New Solar Lighting on L.A. River Bikeway

New solar lighting (pole on left, with white sandwich board and cone at base) being installed on the L.A. River Bike Path. Glendale-Hyperion Bridge is in the background.

In mid-November, I spotted some new lights being installed along L.A. City’s stretch of L.A. River bike path. With the help of the city Department of Transportation’s Tim Fremaux and Department of Public Works’ Richard Lee, I have some background on the new lighting. 

Hope takes the 3:10 to Yuma (and the lower Colorado River)

Speaking of the lower Colorado River, check out this wonderful video giving some historical context, issues and hope:

Click on image for link to video.

The rebound of bird species is particularly notable with this restoration project, where the prior, degraded, condition included filled channels, disconnected wetlands, and a lack of natural flooding resulting in the loss of habitat diversity and a thicket of non-native species.  Reflecting on some local arguments, I see that a combo of hand labor and big machines were used, dredging for floodplains and re-establishment of channels.  Restoring flooding with “industrial style” restoration with adaptive management techniques might not always be so bad after all…

For more info, here’s a slide show and an article in the journal Ecological Restoration.

Thanks to Fred Phillips, a Flagstaff-based landscape architect, who shared this link about his work with me when I went to visit the Friends of the Rio de Flag earlier this year.

 

Occupy Wall Street – Creekfreak Edition, circa 1993

Taking the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street movement in a somewhat Creekfreaky direction, I thought I’d share a little piece from my past, when I was a grad student in architecture at Columbia University. 

A poison pen letter to a spraypainting fool at the Los Angeles River Walk

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For N.D.

Dear Man-Boy of Atwater,

Apparently your parents and neighbors are afraid of you, and your friends are probably as big assholes as you.  You are clearly overdue to be cornered in a dark alley  by a small army of cantankerous grannies, or the bad Vampire Slayer, or Batman.  Hope you meet your destiny soon.  Why you had to take a big crap on a significant park project, a signature landscape tying in a small naturalized creek to the blooming Los Angeles Riverwalk at North Atwater Park, before it’s even done is beyond me.  Maybe you don’t want your neighborhood to get any nicer, you don’t want your little brother or sister (or godforbid you have a child) to feel safe playing at the L.A. River.  You can’t stand the site of anything beautiful, crafted?  You drive up the costs of maintaining a decent environment, bring despondency to those who dedicate their lives to making Los Angeles livable, drive the undecided to believe that locking down our public spaces is the only way to manage land, and, yes, breathe oxygen into the fire of anti-government goons who see failure in all efforts to improve our lives through the expenditure of tax dollars.  You may be a punk, but you’re not punk rock.

So check yourself, pendejo.  We can see you know how to form letters, spell even, so eff’ing go out there and read.  Learn something.  Become somebody worth hearing from.

Love,

la Creekfreak

P.S. LA River + Atwater peeps, contact your council offices to let them know you want them to step up graffiti removal, park patrols, and general dickhead abatement.  They need to know this is a priority for you.

P.P.S. Did you know it’s been scientifically proven that the size of your letters are inversely proportional to your – well, never mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Processes of becoming: water and wastewater in some Northwest urban landscapes

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Last week I spent time in a city where rivers and streams are so much a fabric of the culture, they are a character in public life, possibly even approaching equals along with salmon, Microsoft, clearcut forest, and eagles…

Exploring Santiago Creek in Orange County

Santiago Creek, view downstream just east of the intersection of Chapman Avenue and the 55 Freeway in the city of Orange. 55 Freeway bridge is at the left edge of the photo. Bike path under construction runs along the far (north) side of the creek.

I spent quite a bit of time in Orange County earlier this year. A bit of that time I spent enjoying tooling around on a bicycle exploring Santiago Creek, a tributary of the Santa Ana River. I shared a little of this in an earlier post specifically about the Santiago Street Bridge over Santiago Creek (and there are earlier L.A. Creek Freak pieces about Santiago Creek here and here.) Today I’ll post more of the images from my explorations – all from July 2011. 

Bike Ride on the San Luis Rey River

Rex on the San Luis Rey River bike path in Oceanside

Last week, my friend Rex and I bicycled from San Clemente to Oceanside… where we stumbled onto the San Luis Rey River and biked up its 7.2 mile San Luis Rey Trail bike path. I confess that I don’t know a lot about the San Luis Rey River, and most of the San Luis Rey’s flow wasn’t all that visible in the thick riparian foliage… willows, sycamores, and more… but there’s plenty of good information online regarding its watershed. 

When a tree falls in Hollenbeck Park

In my work with CicLAvia, I’ve been enjoying passing the time sometimes in Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. It’s a great historic park in a great historic neighborhood, well-loved by the community… both community and park have been degraded by freeways… but both community and park are hanging in there doing all right.

I forget when I first became aware of it, but I was kinda fond of this tree, leaning over the lake at Hollenbeck:

Lakeside sycamore tree at Hollenbeck Park - August 2010

After Sunday’s CicLAvia group ride, I noticed the tree wasn’t there:

Lakeside sycamore stump at Hollenbeck Park - July 2011

(sorry I didn’t quite succeed in getting exactly the same angle on my before and after shots.) 

Army Corps seeks public input for LA River boating program

Here’s your chance to weigh in on boating the LA River. Thanks to Lupe Vela at the City of Los Angeles for forwarding the following notice:

Greetings!

The U.S.  Army Corps of Engineers has issued a public notice  to inform the general public that the Los Angeles District of the Corps has received a request to access the Los Angeles River in the Sepulveda Basin for a pilot non-motorized boating program along with permission to charge a fee.  The Corps will evaluate the proposed action along with reasonable alternatives and modifications, under the National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA) through an Environmental Assessment (EA). The Corps has made a preliminary determination that an Environmental Impact Statement is not required. The Corps will consider compliance with other laws, including the Endangered Species Act, in conjunction with this analysis.

Public Comment Period: June 17- 30, 2011- all comments must be received by 6/30/11.

Tentative Boating Program Start Date: July 8, 2011

The following website will take you to the public notice and description of the proposed program:

http://www.spl.usace.army.mil/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1997&Itemid=2

All comments must be directed to Lisa Sandoval, U.S. Corps of Engineers, 915 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90017  Attn: Asset Management:
Lisa.m.sandoval@usace.army.mil

If you like more information on the lead organizer of the program, the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, please contact
Irene Lopez,    ilopez@lacorps.org
Yasmin Corona,  ymcorona@lacorps.org

If you like more information on the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, please contact:
Walt Young: walt.young@mrca.ca.gov

If you would like more information on the City of Los Angeles council motion on this issue, please contact

Lupe Vela:  lupe.m.vela@lacity.org

Congratulations to all for their hard work on this exciting program!

New Exercise Stations at Marsh Park

New exercise station at Marsh Park

Eyes on the L.A. River: I spotted some new exercise stations along the Los Angeles River at Marsh Park in Elysian Valley. Though both of these photos show the stations unused, I was happy to see them being tested out by a mother and her family taking a walk along the new river walk/bike path. Though they’re not listed on the website yet, they appear to be part of the Trust for Public Land’s Fitness Zone program that installs these types of exercise in parks in parks in L.A.’s densely-populated neighborhoods.