LA River Goes On Sexy Date With Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul via Wikipedia
As part of an effort to publicize the LA River revitalization, back in 2008 City Councilman Tom LaBonge held a press event to pour water from the Isar River in Munich, Germany--a river that saw a successful revitalization--into the LA River. It was a sexy event, with LaBonge calling the "mingling" of waters an inspiration for LA's own project. Our gal has had another date. A group from the Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, South Korea, which went through a $300 million renovation, recently showed up to mingle their water with ours. "Co-mingling the waters of these two great rivers is a symbolic gesture of hope," said Councilmember LaBonge said in a statement. Last year, the New York Times covered the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream* (not river, as originally written), explaining that the project has boosted the ecosystem (the number of fish and bird species have increased), and helped cut pollution levels. "We’ve basically gone from a car-oriented city to a human-oriented city,” Lee In-keun, Seoul’s assistant mayor for infrastructure, told the paper.
· Bringing Seoul to the Los Angeles River [CD4]
· River Mingling: LA River Definitely Dating Up [Curbed LA]
· Peeling Back Pavement to Expose Watery Havens [NY Times]