Work is beginning for filling that gap on the Silver Lake Reservoir walking path along Tesla Avenue on the north end of the Reservoir property.  The LA Department of Water & Power will be cutting a “notch” into the back of the dam along the south side of Tesla and building a sidewalk from West Silver Lake Drive to Armstrong Avenue.  This will complete the path and eliminate a very dangerous segment of the popular walk by taking pedestrians off the narrow street.  During the construction, scheduled to take several months, walkers, joggers, cyclists and cars will be diverted on to Armstrong Avenue between the Nursery School and West Silver Lake Drive (if you’re counting, add .3 miles to the 2.2 mile route around the Reservoirs).  Residents on Tesla, however, will continue to have access to their driveways.

http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2012/05/detour-ahead-for-silver-lake-pathway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheEastsiderLa+%28The+Eastsider+LA%29

As reported in the Echo Park-Silver Lake Patch on May 1st, in a story about LA Councilman Tom LaBonge’s community meeting regarding traffic issues in the Silver Lake community, an update on Tesla, at the north end of the Reservoir complex:

Steven Cone of the LADWP helped LaBonge update with the latest about the sidewalk along the Silver Lake Reservoir and Tesla Avenue, between West Silver Lake Drive and Armstrong Avenue.

A six-foot-wide sidewalk will be built on the south side of the street, using some of the existing DWP property in the dam and near the pre-school.

Construction will begin on June 3 and continue through mid-October, Tesla will be closed during that time.  Some noted Monday that the closure will add an extra three-tenths of a mile to the route around the lake.

Runners will have to detour up West Silver Lake Drive to Armstrong Avenue, making one lap now equal 2.5 miles.

SLRC has been working with the Council Districts and the DWP for many years to complete the essential Tesla portion of the Silver Lake Path. After many delays, we’re happy that construction is finally about to begin. This is a critically needed project, as was tragically demonstrated recently when a jogger was hit by a motorist at the corner of Tesla and West Silver Lake Drive.

We continue to advocate for essential safety features to be included in the project. These include design of a safe, attractive treatment at the corners at West Silver Lake Drive and at Armstrong Ave., and incorporation of appropriate lighting into the path. We will work to ensure that the Tesla project is a successful addition to our Silver Lake Path.

As Silver Lake has become a much more pedestrian and bike friendly neighborhood, much must still be improved in our traffic patterns and street system to make all the ways our neighbors travel safe, healthy and pleasant. Together, we’ve already created bike lanes, the Path, a signalized crosswalk to the Silver Lake Meadow, and much more. We will continue working with all our city agencies, Council members, and other citizen groups to make Silver Lake the healthiest, most enjoyable neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Architect and urban planner Robert Lamb has a bold new idea to consider for the Silver Lake Reservoir complex, and we thought it was worth sharing with you all.  So did the Eastsider blog, which ran a story on his proposal in the April 23rd edition:

http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2012/04/whats-next-for-silver-lakes-reservoirs-heres-one-idea/

So, what is it?  Basically, the idea is that instead of storing drinking water—a use which will be discontinued due to environmental concerns when the Headworks underground tanks are completed in a few years—the Reservoirs would  hold and help clean water that would replenish underground aquifers.  The fancy word is “watershed management.”

According to the Eastsider, “The idea calls for reducing the need to pump in imported water by tapping into storm drains and water reclamation plants . . . That water would be filtered and cleaned as it percolates down through new wetlands and parkland . . . Lamb argues on his website, that ‘reducing dependence on imported water is critical to the survival of Silver Lake.’”

He may be right—the long term survival of this landmark community asset is that it serves a practical regional environmental purpose in addition to being a nice place to live and hang out near. While the SLRC is not yet ready to annoint any specific proposal, we are working to drive the conversation towards what will become a comprehensive solution. There will be an extensive process that will involve the public, DWP, academic studios, and other agencies.

“In the twenty-first century, water is the most critical issue we will face,” says SLRC President Craig Collins, “Once Silver Lake Reservoirs are taken off-line as the Headworks facility is complete, they will no longer be an integral part of the LA DWP water system.

“The Reservoirs will have a new future, and a solution must be created that maintains Silver Lake Reservoirs as the crown jewels of the Los Angeles reservoir system. They are part of the public trust that was established one hundred years ago by William Mulholland, when he designed the entire water system, and they must continue to provide multiple benefits to to the city.

“To build that future, we need to see the Reservoirs as part of a watershed: not just the physical boundaries of water that would naturally flow towards Silver Lake itself, but as part of the larger watersheds that define the entire basin. This includes the Ballona Creek watershed, the Los Angeles River, and even the infrastructure that the DWP has built to bring and distribute water.

“Robert Lamb has presented a valuable proposal that will help us examine these issues. Readers can learn much about the potential for a new Silver Lake.  Silver Lake will have an exciting future, and we’re already working to make sure it’s nothing less than a world-class solution to the problems we must solve.

“This solution must preserve the public enjoyment we treasure, while offering solutions to the major concerns of storm water management, water pollution, and conserving that most precious resource on which all life depends,” says Craig.  Definitely, and you can read more about Craig’s views on this on the Echo Park-Silver Lake Patch website:

http://echopark.patch.com/blog_posts/blog-a-new-vision-for-the-future-of-the-silver-lake-reservoirs

Here’s a link directly to Lamb’s website with his plans; we certainly intend to stay in touch with him and encourage others to chime in:

http://www.lambstyle.com/sl_microshed/index.html

What do YOU think?