Guiding Principles

Los Angeles City Council Ad Hoc Committee on the LA River
As amended and adopted by committee October 8th 2002

The Los Angeles River flows through diverse communities throughout Los Angeles. Our river presents opportunities to revitalize our neighborhoods, to invest in our communities, to bring nature to people, and to enhance our quality of life. We envision a renewed Los Angeles River with a continuous greenway of interconnected parks and amenities connecting our communities along the River. We commit to bringing this vision to life through partnering with communities, businesses, organizations, and other jurisdictions, coordinating and securing funding, and strongly advocating for a renewed and healthy river.

River revitalization through our city would integrate multiple objectives – including recreation, parks, storm water management, but also housing, transportation, economic development, and more. Revitalization will include various features, determined through consensus processes among stakeholders, including:

- parks, large and small, recreation-oriented and nature-oriented,
- walking paths and promenades,
- bicycling trails for recreation and transportation,
- gathering spaces,
- public art and community markers to enhance sense of place,
- restaurants, cafes, and other appropriate businesses,
- mixed-use areas integrating parks, housing, retail, jobs, schools and other public institutions, and more, and
- other compatible uses.

OUR RIVER OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNITY RE-INVESTMENT

1. Encourage Community participation and Consensus:
Diverse communities, neighborhoods, local residents, businesses, community groups, young, elderly, and a broad range of governmental agencies are all stakeholders and must be involved to ensure successful projects. River projects should be shaped through consensus pro.

2. Enhance Connections, and Linkages:
River projects should not be done in isolation, but should connect well with nearby communities. Planning for river projects should not consider merely the river channel itself, but communities in a wider corridor. Planning and projects should include open and natural space, transportation, housing, jobs, business, community development, art, and other amenities.

3. Increase access
Residents who visit and enjoy river amenities will care about the long-term health of the river. River projects should be welcoming to the public. Public access should be enhanced through environmentally sensitive design and planning.

4. Foster Economic Development
A revitalized river corridor is a local and regional destination; and as such can contribute to the economic vitality of the city and the region. River projects should encourage and enhance appropriate sustainable economic development, adding value to underutilized areas and communities.

OUR RIVER SERVES MANY USES

5. Support Multiple Purposes:
Our river serves many purposes, including: flood protection, recreation, open space, habitat, groundwater recharge, water quality, and more. River projects should enhance multiple beneficial uses, and integrate multiple objectives.

6. Improve Coordination between Departments and Jurisdictions:
Multi-objective projects require effective coordination. Diverse City departments should communicate and coordinate with each other, the public, and other jurisdictions.

OUR RIVER IS A NATURAL RESOURCE

7. Restore Nature
The LA River is a unique regional ecological resource. Its revitalization should enhance and restore the river’s nature, and should acknowledge the interconnectedness of the watershed from the mountains to the sea. Where feasible, habitat, floodwater detention, groundwater recharge, water quality, and other natural processes should be enhanced.

8. Maintain and Enhance Flood Protection:
River revitalization must maintain, or preferably enhance, current levels of flood protection. Projects should emphasize natural and non-structural methods for flood management where feasible, including minimizing new structures in flood prone areas.

9. Foster Sustainability Practices:
River projects should foster sustainability goals, including: stormwater management, groundwater recharge, water conservation, clean air, and efficient land use.

RIVER SAFETY

10. Safety:
All government agencies shall work to inform the public on the importance, beauty, and power of the Los Angeles River and how to safely enjoy the area.