Undoing Damage To The L.A. River

"This effort is by far the most comprehensive. It covers the entire course of the river through the city, which is about 60 percent the total length of the river. So you can begin to think about these larger issues. Up to now, the accomplishments have amounted to a small number of park spaces along the river."

"This plan will not only deal with creating park spaces but will also deal with flood detention, wetlands restoration, water quality, and development. We see parkland creation as working quite well in areas where the river is still heavily industrialized."

"There are tremendous opportunities for redevelopment in those areas and creation of entertainment zones, apartments, lofts, more housing along the edges of the riverfront parks. This is a pretty big plan, and as far as I can tell, the team in charge is up to the task."

"We issued our first report, which, hopefully will be an annual report, on the water quality of the river. Its title is, 'Towards a Swimmable, Fishable, Boatable River,' and that’s our goal. We want the river to be healthy enough that the steelhead trout run can resume after it's been cut off for the last 75 years or so. That's obviously a hard goal to reach, but on the way to that, we can have a much healthier river."