Machado Lake Project Update Meeting

We invite you to join us on Wednesday, July 1st in the evening to hear an update on the Machado Lake Ecosystem Rehabilitation Project and Wilmington Drain Multi-Use Project.

Topics discussed will include:

• Machado Lake and Wilmington Drain Recommended Alternatives


• Permitting Activities


• Detailed Design Activities

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Kaiser Hospital Conference Room and Education Center, Room A2

Located on Normandie Avenue between Pacific Coast Highway and Permanente Way

(The address for the Medical Center is 25825 South Vermont Avenue, Harbor City)

*Parking is available in the parking structure (Lot 2), which is adjacent to the Conference Center. Meeting attendees should park on the second floor, leaving the first floor available for patients. Disabled parking is located just behind the Conference Center in Lot 3.

For more information on the meeting:

City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works

Chris Harris at 213-749-3386

Email: Chris.Harris@Pacbell.net

Be sure to read about the Machado Lake restoration project from our first issue of the LA Stormwater e-Newsletter to see how far along the City has come in its efforts.

Los Angeles River Site Tour Hosted by Prop O Committee

The Proposition O General Obligation Bonds Citizens Oversight Advisory Committee (COAC) is hosting a tour of the Los Angeles River this afternoon.

For more information on stops along the tour, please visit: http://lacity.org/cao/propocitizencom/caopropocitizencom235660811_06172009.pdf

Details:
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
12:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Convene at City Hall East
(Curbside Loading Zone)

200 North Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The tour will be followed by a special COAC meeting. For meeting agenda, visit http://lacity.org/cao/propocitizencom/caopropocitizencom235660810_06172009.pdf
Regular meetings of the Citizens Oversight Advisory Committee are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 2 pm at City Hall East, 200 North Main Street, Room 1500.

Please see www.lapropO.org for information on Proposition O.

City Invites All to Participate in LA River Metals Workshop II on July 1st

Dear Team:

The City of Los Angeles invites you to participate as a stakeholder in the second workshop for the Los Angeles River Metals TMDL Implementation Plan, being developed for the City's portion of the watershed.

The second workshop is scheduled for:
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
1:00 to 3:00 PM
Los Angeles River Center
570 West Avenue 26, #100

In this workshop, the main focus will be on the Identification of Best Management Practices (BMPs). Three major topics will be discussed: BMP selection strategy, identifying preliminary BMP sites, and watershed collaboration.

This Implementation Plan is being developed during 2009 to comply with urban runoff/stormwater management regulations established in the Metals TMDL for the Los Angeles River watershed.

Specific goals of the Implementation Plan include:

• Identify pollution hot spots and prioritize the drainage areas to be addressed;
• Identify Best Management Practices (BMPs) for reducing pollution in urban runoff and select and verify potential locations for implementation of BMPs; and
• Create an integrated implementation plan that incorporates other benefits whenever possible, such as increasing open space, creating green streets, and beneficially reusing stormwater.

Under the direction of the Watershed Protection Division, the Metals TMDL Implementation Plan will be completed in January 2010.

Please RSVP by June 26, 2009 to Seth Carr at seth.carr@lacity.org or (213) 485-3961 by providing your name and the number of guests that will be in attendance.

City Celebrates South Los Angeles Wetlands Park Project

Yesterday, the City held a groundbreaking ceremony marking the introduction of another Proposition O-funded project aimed to divert rainwater and treat urban runoff in a in a densely populated area of South Los Angeles.

LA residents' overwhelming approval of the City’s clean water bond program (Prop O) has led to a $26-million project that will transform a historic rail yard into a neighborhood resource of open park space, wetlands habitat, and community facilities.

The overall goal of the project is to help the City meet water quality regulations, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads or TMDLs, enacted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Los Angeles River watershed. The project will span an entire city block, and will divert and treat storm drain flow from a 525-acre watershed area. Average daily water diversion is estimated at approximately 14,000 gallons and average dry weather daily water treatment is estimated at 80,000 gallons.

The wetlands park will also provide valuable green space and educational opportunities for through features such as a pocket park, trails and signage, wildlife viewing areas, and the renovation of a existing building into a multi-use center for the community. The photo is a southeast aerial view of the proposed plan to tranform the exisiting railway into green space and trails.

For more information on this project, read the LA Stormwater Program's past newsletter article. For more information on other Prop O projects, visit http://www.lapropo.org/.

2009 Kids Ocean Day: A Major Success!

More than 4,000 students hit the beaches yesterday, to celebrate the 16th annual Kids Ocean Day at Dockweiler State Beach.

The event, hosted by the Michael Klubock of the Malibu Foundation and the LA Stormwater Program, brought out City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Public Works President Cynthia Ruiz for a press conference concerning ocean pollution. As winner of the aerial art design contest, fourth-grader Rebecca Chan also gave us insight on why pollution prevention is key to preserving the future for her and her classmates.

Other speakers included Dr. Suja Lowenthal of the California Coastal Commission, Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris, Tiffany Thorton from Sonny with a Chance and Debby Ryan from Suite Life on Deck.

Students from 25 elementary schools throughout Los Angeles County banded together to create a "Happy Fish" aerial art piece, showing the inextricable connection between a clean ocean and safe future. The helicopter zoomed over the thousands of students, capturing their message of "Save the Ocean". To further display their concern for the environment, the students participated in a massive beach cleanup after the press conference and aerial art excitement.

Kids Ocean Day is the culmination of the year's Adopt-A-Beach School Program. During the school year, Malibu Foundation and Stormwater Program representatives conduct interactive presentations to school assemblies throughout Southern California, emphasizing the connection between clean neighborhoods and clean oceans. To date, the program has reached almost 462,000 school children since October 1991 about the importance of pollution prevention.

A big thanks to all City staff and local volunteers for their efforts in creating another Ocean Day success!

To view more event photos, visit www.malibufoundation.org

During the aerial display, there were many planes flying over, who probably got a great glimpse of the human art. Did anyone on a flight out of LAX see the kids in the "Happy Fish" display? Let us know!