LA County's LA River Master Plan is not what some of us had thought it would be. A few years ago, we heard talk of returning the river to a more natural state, but it seems that the County is doubling down on mistakes made decades ago before we ostensibly knew what we know now. We now know that because of our indifference to and ignorance of the natural environment, we have created the climate crisis, which will turn 500-year floods into much more common events. And we now know that we must work to create permeable surfaces that capture rainfall and water, and instead of rushing all that river water out to the ocean, provide opportunities for some of it to be absorbed into the soil—hard to do if the walls and bottom of the river are concrete. And we now know that improvements can have unintended (or intended) consequences, driving out some of those who live near the river.

—Lisa Hart, NCSA board member

PREVIOUSLY:

For others' thoughts on the proposed master plan, check out:

The plan begs the question, who/what is it designed to serve?

Friends of the LA River (FoLAR) asked organizations to sign this community sign-on letter. Thank you to the East Hollywood and Silver Lake Neighborhood Councils, which signed it!

The County Department of Public Works recently released its final draft, and unfortunately, our allies say it still falls short. Please see the Statement of Principles for the Health of the Los Angeles River from Los Angeles Waterkeeper and FoLAR, and consider signing on.

The LA County Board of Supervisors plans to adopt the plan at their Tuesday, June 14, 9:30 am meeting. See the agenda item #107 on page 75. Please consider submitting a written comment and/or calling in the day of. Instructions for both are on the first page of the document. Public comment is scheduled to be heard from 9:30 to 10:30 am. Update—there will be 90 minutes of public comment, so will go until about 11:10, apparently.

And are you wondering what the City of Los Angeles's take on this is? So are we.

UPDATE June 15, 2022: The County Board of Supervisors approved the plan. We lost.

latimes.com/environment/story/2022-06-14/la-river-master-plan-grapples-with-defections
laist.com/news/climate-environment/community-advocates-withdraw-support-from-the-la-river-master-plan

UPDATE August 5, 2022: LA Waterkeeper and the Center for Biological Diversity have sued the County over the plan. You can learn more at lawaterkeeper.org/news/the-future-of-the-la-river.

 

Updated August 5, 2022