Does the suggestion of re-routing the Los Angeles River to dump into our Port of Long Beach not sit well economically or environmentally with anyone else? Sure, everyone wants to get rid of the trash and all kinds of urban slobber that flows down that now concrete and channeled body of water, but if city officials think for a moment that trying to contain thousands of tons of debris roaring at better than 25 knots during a heavy storm and pouring into a contained basin in the midst of one of the busiest ports in the free world is not going to create trade and transportation problems of catastrophic proportions, they’re wrong on three levels: economy, environment, and security. Our port is not only the center of trade for the rest of the country, but it’s also a designated area of national significance and security. Hmm… I wonder what the State and Feds would think of this great idea.
The idea of a containment basin at the port at first listen sounds like a simple solution – now making all this trash and debris the port’s headache – but with further investigation it’s a virtual band-aid, merely covering the real problem. By diverting the river we fail to zero in on the source of all this junk and trash – that is, all our upstream city friends responsible for the stormy mess we’re left with after it rains. So should we work to cripple our local economy and paralyze the port’s day to day operations?
This notion of diverting the river into the port runs counter to many Los Angeles River aficionados, myself included, who would like to one day see the river clean, capable of maintaining aquatic life, and closely restored to its natural beauty. As I mentioned in my previous article regarding the river, let’s work to clean it up instead of allowing our Long Beach coastline to be another dumping ground sanctioned by our local government.
The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to talk about gaining a little respect. The Los Angeles River has been dumped in, abused of its natural flow, contaminated and polluted, and finally its spirit broken by being concreted and channeled. Adding one more element of creativity by turning its final flow into one of the busiest ports in the world could be its final epitaph.