Adorned with California-friendly flora and fauna, the new pollinator garden at the Hollywood Reservoir was unveiled by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) in honor of the late city of San Fernando Councilmember Cindy Montañez.
On June 1, LA elected officials and members of the Montañez family gathered at the reservoir for the grand opening.
Montañez worked for LADWP for eight years as an assistant general manager before resigning in 2014 to run for the Sixth District Council seat.
This is the third time a pollinator garden has been planted in Montanez’s honor, who was a champion of environmental issues.
The first is in the city of San Fernando at the Cindy Montañez Natural Park, where more than 60 milkweed plants were sowed to support the local monarch butterfly population. The second is located in Beverly Hills at TreePeople headquarters, where she was the CEO.
Montañez passed away on Oct. 21, 2023, while battling an aggressive cancer. She was 49 years old.
LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman called Montañez a trailblazer and said learning about her accomplishments, as someone who is also a woman of color, was “an inspiration.”
“To me, it is particularly important that we have something in honor of Cindy Montañez right in here in Council District 4, in the center of the city, where so many residents come because her legacy was not just a legacy for the valley … [or] for Latinos, it was a legacy for this entire city, and to honor her … is a testament to the mark that she left on this city,” Raman said.
Katie Mills, TreePeople’s director of education, told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol that Montañez was a big supporter of environmental education, and her dream was to have pollinator gardens, as she “had a special place in her heart for monarchs.”
“Any time that Cindy is memorialized in this way, it really means a lot to us,” Mills said. “We appreciate that she is still a role model to many people.”
Margarita Montañez, Cindy Montañez’s mother, expressed gratitude for all dedications made in her daughter’s honor and for the kind words people have shared about her.
“I want to say thank you to the City of San Fernando. She loved her city,” she said. “And thank you TreePeople and now to the LADWP. … I feel so good when I hear all those nice words.”
The LADWP pollinator garden is adjacent to a walking path, on the west side of the reservoir, between the North and Weidlake gates. Along the path is a plaque fixed upon a rock that lists Cindy Montañez’s numerous achievements and her battle for environmental justice.
“This pollinator garden is dedicated to her memory,” the plaque reads. “May her example continue to inspire others to follow the path she blazed.”