Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. We're going to go and move up item. We've had a couple of requests are going to do those first two out of 29/1.
Speaker 1: Communication from Councilman Austin recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy on the progress of the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan.
Speaker 0: Mr. Austin.
Speaker 4: Thank you. As you know, ab5 30 created by a speaker renting created a lower L.A. River revitalization group that myself, Amir Garcia, are part of in terms of representing Long Beach. But there are several other cities along the lower L.A. rivers. And the working group has been working very, very diligently over the past several months to get to a place where we can have a great revitalization plan. And we've asked Mark Stanley, the executive director of the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, to come here today to give us a presentation. I think you will all be wowed. Thank you, Mark.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And Mr. Turnbull, Mayor Garcia, vice mayor, members of the council as mentioned, and Mark Stanley from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. I'm here tonight in the capacity of leading the group, the plenty effort that's taken place for the Lower Los Angeles River. I serve in many other capacities, which many of you know me by as well. The lowland L.A. River Revitalization Revitalization Plan is an effort to facilitate collaborative management of the watershed and make the river more accessible to the community a more accessible community resource. The planning process will lay the groundwork for revitalizing revitalizing the L.A. River and for improving our community connection to the river. I'm going to. Briefly. Oh, there we go. I'm going to provide a brief presentation on the activities that have been taking place through the planning process of the working group. I'm having a. Oh, there we go. Oh, there we go. I think we have a slight delay with the clicker. And I'm going to start off with the organizations that help to implement this process. It started with AB 530, which was introduced by Assemblyman Rendon. He was not the speaker at the time. As we all know, he is now the Speaker of the Assembly. He introduced legislation to create a working group for the lower half of the Los Angeles fervor. In that legislation, it outlined that the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy would staff the organization, and it would be an update of the Los Angeles County Master Plan for the lower half of the Los Angeles River, a plan that was originally created back in 1996. So the planning process. Well, that slide. Okay. There we go. The schedule has been such that we began in back in the fall of 2016. We're going through a three stage process. We're going to be concluding pretty soon. And we also have some community engagement involved in this, which I'll speak on towards the end of the presentation. So our first phase of the project was to gather input from the community, form the working group and engage the community in this process. The second stage has been to take some of those ideas that have been generated from community members and working group members and to start develop concepts. We're now in the final stage of the process. We're going to be drafting the plan and we'll do a final adoption after the first of the year. In terms of the structure of the program, we have a working group and I'll show you how many members are really involved in that process. We also have consultants that come in. They serve as technical resources to this process and provide us information on other activities that are taking place along the river corridor as well as the tributaries. We have a robust program where we reach out to the community and there's lots of community members who participate in this process as well. The members of the Working Group, 40 members strong, including the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, includes all the cities along the lower half of the Los Angeles River. When I speak of the lower half of the Los Angeles forever, I'm talking from the City of Vernon down to your great city of Long Beach, and also includes many of the cities that are on the tributaries as well. We have two major tributaries, the Rio Hondo River, as well as the Compton Creek. Because of the size of the working group, we have divided up into a number of committees. One of those formats is for us to divide up into segments, and those segments are the upper middle and lower reach of the lower half of the river, the upper reach being above Rio Hondo, the Middle Bay between Vero Hondo and Compton Creek and Compton Creek down to the ocean. We also have plan element committees, the plan element committees, which I'll talk a little bit more about. It's structured such that the months that the River segment committees don't meet, we meet with the plan element committees. We want to maintain community participation throughout all this activity. As you see, community engagement takes place throughout the planning process. Committee Economic and Health and Equity Committee. A lot of that focus has been on gentrification and displacement. Topics as well as homeless support of our businesses and our work for workforce to increase equity among our community members and promote wellness and physical activity as well. We're also taking on aspects of how we can green the river corridor. As most of you know, it's mostly a concrete channel. We're looking at ways that we can enhance connectivity to the river, create public spaces, and enhance the experience that people have when they go along the L.A. River. Our Water and Environment Committee focuses a lot on flood management. One of the things that we don't want to do as we move forward through this planning process is compromise the flood protection that the cities enjoy today. As a matter of fact, we want to strengthen that flood protection. That is why we have a separate committee just to talk about water elements alone, how we can improve the flow of that water, how we can improve water quality to habitat biodiversity along the waterway as well. I spoke community engagement. It is built very much in this planning process. It is one of the chief elements for the formation of the working group. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that after this slide. I mentioned that we're in the third phase of the planning process. We're now starting to build those signature projects that will serve as examples of how we can provide enhancements along the lower half of the of the river, which will feed into an overall master plan for the entire 51 miles of the Los Angeles forever, a process that's beginning to take place. As we wrap up this work under the working group. So community engagement activities, a big part of what we're what we've been doing is engaging the community. We want to pull ideas from the community of what they like to see. Along the lower half of the river. We've had many presentations out in the community and we're continuing those throughout this month and into the early part of next month as well. We've had bike rides to engage people in different ways, as well as trail activities where we can engage in question. Community pop up activities is where we don't organize the events, but the community events that have taken place that we actually go out and participate in those events and provide some information about the planning activity that's taking place. We've held a number of workshops. We have a questionnaire that's online. I'll provide you that website at the end of this presentation. We have a newsletter and as I mentioned, the working group meetings. We have one that's coming up on Thursday, the first Thursday of every month, and they start at 6:00. Kickoff events, community workshops. I spoke up. This is just a couple of pictures of those activities that have already taken place, equestrian activities, the pop up events where we go to other community activities that are taking place throughout the cities along the lower half of the river. The movie night was a tremendously successful event. We were able to provide that activity down in the channel of the river, a place that community does not typically get access to. Even though we have not implemented any of the plans that we're talking about. You can see that there was a tremendous response from the community in wanting to participate in activities along the Los Angeles River. Some of the events that are coming. Up, as I mentioned, the working group. It's going to be in the city of Downey this Thursday. They rotate among the cities along the lower half of the Los Angeles River. We've been into the city of Long Beach, I believe, twice through this process. And I believe in November. We'll be back again. On October the seventh, we're going to have another bike tour. And actually every weekend in October, we're having bike tours that start at different points along the lower half of the river. It will continue to be engaged in pop up events throughout the city, along the river as well. I mentioned at the end of the presentation, I will provide you that website. That website contains all the information that I just talked about. In addition to detailing notes that have come out of each of the working group meetings that provide you information about all the activities that are coming up past activities. And it allows you to take a survey to provide additional input into this process. I thank you for inviting us here tonight. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you, Mark. And we're going to go ahead and continue. But once I'm sure it is, back over to First Councilman Austin. Give me a round of applause.
Speaker 4: Thank you and thank you, Mark, for that great presentation. And I just would just implore upon the residents who had an opportunity to see this, those watching at home to come out and participate in the community engagement models that are that are happening, because this is an opportunity for you to weigh in and be engaged in something that is going to be truly transformational along the the L.A. River, the lower half of the L.A. River, as well as the upper half of the L.A. River. It's an important project that the City of Long Beach is engaged in. And again, there will be some significant changes, changes that will will improve access safety. But overall, just just the importance of having a river in our city. And so I'm looking forward to to the vision being actually implemented. A lot of these meetings have been, you know, pretty tedious. And we've been really, really, you know, working hard to take in the input of everybody who has given input from those who would then question interest, those with the know recreational interests, those who want to see our water cleaner. And so this is this is, like I said, an opportunity to really change the game with the L.A. River and again, invite you all to participate. Thank you again for your great work. Mark.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Next replay of Councilmember Pearce.
Speaker 5: Yes. I want to thank you, Mark, for coming and sharing with us. I think the partnership that you guys have created along the entire river was going to get us to to see our vision through. And it's really exciting to think about places where we've had rivers that have been rehabbed. And really you're taking in all the animals and the wildlife as well as urban setting. It can be really exciting. And I just want to thank you guys for the work and think Councilmember Austin as well. Appreciate it.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilmember Elanga.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Barry. I also want to add my congratulations to Mr. Stanley. I worked with him on the Rivers and Mounds Conservancy, as well as with the Los Amigos Wetlands Authority. We has had a grand opening this coming Saturday, this past Saturday, opening up a new trail system along the lottery with wetlands. And he does some great work. He's he's surely a champion of not only protecting our wildlife, but also enhancing the opportunities for people to enjoy the river. And I also want to congratulate the rivers of mouth conservative, which which Mr. Stanley is the executive director of with the Long Beach must grant that was given the goal was what $2.3 million with up.
Speaker 0: To.
Speaker 3: 25 million.
Speaker 0: To.
Speaker 3: 2000002 million I wish it was 25 that went to towards developing also some urban wetlands along the river with the language arts program. So thank you for your presentation. Thank you for all your work.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilman Austin, for scheduling this presentation. And Mr. Stanley, thank you for your hard work on this. I know that this is one of the biggest opportunities we have along the river. You know, what's interesting is our river runs adjacent to a freeway and runs adjacent to some of the most economically and environmentally impacted areas of L.A. County. And the improvement in the focus on the river really is a big opportunity for us to talk about environmental justice and talk about economic justice in areas that really haven't had that that sort of investment. I'm really excited that that you are doing this. Level of outreach. I was able to participate in the meeting at the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library in North Long Beach, as well as I know that there's a lot of discussion with the college about sort of the Long Beach Compton border, the intersection of the 91 and the seventh in the L.A. River. And I want to see continue to see more conversations about, you know, elevating that as a major area of focus for many communities that really surround that that that intersection of of infrastructure. So thank you can continue to count on our support and I look forward to continuing engage in this process. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilwoman Pierce. Actually, she spoke. Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Happens at every meeting. I just.
Speaker 2: Wanted to.
Speaker 5: Congratulate you, Mark, on. I know there.
Speaker 2: Have been new resources that.
Speaker 5: Have been infused into several of the organizations that you are in charge of leading. And I know that I too have the the pleasure of working with you as the chair of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. And I think it should everyone on on our council should know if they don't already that you are probably one of the busiest men out there in terms of wetlands restorations and sort of preserve it in terms of preserving natural habitats and environmentally sensitive areas. You do really great work. I believe you very much have the interests of our city and the region in mind in the work that you do. This presentation was fantastic. It was nice to be able to get a visual and see the potential. So I want to thank you as as did my colleagues for your presence here tonight and for your continued efforts on behalf of the city of Long Beach. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mark Boucher, for the appreciate the update. There is a motion and a second. Is there a public comment on the presentation over the mountains saying, nonmembers, please cast your votes?
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 0: Okay, we have. So what I'm going to do is I know there's some folks here for the Indigenous Peoples Day item. It's it's currently it's at the end of the agenda. But I'm going to move it up. If I know I've talked to Councilman Pierce, we're going to try to hopefully keep it as expeditious as possible and move it from the end to now. So if we can go and hear that item. I know there's a lot of folks here for that. We'll just try to hear that one next. Okay. So with that, Councilman Pearce.
Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy on the progress of the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan.