News of the Arroyo
Title: | Want green? Think local |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2003-04-21 |
Summary: | April 21, 2003 -- The Pasadena Star News strongly endorses Lower Arroyo restoration as well as in Hahamongna as part of an Earth Day entreaty to "Think Local." |
Author: | Editorial |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | In Earth Days past, the motto was \"Think Global, Act Local.\' Being residents of one planet was the tie that bound grass- roots activities into a single green package. Today, Earth Day 2003, we say, \"Think Local, Act Local.\' The local projects have moved from the wings to center stage. With voters approving Proposition 40 and before that, 13, for environmental cleanup, the money needs to come locally. It\'s high time these projects move forward. An urgent list includes: The Lower Arroyo Seco in Pasadena should be restored, as much as possible, to its natural state. Concrete channels should be removed so the stream can meander and habitat can flourish. Hiking trails should be improved but we agree that new bike trails are intrusive. This kind of turning back the clock in the Lower Arroyo would then mimic attempts to re-naturalize the upper reaches of this famous dry gulch in the Hahamongna Watershed Park, just south of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Voters repeatedly expressed their wishes for bond dollars to be used to purchase hillside and foothill properties for preservation. Urban sprawl has eaten away our open space like a cancer. Hills for passive activities such as walking, hiking and where appropriate, horse riding and mountain biking, give urban dwellers a needed breather from the so-called civilized world. Let\'s see other cities add to the tremendous successes in hillside preservation we\'ve seen this past decade in Whittier, La Canada, Glendora and Monrovia. Many of our area\'s towns are bisected by rivers, for example, the already-mentioned Arroyo Seco journeys from the San Gabriel Mountains through Pasadena and South Pasadena until it reaches the Los Angeles River. Likewise, the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers cut through city after city in the San Gabriel Valley and northeast Los Angeles County, yet these tributaries have been nearly buried by the concrete of development and polluted by the chemical discharges of industry. Instead of seeing our rivers as what they once were, we need to see them as what they can become again. We need green space along gentle sloping banks, hiking and horse trails, picnic areas, lush fields of green where birds can thrive and where people can renew. While slow out of the gate, the state\'s new San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) is fast picking up steam. RMC Executive Director Belinda Faustinos and her board last week put together a joint powers authority with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District that will stretch initiative dollars and attract new grant monies. Under the auspices of the JPA, the conservancy in essence will soon take title of the piece of land along west side of the 605 Freeway that was once an unpleasant, odoriferous duck farm and begin planning and building a river park. The move also staves off a bid by City of Industry to buy a portion for a water treatment plant, but doesn\'t preclude a sale in the future, say of a slice overwrought by Edison power lines or unfit for park space. We hope the shrewd maneuvering by the RMC will result in in- the-ground improvements soon. Just as important as state board activity is the public\'s participation in the rivers, hillsides and mountains restoration. One way is to attend the Sierra Club-sponsored Amigos de los Rios events 7 p.m. today at the Azusa Auditorium and also 7 p.m. Thursday at South El Monte High School on Durfee Avenue. Think local. Think green. |
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