Scrappy activists trump a powerful developer in a story straight from Hollywood.

By Steven A. Heller
July 2001

Surely the Los Angeles River is beginning to feel like a character in a summer teen movie: the geeky girl who gets made up all pretty, and suddenly the best-looking boys trip over themselves trying to ask her out. In February Metropolis reported on the river's sudden rise from ignored concrete-encrusted sewer to the darling centerpiece of an ambitious plan for a $100-million-plus greenway through the heart of the city. At the time of publication, the plan's chances were compromised by a competing vision from a powerful industrial developer--in the role of the boyfriend-stealing rich girl. Since then a long and bitter battle has been waged in courthouses, newspapers, and the contentious race for Los Angeles mayor. The credits are yet to roll, but it looks like the winner is the underdog: the L.A. River is going to the prom.

THE METROPOLIS OBSERVED:
Nigeria's design for democracy; bringing the Rural Studio to Manhattan; farewell Detritus Institute; don't fence Droog in; L.A. needs parks-- Portland doesn't; remembering Sarah Tomerlin Lee; disposable cell phones; the Wexner Center deconstructs; private parks in public places.
"We've had a great year," says Jan Chatten-Brown, the lead attorney representing the Chinatown Yards Alliance, a group of environmental activists, Chinatown residents, and others who opposed industrial development on the site. This past September Chatten-Brown--along with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Friends of the L.A. River, and several other groups--filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and Majestic Realty, one of the most prominent industrial developers in Southern California, which had bought an option on the land to construct a light manufacturing and distribution center. The suit alleged that the city had inadequately evaluated the environmental impact of the industrial project and proposed an alternative plan: turn the 40-acre site into parkland and a school--two things crowded Chinatown is sorely lacking.

Offsite:
Discover the history of LA River activism, along with the latest news, at the Friends of the Los Angeles River web site, www.folar.org.
Last year no one was betting against Majestic. The firm was tight with mayor Richard Riordan and it had the money to implement its plan; park advocates didn't. Majestic even had a promise of up to $12 million from HUD, a portion of which was allocated for cleaning up the polluted brownfield.

And then came the Hollywood-style reversals. Two successful ballot propositions brought more than $100 million in bonds and other funds to beautify California parklands. Then two amateur archaeologists sneaked on to Majestic's land (wearing construction-worker reflector vests that, they explained to reporters, can get you admittance anywhere). There they found a piece of the Zanja Madre--the historic brick-domed canal that brought water to Los Angeles's first European residents. Suddenly the city council cooled to the developer's plans, recognizing that an important piece of L.A. history would be destroyed.


Meanwhile, after years of begging HUD to reconsider its offer to Majestic, the Chinatown Yards Alliance made some headway. "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. works for NRDC," Chatten-Brown explains. "It certainly helped focus high-level attention at HUD that a staff member of NRDC happened the be the brother-in-law of [then HUD secretary] Andrew Cuomo. We'd like to believe it was the persuasiveness of our argument, but it's helpful to have allies in high places."

Soon after being contacted by Kennedy, Cuomo sent a HUD team to Los Angeles to evaluate the site. Based on what it found, the agency rescinded its offer to Majestic. With the HUD money gone, the lawsuit filed, the city council concerned about the Zanja Madre, and just about every candidate for mayor joining the bandwagon, Majestic was suddenly alone. In a twist that cast the developer as the river's final advocate, Majestic struck a settlement deal, offering up the land to the park plan it had fought for so long. According to the agreement, the Chinatown Yards Alliance has until November 30 to raise $30 million to purchase the land from Majestic. Governor Gray Davis has said he plans to make the money available in the state budget, but California's electricity crisis could siphon too much money away from such projects. "If they can put it together, God bless them," says John Hunter, a Majestic VP who oversaw the development project. "If they can't, we'll develop our plan."

A series of community planning programs have already led to a park design that includes soccer flelds, a Shaolin institute, and a museum celebrating the Zanja Madre. Kennedy says it's an extraordinary model of the possibilities for reviving urban rivers. "Of all the rivers in the country, I can't think of one that has been more thoroughly destroyed," he says. "This is an example that people will be able to point to and say, 'Look, if they can do it in L.A., they can do it anywhere.'"


© Bellerophon Publications, Inc. 2007, All rights reserved.
Contact webmaster@metropolismag.com about any web site related technical problems.
For questions/changes to your Metropolis subscription, please contact our subscription department.
Free information from Metropolis advertisers is available from our Product Information department.
Privacy Statement