This article was updated May 15, 2024, to correct factual inaccuracies in the initial print and online publication.
BY GRAYDEN MILLER
Between Carmel Cares and Leadership Carmel, local organizations dedicated to Carmel’s community and landscape, Scenic Avenue’s pathway is planned to undergo a renovation in the coming months.
Participants in the efforts to clean up Scenic including Dale Byrne and Shirley Moon, who are part of Carmel Cares, explain their motivation behind the program plus insight into how Scenic’s renovation is going within the volunteer-based program.
Leadership Carmel, sponsored by the Carmel Chamber of Commerce, is a community-based organization that works to improve local leadership skills and the quality of the town and its neighboring communities. The cleanup project was handed off to Leadership Carmel by the former organization at Scenic and 8th, where they will be working independently to clean.
Leadership Carmel works to improve different parts of Carmel through teaching leadership skills and promoting volunteer work. (courtesy of JEANNE FREW)
Moon, project manager of the Scenic pathway renovation and program manager of the Scenic pathway pickup posse for Carmel Cares, explains that from foxtails caught in dog paws, nonfunctional irrigation systems, a takeover of invasive species and an overall neglect to the pathway, someone needed to take action and renovate Scenic.
“I can’t stand looking at things that aren’t cared for,” Moon says. “Particularly a setting that’s so spectacular and was so run down.”
Moon explains that without the permission and supervision of Carmel’s Public Works Department, none of the projects would have been possible.
After securing city permits, Leadership Carmel is now collaborating with Public Works and independently fundraising in preparation for their clean up efforts.
Volunteers at Leadership Carmel say they didn’t know what project they would be participating in going into the program, but wanted to better the community nonetheless. Bibiana Lamere, financial services supervisor, explains that the merits of the program extend beyond locals.
“It’s centered around everyone,” Lamere says. “Tourism, our locals, even people that don’t live in the area.”
Although Byrne explains that the project has been pretty smooth sailing so far, renovating Scenic is a big undertaking for a group of five to ten volunteers. The group continues to work hard at the project, and Moon says that it hasn’t gone without recognition.
“People are so grateful that they don’t have to look at trash and watch where they’re stepping,” Moon says. “This pathway is much more than a walking space…it’s a healing space, a place where people calm down.”
Moon explains that the pathway is a way to reconnect with nature, and that it’s a sacred place that must be protected forever.
