More than a dozen members of Congress representing districts in the Southland are urging President Barack Obama to fund the planning and design stage of a $1 billion Los Angeles River restoration project, Rep. Xavier Becerra said Monday.
In a letter to Obama, Becerra and 12 other members of the Los Angeles congressional delegation called on the president to include in his 2016 budget “pre-construction engineering and design funding for the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project in anticipation of Congressional authorization.”
The Army Corps of Engineers is recommending that Congress approve the $1 billion makeover of 11 miles of the Los Angeles River that would widen the river, restore wetlands and create park and bike amenities.
About half of the project cost would come from the federal government, with the other half from local sources.
The restoration project would affect an area of the river that runs through “the nation’s second-largest urban region and … historically underserved communities that lack access to natural open space and outdoor recreation,” and would create “nearly 17,000 jobs and generate $4.68 billion in labor income,” according to the lawmakers’ Nov. 21 letter.
“By committing the resources necessary to move the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project from concept to action, we can revitalize our local communities, build new public spaces, create recreational opportunities, protect natural ecosystems, improve public health, and boost our regional economy,” the letter says.
Local agencies have agreed to provide $590 million of the project’s $1 billion cost, according to the delegation.
Becerra was joined in signing the letter by fellow Reps. Lucille Roybal- Allard, Karen Bass, Julia Brownley, Tony Cardenas, Judy Chu, Janice Hahn, Alan S. Lowenthal, Linda T. Sanchez, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, Maxine Waters and Henry A. Waxman.
Most of the 51-mile-long Los Angeles River, which stretches from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach, was paved and turned into a concrete flood channel during the first half of the last century.
While the channel kept the river from overflowing, the transformation destroyed much of the habitat for birds, amphibians and other wildlife around it. The restoration plan would attempt to reverse the damage by re-introducing layers of natural habitat over at several sites along the waterway.
— City News Service