A River Runs Through It

Could it be? Is Los Angeles finally ready to beautify the big ditch that is the Los Angeles River?

Don't hold your breath just yet... but the city is spending $3 million to find a consultant who might design a plan for the river.

Writes the L.A. Times: What had been a natural and at times tempestuous stream that caused some catastrophic floods is now a desolate concrete ditch. Instead of sheltering wildlife, it became a location for movie car chases, crime and even a place to dump crime victims.

Its banks sprouted unsightly industrial uses, uncluding factories and miles of railroad tracks. Many locals avoided it, and most visitors were unaware of it.

Now, however, city leaders and river advocates insist they have the will and the community support to do something.

We'll see. As the paper notes, the city has had designs on the river in the past as well. In the 1930s, a plan was drafted that included parks, lakes and other features... but never came to pass. "Instead, the river was paved to control flooding," the LAT notes.