Idea for new farmers market is short-seated

Even when the city of Los Angeles does something right, itsomehow manages to show off its shortcomings. Take, for example, the new farmers market on Thursdays in the park next to City Hall. It’s great! Kudos to downtown Councilwoman Jan Perry.

And after buying their produce, where will shoppers sit down to rest? On the grass, because apparently no one is willing to put benches in a park next to City Hall. Last week, there was a pile of tables and chairs that somehow had managed to get to the sidewalk near the park, but no one had bothered to set them up.

That can’t help but make this column wonder about the city’s efforts to revive, clean up and beautify its namesake river. The city wants to spend $2 billion restoring the Los Angeles River over the next few decades.

A skeptic might suggest it’s perhaps a little too ambitious for a city that can’t buy a few park benches, get its parking meters to work and repave its streets more than once every 83 years.

And just when you think it can’t be done....

What happens?

Hope comes walking through the door.

Last Thursday, the first so-called “green street” in Los Angeles officially debuted in a ceremony in Elysian Valley, a neighborhood of smallish homes north of downtown, tucked between the river and the Golden State Freeway.

The project involves water quality. Up to now, whenever it rained on Oros Street, the water would flow down the street and straight into the L.A. River -- taking with it any pollutants picked up along the way.

So the environmental nonprofit North East Trees came up with a solution. With help from the city, the group added grassy areas along the curbs and a series of drains that pick up rainwater and route it underground.

The water, in turn, nourishes the new grassy areas and recently planted trees. An existing pocket park has also been re-engineered to intercept and filter much of the water before it gets to the river. Clever.

Of course, Oros Street is just one block long. More than 200 pollutants have been found in the river in recent years and to really clean it would require doing the Oros Street project thousands of times over across the river’s 800-square-mile watershed.

Still, the debut of the green street project was a very nice moment. With a red-shouldered hawk circling overhead, Council President Eric Garcetti told a crowd that had gathered that “little by little Los Angeles is reclaiming its soul,” a fitting tribute to the power of incremental progress.

How much does soul cost these days?

Fixing Oros Street cost about $1 million, meaning it would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the entire length of the river. The city doesn’t have that kind of money.

Meanwhile, residents of single-family homes in Los Angeles pay $24 annually to a storm water pollution abatement fund. The fee hasn’t changed since 1993.

Hmmm.

In other news, what’s going on with a certain Los Angeles mayor?

Antonio Villaraigosa held a news conference July 23 to announce Tiger Team III -- the city’s new team of traffic officers that will tow and ticket cars parked illegally on Crenshaw Boulevard during rush hour.

Yes, city traffic programs are now assigned movie-like titles.

The news conference that followed, however, had less to do with traffic -- who cares about that? -- and much more to do with Villaraigosa and his gal, Telemundo reporter Mirthala Salinas.

Bits of the press conference made the news on television, but here’s a healthier slice of the transcript, so you can best appreciate civil discourse in L.A. these days:

KNBC-TV Channel 4’s Laurel Erickson: “Sir, I was gone for most of this so forgive me.”

Mayor: “Where were you?”

Erickson: “Well, I was in the deep Midwest reading about your exploits.... I have two questions for you. The reports about your affair with a member of your security detail, were they true or false?

Mayor: “Absolutely false.”

Erickson: “So regardless of what happens to Ms. Salinas in terms of her career at NBC, do you intend to wed her?”

Mayor: “I beg your pardon?”

Erickson: “Do you intend to marry her?”

Mayor: “Look ... “

Erickson: “Make her an honest woman?”

And so it went, and so it will likely go. By the way, Tiger Team IV is going to be deployed to Hollywood.

Any news on the congestion-pricing front?

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was on the verge of doing something bold until the New York state Legislature got in his way.

Bloomberg wants to charge all cars $8 to drive into Manhattan south of 86th Street. The money, in turn, would help fund an array of mass transit projects in the Big Apple, including the 2nd Avenue subway, which broke ground in the spring.

But state lawmakers, whose approval is needed for the plan, complained that the mayor didn’t provide enough details. Bloomberg suggested that lawmakers should open their mail more often and also should learn to read. The two sides are trying to work out a deal to keep the plan alive.

The interesting thing is that New York is in line to get $500 million in federal funding to help implement its program of charging drivers who use congested areas. If the New York plan falls through, it will be interesting to see if another metro region, such as L.A. County, tries to snag some of that dough, which is being doled out on a competitive basis.

Of course, L.A. County already got bounced from the competition because it didn’t have a sound proposal. But maybe the Traffic Gods believe in second chances.

In other exciting congestion-pricing news, this column recently tossed out the idea of charging a toll to vehicles entering LAX to reduce traffic there and raise money for mass transit. As it turns out, attentive B2 reader Councilman Bill Rosendahl has a motion in the works calling for a study of that idea.

And news on our subway here?

Councilman Jack Weiss has called for a study of a bond measure or tax increase to go to voters to pay for the subway and other traffic improvements. The mayor, Weiss’ buddy, also acknowledged last week that he may have to go to voters if federal or state funds are not forthcoming.

There is little evidence those funds are on the way. State lawmakers are trying to raid gas tax revenues to balance the state budget -- those funds are intended for transportation -- and federal lawmakers just snubbed the Gold Line extension in the San Gabriel Valley.

Weiss is running for city attorney in 2009, and it will be fun to see if he actually proposes taking something to the voters. Conventional wisdom is you don’t propose a tax increase in the midst of a campaign.

What happened to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper recently?

He was sworn in for a second term. Why’s that a big deal? Well, Hickenlooper has been gaining a reputation as one of the most progressive mayors in the United States for a number of programs, including his efforts to greatly reduce homelessness in his city.

We had a chance to talk to Hickenlooper recently. Of the many interesting things he said, perhaps the foremost was about his ambitions. Hickenlooper has been under pressure to run for governor or senator, but he said he’s not interested.

“I’m not trying to build a political career,” Hickenlooper said. “I love being mayor.”

What a novel concept: a mayor of a large Western city who wants to remain mayor.

Next week: A good long look at what Hickenlooper and Denver are doing about one of the big issues also facing L.A.

steve.hymon@latimes.com

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L.A. River meetings

Want to get more involved with plans to transform the Los Angeles River into something that looks like a river?

The city Planning Department will hold meetings to discuss new zoning codes for areas along the river the next two Saturdays. The meetings will run from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Saturday’s meetings will be at the Studio City Recreation Center, 12621 Rye St., and the Goodwill Center near downtown, 342 N. San Fernando Road.

The Aug. 11 meetings will be at the Council District 14 field office in Boyle Heights, 2130 E. 1st St., and the Oakwood Secondary School, 11600 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood.

For more information, call the city Planning Department at (213) 978-1370 or (213) 473-9987.