Bayou Dave, a modern-day Sisyphus, has spent the last dozen years ridding a trash-choked Houston waterway of plastic and Styrofoam.

An ongoing debate has long accompanied proposed plans to revitalize the Los Angeles River: Will green gentrification displace low-income communities along the waterway? A strategy called “land banking” should help prevent that.

The Jersey City Council approved a resolution for a $100,000 state funded feasibility study of the Bergen Arches, specifically how to address transit and green space need, at last week’s meeting.

Scott Kratz is the senior vice president of Building Bridges Across the River (Building Bridges), and director of the 11th Street Bridge Project, Building Bridge’s largest project to date. Building Bridges and the Washington, D.C., city government are transforming an old freeway bridge into a park above the Anacostia River. The base of one of the bridges will become a one-of-a-kind civic space supporting active recreation, environmental education, and the arts.