Gussy up that trash-strewn concrete cesspool

from: Enquist, Philip and Craig Webb. "Gussy up that trash-strewn concrete cesspool," Los Angeles Times, 2 October 2005.

FOR THE SHEER POSSIBILITIES of renewing dead-ended neighborhoods, opening fenced-off Mars-scapes and providing immense environmental, cultural and recreational benefits, few projects in the world match the potential of an ecology-minded and people-centric revitalization of the Los Angeles River.

Consider those "once-in-a-century" urban waterside projects that have defined the character and fabric of so many of the world's great cities. Daniel Burnham's Downtown Chicago Plan, which celebrates its centenial in 2008, transformed Chicago's lakeshore into one of America's most architecturally beloved and recreationally rich downtown districts.

In a similar way, the 1910 City Beautiful Plan helped Orlando, Fla., retain its downtown lakeside heart, and it gave the city an ongoing unity of architectural purpose. More recently, Tempe's Town Lake development in Arizona, Chattanooga's Riverfront District in Tennessee, San Antonio's River Walk in Texas, Hartford's Adriaen's Landing in Connecticut, Shanghai's Huangpu River redevelopment and similar plans have helped open decaying waterfronts to enlivening and civically healing uses, including the reconnection of fractured streets and isolated neighborhoods.

Truth in advertising: Our firms took part in a 2005 request for proposals to transform 32 miles of the L.A. River into what would be a multipurpose linear greenway running virtually the entire length of the city. Our proposal wasn't chosen. We were, however, so taken by the project's potential to serve as a grand civic unifier that we want to add our voices to those arguing that, with a balance of advanced engineering and imaginative planning, the L.A. River can be of comparable civic worth to, say, New York's Central Park, Chicago's Grant Park or Washington's Rock Creek Park. . . .