New Park on L.A. River Needs Cash

With the demolition of an old dairy, Los Angeles takes another tiptoe toward expanding access to the its neglected river.

City Council district 1 representative Ed Reyes joined L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Thursday afternoon for some final swipes at the old Albion Dairy in Lincoln Heights.

The dairy is on a site adjacent to Downey Park and the Los Angeles river.

Now that the lot is clear, the plan is to put another pocket park on the site, with access to the river.

MONEY STILL NEEDED TO BUILD THE NEW PARK

There’s just one hitch: the city used Prop 0 bond money to buy the site, but there’s no money yet to develop it.

Lewis McAdams, co-founder of the nonprofit Friends of the L.A. River, told the Daily News, “In times of no money you plan.  When you get the money, you start the plans.”

And the plans are grand. They’d bring a baseball field, landscaping and irrigation to the dusty site.

Read more about the plans for Albion Park here.

They’re part of a vision to bring an “emerald necklace” of parks to the 51-mile stretch that is the L.A. River.

POCKET PARKS A SUCCESS ALONG GLENDALE NARROWS

Take a walk along the Glendale Narrows stretch through Elysian Park, you can already see some great success stories.

A meeting on Oct. 12 will be held at the CBS Studio Center will bring city, county and federal officials together to discuss recreational uses of the river in the Valley.

Council member Reyes is heading the city’s revitalization efforts, which also helped bring the recent pilot paddle programs to the river near Sepulveda Dam in the San Fernando Valley.

The San Fernando Valley has been the focus, but longer-term plans are to bring recreational kayaking to the Glendale Narrows too.

Stay tuned. 

And click here to fill out a survey on how you use the L.A. River now.