Think you?ve never seen the Los Angeles River? You are mistaken if, like every good red-blooded American, you?ve seen Grease and recall the scene when tarty Cha Cha DiGregroio starts the drag race (?playing for pinks!?) with a flick of her kerchief. Various folks in LA are planning to transform the concrete ditch that doubles as a drag strip back to its natural state. Yeah, that means dirt, plants, and water.
The vision for many civic groups includes park space as well as considerable residential and commercial development along the banks of the flowing river. Students at SCI-Arc are participating in a studio to ?re-envision? the river. Land is being assembled all along the 51-mile length of the river, and the City recently signed a $2.6 million contract with a group of architects, landscape designers, and engineers to do an intensive study of revitalizing the waterway near Downtown.
They?ve just got to get Cha Cha to emcee the dedication.
· Know Your Watershed [The River Project]
· LA River Master Plan [LA Dept. Public Works]
· LA River Greenway Program [Trust for Public Land]
· Another Swing at Riverside Revitalization [Downtown News]