News and Events – 25 January 2012

SOME CREEKLY FREAKLY NEWS:

> Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited the L.A. River this month. Will plentiful federal funding for river revitalization soon follow?

> Will Campbell discovers a sweet new city of Burbank bike path along the Burbank Western Wash.

> Here’s a blog about recycled concrete rain gardens I’ve been working on with Koreatown Youth Community Center.

Sidewalk cyclist next to the new Avenue 19 bike lanes in Lincoln Heights

> The L.A. River Bike path bike lane bikeway takes a detour onto the streets of Lincoln Heights. I really really like bike lanes and I like the idea of getting them in first, then moving on to more expensive bike paths… but I fear the massive parking removal on this one here will trigger a backlash… potentially leading to future city reluctance to remove any parking anywhere ever. Even if  it’s not quite the L.A. River bikeway, it is a new precedent: the city of Los Angeles’ first completed asymmetric one-way bike lanes couplet… a treatment that I think works better on actual one-way streets. How about Cypress and Avenue 18 next?

SOME UPCOMING EVENTS:

> Elysian Valley neighbors have been experiencing some pollution issues due to Metrolink operations right across the river at Taylor Yard. Metrolink, So Cal Air Quality Management District, elected officials and the public will meet and discuss how to make the situation better. The meeting takes place TONIGHT – Wednesday January 25, 2012 at 6:30pm at the L.A. River Center, 570 W Avenue 26, L.A. 90065. More information here.

> Creek Freak’s Joe Linton will be speaking as part of the environmental media panel at the Council for Watershed Health forum on Tuesday January 31st 2012. More information at CWH website under events.

> CicLAvia returns Sunday April 15th 2012, starring the 4th Street Bridge over the L.A. River.

Creek Freaks Speak Next Week

Water panel at Antioch University next Thursday

I am speaking at a Water (and Power) panel at Antioch University in Culver City.  Fellow panelists include Leonardo Vilchis, of Union de Vecinos (LACF readers will remember Leonardo from this video) and Conner Everts of Southern California Watershed Alliance (LACF readers will remember Connor from this L.A. River kayak trip.) 

Nate Downey Harvest the Rain Book Tour

I confess that I haven’t read the Harvest the Rain book yet, but it looks great, so I wanted to let L.A. Creek Freaks know about an upcoming book tour – next week! From Tuesday October 25th 2011 through Saturday October 29th, Nate Harvey will be appearing in Southern California to promote Harvest the Rain: How to Enrich Your Life by Seeing Every Storm as a Resource. Rainwater harvesting is a topic we’ve covered at Creek Freak, and from Harvey’s website and video, the book looks very promising.

Book tour announcement details after the jump. 

Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan Resurfaces This Saturday

CASP flier - click to view meeting details at the city website

This Sunday is the city of Los Angeles’ annual community meeting regarding the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (called CASP.) The meeting takes place at 10am on Saturday October 15th 2011 at Goodwill, 342 N. San Fernando Road, LA 90031 (near the Lincoln Cypress Metro Gold Line Station.) Meeting details at the city’s CASP website.

Symposium Explores the Complexities of Sediment Management

1969. A conveyor belt transports sediment away from Big Tujunga Reservoir. (Los Angeles Public Library Images)

Last Tuesday (9/20), the Council for Watershed Health (formerly the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council) hosted a creek-freaky event entitled Shifting Soil: Sediment Management Policies in Los Angeles. While I was fortunate enough to be in attendance, it has taken some time to digest all that was discussed and to place in context all of the remarks that were made. The following is my best attempt at a summary including a few thoughts on the topic. For further reading, have a gander at Mademoiselle Gramophone’s in depth coverage (including video and audio snippets) or visit the Council’s event archive for downloadable PDF files of each presentation. A friendly forewarning: this post is a lengthy one…

Downey Rec Ctr Albion Demolition Kick-Off This Thursday

Flier for this Thursday's Kick-Off Event - click for full-sized pdf

L.A. Creek Freak readers may remember the city of Los Angeles’ September 2009 acquisition of the 6-acre Albion Dairy site, adjacent to the L.A. River in Lincoln Heights. LACF ran this initial breaking news, a more detailed announcement, and photos of the site.

This week, at 12:30pm on Thursday September 29th 2011, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilmember Ed Reyes are hosting a demolition kick-off event. It’s open to the public – please attend and celebrate progress on the city’s newest river park.

An update on the project follows. 

Upcoming Greywater Workshops – October 2011

Joe's Washing Machine, hooked up to water trees and berries

In October 2011, Greywater Action are teaching workshops in Southern California. Greywater Action are the great folks formerly known as Greywater Guerillas, then they changed their names after the state of California went and made greywater legal. These are the folks who installed (and taught how to install) my home washing machine greywater system that I wrote about here.

If you’re in Los Angeles, there are greywater workshops on Friday October 14th and Saturday October 15th – both at Los Angeles Eco-Village. In Santa Monica, similar workshops on Saturday October 8th and Sunday October 9th. Bonus workshop on humanure (composting toilets) on Friday evening October 14th. Workshop details below and at Greywater Action website. 

L.A. River Clean-Up and Day of Service Tomorrow

L.A. River Day of Service - click for full flier image - art by Leo Limon

It’s covered on plenty of sites elsewhere, but Creek Freaks should definitely plan to come to tomorrow’s Friends of the Los Angeles River La Gran Limpieza – the annual Great Los Angeles River Clean-up. Clean 9am to 12noon Saturday April 30th 2011 at over a dozen sites from Long Beach to Tujunga. This year the multi-site event is combined with city of Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa’s Day of Service. The riverly day concludes with a 12n-2pm celebration at Rio de Los Angeles State Park – including a free concert by Ozomatli!

Long Beach events for Creek Freaks

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Two events that Long Beach Creek Freaks might like:

Today, Saturday  (happening, er, now) is a trash cleanup at the Willow Gulch/Walnut Springs site. Community members fought hard to spare this site from leveling for sports fields in the early 2000′s. The Gulch has a piped, spring-fed stream running through it. In fact, those springs were Long Beach’s original water source – and the source of water for the little hamlet of Willowville (see photos above). The stream is gone, but some remnant habitat recolonized the site. You can hear tree frogs croaking in a retention basin in the late afternoons. The sports field concept has taken the back burner – I am hopeful a more ecological concept take shape.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the Prisk Native Garden in Long Beach is having its open house. Check out 8,000 square feet of native landscaping in a school setting!

Prisk Native Garden Open House for the general public is Sunday, April 3, from one to four p.m.
We’re on the ground of Prisk Elementary School, 2375 Fanwood Ave., Long Beach, CA 90815. From the north take the 405 Fwy. to the Paloverde exit in Long Beach. When you come down the ramp make a sharp right on Los Arcos.
The garden is about two and a half blocks down on the right near the corner of San Vicente and Los Arcos (around corner from school office).

Here’s some news coverage about the garden: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2010/04/prisk-native-garden-open-house-on-sunday-from-1-to-4-pm.html

Confluence Plaza Dedication Tomorrow – Wed March 30 2011

New fountains at Confluence Plaza

Phase 1 of the multi-faceted Confluence Park project is opening tomorrow evening – Wednesday March 30th 2011.

L.A. Creek Freak covered this project’s plans and construction in earlier articles – follow those links for project details. Confluence Park celebrates the historic confluence of Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco – the place described in the earliest written account of the Los Angeles area. Today the spot is probably most familiar to Angelenos as the intersection of the 5 and 110 Freeways.

Confluence Plaza, located adjacent to the parking lot of the Cypress Park Home Depot, features fountains, a plaza, seating areas, and landscaping. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed P. Reyes invite the public to attend the dedication - tomorrow – at 6pm Wednesday March 30th 2011. See flier for details.