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Leslie Garretson

Board President

Leslie retired in 2015 after 35 years in corporate management and sales and has since focused her boundless energy as a full-time community volunteer. In addition to RPC, she also serves as the president of her neighborhood association. Her passions include animal rescue and adoption and the certified wildlife habitat in her yard. She and her husband, Steve, share an extended family, complete with grandchildren and several rescue dogs.


Inspired by the successes of Frog Town and Taylor Yards, she believes the LA River can be much more than a flood control channel.

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Kimberly Walters

Board Vice President

Kimberly is Associate Professor of International Studies at California State University, Long Beach. She lives with her family in the Los Cerritos neighborhood and can look out over 3701 Pacific Place and onwards to the traffic of the 405 from her front porch.

 

Kimberly is working towards achieving cleaner air in western Long Beach so that her son with asthma can breathe a little more easily. She believes that green space is more important to cities than ever before, given the challenges posed by global warming, and she is excited to see Long Beach rise to that challenge.

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Keith Tyschper

Board Secretary

Keith (AIA, LEED AP, NCARB) is an architect and Principal in a national architecture firm with a passion for social and environmental justice. He relocated to Long Beach with his husband, Carlos, in 2014.

 

When Keith became aware of the proposed development on 3701 Pacific Place, he educated himself on the history of the site and the Riverlink Plan, attending community meetings and contacting officials with his concerns in pursuit of positive outcomes for western Long Beach. Keith is energized to work with other dedicated individuals and grateful for the foundation created by his predecessors.

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Pat Querido

Board Treasurer

Pat is a retired accounting professional and has been married for 43 years. She is a mother of two children and a grandmother of six. Pat has lived in Long Beach since 1997.

 

Pat advocates for more parks and trails for the well-being of everyone. She opposes the proposed development at 3701 Pacific Place, especially because the kids at Los Cerritos Elementary School will be greatly impacted by the proposed storage facility and RV parking lot right across from their school. She believes that we need more parks for our children and the generations after us.

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Carolyn De Baca

Board Member

Carolyn is a marketing executive. A long-time resident of Belmont Heights, she moved to the Los Cerritos neighborhood in 2013 where she immediately noticed the lack of parks and green space compared to other areas of Long Beach.

 

Carolyn joined the board of RPC to help stop industrial development in the last area that buffers her neighborhood from the congested 405 and 710 freeways. Her hope is that the community and city leaders will work together to make this site a park where endangered fauna and wildlife, like the burrowing owl, can be protected.

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Martin Holman

Board Member

Martin (aka Roger Holman) has lived in Long Beach since 1982. His profession has been in the Information Technology sector since 1976. Since 2004, Martin has been an active opponent of the poisons and quality of life degradation generated by goods movement along the 710-freeway produced because of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

 

Now living in Wrigley Heights, he is concerned with the quality and quantity of open space on Long Beach’s west side, especially because it is significantly lower per resident than any other quadrant of Long Beach.

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Renee Lawler

Board Member

Renee is a Long Beach 4th district native, USC alumna, licensed realtor, and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Entrepreneur. She has advocated for historic equestrian lifestyle, trails, and LA River open space preservation since 1997. She founded HETASC – Historic Equestrian Trail Assn. of Southern CA and successfully mediated the Wrigley equestrian easement with land use protections.

 

Renee is a founding board member of Citizens About Responsible Planning. She was the subject of documentary “The Last Long Beach Ranch” made by LBCC students.

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Philip Marr

Board Member

Philip was born and raised in and around Long Beach and is an alumnus of Polytechnic High School. He currently works for the City of Los Angeles in the Office of Finance as a Senior Portfolio Manager. Philip and his family have lived in Los Cerritos since 2013.

 

A life-long nature enthusiast and environmentalist, he is working to see more green space in our beautiful community, most especially in the western portion of Long Beach, which is particularly lacking in parks and recreational areas.

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David  Pulitzer

Board Member

David Pulitzer relocated with his family to Long Beach in 2016 from Northampton, England.

When he learned about the proposed development at 3701 Pacific Place, he began to research the history of the site and the environmental hazards which exist and the problem of green space inequity in western Long Beach.

Being a high school environmental science teacher, David is acutely aware of the importance green space has for our communities. He believes in proactively supporting environmental improvements for his community.

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Serena Steers

Board Member

Serena is a fourth-generation native, born and raised in Los Cerritos. She studied business at Loyola Marymount University earning her BA and MBA. The majority of her career has been in marketing and international operations management. She also worked as a small business owner and a classroom volunteer, mentoring business students at Poly High School.

 

Serena lives adjacent to 3701 Pacific Place and feels her profound concern for the health and livelihood of all community members affected by this toxic land, including her family, her fiancé, and her beloved rescue dog, Charlie.

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Elena Tucci

Board Member

Elena is a lifelong environmentalist, advocate for social equity, and a Long Beach native. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Political Science. Her partner, Andy De Young, introduced Elena to landscape architecture, and she earned a Master of Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly, Pomona.

 

Elena advocates for sustainable methods and practices in the built environment for all—particularly in formally “red-lined” and underinvested neighborhoods. She promotes thoughtfully planned communities and outdoor environments that center social equity and ecological value.

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LA River nature

Riverpark Coalition

More green space for western Long Beach.

OUR MISSION: Work with local neighborhoods, philanthropists, businesses, and government officials to expand access to green space, hiking and equestrian trails, native habitat, and wetlands in western Long Beach and the surrounding areas.

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