Posted: September 19th, 2005

by Kathryn Maese
Los Angeles Downtown News

By January 2007 the Los Angeles River will be a thing of beauty, teeming with native flora and fauna, booming with the construction of riverfront housing and active with joggers and cyclists utilizing a string of bucolic paths.

Well, at least on paper.

Last Monday city and state leaders announced the start of an 18-month process to craft a master plan for the comeback of the maligned waterway over the next 20 years. Downtown is one of five hubs that will be targeted for intensive redevelopment.

“The investment could run into the billions,” said First District City Councilman Ed Reyes during a press conference at the Cornfield state park, which will likely become the local hotspot for development. “The magnitude is difficult to imagine.”

Reyes said the 32-mile stretch from Canoga Park to Downtown would be one of the biggest public works projects in the city. Efforts will focus on a 250-foot swath on the riverbank. The development hubs, which also include Glendale Narrows and the Valley, would likely each span a quarter mile.

A series of 18 public workshops starting next month will give residents, community groups and businesses an opportunity to offer ideas on how to activate a resource that sits dormant for nine months of the year. The first two meetings are Oct. 15 at the North Weddington Recreation Center in North Hollywood and Oct. 22 at the Goodwill Worksource Center on San Fernando Road just outside of Downtown; both events are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dates and locations for future workshops are still being determined.

“Our job is to listen, listen, listen,” said City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, who will work with the Department of Water and Power (DWP) on the master plan. “Then we will bring back ideas and work on it some more and then go back to the community.”

A Question of Money

Funding for the entire revitalization has yet to be secured, but river advocates said multiple state and federal sources would be tapped in the coming months. When asked how the plan will differ from numerous past failed efforts to revive the river, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said now there is money to be had, including a new state parks bond being crafted and existing Proposition O funds.

“The thing that separates us is that there is a City Council that is committed to greening L.A. and a mayor that is staking the next four years on greening the city,” he said.

Reyes, whose district includes the Cornfield, said the master plan needs to be in place before funding is spent. “This plan will allow us to phase in these projects. We are imploring people to tell us what they want,” he said. “The city gets drops compared to how much we put into the federal fund.”

The $3 million master plan, which is being funded by the DWP, will address issues such as neighborhood improvement, protecting wildlife, the environmental health of the river and leveraging economic development.

As part of the effort, officials from the DWP, the Council Ad Hoc River Committee and the Bureau of Engineering will produce budgets for implementing the recommendations. They will also work on zoning requirements and an environmental impact report.

The Army Corps of Engineers is studying ways to reconfigure the channel and return it to its natural soft-bottom state. Officials downplayed concerns of flooding during the rainy season when the river rages with muddy waters, saying that a disaster similar to what occurred in the Gulf Coast states can be prevented with techniques such as widening the river in certain spots and improving watershed practices.

Generations of city leaders have struggled with how to utilize and control the meandering river. In the early days of the city it flowed in and around Los Angeles, providing water for drinking and irrigation. In 1913 William Mulholland built an aqueduct that essentially turned the river into a dumping ground. In the 1930s a study by the planning team of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Harlan Bartholomew sought to resuscitate the waterway with a series of parks for recreation and flood control. The Army Corps of Engineers had other plans, and in 1938 began turning the habitat into a concrete-clad flood control channel.

Today, the waterway that edges the eastern reaches of Downtown Los Angeles during its 52-mile journey from the upper Valley to Long Beach is known mostly for its graffiti and its role in film and television productions. Nearly 80% of the expanse is trapped in concrete. Many portions are strewn with plastic bags and shopping carts. It is a situation that has long been decried.

“The river runs through the city like our backbone,” said Councilman Eric Garcetti, “and our bones have been aching for too long.”