BILL NUMBER: AJR 5 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gomez
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Hall, Nazarian, and Rendon )
( Coauthors: Senators
Padilla and Pavley )
JANUARY 17, 2013
Relative to the Los Angeles River.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 5, as amended, Gomez. Los Angeles River: ARBOR study
alternative 20.
This measure would urge the United States Army Corps of Engineers
to select ARBOR study alternative 20, which would serve to revitalize
communities and create a more functional and interconnected
watershed that will provide a more diverse regional ecological system
and restore the functionality of the Los Angeles River as a critical
natural and cultural heritage and community resource.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows roughly 51 miles from its
origin in the San Fernando Valley to the Long Beach Harbor and is 32
miles long within the City of Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS, Within the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River
flows through three United States congressional districts, eight city
council districts for the City of Los Angeles, approximately 20
neighborhood councils, 12 community plan areas, the second largest
urban region in the United States, and one of the world's busiest
port regions, and flows into the Pacific Ocean, the world's largest
body of water; and
WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River corridor is home to more than one
million people, more than 390,000 housing units, more than 480,000
workers, more than 35,000 businesses, and more than 80 schools; and
WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows through historically
disadvantaged communities and underserved neighborhoods of Los
Angeles that lack open-space resources and have high unemployment
rates; and
WHEREAS, The County of Los Angeles, the State of California, the
federal government, and an incredible number of nonprofit groups and
organizations have been invaluable partners in the process of
developing and now implementing the Los Angeles River Revitalization
Master Plan; and
WHEREAS, The goals of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master
Plan include improving environmental quality, improving public access
to the Los Angeles River, increasing recreation and open spaces,
enhancing flood control, encouraging community reinvestment, and
increasing awareness and pride in the Los Angeles River; and
WHEREAS, In 2006, recognizing the environmental degradation
occurring in and along the Los Angeles River within the boundaries of
the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council authorized the
Board of Public Works of the City of Los Angeles to execute an
agreement with the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the Los
Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, also known as
the ARBOR study, committing the City of Los Angeles to a 50
percent 50-percent share of the cost as local
sponsor. In 2009, the cost increased when the total ARBOR study cost
was raised to $9,710,000; and
WHEREAS, The ARBOR study is consistent with the goals of President
Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, which includes
direction to reconnect Americans, especially children, to America's
rivers and waterways and to build upon state, local, private, and
tribal priorities for the conservation of land, water, wildlife, and
historic and cultural resources, creating corridors and connectivity
across these outdoor spaces, and for enhancing neighborhood parks. In
the President's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, federal
agencies are asked to determine how the federal government can best
advance these priorities through public-private partnerships and
locally supported conservation strategies; and
WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River watershed was selected as one of
only seven nationwide first-phase pilots of the Urban Waters Federal
Partnership, an implementation piece of President Obama's America's
Great Outdoors Initiative, which aims to stimulate regional and local
economies, create local jobs, improve quality of life, and protect
American's Americans '
health by revitalizing urban waterways in underserved communities
across the country and the ARBOR study was selected as the top
priority of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership in Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Army Corps of Engineers
developed a final array of the four best buy alternatives for the
ARBOR study and only one of those alternatives includes both
significant restoration at the Los Angeles River's confluence with
the Verdugo Wash near the City of Los Angeles's border with the City
of Glendale and the only substantial western bank connection,
providing a profound hydrological link between the Los Angeles State
Historic Park (Cornfields site) and the Los Angeles River, leveraging
a significant investment made by the State of California toward
restoration of the Los Angeles River; and
WHEREAS, The City of Los Angeles endorses the ARBOR study
alternative 20 that results in the most expansive ecosystem
restoration, specifically that which includes the following
priorities for the City of Los Angeles:
(a) Verdugo Wash Confluence.
(b) Taylor Yard/Bowtie.
(c) Taylor Yard/G-2.
(d) Arroyo Seco Confluence.
(e) Cornfields Los Angeles State Historic Park.
(f) Piggyback Yard (Union Pacific Railroad); and
WHEREAS, Once complete completed ,
the ARBOR study will recommend a project that will be cost-shared by
the United States Army Corps of Engineers and local sponsors to
modify the river's concrete channel significantly for the first time
since the river was channelized by the United States Army Corps of
Engineers in the early to mid 1900s. The project will be one of the
largest examples of urban ecosystem restoration in the nation's
second most populous city ; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, BY THE ASSEMBLY AND THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA JOINTLY,That the Legislature urges the United States Army
Corps of Engineers to select the ARBOR study alternative 20, which
would serve to revitalize communities and create a more functional
and interconnected watershed that will provide a more diverse
regional ecological system and restore the functionality of the Los
Angeles River as a critical natural and cultural heritage and
community resource; and be it further
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the United States
Army Corps of Engineers to select the ARBOR study alternative 20,
which would serve to revitalize communities and create a more
functional and interconnected watershed that will provide a more
diverse regional ecological system and restore the functionality of
the Los Angeles River as a critical natural and cultural heritage and
community resource; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the United States Army
Corps of Engineers.