Recently received in email from Randall Davis, of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District Watershed Management Division, is a logo concept that will be used to identify the Dominguez Channel.  One of the basic first steps in any problem solving exercise is to identify component parts. By providing a name and logo for this mysterious drainage “ditch” we can raise public awareness and provide the start of a common frame of reference for public discussion.

Dominguez Watershed Stakeholders:

I am pleased to share with you the Dominguez Channel logo. …

…The logo was selected based on your votes and feedback. Thank you for your participation in the selection process.  The logo below will be used to enhance public awareness and provide consistent signage along the Dominguez Channel.

This blog is linked from the entry already

It arrived as a PDF, but for your reading pleasure we’ve converted it via OCR to postable text. There may be some errors/typos as a result.

September 24,2009
To all Interested Patties:
The City of Los Angeles is pleased to release the draft 2009 Los Angeles Bicycle Plan. This proposed Bicycle Plan is a result of extensive fieldwork, public/community input-including public meetings, mail-in comment cards, the online comment page from the project’s website and routes  submitted via web-based mapping services-as well as a review of the network recommended in the current Bicycle Plan….

There’s more below, but the important thing to note is the deadline for submission of comments of November 6.

Bike paths along the Channel would be Class I – …areas with available right-of-way, usually along flood control channels, utility corridors or through open spaces where the implementation of a bicycle path can provide access to destinations and/or enhance the continuity of the broader bikeway network.[my extra emphasis]

But there is no “broader bikeway network”! Page 19 of 22 in the report shows the bikeway designations for the upper Dominguez Channel. From 120th st near Hawthorne airport south to El Camino College / Alondra Park is designated as an existing bike path, however doesn’t connect to anything and is balkanized by major arterial streets (not shown on map). We’ve commented on this before.

Another very short segment of designated bike lane exists on the map between Garden Willows (near the W end of the 91 freeway). Connections are shown to several potential bike lanes. Timelines are difficult to ascertain, but the vibe I’m getting is that these bike lanes of the future will always be bike lanes of the future.

Then there’s nothing. All the rest of the remaining way to the harbor.

The proposed draft Bicycle Plan is a comprehensive update of the current Bicycle Plan fist adopted in 1996 and re-adopted by the City Council in 2007. The draft Bicycle Plan proposes approximately 696 miles of new bikeways and new policies related to implementation, education, enforcement, engineering, parking, transit integration, maintenance and evaluation. The draft 2009 Bicycle Plan is available for download on the project website [www.labikeplan.org].
Printed copies of the Draft Bicycle Plan will be available for public review at the locations listed  below.  At public libraries, please request copies from the Reference Desk:

Comments should be submitted on or before November 6,2009 and all comments received will be part of the public record and constitute an integral part of the public testimony made on the Bicycle Plan.
Comments may be submitted through the project website, via e-mail or regular nail in any of the following manners:
1. through the project website [www.labikeplan.org]
2. via email [jordann [.] turner [] lacity [] org]; or
3. via mail to: City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning
Attn: Jordann Turner
200 N. Spring Street, Room 721
Los Angeles CA 90012
Sincerely,
City Planner
Jordann Turner
Bicycle Plan Project Manager

Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) Program
“Be a part of the solution, not the pollution”

1. The concept – Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) & parkways utilize CPR© for the garden to prevent wet & dry-weather runoff:

• Conservation of (a) water, (b) fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides (water pollutants), (c) energy (moving water around the state is the #1 user of electricity), (d) and gas-powered machinery (air pollutants) through use of native & and climate adapted plants.
• Permeability increased, utilizing materials for a driveway, walkway and patio that allow water to percolate into the soil.
• Retention devices like rain gardens, rain barrels and rain chains as well as bio-swales, creek beds and dry wells.

2. Attend a free public workshop:
You’ll learn essential info from landscape pros, receive free tools, get info on incentive programs and make good use of Surfrider’s OFG blog with do-it-yourself steps: www.oceanfriendlygardens.org! When you make changes to your landscape, we will post your before-and-after pictures.

Hawthorne Workshop
Hawthorne Library Meeting Room, 12700 Grevillea Ave., Hawthorne, CA
Sat., Oct. 17, 1pm-4pm, Refreshments Served
Registration starts a ½ hour ahead of time. Space is limited.
Register today: 310-371-7222, ext. 200 or www.sbesc.com (“workshops”)

Note: OFG workshops are offered to residents in the following cities (though Surfrider members and volunteers who don’t live there won’t be turned away): Carson, Culver City, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, West Hollywood, Torrance, and several unincorporated communities in LA County (Topanga, Baldwin Hills, Athens.)

3. Garden Assistance Program (GAP) – volunteer!
The GAP is a hands-on program, applying what you learn in the OFG workshop to people’s landscapes. We ask those we help to work with us to help others. See the blog for more details. Volunteer with a Surfrider Chapter OFG GAP by contacting OFG Program Coordinator Paul Herzog: pherzog@surfrider.org, 310-439-2500.

4. Tool donations
We’re looking for shovels, picks, rakes, spades, hand tools and more. We’ll pick them up from you.

I went to the opening festivities and tours of the newly opened Bixby Marshland in Carson (it’s on the west side of Figueroa, just south of Sepulveda). This is one of the most impressive of the local habitat restorations, landscaped by WRA and maintained by the County of Los Angeles Sanitation District. It has a lot of ideas for our future projects. It will be open to the public every first Saturday of the month form 8 a.m. to 12 noon. See their website at

http://www.lacsd.org/about/wastewater_facilities/jwpcp/bixbymarshland.asp

The mission statement from Adopt a Stormdrain seems right in line with ours.

Adopt a Stormdrain Foundation
1218 El Prado Ave. Suite #128, Torrance, CA 90502

Coastal Clean up Day September 19, 2009
Along the Dominguez Channel

9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

LA City/Carson/Torrance/Harbor City Site = 91 Freeway/Artesia Transit Center

Wilmington Site = Wilmington Marinas/Pacific Yacht Landing

Coastal Clean up Day began in 1985 as a way to combat the increasing marine debris along our shoreline. It is part of an international effort and is now the largest volunteer day on the planet. Coastal Cleanup Day is a fun way for individual, neighborhoods, schools, communities, businesses, and corporations to get involved and demonstrate their commitment to healthy waters!

Heal the Bay will be celebrating its 25th year as the Los Angeles County Costal Cleanup Day coordinator. With over 70 cleanup sites throughout LA County, CCD has become more than just a cleanup, it is an opportunity to educate the public on where our trash comes from and where it ends up, all the while encouraging environmental and community stewardship.

On behalf of Coastal Cleanup Day, Heal the Bay and the Adopt A Stormdrain Foundation, we would like to ask for a generous donation from your business. Your help will greatly contribute to the wellness and experience of our volunteers on the day of the event. Please feel free to contact Cathy Beauregard Coastal Cleanup Days Wilmington/Carson/Torrance/Harbor City/LA City coordinator at Adopt a Stormdrain Foundation should you need anything else in order to receive proper business recognition for your contributions to the organization and the 2009 Costal Cleanup Day. For Volunteer sign ups please contact Cathy at cathy.beauregard@gmail.com

Diamond $2,000 Gold $1,000 Silver $500 Bronze $250 or Food Donation for Breakfast or Lunch

For healthy waters and communities,

Cathy Beauregard
Adopt A Stormdrain Foundation
1218 El Prado Ave #128
Torrance, CA 90501
424-772-6293 message
cathy.beauregard@gmail.com
www.adoptastormdrain.org

Please make checks payable to:
Adopt A Stormdrain Foundation which is a 501 © (3) nonprofit organization. Federal Tax ID # 26-2785255

We had asked for $30k and we were funded at $22k, so we have some additional work to do on the budget before we start.  Today we met to focus on that task and draw up a list of actions and we’re optimistic about completing everything that we promised.

Of course we’ll keep all of you in blog land updated right here, but a better way to stay in touch is to join the Friends / Amigos of Dominguez Watershed email list.

From: Shawn Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:50 PM
Subject: 2009-2010 Wetlands Recovery Project Community Wetland Restoration Grant Program

Greetings,

Thank you for participating in the 2009-2010 Wetlands Recovery Project’s Community Wetland Restoration Grant Program proposal round.

Please consider this email as official notification of acceptance into the Wetlands Recovery Project’s Community Wetland Restoration Grant Program for the 2009-2010 cycle. Congratulations on receiving a grant from the Program. I have phoned each of you, and I am following-up with this email notification.

…

I very much look forward to working with you to achieve the important goals of your respective projects.

Regards, Shawn Kelly

Shawn Kelly
SCWRP

109 Fillmore Ave
Oxnard, CA 93035
(805) 984-9531
Web: http://www.scwrp.org

We’re looking forward to working with you too!

Above: The entrance to the Dominguez Channel path from 147th.

An earthen embankment runs along this part of the Channel.

That’s Marine Ave overcrossing in the photo above.  Marine runs west to the city of Manhattan Beach.  It used to be named Compton, but it was changed before I came to the area perhaps because of the down-market implication of Compton.  You’ll still see some older references call it Compton Blvd.  This part of the path runs behind Kit Carson and Roosevelt elementary school (at right, above).    The school has a unique sharing arrangement with Bodger Park – the school fields double as a county park.  Or maybe vice-versa.  There’s softball fields, soccer pitches, and a community garden in Bodger Park.

The community garden borders the Dominguez Channel path.  It doesn’t look too well utilized.

Aspirational mile marker.

Here’s Marine, another major arterial to cross.  Note once again that the bike path crosses mid block without even a crosswalk.  Will most people take the legal and arguably safer route down the the corner and cross there?

To the west is a nice neighborhood, El Camino Village.  It’s unincorporated LA County, but it’s neighbors with both Hawthorne and Lawndale, so there’s boundary issues any time you try engage one of the governing cities or the County. I think El Camino Village has some unrealized potential.  Below is whown Marine Ave. and the Marine Ave. frontage road looking west from near the Dominguez Channel path.  The asphalt is painted green (to simulate grass?).  This could easily be a riparian drainage with much better screening from the busy Marine

Continuing south from Marine along the Channel path.

Ducks! I didn’t take many photos of birds in the Channel, but they and others were there from time to time.  The most plentiful bird I saw was gulls, right after the storm when the water was high.

Walking south some more.

Clearly, there’s been some erosion.  I’d estimate that concrete footing is exposed about 20 inches or more.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but there’s some dirt bike jumps here.  There’s also a foot bridge across the Channel up in the distance.

The doors to the foot bridge are locked.  Too bad for us.

The next door neighborhood once had a pathway to the Channel, but it too is locked now.

This was a friendly homeless guy.  Another homeless person was on the way to camp next to him and some local friends brought clean socks and some food.

We’re almost down to Manhattan Beach Blvd.  Here it’s visible in the distance.  Someone has done some recent planting and mulching.  The plants look a bit bedraggled.

Above are two of the plants.  I wasn’t able to identify all of them, but there was Cercis, a couple Salvias, and a Quercus.  I kicked some of the deep mulch off the crowns of the plants.  Natives will go fungal on you pretty easily if you bury the crowns.  The soil was sodden underneath.  I think that they are watered liberally, which isn’t an ideal situation for these plants.

We’re at Alondra Park and nearby El Camino College.  There’s a motorcycle event here today.  Alondra park is largish and over half is dedicated to a County Golf Course.

Alondra park deserves a few photos, particularly Jeanne Bellemin’s island, but I’ll have to save that for another day since the Channel path effectively ends here, since it is gated closed south of the park and El Camino College.  ECC is a commuter college.  Wouldn’t it make sense to open it up for commuters?

We start near where we ended last time, at the busy El Segundo Blvd. crossing.  The picture above was taken on the south side of El Segundo Blvd, looking north. Look at those cars zip by. There’s no dedicated crossing for bikes or pedestrians at any of the intersections of the Channel bike path / pedestrian corridor with streets, which makes it inefficient for commuters and invites unsafe behavior.

The City of LA has this whole upper Channel designated as a bike path (also see earlier blog post). That designation is really misleading, because it’s not a terribly good bike path for the reasons just discussed. The legal way to cross this intersection is to walk to the corner, use the crosswalk, then walk back. Few people do that in practice. Nonetheless, these neighborhood shortcuts along the channel are valuable car-free space.

Fortunately, we’re headed south, so we don’t have to cross a busy street just yet.

Above is the view looking south from El Segundo Blvd.

The Channel access road is paved from side to side with asphalt just south of El Segundo Blvd.

Then some dirt area opens up on the east side.

Invasive plants like Arundo Donax (this looks like it, but I’m not 100% certain of my ID) and ivy are sometimes found growing through the adjacent properties into the Channel access road.

A tributary feeds in from the west.  This one starts its above-ground journey at Yukon and 132nd.

Here’s what the 132nd Street tributary looks like at Yukon and 132nd:

And here’s what it looks like peering over the edge of the fence at a cul-de-sac,  mid-way along its length.

Traveling south some more along the main Dominguez Channel.

Mile marker 13.25 along the Dominguez Creek “Bike Trail”. As discussed previously, you’d think that with mile markers like this that it would be easy to bike to the Port of LA. You’d be wrong. Still, I like the mile markers because they are aspirational and give a sense of location.

A big tributary feeds in from the east in the City of Gardena.  Below picture is what it looks like seen from the Dominguez Channel looking east.  The tributary runs parallel to 135th street above ground to  135th and Western. The access roads on both sides of the channel are so broad here that it seems to be begging for a bike path / walkway.  But all access along this tributary is closed down.

It has been beautified, however, at the far eastern end.

Above three pictures at 135th and Western looking west.  The small formal garden contains the dedication plaque.  I wanted to open those gates and ride a bike along the access road.

All travel from the headwaters of the Channel has thus far been on the east side. There’s an access road on the west, but it’s not open. People still use it, however, for various purposes.

At Rosecrans Blvd, the commuter path along the Channel takes you across a foot bridge then across both Rosecrans and Crenshaw Blvds to get to the west side of the Channel. The path then continues on the west side to Alondra Park.

Crenshaw and Rosecrans

South of Rosecrans

Apparently there’s plenty of desire to get to the Channel commute corridor from adjacent cul-de-sacs and parkettes.  These fences have all been modified to give access to public spaces adjacent to the Channel.

There’s also at least a perceived vulnerability to private property trespass.

The dirt embankment continues to 147th street. The City of Hawthorne lies directly west at 135th. East on 135th is what I believe is LA County, but serviced by City of Gardena.  As you can see, there’s plenty of possibility for native plant restoration along this corridor, even without ripping out any paving.

We’re near the end of our journey now.

Below, 147th street on the border between Hawthorne and Gardena.

This is where Tour de Channel – Part III ends.  Thanks for taking the tour!  Join us next time for another exciting adventure along the Dominguez Channel.

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