Cleanup Plan Adopted for Beach : Ventura: In return for tending to a stretch of sand, sponsors will be recognized publicly with a plaque.

Eric Johnson doesn’t like seeing litter on the beach. And the 23-year-old Ventura resident, a part-time lifeguard who is studying environmental issues at college, goes to the beach a lot.

“I wish the public would pick up their junk on their own,” Johnson said Thursday, catching a few rays at Ventura’s Pierpont beach area. “But I guess that’s idealistic.”

Evidence of Johnson’s discontent lay nearby. Within a 20-square-foot area, the beach was littered with bits of a plastic sandwich bag, a dirty paper napkin, the hot pink plastic top to a container of Play Doh, candy wrappers, a grocery store receipt and an empty plastic water bottle.

Oh, and about 200 cigarette butts.

Officials hope that sight is about to change. In an effort to keep Ventura’s four-mile coastline free of litter, the city is recruiting a brigade of workers to pick up trash, sift out cigarette butts and rake smooth the sand in exchange for a little public recognition.

The city will save no maintenance dollars, but officials think the extra scrubbing is needed to make the beaches more attractive to tourists and locals alike.

So far, one businesswoman has joined the so-called Adopt-a-Beach program, pledging to keep clean a 75,000-square-foot area of San Buenaventura City Beach near Seaward Avenue for at least a year, said Beth Caputo, organizer of the project.

In return, the city will honor Margaret Merryman’s work with a plaque atop a steel girder anchored in the sand, with her name and a notice that she has adopted that particular section of beach, Caputo said. The sign will also note that Merryman is a licensed massage therapist in Ventura, she said.

Merryman, 35, said she decided to volunteer for the program after Caputo mentioned it to her. She chose the Pierpont area because it is relatively small compared to other beaches and is close to her floating home.

“I live on my sailboat in Ventura Harbor,” she said. “I love the ocean, and I just thought this would be a neat thing to do.”

The beach cleanup project, modeled after the highly successful Adopt-a-Highway program run by the California Department of Transportation, is part of a larger beautification planned for the entire city, Caputo said.

“A lot of people over the past few years have been calling the city and saying ‘What can I do? How can I make a difference?’ ” Caputo said.

In response, the city helped launch Partners in Progress, a nonprofit organization that has ambitious plans to spruce up not only beaches, but also city parks, benches and even trees. In a brochure, potential benefactors learn that for $700, they can donate a power pruner for keeping city hedges in shape.

Or, for $3,000, they can donate an outdoor shower pole near the Ventura Pier, personalized with their name or that of a loved one.

The first phase of the project, however, will focus on scouring the city’s beaches, Caputo said. Beaches from Surfers Point on the north to Marina Cove Beach on the south are divided into 14 adoptable sections.

Participants must sign a contract agreeing to clean the beach at least six times a year. The minimum term of the agreement is one year, Caputo said.

Partners in Progress will supply all tools: rakes, shovels, garbage bags, gloves and brooms. The bags filled with trash will be picked up by a city maintenance worker.

Michelle Lovell is one who is glad to hear about the program. Lovell, 39, a Simi Valley mother of two, was at a Ventura beach Thursday with her children. She said she noticed the bits of trash around her not long after she settled in to soak up the afternoon sun.

“It’s not like there’s no trash cans available for use,” Lovell said, gesturing to nearby bins. “Children have to learn it from their parents. That starts a whole cycle of caring.”