Lemon Grove has become the first city in San Diego County to earn the “Clean California Community” designation, a statewide recognition honoring sustained efforts to clean, beautify, and revitalize public spaces.
Keep California Beautiful recognized Lemon Grove for measurable improvements in litter reduction, public-space enhancements, environmental stewardship, and community engagement tied to ongoing revitalization efforts along the Broadway corridor.
The designation is the result of work led by Revitalize Broadway Lemon Grove, a volunteer-driven coalition formed in 2024 with guidance from the Institute of Public Strategies East County Division. The effort brought together residents, businesses, nonprofits, schools, and local organizations around a shared goal of creating a cleaner and more vibrant downtown.
Chelsea Gastelum, president of Revitalize Broadway Lemon Grove, said the city’s progress has been driven by hands-on, community-led beautification projects across the Broadway corridor.
On Dec. 6, 2025, volunteers took part in a major planting day as part of the Promenade Park Revitalization effort, transforming a previously neglected strip of dirt and concrete between the MTS trolley tracks and nearby apartments into a native green space and pollinator garden near the city’s main transit station.
“We hosted a major planting day where local volunteers transformed a neglected, empty dirt-and-concrete strip situated between the MTS trolley tracks and nearby apartments into a vibrant, native public green space and pollinator garden near our main light rail station,” Gastelum said.
Gastelum said ongoing work includes regular trash cleanups, weed abatement, graffiti removal, and beautification efforts throughout the Broadway corridor. Cleanup days take place every Tuesday morning in the Broadway Village area, along with monthly Adopt-A-Highway events near major freeway ramps.
She also highlighted the Busy Bee Garden Co-op’s efforts to install native plants at homes, schools, and public spaces across the community.
“Everyone doing their part builds community bonds while beautifying the city and lessening trash,” Gastelum said.
Gastelum said the city’s ability to bring together multiple grassroots groups quickly helped it become the first in San Diego County to receive the designation.
“Lemon Grove became the first in San Diego County because of our unique ability to gather a powerful, multi-partner grassroots coalition in a very short time,” she said. “Our collective passion for our neighborhood and our commitment to a ‘Zero Litter’ future made us natural trailblazers in the region.”
The Clean California Community designation requires participating communities to meet at least 10 of 15 criteria within one year of taking the program pledge.
Gastelum said Revitalize Broadway Lemon Grove has partnered with organizations including Busy Bee Garden Co-op, Lemon Grove Forward Club, The Neighborhood, Wild Ones San Diego, the Lemon Grove Improvement Council, local VFW groups, and the Helix Water District’s Helix Helps volunteer program. The coalition also received plant donations from the Xerces Society and grant funding from Keep California Beautiful.
“All residents who come to our coalition meetings have a voice,” Gastelum said. “With comprehensive speakers that discuss topics that build on each other, and workshops that help better our community, residents are becoming more informed as they continue to attend meetings.”
Residents and visitors have noticed visible changes in downtown Lemon Grove in recent years, particularly around the transit gateway.
“A few years ago, visitors arriving at Lemon Grove trolley station used to see homeless encampments with piles of debris, and a stark, barren stretch of dirt and concrete,” she said. “Today, they are welcomed by a lush, native pollinator park.”
Planning Commissioner Minola Clark Manson said the changes have reshaped how people experience the area.
“Plants make people feel safer. Dirt and concrete do not,” Manson said.
Community events such as Bites on Broadway and a Student Art Walk have helped increase foot traffic and encourage residents and families to spend more time in the Broadway Village area.
Gastelum said the designation brings long-term economic, social, and environmental benefits, including increased visibility for state and national grant opportunities and stronger support for local businesses along the Broadway corridor.
She also pointed to environmental gains tied to native landscaping and pollinator conservation projects supported by Clean California, Keep California Beautiful, and the Xerces Society.
Gastelum said Lemon Grove became the first community in California designated as an official Pollinator Pathway and is home to the first two Wild Ones Certified Native Gardens in the state.
She said the coalition faced few obstacles because many groups were already independently working toward similar goals before formally joining under the Clean California framework.
Looking ahead, Gastelum said the designation marks the beginning of expanded revitalization efforts along the Broadway corridor.
Plans include larger public-space improvements, deeper partnerships with the Lemon Grove School District and the Lemon Grove Arts Collective, and expanded use of Clean California educational materials in local classrooms focused on waste reduction and environmental stewardship.
“We hope to serve as an inspiring, Zero-Litter role model for cities all across San Diego County in the next few years,” she said. “Lemon Grove is in a metamorphic stage, with only good things still to come.”
For more information about the Clean California Community designation, visit Clean California.
