What If We Cut The Fence? Highland Park Leader Honored as Arroyo Seco Icon

She once shouted 'what if we cut the fence' to passing motorists racing along her beloved Arroyo Seco Parkway (don't dare call it the Pasadena or 110 Freeway). Over the years, she's worked with such diverse organizations and projects as the Audubon Society, the Arroyo Seco Scenic Trust, the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, the Lummis Day Festival, ArroyoFest, and the Arroyo Seco Foundation, to just name a few.

Last Thursday night, Highland Park resident Nicole Possert was honored with the 2010 Arroyo Verde Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Council of Arroyo Seco Organizations (CASO) to honor an icon whose impact has promoted and protected 'Arroyo Culture' for a decade or longer.

For the past twenty years, Nicole has been a fixture at just about any Arroyo Seco corridor activity and event of significance. She cut her teeth on Arroyo Culture as a volunteer and Board President of the Highland Park Heritage Trust, which received the California Governor's Award for Historic Preservation and the Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award in 2002. From that civic starting point, there has been no stopping her. Nicole's community contribution and outreach efforts are so tremendous that even local politicos know to 'take her temperature' before announcing new initiatives and programs that may affect 'the Arroyo,' as she fondly calls it.

Congratulations, Nicole Possert, on your achievement as the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Arroyo Verde Award Winner. We look forward to another 20 years of service to the Arroyo Seco community.