LA River Plan No Good

Downtown blogger Brady Westwater argues that the Los Angeles River needs saving -- from the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Think the billion-dollar LA River Master Plan can turn the dry creek bed into a viable public resource? Think again. The city's land-use policy that calls for devoting Downtown's river-fronting parcels not to green open space but to "green heavy industry" conflicts with the goals of concerned Downtowners. "Now, no other city in this country -- for that matter, no city on this planet (since Stalinist five year industrial plans have gone out of fashion even in Russia -- if not in Los Angeles) would ever dream of lining a river in the most congested and populated part of the city with railroad tracks, high tension lines and wall to wall factories -- forever." But things can change, Westwater notes, if only flaky LA officials would return his phone calls. [CityWatch]