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L.A. River Bill Raises 11th-Hour Objections : Legislation: Cities downstream say a conservancy that would be formed to plan projects along the channel would usurp their controls.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A fast-moving measure to tap the commercial and recreational potential of the Los Angeles River corridor, from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro Bay, has triggered last-minute opposition from a dozen downstream cities.

With the two-year legislative session set to end at midnight Monday, the cities say the proposal to establish the Los Angeles River Conservancy would usurp their controls over planning and weaken controls designed to protect their cities from flooding.

The measure, introduced Aug. 17, was approved by the Assembly late Saturday night and sent back to the Senate for final passage.

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The bill by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) would set up a seven-member Los Angeles River Conservancy with a 28-member advisory panel to develop a plan to establish businesses, housing and recreational facilities along a corridor paralleling the concrete channel. It also would direct the proposed conservancy, state Department of Transportation and a private nonprofit group to determine the viability of a high-tech, elevated transit system from Griffith Park to Long Beach.

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Supporters see the endeavor as a visionary effort to turn the 50-mile channel into an integral part of the city, not a mere flood-control system. They contend that the proposed revitalization project very likely would create thousands of much-needed construction jobs, especially near riot-torn areas.

Indeed, if approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson, the measure would probably be one of the most far-reaching legislative proposals enacted in the wake of the unrest.

The measure is being sought just two months after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed spending $364 million to bolster downstream flood protections, including raising walls along the channel.

The 50-mile river begins in the San Fernando Valley and winds east through the narrows at Glendale, past downtown Los Angeles, through industrial towns such as Vernon, just skirts Carson and flows into San Pedro Bay at Long Beach. Only about five miles of the natural riverbed exist, in the Sepulveda Basin, near Griffith Park and near Willow Street in Long Beach.

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On Friday, Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell wrote a letter to a local assemblyman assailing the measure for diverting flood control and transportation funds to the proposed conservancy.

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In the letter, Kell said the Torres bill would ignore “the flood-control impacts of removing the concrete bottom from the river and speculate on the benefits of not raising the walls of the river to help withstand a 100-year flood.”

Jerry Caton, city manager of Downey, characterized the Torres proposal “as an opportunistic measure” that “would do immense damage to the southeast part of the county.” On Friday, Caton organized a meeting of officials from a number of cities, including Carson and Lakewood, to protest the bill.

Torres scoffed at the criticism, saying it stems from undue fears that the city of Los Angeles, which would have two of the seven voting seats on the conservancy board, would seek to extend its influence.

For several years, Torres and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) have sought to revitalize the river. Katz has suggested turning the riverbed into a roadway to ease traffic. Katz said he supports the legislation.

In a letter last September to Torres and Katz, the governor said he supported, in concept, exploring Torres’ proposal to use private funding to develop a river transit system.

One provision of Torres’ bill would require a study on the feasibility of creating a public-private partnership to build bike paths, equestrian trails and an “advanced technology mass transportation system.” A private group, the Los Angeles River Transit Committee, is singled out to assist in the study.

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Christopher Harriman, chairman of the organization, said that “out of love for the city” he has sought to build a riverside transit system.

“Our group is behind the creation of the whole project,” Harriman said in a telephone interview. But for more than two years, “we’ve purposely kept our group quiet.”

Among other things, he said, he has sought $2.5 billion to finance the project with the help of a Belgian prince who serves as vice chairman of the committee. He added that one of his group’s lawyers is Walter Karabian, a politically well-connected former Los Angeles assemblyman.

Harriman said he has discussed the financing with a number of major banks, though he declined to name them pending the results of a private analysis of the project.

“Our group is behind the creation of the whole project,” Harriman said.

A separate measure by Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco) spells out the eligibility of Los Angeles river projects to tap into $800 million in urban waterfront bonds to build bike paths and equestrian paths from Tujunga Wash to San Pedro. On Saturday, the Marks bill was awaiting final passage.

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