North East Los Angeles

Arroyo Corridor Policy Development

Connecting Communitites and Creating Livable Places: A Community Agenda for the Arroyo
by Mark Vallianatos and Amanda Shaffer

The Arroyo Seco is many things. It is a 22 mile stream stretching from the San Gabriel Mountains to just north of downtown Los Angeles where it feeds into the Los Angeles River. It is a historic parkway that is more commonly known as the 110 or Pasadena freeway. It includes several cities and diverse neighborhoods. It is an area blessed with a rich history, open spaces, and a core of activism and civic engagement. The Arroyo corridor, however, has also witnessed degraded landscapes, a congested and accident-prone freeway, major pockets of substandard housing or lack of housing, and a lack of planning and project integration among its multiple cities and jurisdictions.

This document, Connecting Communities and Creating Livable Places: A Policy Agenda for the Arroyo, presents a set of policy opportunities for Arroyo communities and state and federal agencies with various kinds of regulatory authority over the Arroyo. Its policy recommendations were inspired by the many exciting efforts underway to strengthen linkages and improve quality of life throughout the Arroyo. The document focuses on three issue areas that flow out of ArroyoFest's theme of connecting communities: transportation and transit-oriented development; community, culture, and history; and the environment, watershed restoration, and Parks. In each section, policy opportunities are paired with short case studies that illustrate success stories and remaining challenges facing Arroyo Communities.