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Some critics are concerned Frank Gehry will turn the LA River into a vanity project.

The LA Times broke the news Friday that Gehry’s been working for about a year on a pro bono “master plan” to revitalize the river. Plans to restore the natural areas of the river have been in the works for years but a successful master plan for the 21st century hasn’t yet panned out.

Gehry is perhaps best known in LA for his design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and for stand-alone landmark buildings throughout the world, which makes a master plan for a 51-mile river that runs through 14 cities and that will inevitably require some serious conservation considerations, a bit of a career outlier.

Friends of the LA River (FOLAR) worries Gehry's efforts could jeopardize a $1.3 billion plan approved by the Army Corps of Engineers last month to restore an 11-mile stretch of the river near Elysian Park. A spokesman for the city told the LA Times that Gehry’s plans, which are largely unknown at this point, would build on, not interfere, with existing plans.

Guests:

Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the L.A. Times, and his new piece broke the news about Gehry's work on the LA River

Lewis McAdams, co-founder of Friends of the Los Angeles River