Tag: Carp
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board is conducting an evaluation of the recreational uses of the channelized rivers and streams in the Los Angeles River Watershed.
As part of this effort they are soliciting information from stakeholders (through a survey) regarding what rivers or streams are visited in the watershed and which recreational activities are enjoyed in and around these bodies of water.
They are conducting this survey in conjunction with KCET and Council District #1 (City of Los Angeles).
Can you tell I didn’t write the above?
See you on the river, Jim Burns
First off, congratulations to everyone who attended yesterday’s big river cleanup! Pictures will be posted in this space tomorrow from the event.
Next, now that you’re fired up, take a look at these two links that make it easy to find out who your elected officials are and, equally important, what they’ve been doing.
Govtrack.us features a handy mash-up map of each state that includes districts. True, some of the district numbers can be hard to read, but if you continue to zoom in, visibility increases. For example, Griffith Park is located within congressional district No. 31, the purview of Rep. Xavier Becerra, a democrat.
Armed with that information, you can then plug the name into the aptly titled Legistalker to find news about the politico, including old school, YouTube and Twitter. There are also links to the rep’s Web site, blog and social media. It’s a powerful way to humanize legislators.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
It’s a long time until 2040, the date Pasadena, Calif., has set to achieve zero waste. The city sits atop current green kudos of which it can be proud, including Pasadena Water & Power customers using 15 percent less water in 2010 than the previous year, according to the Green City Report.
And it’s about to wade into the plastic shopping bag ban. With bordering unincorporated area Altadena enforcing a ban on them in some markets in July, and all by 2012, the city’s environmental advisory committee meets tomorrow in special session to consider the topic.
After the 2012 deadline, Altadenans visiting the supermarket will have to stash their groceries in reusable bags or pay a dime for a paper one. (Plastic bags used for meat, poultry and fish will be exempt).
According to Jake Armstrong in the Pasadena Weekly, the committee seeks public comment on how best to craft the language of the ban, which would be based on L.A. County’s latest environmental impact report.
Trying to ban the bag without an environmental impact statement can lead a new ordinance to be overturned in the court system. That’s exactly what happened to Manhattan Beach’s ban in the California Court of Appeals in 2010.
“County officials estimate households use 1,600 bags a year and expected that figure to fall by half by 2013 and shave $4 million from cleanup costs,” according to Armstrong.
So far, single-use plastic bag bans have been approved in California in:
– Los Angeles County (unincorporated areas, of which Altadena is one)
— Long Beach
— Malibu
— Calabasas
– Marin County
– San Jose
The plastic bag has become a polarizing cry, with industry and libertarians crying “foul,” and the green movement pushing for an eventual blanket ban. Interesting trivia: they are called “witches britches” in England, apparently because of the way they unattractively flutter in the breeze.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
Oh boy, not really the kind of thing you want to read on a Sunday, especially this Sunday, yet there it is: Tony Barboza penned an excellent piece in today’s Los Angeles Timesoutlining species joining the unlucky White croaker on the “do not eat” list.
From the article: “In the so-called red zone that reaches from Santa Monica to Seal Beach, four fish besides white croaker … are now considered so contaminated with the long-banned pesticide DDT, PCBs and mercury that they too are unsafe to eat.”
Added to the list:
— Barred sand bass
— Black croaker
— Topsmelt
— Barracuda
This revelation, which comes from increased scientific scrutiny, not more dumping, led me to wonder about the Los Angeles River and its carp and other fish populations. The FOLAR fish study from several years ago found surprisingly low levels of toxins in the resident fish population.
Is the L.A. River, butt of many a poo-poo joke, actually cleaner than our slice of the Pacific Ocean?
See you on the river, Jim Burns
How can sturdy shoes, a pair of work gloves and sunscreen magically turn into a free T-shirt?
Well, April 30 from 9 a.m. until noon, it’s time to clean up the river, sponsored by Friends of the Los Angeles River and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Check out this link for the deets.
See you on the river wearing my sturdy shoes, Jim Burns
Today, I’m introducing a new aspect to the blog — like the title says, earth quotes. This first one is from the book “Befriending the Earth” by Thomas Berry, CP, with Thomas Clarke, SJ.
“Not long ago, I was talking with several hundred high school students at one of the prestigious high schools in the city of New York. I said that my generation has been an autistic generation. I asked them what autism was. Imagine asking a group of high school students what autism is!
One student got up and explained very clearly: persons being so locked up in themselves that no one and nothing else can get in. It is an isolation process.
That, I think, is what has happened to the human community in our times. We are talking to ourselves. We are not talking to the river, we are not listening to the river. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking the conversation, we have shattered the universe. All these things that are happening now are consequences of this autism.”
If you’d like to share a quote, just e-mail it to me.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
Last night at sunset, a host of city and environmental group dignitaries dedicated Confluence Plaza. The crowd of some 75-to-100 people cheered and applauded, as the first jets of water shot from ground level high into the air, to a brass fanfare of “Rigaudon.”
The scene was nothing, if not surreal — and jubilant.
A more unlikely spot for this landmark probably couldn’t be found. To the north lies the netherworld of the Cypress Park Home Depot parking lot, under the I-5 freeway. Day workers milled around, waiting for that last hourly job, items for purchase sat on a blanket in a spontaneous bazaar, and the roar of rush-hour traffic reached shout-out levels.
Yet, the speakers put this latest addition to the L.A. River Revitalization Master Plan in perspective.
“It means a connection to the environment,” said Romel Pasqual, L.A.’s deputy mayor for environment, from the podium.
His words echoed those of the previous speaker, City Councilmember Ed P. Reyes., who talked about the meager 55 percent high school graduation rate and the fact that “unfortunately, gangs are winning” our youth, instead of education. According to his Web site, in the past Reyes, vice-chair of the Public Safety Committee, has secured funds for neighborhood clean-ups, gang prevention programs and safe route school maps.
Of course, the confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco is city history at its best. The actual spot is covered in concrete, inaccessible except to the hearty. If you look on a map, it’s basically at the intersection where the I-5 and the 110 meet.
“It’s a beachhead,” Jenny Price, who gives well-regarded tours of the river, said of the plaza.
Indeed, it is the first part of the multiphase Confluence Park project.
The river’s poet laureate wrote a piece for the inauguration and one line probably best summed up the event.
“I prophetize our happiness …” Lewis MacAdams intoned from the podium.
Many nodded their heads in agreement.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
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