Updates & Action
Parcel G2
The future of Parcel G2 may be diverging from decades of community consensus and expert planning.
The City recently purchased Parcel G2, long studied and ideal for river floodplain expansion, natural habitat, and enhanced flood protection for adjacent at-risk communities. The Bureau of Engineering is leading a design process with the expressed intent of creating ‘something iconic’ in time for the Olympics. Workshops to date have focused on providing leading questions about what sort of active recreation and revenue generating developments people would like to see at the site. None have mentioned the current level of flood risk adjacent communities are facing, or the unique opportunities of the site—reasons for decades of planning that have consistently identified that the site is best dedicated to realizing a living and thriving Los Angeles River. You can follow the City’s process here.
Parcel H
A New York developer is proposing to replace the existing business at the northwest corner of the site with a 419 unit residential and 64,000 sq. ft. commercial development, a portion of which is within the 100-year floodplain. The development would also include a 7 story parking structure. Ideally, the site would be added to Rio de Los Angeles State Park. You can read the initial study here. A Draft Environmental Impact Report has been released for review and comment. Stay tuned for breaking news.
Bridge
The long-promised, $18M pedestrian and bicycle bridge connecting Elysian Valley and Taylor Yard began a 2-year construction period in the spring of 2019. Its foundations are currently specified to sit atop and at the same elevation as the existing concrete channel walls—an approach that, ignoring the City’s own flood risk analysis, appears to assume the river won’t overtop here in a large storm event. The design presents risks to adjacent and downstream communities, and limits the potential for future climate-adaptive and public safety-enhancing alterations to the channel walls. A forward-looking configuration would have been a more prudent expenditure of public resources. A different configuration for the bridge is necessary for a naturalized Rio de Los Angeles State Park extending from San Fernando Road to the LA River.
High Speed Rail
The California High Speed Rail project has been considering various alignments under and through Taylor Yard over the past decade. They are currently planning a surface route alongside the existing Metrolink Rail line that bisects Taylor Yard. The River Project has been closely tracking the changing proposals since the project initiation, and will continue to advocate for an alignment that best serves the human and natural users of the State Park and the river system.
Take Action!
Contact the City here or attend a public meeting. Let the City know:
You stand with the Coalition's vision of Rio de Los Angeles State Park as a 100+ acre State Park with a living riverfront.
You want Parcels G2 and H to be added to Rio de Los Angeles State Park.
You want to see a bridge that accounts for flood risk and allows for future alteration to the channel walls.