Cyclists walked past the trail overlooking the Los Angeles River near Dodger Stadium, and a group of city officials and council members walked to a nearby park filled with native plants, trees and picnic tables. Along the river with support from federal funds.
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) was with Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. Now it’s at risk as President Trump and his allies are trying to cut government programs extensively.
Local officials have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a river revitalization project aimed at restoring natural habitats along the waterway miles between Griffith Park and downtown LA. I did
“This is a huge transformational project for Los Angeles,” Friedman said. “It’s heartbreaking to see the Trump administration withdraw all the federal funds we depend on.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Dena Odell, the Army’s La Radi district spokesperson, said her agency “recognizes the importance of the Los Angeles River ecosystem restoration project and is working on a partnership with the city of Los Angeles. ” he said in an email.
“We can’t speculate about future funding levels for a project,” Odell said.
Pedestrians will use the Los Angeles River Bikeway in Los Angeles on Thursday
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
During his visit Thursday, Friedman said that the bike paths and parks previously built in the Elysian Valley have transformed the river, once merely a concrete channel, into natural amenities.
“These communities are back in the river. In reality, they were all devastation and chain link fences and overgrown weeds,” she said. “Now, the restoration reveals the promise the river has to offer.”
Under the Biden administration, the bipartisan infrastructure law approved $28 million for the project, the latest in a series of co-investments.
However, Friedman said the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze funds previously approved by Congress threaten these investments and the financial support that is important to complete the effort. She said Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, have made it clear, along with many other government programs, want to refund such projects.
“What they’ve called out specifically is that what they want a refund has something to do with climate, habitat, and ecology,” Friedman said. “They call these ‘wake’ projects, so they think creating Parkland is ‘wake’, but that’s not important. ”
Friedman said the benefits of the LA River planning project include the creation of new parks and trails for communities that have long been unable to access recreational areas, as well as the natural habitats of birds and other wildlife. It includes recovery, improving water quality, and returning. Create a stretch of natural flood plains that captures rainwater and charging groundwater.
Pedestrians will use the Los Angeles River Bikeway in Los Angeles on Thursday
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
Friedman said Trump administration officials have shown they are not supporting projects such as bike paths or “those that don’t burn fossils.”
She noted that in recent years efforts to revitalize the area with passes and riverside parks have already brought new businesses, including cafes and shops, attracting residents walking, jogging and riding bikes.
If federal funding is cut, it would rely on state and local funding for the project and place a significant financial burden on L.A. taxpayers, he said, while relying on state and local funding for the project and taking the effort more slowly.
Rep. Rick Larsen, city councillors Hugo Soto Martinez and Laura Friedman heard comments in Los Angeles on Thursday about redevelopment of the Los Angeles River
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
Larsen, who described himself as a birder, said he enjoyed finding the great uret in the river. He said watching the stretch of the river “helped us to better understand why ecological restoration is important to the region.”
Friedman and Larsen also toured the near-finished Wilshire/Lovera Metro Metro station, part of the Purple D-Line expansion project, which is scheduled to connect downtown LA to UCLA and VA Medical Center. Friedman said the project is very necessary because “there is a great hunger for better mobility around LA, and there is a great hunger to escape the roads and reduce the costs of people.” .
She said the hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government has promised to expand has not yet been provided, and if the Trump administration withdraws, saying it is “putting the entire project at risk.”
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