Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation Honors Reyes at Kick-Off Event

More than 200 guests gathered on the afternoon of September 11th to help 'kick-off' the newly launched Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation on the patio of Atwater Crossing near the Los Angeles River.

An independent organization created by the City of Los Angeles two years ago, the LARRC is a non-profit corporation charged with promoting responsible development, redevelopment, and revitalization along the Los Angeles River corridor, in accordance with the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, according to their website, http://thelariver.com/.

Sunday's event drew quite the 'Who's Who' of Los Angeles 'riverly' people. While guests mingled and noshed, facilitator Ron Milam  got the 'riverly' energy going with his LA River wall mural where everyone was encouraged to draw their 'dream project' for the LA River.

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti opened the formal festivities by welcoming the enthusiastic crowd, and introduced LARRC's first Executive Director, Omar Brownson, seen here offering his vision for the River, while LARRC Vice-Chairman and first Corporation Chair Harry Chandler looks on.

Omar, who has extensive experience in start-up organizations, spoke of how he's 'come home' to LA to help move LA River revitalization forward.

In the short few months since Omar's hiring in January 2011, LARRC has launched their website, moved to offices at the LA River Center, and hired two additional staff members to work on fund-raising and office operations.

Among the political dignitaries in the crowd were Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, Los Angeles City Council Member Tom LeBonge, Los Angeles Public Works Director Paula Daniels, Los Angeles City Planning Commission President Bill Roschen, and LA Planning Commissioner Barbara Romero.

The highlight of the day's event was the presentation by LARRC Board Chairman Daniel Tellalian of the first 'Changing the Course of LA' Award to Los Angeles City Council Member and River Champion Ed Reyes. The award, a beautiful bas relief of a blue heron rising from the River, was a commissioned work created by Los Angeles artist Steve Appleton.

During his remarks, award recipient Reyes spoke passionately about his vision for the LA River, forged by more than a decade of river revitalization advocacy within the City, and spoke how immediate attention on river corridor revitalization would bring much needed new jobs to the City of Los Angeles.

Other 'riverly' leaders spotted in the crowd included: LARRC Board Members Bruce Saito and Daphne Zuniga; LA Mayor's Office Liaison Romel Pascual; LA River Committee Liaison Lupe Vela; US Army Corps of Engineers Planning Chief Josephine Axt; LA Bureau of Engineering's Deborah Weintraub;  LA River Office Director Dr. Carol Armstrong with staffers Larry Hsu and Megan Whalen; CRA's Jason Neville; TreePeople's Andy Lipkis; Landscape Architect Mia Lehrer; Master Gardener Glen Dake; and the Trust for Public Land's Carolyn Ramsay.

Los Angeles River Cooperation Committee Approves Two New Projects

It was a full house at the April 4th quarterly meeting of the Los Angeles River Cooperation Committee, composed of representatives of the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and related agencies who have agreed to work cooperatively to implement the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan.

After the call to order and a report from the High Speed Rail (HSR) team on new proposed alignments along the Los Angeles River, especially in the Cypress Park Area, the focus turned to two new projects, which the Committee unanimously approved.

The first, the Headwaters Project, was presented by Richard Gomez (seen in the photo above) of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, which is spearheading the effort. This $7 million riverfront project, a LA County collaboration with the Los Angeles LA River Office, the City Department of Transportation and the LA County Bicycle Coalition, includes the creation of bioswales, native plants, interpretative signage and connectivity with the LA River Bicycle Path.

This project is in a key West San Fernando Valley location near De Soto and Browns Creek Bridge, and, when completed, will serve thousands of residents within its close proximity to 3 schools, Quinby Park, Topanga Plaza and other local business districts. The project anticipates completion by May 2013. It will have no channel capacity impact.

The second approved project, sponsored by the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, is located in the North Atwater Park area of the LA River and entails the building of a new 'Atwater Park Multi-Modal Crossing,' a hybrid bridge over the LA River that will allow walkers, bicyclists and equestrians to 'share the crossing' as a safe connection from Atwater to Griffith Park.

This projected $3 million project, a collaboration with Buro Happold, Fuscoe Engineering, Mia Lehrer+Associates, Gardiner+Theobald and Tetra Tech, will be a 230-280 foot long span with a 27-30 foot width. The project managers are currently evaluating arch, cable truss, and cable suspension design options.

Most importantly, the Atwater Crossing will mark the first LA River project that will totally privately funded by an enthusiastic donor, according to LA River Revitalization Corporation Board Chair Daniel Tellalian.

Other announcements included:

.April 30th is the Annual Mayor's Day of Service and this year will focus exclusively on Los Angeles River clean-up projects and events, in cooperation with Friends of the LA River and the Los Angeles River Office.  Attendees were encouraged to 'get out the volunteers' on April 30th, since the Cities of Los Angeles and Chicago are having a friendly competition to see who can get more volunteers involved in their respective river projects.

.Mark Pestrella, Los Angeles County Assistant Director of Public Works, noted that the Lake Alameda Greenway Project at Victory and Alameda in Burbank had just had its Groundbreaking. He also stated that there will be a June dedication for the retrofitting of Big Tujunga Dam, which will increase capacity by 4500 acre feet of stormwater capture. Finally, 40 acres in the Sun Valley Watershed have been purchased by the County to design and create an upper area wetland project in Sun Valley Park with LA City and LADWP partners.

The LA Zoo Parking Lot Stormwater demonstration project will be dedicated on April 7th at 9:30am.

The City of Glendale Riverwalk groundbreaking is scheduled for April 14th at noon.

The annual Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition LA River Bike Ride will be held this year on June 5th.

The next meeting of the River Cooperation Committee is scheduled for July 5, 2011.

Los Angeles River Cooperation Committee Chooses First Project

Monday January 10th marked the first meeting of the newly reorganized Los Angeles River Cooperation Committee, comprised of representatives from the City of Los Angeles Engineering Office/LA River Office, Bureau of Sanitation, Recreation & Parks Dept as well as the Watershed Management and Water Resources Divisions of the LA County Flood Control District. The US Army Corps of Engineers participates as a non-voting member.

Committee Co-Chair Gary Lee Moore, of the LA Engineering Office, presided over a full agenda and a packed house, including community representatives from Friends of the Los Angeles River, Northeast Trees, Silver Lake Conservancy, Native Plant Society, and the LA Fire Department Search and Rescue Division.

Two major topics dominated this meeting: First, regional representatives of the California High Speed Rail Authority (HSR) gave an informative update on HSR alignment crossing the Los Angeles River along three vital segments: Los Angeles Union Station to Palmdale (which also affects the Los Angeles River-Arroyo Seco Confluence), Los Angeles Union Station to Anaheim, and Los Angeles Union Station to San Diego. The southern route designs currently look at trestle bridging over the LA River, but of the 4 designs proposed through downtown northward through the Taylor Yard right of way, three now are tunneling options, where the trains would run 70 feet under the Los Angeles River. Design 4 which tunnels under the River and exits at the surface near the 2 Freeway and Fletcher Drive was a new proposal and finally one from HSR that seeks to complement rather than compete with LA River restoration activities in Cypress Park near the Rio de Los Angeles State Park and the new LAUSD high school.

The second top item was the presentation by Tori Kjer of the Trust for Public Land (TPL) on the LA River and Aliso Creek Confluence Project in the west San Fernando Valley, which creates a riverside greenway on a Los Angeles Department of Water & Power easement and a portion of a vacated street east of Wilbur Avenue and Kittridge Street. This project, which has already received partial grant funding, was unanimously approved by the Committee as its first project.  This project also includes the Rivers & Mountain Conservation Authority (RMCA) as a partner.

Other river projects underway incudes the Headwaters Project on Owensmouth Avenue in the West San Fernando Valley and the North Valleyheart Riverwalk in Studio City.

Committee member activity reports included the following:

USACE - There will be a federal site visit within the next couple weeks along the Ecosystem Restoration Study area of the LA River. The Corps will also be having a 'sweet spot' workshop with High Speed Rail in the new few weeks to work out final alignments along the River.

LA River Office - North Atwater Park and the Elysian Valley Bikeway both had successful groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies, respectively. Omar Brownson has been named as new Executive Director of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation. There will be a public River Update meeting at 6:30pm on February 10th in Reseda, location to be announced. This year's Mayor's Day of Service on March 12th will focus solely on the LA River and project ideas should be sent to Carol Armstrong.

Bureau of Sanitation - The Low Impact Development Ordinance was approved by the LA City Council and is now at the City Attorney's office for review. The groundbreaking occurred for a new green alley at Vineland Avenue and Burbank Boulevard, which will recapture enough groundwater to serve 60 homes annually. The Avenue 19/Humboldt Pocket Park Stormwater Capture project is underway. A blighted alley in South LA at Manchester and Figueroa is being converted to a green groundwater project in cooperation with Caltrans. All these projects are efforts to comply with the TMDL Implementation Program.

Other updates included:

The proposed LA-Rio (Los Angeles River Improvement Overlay) Ordinance is now out of the City Attorney's office and back in Planning, where significant revisions are likely to comply with other recent ordinances including the Green Streets and LID Ordinances.

There will be no LA River federal advocacy trip to Washington this year. However, the Committee is hoping to hold meetings with local Congressional leaders and perhaps State legislators in March.

Proposed topics for the next meeting, scheduled for Monday, April 4th at 1:00pm include an update from the County on the Sediment Removal Plan and a request from FOLAR on River access. This meeting will be  held at the LA County Dept of Public Works, 900 S. Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, in the conference center there.