Thursday, March 25, 2010

April 1, 2010 - On Track? High Speed Rail and The Los Angeles River

On Thursday April 1, 2010 from 3:00-6:oo pm there will be a symposium regarding the High Speed Rail and the Los Angeles River...birds of all feathers will be speaking. Check the link below to RSVP....it's free...and go so you know if a there are plans for a train to bisect your living room.





Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Permission to Grow Food...Ordinances, Ordinances, Ordinances

March 25, 2010

Hmmm...ever wonder what could grow between the concrete cracks by the River bed? There will be a hearing on March 25, 2010 in Van Nuys regarding urban farming. Please see link below for further information:

http://urbanfarmingadvocates.org/posted_by_ufa/support-urban-farming-thurs-325/

Richard Serra


On the River island....for a moment I thought Richard Serra was commissioned to do a piece for the Los Angeles River. Serra is one of my favorite sculptures....my favorite is called "Vortex" done in 2002 which can be seen in Fort Worth Texas at the Museum of Modern Art. When standing inside Serra's sculpture, the delightfully eerie acoustics this piece creates are amazing....would love to hear live sound there! If you can't make it to Texas to see this beautiful piece, you can go to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and catch some of his other works there (drumming has taken place within that piece as well). Anybody, have a crane?

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Survival of The Collective


This video was shot January 2, 2009.

It is amazing and peaceful to watch the birds feed in groups in the River. The best times to do this is between 7:30am - 8:30 am and between 4:00pm-5:00pm. Unemployment in the city of Los Angeles in 2010 has been fluctuating between 12.3%-12.4%, much higher than the national average of approximately 9.7%. What does that have to do with birds feeding? Well, watching them eat for starters, along with how they do not eat alone....surviving as a collective.

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas?






While the recent rains have been much needed and beautiful, here are some photos of how the River is looking now. Along with some higher water tables, some plastic bags got a free ride down river and have clung for dear life to the vegetation in the River bed...for miles. Next time you go shopping, take a bag with you so disposable plastic totes don't end up here....i think there are better ways to beautify our environment, don't you? FoLAR is having their annual clean up coming up on May 8, 2010 from 9-12pm.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Unearthed - LA River Clean Up





On May 9, 2009 we got our limbs dirty by participating in FoLAR's LA River Clean up.  The center islands are home to many human goods which end up in the River which go downstream and continue there voyage into the Pacific Ocean.  Some of our community homeless also find shelter here. The amount of plastic is disturbing and I think the birds, fish and other creatures are getting sick of it too! 

The Grace of Egrets

Taken January 2, 2009.  

Earth Hour 2009






On March 29, 2009 LA Yellow Box organized a bike ride to meet on the 6th Street Bridge to celebrate, participate, and capture Earth Hour 2009 which was a global initiative to address the environmental impact of unsustainable living and the effects of global warming. Downtown looked so beautiful and you can see the before and after shots of as the lights were turned off. One other person met me on the bridge, he was nineteen years old and was pursuing photography at LACC. This year Earth Hour will take place on March 27, 2010. Lights off! 


The Los Angeles River Master Revitalization Plan


On December 15, 2008 I went to City Hall as the Los Angeles River Master Revitalization Plan was being introduced. Five people were there... including me.  Check out this link to see what is in the works for this river and LA Yellow Box will keep you posted too!