Boyle Heights: The Suits and the Citizens have a Different Take on LA River Revitalization

NEIGHBORHOODS-It's no doubt that river revitalization is high on every politician's list of advocacies. Based on the overwhelming support the ambitious $1 billion project that would rework 11-miles of the Los Angeles River received, "going river" is a no-brainer for anyone looking for a platform, but in this tsunami of enthusiasm for concrete removal and eco-system restoration, Los Angeles may be giving short shrift to some communities.

While men and women in suits pose behind gilded shovels on the foreground of the Sixth Street bridge a few Boyle Heights residents hung back, wondering what the next few months would bring. 

Some like Jason Gallegos of the Boyle Heights Planning and Land Use committee emphasized the simple need to keep the Boyle Heights neighborhood informed. "We want the city and developers to keep us updated. We just need to know what's going to happen. How are they re-routing traffic, details like that," he says, implying that such a basic requirement wasn't being fulfilled consistently. 

Others like Shmuel Gonzales were more outspoken. "Why are the amenities all on the Arts District side?" The Boyle Heights resident, tour guide and writer says the $1 million soccer field to be built below the bridge on the Boyle Heights side feels like a palliate designed to appease the locals. On the other bank, an amphitheater would be built that would gather the community together through arts programming. 

"More than likely what you heard at the groundbreaking was just the collective frustration from folks that have felt it was just a continuation of the way development has been done in the Boyle Heights area," says Mynor Godoy, Planning and Land Use chair for the Boyle Heights neighborhood council.

Boyle Heights residents see the Sixth Street Bridge replacement project as a coil of complex issues taken physical form. The neighborhood has accepted there is a need to demolish the historic bridge, but it wonders why so much is invested on this infrastructure, but yet so many of Boyle Heights' needs seem to be continually overlooked. 

"Boyle Heights residents never get any respect. We always get shitted on," says Carlos Montes, president of the neighborhood council. (Read the rest.)  

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 23

Pub: Mar 17, 2015