“The River has long been a very divisive element in the city. The revitalization efforts encourage community participation just because we want to make it more inviting.”
Could you describe your relationship with the L.A. River?
I'm a Senior Engineer with the city. I've been involved in the river for many years now. I've been involved in the efforts of the L.A. River Master Plan. Efforts that AB530 did a few years back. And now I'm actually working on the upper L.A. River through the L.A. county steering committee. I've been someone simply participating in that for the past year now. It's exciting to see the efforts that the region is putting on and revitilize the River.
What's your most memorable experience with the River?
One of the most memorable experiences actually is standing at the confluence point of the L.A. River and Rio Condo. That is an impressive view that the community hasn't seen. And I'm very fortunate to have been able to done that. It's amazing to have a geographic element such as that, the two river meeting in our city. We're going to basically try to showcase it.
What do you think the purpose of the revitalization effort is?
There's numerous purposes for that. The River has long been a very divisive element in the city and we want to change that at least in South Gate. We want to make sure to make the River an asset in the city instead of a divisive element. The revitalization efforts encourage community participation just because we want to make it more inviting. The City of South Gate is planning to construct a new park which is an urban orchard. Which is right adjacent to the river. That project has different elements that just wouldn't happen in the community.
What's your opinion about the current efforts?
The current efforts, I'm actually astonished by the various entities. Speaker Randon has produced and given us a lot of variety of the L.A. River, thankfully. It's definitely, I'm very fortunate to be a part of the current efforts for the region.
What are your thoughts on climate change and flood control in regard to the river?
Those are very key issues. The river itself, it an essential flood control management structure and we need to be very cognizant of that. That it has to remain that. At the moment, we want to enhance that feature and make it an asset. Not just a flood control element. We want to create opportunities for our community to enjoy.
That’s the end of our questions! Is there anything you want to add in about the L.A. River or the urban orchard?
The L.A. River definitely is an asset that needs to be looked at in a little bit more detail. There's a lot of things that could be done and we're very fortunate that our legislative bodies looked into it and prioritized it. That the city has taken such an active position in revitalizing the river.