Located in the middle of the Elysian Valley, a manmade flood
barrier is soon to become a place for locals to kick back and relax. Although
the river is located in the middle of a booming city, there are some more quiet
areas that led environmentalists to propose the idea in 1985. Now that the
campaign passed in late May of this year, a one billion dollar project, Omar
Brownson, head of the River Revitalization Corporation says, “It will be
seamless in terms of how the city and river blend together… the wetlands,
picnic spots, flood control terraces, and bird habitats spanning 51
miles.” In addition to this, the
team plans to tear down roughly 9 miles of concrete and replace it with a
series of walking paths and bike trails, and turning 4,200 acres into Griffin
Park.
In my opinion, this is a brilliant way to revitalize a major
urban area, and allow the people in surrounding areas to experience nature in
their backyards. Although the project will take a couple years before it gets
off the ground, it has potential to become a regional natural resource. However, I can imagine it will be
slightly complicated to get the final approval from Congress to move forward
with the plan.
Fun Fact: Any ‘Grease’ fans? John Travolta’s iconic car race
took place here, just south of City Hall!
I agree with you that this is a really good way to bring nature into a big city like Los Angeles. I was actually recently on vacation with my family in California near Los Angeles and I noticed that it didn’t really have many quiet areas like this new park except for outside the city near the beaches. In Orange County near Laguna Beach, there is this one state park called Crystal Cove State Park that has been established to promote conservation. I think that it’s a great idea that Los Angeles is trying to bring something like this closer to the city.
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