This is amazing, so many people who really care about making this project well. I can’t wait till we have a bike path that goes all the way from Burbank to Long Beach along the river.
But it would let PEOPLE use less polluting vehicles to go where they want/need to go. Plus they get better health using their muscles and staying healthier too.
i remember voting to change the river back long ago, and i thought to myself i haven't seen any movement on it fora decade and have been wondering whats going on, i was hoping to see river look like an actual river before i got old haha. But ya seems it like everything is a lot more complicated than first thought. I won't lie and even as a extremely young adult knew that changing the river and make it beautiful again would very much affect people living near it now, because people will actually want to live near it and to some extent i still think it might be worth it to everyone in l.a if the river changed but to think it would need to displace so many people just so we could deconcrete the river is kinda shocking. I still have high hopes but all i can say is oof. Also the 50 years quote hurt my soul a little.
The maximalist plan is probably pie in the sky and you and I would be ling gone before it got done lol. But something like the Platte River in CO may work
These proposed parks may increase open space for recreation (and that does indeed have positive benefits for local communities), but they have almost nothing to do with revitalizing the riparian ecosystems along the LA River. Natural rivers have space to flood and meander, room to deposit and erode sediment and to change course. That possibility for the LA River started to diminish in the late 1800s when residents and businesses built right up to river as the city grew. And then when damaging flood after flood occurred from the late 1800s to the 1930s, rather than move development back from the river, the decision was made to construct a massive channelization project. That was the river's effective death. For most of its length, the LA River today is not a living, functioning river; it is a pipe that funnels water to the ocean. Perhaps the most important function of the river today is a lesson for the future of how we interact with natural ecosystems - when our "development" encroaches so overwhelmingly on a natural system, it will reach such an altered state that going back to anything close to a healthy, functioning system becomes nearly impossible. If we are smart we will think about the lesson of the LA River globally; if we irreparably damage our forests, our coral reefs, our agricultural land, there may come a point when there is no meaningful rehabilitation.
Live next to the LA River. One mega storm and people will remember why the canal is built the way it is. This year after one storm the LA river was close to being max in several areas.
That’s exactly what I was thinking from the very beginning of this video. The river was built for 100 year events. It’s only been 90 somewhat years since the last event and we’re already trying to tear it down because the event hasn’t happened.
Hence the reason why they may have to dredge both the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers to 2.5-3 times the historical natural depth to make sure the river does not become an overflow hazard.
Well ya, im pretty sure they talked about why the l.a river was built the way it is, but how they went around it was short sighted imo. basically destroyed a river and filled it with concrete, and well now we can't get rid of the concrete because people live near the river which is also another mistake again imo. New plan seems to just make the river more recreational.
@@GuthanSlayer To bring the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers back to a reasonably natural state would mean dredging the rivers to 2.5-3 times its original depth to make it less prone to overflowing and putting in levees on both sides, which is not completely practical because the levee installation would end up destroying a large number of homes near the river. We're pretty much stuck with the concrete lining, unfortunately.
The addition of impermeable surfaces is what makes floods worse. The channelization of the river treated a symptom but didn't fix the root of the problem, which is that water has nowhere to go and thus causes floods. The solution to this will be multi faceted, and the restoration of the river is a necessary but insufficient part.
Gentrification can be a positive development for existing residents of the neighborhood is the current residents have a say in how it's done. This should be about progress and positive equitable development to move neighborhoods into the future without displacing them.
The quality of this doc was incredible! So much information provided, and done so in a way that addresses the many delicate relationships with this River. Thank you for sharing!
The High Line green space in New York resulted in property values increasing 103% between 03-2011. Art galleries and luxury apartments drove out the working class. And that project was only about 20 blocks. The poor don't get to have nice things.
@@brettpitman3718Thank you. People are so quick to complain about gentrification and I get it but those same people should also be advocating for more housing if they really want solutions. Developers will never stop, and there is a housing crisis
I mean it's a public river that literally is just concrete. It would be better to change it back to a river that both channels flood water and absorb water back into the quickly draining groundwater reservoirs. It also helps support greenery that will better support both wildlife and the overall LA health.
@@goldenoodles6281 its not so easy, the main cause is something this video didnt explain properly and that is that the watershed of the LA River's 824square miles is mostly made out of concrete and asphalt. The whole LA is so paved over the rainwater has nowhere to go but to the LA River or the other drainage canals zigzagging the city when it rains. The absolute lack of small and large parks that could halp with water retention, infiltration and evaporation close to LA River doesnt help its cause at all. The San Gabriel River was much better managed at least till the Firestone Blvd, but it shows just how much redevelopment would be needed if they wanted to have LA river without concerete. So the current state, and the conservative aproach of some officials and experts is not the casue but the symptom of much larger problem.
17:46 Its disappointing that improving a public space risks gentrification. It tells me that beautiful parks are so rare in southern California, that people will pay high prices just to be next to one. The land needs next to the river needs to be protected from gentrification, and more parks need to be built more broadly
When i lived in long beach in 2019 i would ride my bike along the river. Its honestly really nice. Like its better than i had anticipated. Saw people on horses a really unique bio diversity and the homelessness at the time wasnt that bad. This was 2019
I’m an aspiring interior designer from the south Bronx and since I started pursuing my degree it’s struck me how often while well intentioned architects and designers miss the mark on what their user groups what the communities they’re designing for actually need. I want to be a designer that designs for people first, no compromises
This is not a river: it's a storm drain. Rivers are connected to the land they flow through, and they hydrate the surrounding area. This is progress, I guess, but it is not a river.
There's a 100 seat concert hall. That's not for the community that's currently there. A "teaching cafe"? A bookstore? Yet more space restricted to people who pay to be there. How about a multi-use community center? How about a Library?
Their mics are made for helicopters and have built in phase cancellation that gets rid of the helicopter noise. but if you listen closely, you can hear it does make their voices sound a little tinny, similar to how a voice sounds on the telephone
I grew up near this river in the 1960s... entry was forbidden and it was fenced off but many kids knew how and where to get in.. we rode our bikes all the way to the beach from South Gate and also explored far upriver. When gang activity started being more prominent it became a dangerous place to hang out... mid 1970s and we went there a lot less. The L.A. riverbed was a peaceful place to hang out at times, a rare thing in the middle of a busy metropolis. I live far from So. Cal now but I hope that the L.A. River is remodeled into something the residents can enjoy.
Cannot there be a narrow sunken river channel in the present cement channel footprint with flood vegetation such as willows and other vegetation found in arroyos that can provide a seasonal riparian green space during the low water flow season and survive being submerged by flash flood flow during the rain season? I think developing the Sepulveda flood control basin to retain more water needs to be considered before we surrender ourselves to the 1930 flood control methods of cemented river rain gutter.
We want a beautiful place to hang out and peacefully ride our bikes. Well lit and safe. Hopefully this will not become commercialized and hopefully funds will go where it should be and not in pockets of the people in charge
It’s understandable that local communities may feel jeopardized and exposed to real estate investment speculation because Gehry’s name is attached to the project, but in reality it makes sense to have such a firm with its vast global professional and institutional knowledge/ experience to oversee the vision of the project to be successful
I didn’t like this. It went from river restoration to creating more human habitat w buildings and farcical views of how art will save the world. Develop restored habitat for ANIMALS, not more corridors of concrete to cover the actual riverbed. It’s absurd cuz you don’t want to displace people and yet most of the properties are rentals. So who cares if you select sections to widen so that flood stage waters can actually function to create essential ecosystems when it means buying rental properties? No one there is living there FOR the concrete river basin. And the ponds that will sit on top as habitat will NOT end up looking the way useless architects have portrayed it. Ridiculous non-solutions to long lost tributary habitats.
Build water storage areas to divert water to holding reservoirs during huge rain events. This will reduce the pressure on the river during the storms and flash floods, and then provide water in the dry spells by slowly releasing it. This would prevent the need to widen the channel by 7x. Another option: Have a no-concreate channel next to a concrete channel. The concrete channel will funnel water during huge rain events, while the no-concrete channel will have water-flow restricted to a set amount to prevent erosion. The no-concrete channel will be accessible, include parks, paths, boating, and swimming. The concrete channel could even be built underneath. If the two above options are combined, we could then switch between the concrete and no-concrete/natural channels based on water volume, and then during the dry months, the water storage areas could be released through the natural areas to maintain nice aesthetics, while the concrete area would be blocked off until the next rains. This would essentially create two rivers: A volume-controlled LA River that feels very natural, and a parallel flood control channel that would be mostly out of sight.
They have already done that, that is what the Sepulveda Flood Basin is. Over 2,000 acres of land that was built in order to flood in the event of torrential downpours. And when they do get their once decade storms, it can flood up to 10 feet or more and take a month or more to drain again. And there is nowhere they can build another basin. The San Fernando Valley is small and narrow, but very flat. There are no real "flash floods" there, but there can be a huge amount of water in heavy rains as the ground does not soak up water well so it just runs off. And because of the geology, it can only flow in one direction. You can not tell by that video, but Canoga Park where the river starts to the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin is less than 10 miles. All of the water from that valley goes there, because it is the lowest part in the valley. I grew up in that area, and used to play in the river as a kid. The channel from Canoga Park to Sepulveda is about 20 meters deep and over 100 meters wide (often up to 250 meters). And just 10 miles from the start of the river, it can get water up to 3/4 of the way up the sides of that channel in a storm. The amount of water that flows down that during heavy storms is almost impossible to imagine, and it picks it up in a very small amount of space. They simply can't build any more basins like that. And they can't retain the water, as that would cause vector issues as well as the water cached in them is generally toxic and can be used for nothing. Once you go down from the San Gabriel Mountains, it is largely fed by street runoff. That means oil, spilled gasoline, human waste from the homeless encampments, and everything else from the streets in LA goes into the river. Everybody that lives there knows to not swim in or eat the fish from the river. But as for the flood problems, it is only a problem during the El Niño storms, roughly one year every 7-10 years. In all of the other years, the channels are more than enough to handle everything and more. But the overengineering was done for what we call the "Decade Storms", in other words ones they get once a decade. Like the one mentioned at the start in 1938. When that area was still a sparsely populated rural community with a population of less than 100,000 people yet killed over 100 people. Today, that area is home to over 1.8 million people. And if you look, there are photographs in 1938 of city streets with the water running down it at waist level. If that was to happen today, the death count would be in the thousands if not for the channeling of the LA River.
@@zeitgeistx5239Turn every 2 story house into a 10 story apartment building 😀 LA isn't densely populated. The density per square mile in Los Angeles (2018) was only 7,545 persons per square mile (within its 503 square mile boundary); But New York City (2018) had 26,403 persons per square mile! (within its 303 square miles). San Francisco is 18,790 people per square mile. So LA has a long way to go before you can call it "Densely Populated."
I ride the river trail from imperial through rio hondo all the way to the 10fwy 5 times a week and the biggest issue is all the homeless and gangs and crackheads, and unless there is some kind of security or patrol similar to a park rangers in the LA forest this will be nothing but more room for dangerous activities to continue. The river is not safe no matter how pretty you make it, i have to ride with security measures on me at all times because theres always that individual that pops out of nowhere trying to harm
For the longest time, as an outsider, I thought the LA River was just a name to make fun of it because I thought it was just a man made flood control ditch.
This is Heartbreaking. I don’t live in CA but from an external perspective, missing out on a natural river intertwined with your hometown and being stuck with this concrete canal is just… Saddening. Even more so knowing that can’t be reversed into its natural state, hope the adaptation from its current state can at least bring some nature into all of this city without displacing entire communities
My family is Mexican immigrant. They had nothing when they came to California but they saved and bought a home. If you don’t own something, you’ll eventually be displaced. Gentrification sucks, but it happens to the middle class too.
Anybody who has ever worked on these type of massive infrastructure projects would tell you. Community engagement is probably the most frustrating thing there is some input is really good but some is just a wishlist - the public simply does not have the knowledge to understand most of what is going on. They’ll say we want this too! And you’ll have to go…that’s literally impossible without at least another 100 million dollars. And then they go “you’re just not listening to us” we quit. And then they get no project, and then complain about the next public meeting about how there’s just no investment in their community. Like the thing that repeatedly shocks me about community advocates is they’ll get hung up on housing costs - like yeah, if we take a really low income neighborhood with flooding problems and build a bunch of nice parks so it doesn’t flood so people who aren’t super poor actually want to live there (the people who’s tax dollars actually paid for the project)….you will get some gentrification and your property taxes might have to go up, and you might just have to figure it out.
I think it can be done, but it can't be the pre-1930's Los Angeles River, which was highly prone to overflowing its banks. They will need to substantially increase the depth of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers by dredging to ensure both rivers does not become overflow hazards.
in my head it is so disappointing that they can not make it a natural river. I get why, I Really do, but for the solution to be just to make nice things on the side of it.... I mean ok hahaha. Also glad they brought up kicking out the minority folk from the aria once it is all nice. I hope the people stay on that, because that is what will happen. Story old as time. I am just so jaded by it all.
there were stables along the river back in the 1960s, 70,s and 80s that boarded and rented horses... I have a picture of myself and my Mom riding there from 1960... we rode there many times. I live far from there now... I wonder if any of those stables still exist.
“Surrounded by a red picket fence, Yanagi Mori faces a narrow plebeian street lined with small shops and stalls. Its rear is on the cement banks of the Kanda River, an urbanized trough whose imprisoned green waters course pitifully across Tokyo in much the same way that the Los Angeles River trickles through LA: a liquid indictment of the failed imagination of man.” - Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito
You can't look at any well connected place in LA and not think gentrification is coming. People blame a project for something that is happening citywide: Housing prices are skyrocketing and pushing out the poor and middleclass.
5:17 - Water is heavy, but it's lighter than the analogy. A cubic foot equals 4 basketballs. So, you could either say 4 basketballs of water is 62.4 pounds or 1 basketball of water is 15.6 pounds. (For reference, a gallon of water is 8.3 pounds.)
1 liter of water weights 1kg. or a volume 0,001 cubic metres. one basketball has a volume of about 0.011 cubic meters. so 1 basketball of water would weight around 10kg
@@lazyboy300 I'm guessing you pulled the 0.011 number from The Measure of Things. But they corrected it; search for "Correction for the size of a Basketball (packed)". I'll do the math directly to confirm. A size 7 ball is at most 0.77 meters circumference (it can be as low as 0.75 m). That yields a radius of 0.122549 m and a volume of 0.00770941 cubic m.
Have you seen those soccerfields that dont flood, can you do something like that here? Keep the water draining thru river but have parks above. The floodwaters would flow out below the above parks. Raised water ponds every so many miles for birds, bring together each community instead of having that trench dividing them.
It shouldn't even need be said that there needs to be no net loss in housing. The population is always growing, anything other than a drastic increase in housing with new projects is just an absolute joke.
Honestly, it'd be alot cheaper to just replicate what already exists in Frogtown LA, or in Anaheim Hills in Orange county. Allow a little bit of sediment and vegetation to grow inside the channel to attract wild life. Also add a bit more shade along the bike path.... Thats all people want. More animals around and more shade for strolling.
This is all fantasy land stuff. The State is broke, there's no money for mega projects like this. The areas that would be targeted for this are full of homeless and crime. This stuff would be destroyed in a manner of months. Also, with the recent storms we had, the rivers were around 80% capacity. Anything that would interfere with the water being transported away could be catastrophic. If they somehow could come up with more upstream water storage to reduce the volume of water during extreme rainy seasons, it may work. For a while politicians were trying to convert the LA River to freeway lanes.
Capping the L.A. River is a bad idea. Storms will get more intense and it probably wont be able to handle them in any case as it is. We do need to slowly diverge from the floodplain. People need to be properly compensated. Denser housing needs to be built. The fact is, L.A. the way it is needs to change or it simply will not survive.
@mrxman581 This is not a situation that calls for the middle ground. The very future of the livability of the region hinges on accepting that we need to begin to invest in drastic societal changes. The status quo is simply not enough to sustain this region through the challenging climate future that is not as far off as some more short-sighted thinkers imagine.
Gentrification is overblown. Many people in low income neighborhoods sell out at a nice profit to developers. It is hardest on renters, but cities morph over time. The more restrictions put in place to stop that, the more markets get distorted and cause problems.
I wonder if it's possible to create a new zoning category that only allows single family dwellings and apartments that are specifically designed for low to middle income residents while OUT-LAWING any projects that would build multi-million dollar homes and upper class gated communities. There has to be some legal solution to protect these kinds of areas from the gentrification process that has displaced low to middle class families from so many cities today.
As a person of color, I find it interesteing that a first-hand point-of-view of a black populace was not included in this narrative. It has long since been known that our contibutions to these areas have been marginalized, politicized and in some cases terrorized. It is far too common to see "us" left out of the conversation. As we too need area revitalization, conservation efforts that reward the community inhabitants with fresher water and cleaner air, road and infrastructure regenerarion as well as unutilized space initiatives being set in place to aide in resolving homelessness and derelict conditions of vegetation overgrowth and trash colleting efforts. I would love to see a special that takes the time to gain the understanding of an inclusive take on what our city needs for us all to thrive and live better.
This was specifically about the areas around the LA River. And you had various people of color interviewed on this video. There are many redevelopment plans going on for historically minority communities too. Do some homework and volunteer to have a say in your community. It's up to you to help make a difference as the black woman implied in the video
I am so shocked people are clueless about how it was before the channels. Floods ever few years and rebuilding constantly, insurance companies should not have to insure properties that constantly flood
So basically the plan is to build an elevated park and recreational center over a giant ugly gutter? I understand the issue with people living on the river potentially being displaced but at the same time if the river were to flood in its current state it would displace them regardless. Part of me wonders why when the city would flood why they didn’t just require people and businesses to not develop in a high risk area so that the space around the river could be developed in a way that could control the flow of water without having to completely cover it with concrete. Especially since apparently after this most recent flood it almost reached capacity in certain areas of the river. It’s unfortunate that the situation is being handled as a “the damage has been done” scenario and just building around the issue.
Yea, as i was watching i was like what the hell? Half way through they just said, well it would actually be really hard, so were not gonna do it, but look at all these local people talk about their lives
The more beautiful a place gets the more people want to move there… I can displacement happening in that way. But it’s overblown here. As always they find excuses to not do it instead of simply doing it
It's a moot point. The natural state of this seasonal river could be very unpredictable. That's one of the reasons they channeled it. If you werw to take it back to its original natural state, the flood plane zone on both banks of the river would need to be around 1/4 mile on each side with new berms on both sides of the 51 mile length. Never going to happen. That discussion is moot at this point.
It's a moot point. The natural state of this seasonal river could be very unpredictable. That's one of the reasons they channeled it. If you werw to take it back to its original natural state, the flood plane zone on both banks of the river would need to be around 1/4 mile on each side with new berms on both sides of the 51 mile length. Never going to happen. That discussion is moot at this point.
may be we need less ambitious and expensive plans....like start with few trees, leave the concrete, extand bike paths where is't possible, do the waterbike renting in deeper places. we want clean river first of all.
I guarantee you the 100 seat concert hall is not going to be affordable for the community that lives a few blocks from there. This architect wants to make a space for cooking because a couple of kids told him they like it? Hardworking blue collar families with small businesses are cooking all the time, that's probably why their children want to do it. It sounds like rich architect guy just handed out a bunch of surveys and stayed for 30 minutes and left. A bookstore? Physical bookstores aren't going to be a thing in 50 years, try maybe a library or a research/study space. The master plan is building space for white people, not latinos or black communities.
Cultural Ctr is way off.--will usually be empty. A neighborhood of low, low income housing--many rent-to-own--w/grocery stores,coffee shop, laundromat, etc, along w/interest free loans to truly small businesses, is the only "cultural center" that makes sense. Purchased homes ONLY owner-occupied. Otherwise $$$$$ just goes to big companies that don't give a damn.
The whole of LA county was so poorly and lazily designed compared to other great European and American cities. Sometimes I think the county must have hired interns
I was hoping the video would address solutions to the concrete channel and how that has limited the ability for wildlife to thrive or even exist in the vast majority of those 51 miles. Couldn’t they add baffles or make irregularities within the existing channel to create areas of the river that can accumulate sediments and gravels where life can take root? Instead the “master plan” they are talking about seems more like another commerce/cultural project that will bring further displacement to the community. Building a park over the river like an overpass? Really? Seems expensive. Let’s bring back steelhead trout.
The communities affected are rent controlled. Ain't all this speculation about how renters will be affected a moot point? lol. Rest of the documentary is cool though
05:20 pound per cubic foot ?! what a stupideous scale to measure. just take the metric system. 1l = 1kg and 1 tonne is 1 cubic meter. could be so easy. americans... smh
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this program is funded by one of the largest agribusinesses, Cargill. While the content maybe informative, always follow the money, as an agenda isn’t always apparent.
It blows my mind that people can look at that, and still think it's somehow going to be a wonderful river again, with little duckies and all that. lol People truly live in a fantasy world. But I'm sure we'll spend another couple decades throwing money at something that's completely absurd and will never work. Meanwhile, they have zero budget up in the ANF (actual nature), which is why it's turned into a giant dumping ground and illegal grow patch. But inner city hipster NPR lsisteners are too lazy to go up there and actually try and do something for legit nature. They'd rather have their goofy fantasy about changing a putrid storm channel into a river.
Culture center sounds like a BS to me. A boondoggle doom to failure. The river project should be the main focus. When you don't do your best you end up with the worst.
you say this like the United States itself was not founded on slavery and genocide. race is still VERY real in the country and if you can't see that, you're either in denial or extremely privileged.
I guess you only studied the white American version of US history. The fact that up through the 60s blacks and other minorities couldn't buy homes in many of the better neighborhoods in LA is directly related to why more minority neighborhoods exist along the river. It was some of the few areas minorities could buy land or a home.
wealthy and professional class people are NOT going to be tripping over each other to move into those communities because a few parks get built along the river
Do you think the people involved in this project don't have knowledge and examples of how this project will work? By the way, greenery always create greater interest.
This is amazing, so many people who really care about making this project well. I can’t wait till we have a bike path that goes all the way from Burbank to Long Beach along the river.
A new bike path isn’t habitat restoration.
But it would let PEOPLE use less polluting vehicles to go where they want/need to go. Plus they get better health using their muscles and staying healthier too.
It was our "bike path" to the beach in the 60s and 70s lol although it was illegal... we did it anyway and never got into trouble.
I appreciate the journalism behind this video addressing the pros and cons through various voices.
I kayaked the nice part of the LA River. It was awesome!
i remember voting to change the river back long ago, and i thought to myself i haven't seen any movement on it fora decade and have been wondering whats going on, i was hoping to see river look like an actual river before i got old haha. But ya seems it like everything is a lot more complicated than first thought.
I won't lie and even as a extremely young adult knew that changing the river and make it beautiful again would very much affect people living near it now, because people will actually want to live near it and to some extent i still think it might be worth it to everyone in l.a if the river changed but to think it would need to displace so many people just so we could deconcrete the river is kinda shocking. I still have high hopes but all i can say is oof. Also the 50 years quote hurt my soul a little.
You won't see a true river for a good part of LA river ever unless 999999999999% of the world is destroyed.
@@DaniMrtini Well at lest they are trying something. Better than enviro doomerism any day.
@raclark2730 sure I know that bit what many folks hope for isn't going to be the reality.
@@DaniMrtini We shall see I suppose. Sure we probably cant turn the planet back to pristine. But there could be chance to meet in the middle.
The maximalist plan is probably pie in the sky and you and I would be ling gone before it got done lol. But something like the Platte River in CO may work
These proposed parks may increase open space for recreation (and that does indeed have positive benefits for local communities), but they have almost nothing to do with revitalizing the riparian ecosystems along the LA River. Natural rivers have space to flood and meander, room to deposit and erode sediment and to change course. That possibility for the LA River started to diminish in the late 1800s when residents and businesses built right up to river as the city grew. And then when damaging flood after flood occurred from the late 1800s to the 1930s, rather than move development back from the river, the decision was made to construct a massive channelization project. That was the river's effective death. For most of its length, the LA River today is not a living, functioning river; it is a pipe that funnels water to the ocean. Perhaps the most important function of the river today is a lesson for the future of how we interact with natural ecosystems - when our "development" encroaches so overwhelmingly on a natural system, it will reach such an altered state that going back to anything close to a healthy, functioning system becomes nearly impossible. If we are smart we will think about the lesson of the LA River globally; if we irreparably damage our forests, our coral reefs, our agricultural land, there may come a point when there is no meaningful rehabilitation.
Very true. Balancing flood control with river/habitat restoration is near impossible as they have such divergent goals.
I appreciate your articulation and sharing; so well written.
tldr😂
Yeah i was so hopeful at the beginning of this doc and then so depressed by the ending….maybe it is just a lesson to learn from
Yeah, this is just a park project, nothing to do with the river besides massaging
It time the people of this world remembered that nature was here first. Keep up the good work.
Live next to the LA River. One mega storm and people will remember why the canal is built the way it is. This year after one storm the LA river was close to being max in several areas.
That’s exactly what I was thinking from the very beginning of this video. The river was built for 100 year events. It’s only been 90 somewhat years since the last event and we’re already trying to tear it down because the event hasn’t happened.
Hence the reason why they may have to dredge both the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers to 2.5-3 times the historical natural depth to make sure the river does not become an overflow hazard.
Well ya, im pretty sure they talked about why the l.a river was built the way it is, but how they went around it was short sighted imo. basically destroyed a river and filled it with concrete, and well now we can't get rid of the concrete because people live near the river which is also another mistake again imo. New plan seems to just make the river more recreational.
@@GuthanSlayer To bring the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers back to a reasonably natural state would mean dredging the rivers to 2.5-3 times its original depth to make it less prone to overflowing and putting in levees on both sides, which is not completely practical because the levee installation would end up destroying a large number of homes near the river. We're pretty much stuck with the concrete lining, unfortunately.
The addition of impermeable surfaces is what makes floods worse. The channelization of the river treated a symptom but didn't fix the root of the problem, which is that water has nowhere to go and thus causes floods. The solution to this will be multi faceted, and the restoration of the river is a necessary but insufficient part.
Gentrification can be a positive development for existing residents of the neighborhood is the current residents have a say in how it's done. This should be about progress and positive equitable development to move neighborhoods into the future without displacing them.
The quality of this doc was incredible! So much information provided, and done so in a way that addresses the many delicate relationships with this River. Thank you for sharing!
Great, but where is the “restored habitat” when it leads to concrete tunnels and ponds on concrete and more buildings? Makes no sense.
The High Line green space in New York resulted in property values increasing 103% between 03-2011. Art galleries and luxury apartments drove out the working class. And that project was only about 20 blocks. The poor don't get to have nice things.
And that's nothing compared to what Robert Moses did with the Cross Bronx Express
What is your solution? Keep it ugly for the sake of the underprivileged? Did you even watch the video?
LA gentrified everywhere ages ago, if you want to preserve low-income neighbourhoods you need to upzone the entire city evenly across all areas
I get your point but it'd hard to imagine anyone poor being able to afford that area these days, even if the High Line never existed
@@brettpitman3718Thank you. People are so quick to complain about gentrification and I get it but those same people should also be advocating for more housing if they really want solutions. Developers will never stop, and there is a housing crisis
The city officials are considering. This for a portion of the Santa Ana river.
Santa Ana River is already pretty green space "ish" around Anaheim Hills area... Looks like a wetland with lots of birds/ animals
the shots at 13:00 are amazing
The river is even more beautiful in the Valley where they didn't concrete it at all
Full disclosure, NY’er here. My heart screams OUTSTANDING! My head whispers gentrification. 😢
Can't stop it, happening everywhere
I mean it's a public river that literally is just concrete. It would be better to change it back to a river that both channels flood water and absorb water back into the quickly draining groundwater reservoirs. It also helps support greenery that will better support both wildlife and the overall LA health.
@@goldenoodles6281 its not so easy, the main cause is something this video didnt explain properly and that is that the watershed of the LA River's 824square miles is mostly made out of concrete and asphalt. The whole LA is so paved over the rainwater has nowhere to go but to the LA River or the other drainage canals zigzagging the city when it rains. The absolute lack of small and large parks that could halp with water retention, infiltration and evaporation close to LA River doesnt help its cause at all. The San Gabriel River was much better managed at least till the Firestone Blvd, but it shows just how much redevelopment would be needed if they wanted to have LA river without concerete.
So the current state, and the conservative aproach of some officials and experts is not the casue but the symptom of much larger problem.
How’s the NYC oyster bay project going? (Look it up)
Yeah this is just a public parks project
17:46
Its disappointing that improving a public space risks gentrification. It tells me that beautiful parks are so rare in southern California, that people will pay high prices just to be next to one.
The land needs next to the river needs to be protected from gentrification, and more parks need to be built more broadly
We don’t need buildings. We need green spaces!!
We don't need single-story suburbs, we need a proper city with multistory apartment buildings and robust public transportation.
@@TinLeadHammerTrue, but we need green spaces a lot, too especially in many neighborhoods along the river.
We need both. Much more housing and green spaces for recreation.
I constantly take my speed boat out on the LA River for wake boarding and water skiing.
Wake boarded from Duarte to Long Beach what a great day!!
Let’s hope this guy doesn’t move in after the project is finished
Yeah, the wildlife of the restored habitat love that…
BS
@@justme-n-gracie lol
When i lived in long beach in 2019 i would ride my bike along the river. Its honestly really nice. Like its better than i had anticipated. Saw people on horses a really unique bio diversity and the homelessness at the time wasnt that bad. This was 2019
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Might as well pick the option that makes things look nice.
well then you would have loved it in the 60s and 70s when I frequented the L.A. Riverbed.
I’m an aspiring interior designer from the south Bronx and since I started pursuing my degree it’s struck me how often while well intentioned architects and designers miss the mark on what their user groups what the communities they’re designing for actually need. I want to be a designer that designs for people first, no compromises
This is not a river: it's a storm drain.
Rivers are connected to the land they flow through, and they hydrate the surrounding area.
This is progress, I guess, but it is not a river.
There's a 100 seat concert hall. That's not for the community that's currently there. A "teaching cafe"? A bookstore? Yet more space restricted to people who pay to be there. How about a multi-use community center? How about a Library?
How about restored habitat? Zero.
My thoughts the whole time
Gentrification wrapped in a green natural organic local grass blanket
4:00 How was the audio quality so good in the helicopter ?
Their mics are made for helicopters and have built in phase cancellation that gets rid of the helicopter noise. but if you listen closely, you can hear it does make their voices sound a little tinny, similar to how a voice sounds on the telephone
This is awesome 🤩
Every big dream comes with some displacement; soften the landing for those, but do not give up the dream. Build these green spaces.
Fun fact the word “communities” was used 76 times in this video, averaging out to roughly 3 times a minute
i couldn't watch after a while. "commmuuunitttieeeees"
Hmm and it was sponsored by a scam organization with the same name what a coincidence.
Bunch of NIMBYs who complain about "gentrification".
so WHAT ?
I grew up near this river in the 1960s... entry was forbidden and it was fenced off but many kids knew how and where to get in.. we rode our bikes all the way to the beach from South Gate and also explored far upriver. When gang activity started being more prominent it became a dangerous place to hang out... mid 1970s and we went there a lot less. The L.A. riverbed was a peaceful place to hang out at times, a rare thing in the middle of a busy metropolis. I live far from So. Cal now but I hope that the L.A. River is remodeled into something the residents can enjoy.
Cannot there be a narrow sunken river channel in the present cement channel footprint with flood vegetation such as willows and other vegetation found in arroyos that can provide a seasonal riparian green space during the low water flow season and survive being submerged by flash flood flow during the rain season? I think developing the Sepulveda flood control basin to retain more water needs to be considered before we surrender ourselves to the 1930 flood control methods of cemented river rain gutter.
Live next to the LA river, that exists to some degree. Problem is one storm will rip it all out and send it down into the Port of LA/LB.
@@M.Mae.M facts.
Idk about the plant life but surely they can at least open some degree of leakage to replenish ground water
I was hoping to hear communities a few more times
We want a beautiful place to hang out and peacefully ride our bikes. Well lit and safe. Hopefully this will not become commercialized and hopefully funds will go where it should be and not in pockets of the people in charge
Architects dream at the expense of habitat.
It’s understandable that local communities may feel jeopardized and exposed to real estate investment speculation because Gehry’s name is attached to the project, but in reality it makes sense to have such a firm with its vast global professional and institutional knowledge/ experience to oversee the vision of the project to be successful
I didn’t like this. It went from river restoration to creating more human habitat w buildings and farcical views of how art will save the world. Develop restored habitat for ANIMALS, not more corridors of concrete to cover the actual riverbed. It’s absurd cuz you don’t want to displace people and yet most of the properties are rentals. So who cares if you select sections to widen so that flood stage waters can actually function to create essential ecosystems when it means buying rental properties? No one there is living there FOR the concrete river basin. And the ponds that will sit on top as habitat will NOT end up looking the way useless architects have portrayed it. Ridiculous non-solutions to long lost tributary habitats.
Agreed
Felt the same
This isn’t rewilding anymore it’s park creation and who loses? Biodiversity and the environment.
Isnt it the place where Terminater 2 was filmed ?
Yes. Also with the movie Grease
Build water storage areas to divert water to holding reservoirs during huge rain events. This will reduce the pressure on the river during the storms and flash floods, and then provide water in the dry spells by slowly releasing it. This would prevent the need to widen the channel by 7x.
Another option: Have a no-concreate channel next to a concrete channel. The concrete channel will funnel water during huge rain events, while the no-concrete channel will have water-flow restricted to a set amount to prevent erosion. The no-concrete channel will be accessible, include parks, paths, boating, and swimming. The concrete channel could even be built underneath.
If the two above options are combined, we could then switch between the concrete and no-concrete/natural channels based on water volume, and then during the dry months, the water storage areas could be released through the natural areas to maintain nice aesthetics, while the concrete area would be blocked off until the next rains.
This would essentially create two rivers: A volume-controlled LA River that feels very natural, and a parallel flood control channel that would be mostly out of sight.
They have already done that, that is what the Sepulveda Flood Basin is. Over 2,000 acres of land that was built in order to flood in the event of torrential downpours. And when they do get their once decade storms, it can flood up to 10 feet or more and take a month or more to drain again.
And there is nowhere they can build another basin. The San Fernando Valley is small and narrow, but very flat. There are no real "flash floods" there, but there can be a huge amount of water in heavy rains as the ground does not soak up water well so it just runs off. And because of the geology, it can only flow in one direction. You can not tell by that video, but Canoga Park where the river starts to the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin is less than 10 miles. All of the water from that valley goes there, because it is the lowest part in the valley.
I grew up in that area, and used to play in the river as a kid. The channel from Canoga Park to Sepulveda is about 20 meters deep and over 100 meters wide (often up to 250 meters). And just 10 miles from the start of the river, it can get water up to 3/4 of the way up the sides of that channel in a storm. The amount of water that flows down that during heavy storms is almost impossible to imagine, and it picks it up in a very small amount of space.
They simply can't build any more basins like that. And they can't retain the water, as that would cause vector issues as well as the water cached in them is generally toxic and can be used for nothing. Once you go down from the San Gabriel Mountains, it is largely fed by street runoff. That means oil, spilled gasoline, human waste from the homeless encampments, and everything else from the streets in LA goes into the river. Everybody that lives there knows to not swim in or eat the fish from the river.
But as for the flood problems, it is only a problem during the El Niño storms, roughly one year every 7-10 years. In all of the other years, the channels are more than enough to handle everything and more. But the overengineering was done for what we call the "Decade Storms", in other words ones they get once a decade. Like the one mentioned at the start in 1938. When that area was still a sparsely populated rural community with a population of less than 100,000 people yet killed over 100 people.
Today, that area is home to over 1.8 million people. And if you look, there are photographs in 1938 of city streets with the water running down it at waist level. If that was to happen today, the death count would be in the thousands if not for the channeling of the LA River.
Where you gonna get that magical land from in densely populated LA?
@@zeitgeistx5239Turn every 2 story house into a 10 story apartment building 😀
LA isn't densely populated.
The density per square mile in Los Angeles (2018) was only 7,545 persons per square mile (within its 503 square mile boundary); But New York City (2018) had 26,403 persons per square mile! (within its 303 square miles). San Francisco is 18,790 people per square mile. So LA has a long way to go before you can call it "Densely Populated."
Thanks Bill Nye! 😂
I ride the river trail from imperial through rio hondo all the way to the 10fwy 5 times a week and the biggest issue is all the homeless and gangs and crackheads, and unless there is some kind of security or patrol similar to a park rangers in the LA forest this will be nothing but more room for dangerous activities to continue. The river is not safe no matter how pretty you make it, i have to ride with security measures on me at all times because theres always that individual that pops out of nowhere trying to harm
For the longest time, as an outsider, I thought the LA River was just a name to make fun of it because I thought it was just a man made flood control ditch.
This is Heartbreaking. I don’t live in CA but from an external perspective, missing out on a natural river intertwined with your hometown and being stuck with this concrete canal is just… Saddening. Even more so knowing that can’t be reversed into its natural state, hope the adaptation from its current state can at least bring some nature into all of this city without displacing entire communities
Can we also add a train system that runs along or on the river? Since it's so wide and not all of it is being used? 800+ miles!
No no.
Metro in its wisdom prefers to put lines through quiet neighborhoods
"800 miles"? not the L.A. river....
Only possible because the left wing passed the Infrastructure Bill ❤ vote 💙 2024
bring back nature to L.A.
LA has been making moves lately, Im excited for the future here 🙌
They've been talking about the LA River since I lived there in 1994. Still haven't seen anything done.
Im not a fan of the Gerhy-proposed design. But hey, if its functional & efficient...
I like its focus on making the river more conducive to recreational activities.
My family is Mexican immigrant. They had nothing when they came to California but they saved and bought a home. If you don’t own something, you’ll eventually be displaced. Gentrification sucks, but it happens to the middle class too.
Guess where it's all heading: new feudalism
I see Hollydale Park there 😍😍😍
Anybody who has ever worked on these type of massive infrastructure projects would tell you. Community engagement is probably the most frustrating thing there is some input is really good but some is just a wishlist - the public simply does not have the knowledge to understand most of what is going on. They’ll say we want this too! And you’ll have to go…that’s literally impossible without at least another 100 million dollars. And then they go “you’re just not listening to us” we quit. And then they get no project, and then complain about the next public meeting about how there’s just no investment in their community. Like the thing that repeatedly shocks me about community advocates is they’ll get hung up on housing costs - like yeah, if we take a really low income neighborhood with flooding problems and build a bunch of nice parks so it doesn’t flood so people who aren’t super poor actually want to live there (the people who’s tax dollars actually paid for the project)….you will get some gentrification and your property taxes might have to go up, and you might just have to figure it out.
communities commuting to commune with community are community
I think it can be done, but it can't be the pre-1930's Los Angeles River, which was highly prone to overflowing its banks. They will need to substantially increase the depth of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers by dredging to ensure both rivers does not become overflow hazards.
Nope. Flooding will erode and undermine the banks. You “thinking” it can be done has nothing to do with reality.
definitely make it natural enough of concrete boredom
Yeah they need to restore the river through Phoenix Az. too! That canal system is gross AF!
in my head it is so disappointing that they can not make it a natural river. I get why, I Really do, but for the solution to be just to make nice things on the side of it.... I mean ok hahaha. Also glad they brought up kicking out the minority folk from the aria once it is all nice. I hope the people stay on that, because that is what will happen. Story old as time. I am just so jaded by it all.
How to fix the river? Build a 500-seat music center. Got it.
Gehry doesn't come from money. And his firm is doing this work for free.
Wow I didn’t know that part of LA had horses.
Along the San Gabriel river too.
there were stables along the river back in the 1960s, 70,s and 80s that boarded and rented horses... I have a picture of myself and my Mom riding there from 1960... we rode there many times. I live far from there now... I wonder if any of those stables still exist.
City of Compton and paramount have ranches
They also cross the l.a river
“Surrounded by a red picket fence, Yanagi Mori faces a narrow plebeian street lined with small shops and stalls. Its rear is on the cement banks of the Kanda River, an urbanized trough whose imprisoned green waters course pitifully across Tokyo in much the same way that the Los Angeles River trickles through LA: a liquid indictment of the failed imagination of man.” - Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito
Divert the water to reservoirs. We can never have enough fresh water
You can't look at any well connected place in LA and not think gentrification is coming. People blame a project for something that is happening citywide: Housing prices are skyrocketing and pushing out the poor and middleclass.
5:17 - Water is heavy, but it's lighter than the analogy. A cubic foot equals 4 basketballs. So, you could either say 4 basketballs of water is 62.4 pounds or 1 basketball of water is 15.6 pounds. (For reference, a gallon of water is 8.3 pounds.)
1 liter of water weights 1kg. or a volume 0,001 cubic metres. one basketball has a volume of about 0.011 cubic meters. so 1 basketball of water would weight around 10kg
@@lazyboy300 I'm guessing you pulled the 0.011 number from The Measure of Things. But they corrected it; search for "Correction for the size of a Basketball (packed)".
I'll do the math directly to confirm. A size 7 ball is at most 0.77 meters circumference (it can be as low as 0.75 m). That yields a radius of 0.122549 m and a volume of 0.00770941 cubic m.
Have you seen those soccerfields that dont flood, can you do something like that here? Keep the water draining thru river but have parks above. The floodwaters would flow out below the above parks. Raised water ponds every so many miles for birds, bring together each community instead of having that trench dividing them.
It shouldn't even need be said that there needs to be no net loss in housing. The population is always growing, anything other than a drastic increase in housing with new projects is just an absolute joke.
Honestly, it'd be alot cheaper to just replicate what already exists in Frogtown LA, or in Anaheim Hills in Orange county. Allow a little bit of sediment and vegetation to grow inside the channel to attract wild life. Also add a bit more shade along the bike path.... Thats all people want. More animals around and more shade for strolling.
Ya you got to love the trash, transients, criminals, along many parts of it that you must go through.
This is all fantasy land stuff. The State is broke, there's no money for mega projects like this. The areas that would be targeted for this are full of homeless and crime. This stuff would be destroyed in a manner of months. Also, with the recent storms we had, the rivers were around 80% capacity. Anything that would interfere with the water being transported away could be catastrophic. If they somehow could come up with more upstream water storage to reduce the volume of water during extreme rainy seasons, it may work. For a while politicians were trying to convert the LA River to freeway lanes.
❤
Has anyone looked at the Bern in Switzerland in comparison?
You do realize somewhere upstream someone is living at it's edge.
Capping the L.A. River is a bad idea. Storms will get more intense and it probably wont be able to handle them in any case as it is. We do need to slowly diverge from the floodplain. People need to be properly compensated. Denser housing needs to be built. The fact is, L.A. the way it is needs to change or it simply will not survive.
Capping the river is a great compromised solution. It would creat needed green spaces and be more recreationally friendly. It will work.
@mrxman581 This is not a situation that calls for the middle ground. The very future of the livability of the region hinges on accepting that we need to begin to invest in drastic societal changes. The status quo is simply not enough to sustain this region through the challenging climate future that is not as far off as some more short-sighted thinkers imagine.
Gentrification is overblown. Many people in low income neighborhoods sell out at a nice profit to developers. It is hardest on renters, but cities morph over time. The more restrictions put in place to stop that, the more markets get distorted and cause problems.
I wonder if it's possible to create a new zoning category that only allows single family dwellings and apartments that are specifically designed for low to middle income residents while OUT-LAWING any projects that would build multi-million dollar homes and upper class gated communities. There has to be some legal solution to protect these kinds of areas from the gentrification process that has displaced low to middle class families from so many cities today.
Good luck with this idea. Nothing ventured nothing gained. 👍
As a person of color, I find it interesteing that a first-hand point-of-view of a black populace was not included in this narrative. It has long since been known that our contibutions to these areas have been marginalized, politicized and in some cases terrorized. It is far too common to see "us" left out of the conversation. As we too need area revitalization, conservation efforts that reward the community inhabitants with fresher water and cleaner air, road and infrastructure regenerarion as well as unutilized space initiatives being set in place to aide in resolving homelessness and derelict conditions of vegetation overgrowth and trash colleting efforts.
I would love to see a special that takes the time to gain the understanding of an inclusive take on what our city needs for us all to thrive and live better.
This was specifically about the areas around the LA River. And you had various people of color interviewed on this video.
There are many redevelopment plans going on for historically minority communities too. Do some homework and volunteer to have a say in your community. It's up to you to help make a difference as the black woman implied in the video
You're just furthering and "us versus them" mentality. I don't think that does anybody any good.
@@Riceman-o1pperpetuation of racism. You nailed exactly why it’ll never cease.
I am so shocked people are clueless about how it was before the channels. Floods ever few years and rebuilding constantly, insurance companies should not have to insure properties that constantly flood
Prehaps don't build in flood-prone areas
Impossible to watch and have to hear about racism and equity bs. Either fix it or don’t.
So basically the plan is to build an elevated park and recreational center over a giant ugly gutter? I understand the issue with people living on the river potentially being displaced but at the same time if the river were to flood in its current state it would displace them regardless. Part of me wonders why when the city would flood why they didn’t just require people and businesses to not develop in a high risk area so that the space around the river could be developed in a way that could control the flow of water without having to completely cover it with concrete. Especially since apparently after this most recent flood it almost reached capacity in certain areas of the river. It’s unfortunate that the situation is being handled as a “the damage has been done” scenario and just building around the issue.
Yea, as i was watching i was like what the hell? Half way through they just said, well it would actually be really hard, so were not gonna do it, but look at all these local people talk about their lives
The more beautiful a place gets the more people want to move there… I can displacement happening in that way. But it’s overblown here. As always they find excuses to not do it instead of simply doing it
It's a moot point. The natural state of this seasonal river could be very unpredictable. That's one of the reasons they channeled it.
If you werw to take it back to its original natural state, the flood plane zone on both banks of the river would need to be around 1/4 mile on each side with new berms on both sides of the 51 mile length. Never going to happen. That discussion is moot at this point.
It's a moot point. The natural state of this seasonal river could be very unpredictable. That's one of the reasons they channeled it.
If you werw to take it back to its original natural state, the flood plane zone on both banks of the river would need to be around 1/4 mile on each side with new berms on both sides of the 51 mile length. Never going to happen. That discussion is moot at this point.
..but you can't race your car through all that~!!!
may be we need less ambitious and expensive plans....like start with few trees, leave the concrete, extand bike paths where is't possible, do the waterbike renting in deeper places. we want clean river first of all.
California should not have a water shortage with all this water. What is going on?
If I know LA, this project will take 40 years and still only turn out half right.
You don't know LA.
Stuffing the river underground sounds pretty depressing.
People need to have homes first.
I guarantee you the 100 seat concert hall is not going to be affordable for the community that lives a few blocks from there. This architect wants to make a space for cooking because a couple of kids told him they like it? Hardworking blue collar families with small businesses are cooking all the time, that's probably why their children want to do it. It sounds like rich architect guy just handed out a bunch of surveys and stayed for 30 minutes and left. A bookstore? Physical bookstores aren't going to be a thing in 50 years, try maybe a library or a research/study space. The master plan is building space for white people, not latinos or black communities.
Cultural Ctr is way off.--will usually be empty. A neighborhood of low, low income housing--many rent-to-own--w/grocery stores,coffee shop, laundromat, etc, along w/interest free loans to truly small businesses, is the only "cultural center" that makes sense. Purchased homes ONLY owner-occupied. Otherwise $$$$$ just goes to big companies that don't give a damn.
You know a system is broken if people speak out against investment in their community in order to not increase rent.
The whole of LA county was so poorly and lazily designed compared to other great European and American cities. Sometimes I think the county must have hired interns
How about doing something useful for residents, for once, and make it a freeway!
Yes, one more lane will solve all traffic problems
I was hoping the video would address solutions to the concrete channel and how that has limited the ability for wildlife to thrive or even exist in the vast majority of those 51 miles. Couldn’t they add baffles or make irregularities within the existing channel to create areas of the river that can accumulate sediments and gravels where life can take root? Instead the “master plan” they are talking about seems more like another commerce/cultural project that will bring further displacement to the community. Building a park over the river like an overpass? Really? Seems expensive. Let’s bring back steelhead trout.
You have to be american to call this concrete monstrosity a river.
So this is just a parks program then
The communities affected are rent controlled. Ain't all this speculation about how renters will be affected a moot point? lol. Rest of the documentary is cool though
“Earth focused” given to us by the Cargills ? Yeah. I’ll pass.
naturalize the river, but then go build a bunch of junk all over that reclaimed space - bleh.
05:20 pound per cubic foot ?! what a stupideous scale to measure. just take the metric system. 1l = 1kg and 1 tonne is 1 cubic meter. could be so easy. americans... smh
My backyard
there should be commuter boat system on though out the basin someday.
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this program is funded by one of the largest agribusinesses, Cargill. While the content maybe informative, always follow the money, as an agenda isn’t always apparent.
Ask if they’re dodger fans, exactly what what Happened to Chavine Ravinex get over it
Gentrification...Poor people will not be able to afford any of this.
It blows my mind that people can look at that, and still think it's somehow going to be a wonderful river again, with little duckies and all that. lol People truly live in a fantasy world. But I'm sure we'll spend another couple decades throwing money at something that's completely absurd and will never work. Meanwhile, they have zero budget up in the ANF (actual nature), which is why it's turned into a giant dumping ground and illegal grow patch. But inner city hipster NPR lsisteners are too lazy to go up there and actually try and do something for legit nature. They'd rather have their goofy fantasy about changing a putrid storm channel into a river.
Culture center sounds like a BS to me. A boondoggle doom to failure. The river project should be the main focus. When you don't do your best you end up with the worst.
Please tell me again how this wonderful idea will benefit all except only people of color? Just leave the damn thing alone.
I knew this video had to go the race way, why is that always a thing with you guys.
you say this like the United States itself was not founded on slavery and genocide. race is still VERY real in the country and if you can't see that, you're either in denial or extremely privileged.
I guess you only studied the white American version of US history. The fact that up through the 60s blacks and other minorities couldn't buy homes in many of the better neighborhoods in LA is directly related to why more minority neighborhoods exist along the river. It was some of the few areas minorities could buy land or a home.
wealthy and professional class people are NOT going to be tripping over each other to move into those communities because a few parks get built along the river
Do you think the people involved in this project don't have knowledge and examples of how this project will work? By the way, greenery always create greater interest.
It's already happening around the DTLA area near the river. Several new residential buildings have been built. And they're not low income.
Have you seen the Arts District?
Cap the whole river and add tiny homes and shelters