New Bills Could Increase Funding for Harbor Area Waters

On July 11, the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council voted 12-0 with one abstention from John DiMeglio to support two pending state bills, both of which would increase the territory of the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) to include the Dominguez Channel in Carson, and several other watersheds, including those in council district 15. 

The two bills are Senate bill 1122, introduced by Sen. Ben Allen, and Assembly bill 2897, introduced by Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell. Both bills are essentially the same and would add the coastal watersheds of Manhattan Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Santa Catalina Island to the conservancy’s territory. This is in addition to the Dominguez Channel, which was the site of a foul odor in 2021, caused by chemical contamination from a warehouse fire. These bills would increase the resources and funding available to these areas.

“Even within our northwest San Pedro area we will greatly benefit,” said Gwen Henry, chair of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Sustainability Committee, when she presented the motion to the board. “It’s a tremendous amount of funding. It will continue the river that has gone from the mountain, all the way through the Los Angeles River area.”

The board’s motion also said that this could revive the Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington Waterfront Park and the West Harbor LA Waterfront, and provide more educational opportunities to schools.

“Whereas, by including CD15 and the historic coastal wetlands within the Conservancy’s jurisdiction, the State is ensuring that their unique open space and wildlife habitat resources will be preserved and enhanced for present and future generations,” the motion says.

The neighborhood council’s vote came a couple weeks after the Los Angeles City Council voted on a similar motion, voting 12-0 on June 29 to support the bills, with Mayor Eric Garcetti supporting them on July 5.

The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council voted 11-0 with one abstention on June 21 to support one of the bills, SB 1122. Board member Lashanda Roz Roberts abstained.

Richard Havenick, chair of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Environment and Sustainability Committee, said that his neighborhood council had previously supported the other bill, Assembly bill 2897, in May 2020. However, he said that bill had died in committee, so his council was supporting the Senate bill instead.

“The Senate bill, if approved, will release state funding to ensure restoration and preservation of open space for recreational and educational uses that will enhance our area within CD15 and extending to Catalina Island,” Havenick said.

Henry said that she is surprised that it took the Assembly bill four years to get to this point.

“I guess Patrick [O’Donnell] just didn’t have the clout,” Henry said. “Ben Allen took it up.”

Henry wants her council to really push for the adoption of the bills.

“It’s just one part of changing the entire port area, which used to be so polluted,” Henry said. “You can have industry, and clean industry, next to re-naturalized areas. And it doesn’t have to be what it’s been, which is just terrible, health-wise.”

Henry said that the conservancy expanding its territory would benefit many Harbor Area bay cities. This includes areas near Gaffey in San Pedro.

Wilmington and Harbor City could greatly benefit from watershed restoration, Henry said. Banning’s Landing in Wilmington has mudflats that could be used as open space.

Henry said that watersheds begin in the mountains, then go to valleys, and continue into the ocean.

“The most important part of any watershed, the one that’s the richest and the most biodiverse, usually, is along the shoreline,” Henry said.

Henry said that portions of Torrance, Carson, Inglewood and Madrona Marsh all used to be wetlands.

“The state has funded a lot of the upper river watersheds,” Henry said.

She pointed out that Mayor Garcetti awarded $28 million to the Los Angeles River earlier this year.

“I believe that he gave that money because, of course, 2028 Olympics are coming,” Henry said. “Los Angeles has to look like the city of the future.”

She said there are a lot of things that must be done in LA to have it lead the way for the rest of the country, in terms of alternate energy and restoring waterways.

“It actually is an extreme benefit to have funds to try to restore the waterways,” Henry said.

She said that LA is one of the top 30 cities in the world with the most biodiversity.

“Within the City of Los Angeles, we have everything from mountains to desert, to oceans, wetlands,” Henry said. “And the count of species is pretty tremendous.”

She said that breaking down cement channels and re-naturalizing them creates open space, letting greenery grow, and restores ecosystems.

“It filters the water of toxins and nutrients,” Henry said. “It creates places for creatures to grow.”

Henry said there is a population of steelhead trout that is stuck in the Los Angeles River and  cannot migrate. However, if the conservancy were to take over and repair inlets, such as at the Dominguez Channel, the trout might begin migrating again.

“This is like one of the hidden secrets of something that could be done, ecologically, that would be just unbelievable,” Henry said.