, so that La Ballona Elementary could be included.
Maximus noted that while it would not be possible to include the additional school in 2026, “We are looking to rotate the event to other schools in successive years.”
Mayor Freddy Puza concluded that “There are hiccups, but that’s not a reason to cancel the event – let’s make sure we over- communicate,…and get constructive feedback.”
Judith Martin-Straw
Photo – early moring Earth Day from 2025
