LOS ANGELES >> Soccer fields, picnic areas and hiking paths could be coming to disadvantaged communities along the 51-mile Los Angeles River, thanks in part to $100 million in bond money earmarked for river projects in the recently approved state budget.
A pair of public agencies will oversee and distribute the funds through a grant program, with half of the money flowing to the upper part of the river, and the other half to the lower portion.
The $100 million is being made available through Proposition 1, a water bond approved in 2014. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will receive about $49 million and award the grants for the upper 40 miles of the river. The San Gabriel & Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy will oversee the same amount for projects along the lower part of the main river and tributaries.
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California Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, and other state leaders from various parts of Los Angeles County, including the San Fernando Valley and southeast Los Angeles, celebrated the funding as a sign that the disparate municipalities on the banks of the river were working together.
Many noted that communities along the full length of the river are expected to benefit from the funding, especially in less affluent communities, with de León remarking that the $100 million “is an important milestone for Los Angeles and for efforts to reclaim and revitalize the entire 51-mile span of the L.A. River.”
Miguel Santiago, a Democratic assemblyman from a district in southeast Los Angeles, who joined de León on Friday at Marsh Park in the Elysian Valley to tout the funding, said the hope from the beginning was to ensure that communities next to traditionally neglected segments of the river were getting their fair share.
“When we started this conversation … we wanted to talk about restoring all of Los Angeles and not leaving parts behind, because historically, in the past, we restore certain areas, the areas that do well,” he said. “And you don’t invest money in areas where typically you have disadvantaged communities.”
Cities and various private organizations are expected to apply for the funding, including River LA, a nonprofit group that is working with famed architect Frank Gehry to redesign the Los Angeles River.
River LA’s executive director, Omar Brownson, said the mission in recent years has been to come up with a way to “bring people, water and nature together.”
“We thought there was no better person to do that than Frank Gehry,” and the latest funding will “go a long way to bring that vision forward,” Brownson said.
This isn’t the first time the state has provided funding to Los Angeles River projects. The state last year set aside $25 million to help the city of Los Angeles purchase a 42-acre railyard plot in northeast Los Angeles known as Taylor Yard.
