(Jan. 25, 2008) -- Wouldn't it be nice to get this conversation started regarding the L.A. River if the Port of Long Beach acknowledged they are partly to blame for the river turning left [east] versus going straight [as it used to] and forcing the River's trash to land our beachfront.

We also know there are over a dozen cities above us that are also responsible for what's dumped onto our beaches.

Today we have a first-class Port complex. Everybody knows the Port of Long Beach is run very efficiently and takes care of its tenants (i.e. the big shipping lines). How nice it would be if that L.A. River channel were diverted back into the Port, and the County, the State and the Federal government would help take responsibility for cleaning up all that trash...and give us back our waterfront.

Turning that river left [eastward] took away one of our greatest, greatest assets. The City has a Port which stripped from our city its two greatest assets: its air quality and its water quality. The Port is moving forward, even though slowly, to try to correct the emissions problem, but as usual with politics, rarely does anyone want to approach the hard decisions.

It was terrific to hear, in an official "State of the City" message, Mayor Bob Foster speaking about polluted river runoff continuing to plague our beaches...and indicating that a solution "may even include diverting the mouth of the L.A. River westward, back to its ancestral path into the Port. Believe it or not -- and this really pains me to say this -- John Morris may just have it right. [pause for applause] God help us all."

Finally, someone in a position of power in the City of Long Beach has publicly acknowledged that we have to do something about this instead of just mumbling it. Mayor Foster is showing leadership that hasn't been shown before on this issue.

For years, there have been committees meeting and talking about the L.A. River trash problem. Past and current Councilmembers have sat on some of those committees. Have they come up with any real solutions? Just look at our beaches today. But they're great at saying "You can't do that."

Well, it's time the community stood up and yelled "Enough is enough. Give us back what you took from us: a clean waterfront."

Once the Port acknowledges that it's cost us our waterfront, it can also acknowledge that the community has been right all along, that by taking away our waterfront, the city had to reinvent its waterfront for its tourism sector. So we built an Aquarium. We built the Convention Center. We built the Rainbow Lagoon.

Everything that has been built is beautiful (some may be generating less revenue than we'd like but it's beautiful) but the number one asset cannot be used, and that is the water. The water is filth.

The Port and those who use profit from it owe this community for taking away its two greatest assets. They haven't paid the community back...and they should.

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