Community Engagements
River LA works with community stakeholders and residents to create a healthy, vibrant, and resilient LA River region. Over the years, we’ve done this in a variety of ways.
Broccoli City’s Hashtag Lunchbag Event - Broccoli City’s Rio Vistas satellite event emphasized bringing diversity to give back to the community along the river. Broccoli City partnered with Hashtag Lunchbag to host an afternoon of dancing, courtesy of DJ Printz, sandwich making, and celebrating our great river.
LA Walks - We partnered with La Walks host a Rio Vistas “Walk ‘n’ Roll” to advocate for safe, accessible, fun and equitable walking on the River. This Placemaking event highlighted areas of the river in need of repairs while bringing together walkers of all ages!
Lower LA River Working Group - We served as a member of the state-appointed Lower LA River Working Group (LRWG), a network of: political and community stakeholders, nonprofits, neighborhood organizations, government officials, cities, and members of the public from the southeast cities of LA County. The LRWG explored ways to retain the important health and safety needs of flood control while considering opportunities to address issues related to economics, health, equity, safety, accessibility, and connectivity in the corridor’s communities. This Working Group was created by legislation passed by California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.
Listening Sessions - In 2016, River LA hosted a series of public listening sessions titled “River LA Listens.” The Listening Sessions were attended by over 200 members of the public and focused on community-specific topics. Using the LA River Index, each conversation shared in-depth reports detailing on a variety of river-focused issues. This included: the multi-benefit design opportunities for community-desired equitable and sustainable land use: water quality improvements and reclamation, parks and open space with green infrastructure, transportation, public health, and social equity.
River LA also conducted over 1,000 digital surveys to collect wider feedback on the Los Angeles River from community members unable to attend the sessions.
Urban AG on the CASP - The Cornfield Arroyo Specific Plan (CASP) allowed urban agriculture as a land use for the first time in 2014. We applied for and secured a Prop 84 grant to do a feasibility study to explore opportunities to create a healthy, sustainable neighborhood by strategizing a single green planning framework inclusive of a multiplicity of goals. We researched how zoning changes could allow for a district to emerge from both a possible land-use perspective ('Where should what be located, e.g., high-intensity controlled environment farms vs low-yield raised-bed farms.') as well as an economic perspective.
