A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Two of the best summers in my younger days were spent in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. During time off from our summer camp duties, we would take inner tubes on "FLOAT PARTIES" on the French Broad and Davidson rivers. Now years later our civic leaders are promoting a "TWO BILLION DOLLAR" plan to give us a waterway befitting the term "RIVER".

What do you need to have a quality river ? Clean water to start with. Suitable Riparian Habitat. Nice sandy beaches. 4,600 housing units. "WHAT???". Yes, leave it to Councilman Ed Reyes "AD HOC RIVER COMMITTEE" to include affordable housing as one of the 239 improvement projects along a 32-mile stretch of the "RIO DE LOS ANGELES".

You would think that with all these projects and the price tag to pay for them. One would be challenge to find a critic of this "BOONDOGGLE", err, waterway restoration. Yet according to the March 5 edition of the "Downtown News", leaders of the "Alianza de los Pueblo del Rio", say that the plan focus too much attention on river beautification, and not enough on park-starved communities that surround it. The group wants more "ACTIVE PARKS", ie. soccer fields. Further activists state that the project doesn't address issues such as Job Growth and Gang Mitigation.

As a proponent of "FREE ENTERPRISE", I was already to ask for investors in the "FLOAT THE RIO DE L.A. RAFT COMPANY". Imagine your rafting guide pointing out riverside landmarks such as "FOREST LAWN GRIFFITH PARK", "FROGTOWN", "GLENDALE POWER PLANT" and other locations. Yet when did a plan to restore a waterway become the solution to "AFFORDABLE HOUSING" and "STREET GANGS" ?

A restored "RIO DE LOS ANGELES" would be positive for our community. "CHATO" can daydream about that swim across the "RIO GRANDE" years back. Beto and Juana can have their first kiss overlooking the river in "FROGTOWN". And our "SWIFT WATER RESCUE TEAMS" can have year round work. But lets focus on restoring a neglected waterway and just that. "TIME TO FISH!!"