(June 14, 2008) -- Grateful neighbors joined with reps from several neighborhoods plus city officialdom for a June 14 ceremony on the north side of Atherton St. east of Palo Verde Ave. to celebrate the beginning of the end for the detested Atherton Ditch, slated to be covered, landscaped and replaced by an underground drain.

LBReport.com provides extended photo and audio coverage below.

The chronic ELB eyesore, now slated for burial, runs from McNab Street (near the CSULB Pyramid) under Palo Verde Ave. and eastward to Knoxville Ave. where a pump station dumps its contents into the Los Cerritos channel.

"This is an event years in the making," Councilman O'Donnell said, noting that in 1972, other open drainage ditches in the area (including one along Stearns St.) were covered using money included in a local bond measure.

"What happened was, money ran out, and there was a promise made to the residents in this area that the city would soon be back to cover these culverts when more money was found. [some audience laughter] Well today I'm back to fulfill that promise," Councilman O'Donnell said.

Councilman O'Donnell credited a number of people -- city staff and neighborhood residents -- for what he called "a collective effort. Among them (a lengthy list)...

City Engineer Mark Christoffels ("a fine individual who's worked hard to bring this project to fruition")...

....City Hall's Government Relations Manager Tom Modica (in photo: "[Mr. Modica] did an excellent job on this. I can't say enough for your fine efforts") along with multiple city staffers and the late Cong. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D. Carson-LB) who secured federal funding that's part of the project.

Councilman O'Donnell also singled out neighborhood resident/historian Daryl Supernaw...who doggedly pursued the issue for over twenty years through 4th district Councilmembers spanning Dr. Tom Clark, Del Roosevelt, Dennis Carroll and now Patrick O'Donnell.

Mr. Supernaw, who launched the "Atherton Ditch Adjacent Neighborhood Ass'n" (website at www.athertonditch.com) credited Councilman Patrick O'Donnell ("Four different Councilmembers I've had the pleasure of working with. My only regret is this guy didn't come first instead of fourth").

Mr. Supernaw thanked reps from neighborhoods outside the 4th Council district for attending. "All these other neighborhood organizations are here to show their respect and solidarity in what we're doing now." Among those present...

...Neighborhoods First leader Joe Sopo (Los Altos Neighborhood Ass'n South)...

...2nd district Neighborhoods First rep Paul DeJung...

...and the 3rd district's "Good Lookin" Gary Frahm (Bixby Hill Homeowners Ass'n).

Mr. Supernaw's new group www.athertonditch.com says on its website that its mission "is to have the Atherton Ditch covered in a sustainable manner and, one day, change our name to the Atherton Corridor Neighborhood Association."

Mr. Supernaw also thanked Councilman O'Donnell's Chief of Staff Bridget Sramek and Field Rep Moises Romero, the crew of Fire Station 22 ("they're thrilled because they won't be pulling motorists out of the ditch anymore").

And he bestowed his group's 1st Annual "Golden Ditch Award" on Councilman O'Donnell...

...along with Gov't Affairs Manager Modica and Neighborhoods First co-founder Joe Sopo who likewise received plaques commemorating the first-ever grassroots Ditch honors.

To hear salient portions of the ceremony (edited for time), turn on your speakers and click the audio links (MP3) below:

• Councilman O'Donnell

• Mr. Supernaw

The engineering remedy to the ditch, elegant in its simplicity, is the handiwork of City Engineer Mark Christoffels. An underground drain will be installed parallel to the ditch to carry the runoff...and the ditch will be covered and landscaped.

Image source: City of LB

Image source: City of LB

Image source: City of LB

Work begins Monday (June 16) on the eastern end of the job, slated for completion in December 2008. Funding for the second phase of the work (covering the ditch westward to the CSULB pyramid) is funded, paperwork has been submitted to the state for approval...and hopefully a contract can be advertised, bid and awarded by the end of summer, Mr. Christoffels said.

Securing funding to pay for the work involved federal money, state approvals and governmental agencies at several levels...including a Congressional appropriation tucked into a federal transportation bill at City Hall's request by the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D., Carson-LB). The ditch wasn't in her district but as a senior Dem on the House Transportation Committee, she effectively secured approval for the LB earmark.

Overseeing the prolix political and governmental processes is City Hall's Government Affairs Manager, Tom Modica. City Engineer Christoffels likened the final hurdles to a federally complex version of more common (but likewise mind-numbing) "rebate certificate"...in which omitting even one required item can nix the deal.

The Atherton St. ditch had become a neighborhood sore point, home to mosquitoes, trash, odors....

...and sometimes vehicles landed in the ditch (as in October, 2005).

Photo source: Daryl Supernaw

In early 2004, the Atherton St. Ditch became an issue in the 4th district City Council race (in which O'Donnell defeated incumbent Carroll). As part of a long-standing City Hall federal wish-list, verbiage was inserted in a federal transportation bill by Congresswoman Millender-McDonald to "provide landscape enhancement of an existing open culvert on Atherton Street [in] Long Beach."

That news backfired on former Council incumbent Carroll when residents (including Mr. Supernaw) said they didn't just want the culvert landscaped; they wanted it covered...and City Hall didn't have a plan for that at the time. "Landscaping does nothing to deal with the mosquitoes and odors," local resident Daryl Supernaw said in 2004.

Four years later, it will be both covered and landscaped.