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The benighted Los Angeles River, long an eyesore of trash and water treatment plant outflow, is set to be landscaped as a linear park à la the High Line Park in New York.
Today the river is slated for an overhaul, backed by officials including LA mayor Eric Garcetti and even President Obama. Last spring the Corps agreed to remove concrete along 11 miles of the river. In its place: sloping green terraces and wetlands, cafés, and bike paths. (The city is buying former industrial sites for use as parkland.)
But the river will still be a kind of mirage, a trick of human engineering. The floodplain is a major US city. Almost half the flow during the dry season comes from treatment plants. Much of the rest is urban slobber, runoff from Angelenos washing cars or watering lawns. "It's hard to understand how artificial the river really is," says Lewis MacAdams, godfather of the movement and cofounder of Friends of the Los Angeles River.
This isn't a restoration project. Transforming the river is a grand exercise in modern ecosystem manipulation. What Los Angeles is building is more like a monument to rivers—artificial, in perfect LA style, but constructed on ecological principles. A once-hostile environment will be terraformed into a hub of human activity. "This is the beginning of a golden time for the LA River," MacAdams says. "You can almost taste it." Then he reconsiders. "Well, that's not really the word you'd want to use."
The High Line Park in Manhattan has revitalized the West Side, from the Meat Packing District to Hell's Kitchen. New restaurants, businesses, office buildings, and residential high rises have sprung up along its length, and walking along it is lovely, with excellent views of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline. Perhaps this park can do the same for Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday April 28 2015, @03:48PM
Depends how they do it. If they actually use plants that are native to the area, then they won't have to water them that much.
(Score: 3, Funny) by redneckmother on Tuesday April 28 2015, @04:26PM
Like, say, dirt?
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @06:59PM
One man's troll is another's comedian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @07:45PM
Troll? What is up with the mods today?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @11:18PM
I think it has to do with sensitivity in some people towards any criticism of California. They are immersed in a culture that tells them they are of the utmost importance in a variety of ways. If someone challenges, well, some get mad.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by redneckmother on Wednesday April 29 2015, @02:18AM
Gracias, Senors y senoritas (pardon the lack of proper characters). That Is what I was hoping for... yes, it WAS trollish, but dry humor is lost on some folk.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2015, @10:40PM
Just as there are peoples that are indigenous to the SW USA who have bodies that are extremely frugal with resources (and bloat up when they get a modern calorie-dense diet), there are plants in the region that are very miserly with the water they get.
Succulents [wikipedia.org]
The leaves are thick, giving an improved volume-to-surface-area ratio.
The surface of their leaves is also waxy to minimize evaporation/transpiration and conserve water.
One such plant you may have heard of is aloe vera, which is used in medicines and lotions.
There is also a bunch of desert plants that produce a rosette structure that is pleasing to the eye of many folks.
Plants that have spikes which discourage browsers/grazers is another group (e.g. cactus).
That last one would obviously be a poor choice where humans--especially kids--will be.
-- gewg_