The week that was, 9/27-10/03/2009
T*H*E triptych is vast; it’s over 40 feet long when you take the three paintings together. And it is part of an effort by Monet to make a work, and in fact a whole set of works, that surround the viewer with water — with the view of water, the surface of the water, the reflection of the clouds on the water, the lily pads and, at the edges, the shadows of the weeping willow trees by the edge of the water. — amNew York, Sept 29, 2009 on “Monet’s Water Lilies” at the Museum of Modern Art through April 12, 2010
“I applaud Secretary Salazar and the Obama administration for calling upon the National Academy of Sciences for an independent review of the biological studies that put a tiny fish over hard-working Californians,” said Schwarzenegger, ignoring the fact that the studies also address salmon …
The Dry Garden: Bird baths
Click for a larger image. A Cooper's hawk cools its feet in an inner city fountain. Photo: Emily Green
This being the height of migration season for Western songbirds, and conditions around Los Angeles being bone-dry or fire-scarred, here’s a proposal for even the driest of dry gardeners: Get out your hoses.
There is no better time to set up a birdbath. To keep reading The Dry Garden on bird baths, click here to be taken to the Los Angeles Times.…
David Nahai out at LADWP
The Los Angeles Times has the story of the sudden resignation of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power general manager David Nahai, which was announced in a morning statement from the Mayor’s office. LA Observed has the mayor’s statement and Nahai’s resignation letter. It is expected that stepping up as temporary replacement will be deputy mayor S. David Freeman. According to Freeman, Mayor Villaraigosa is interested in forming a coalition of urban mayors on water issues.
10/3/2009 UPDATE: for a follow-up story from the Times, click here.
10/7/2009 UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times has a scathing editorial on the political maneuvering behind Nahai’s dismissal. An excerpt: Nahai’s “lukewarm support for Measure B, a flawed initiative on the March ballot, attracted the ire of its architect — Brian D’Arcy, the head of the DWP’s powerful electricians union. A key aim of Measure B was to ensure that …
“Just get it done” – Expediency over extinction
High good, low bad: Mead in September
Fireworks over Hoover Dam in 2002 for the US Bureau of Reclamation centennial. Photo: USBR. The year of Reclamation's centennial was at the time the worst on record for snowmelt recharging the Colorado River. Fast shrinking reserves in Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam convinced quarreling states along the Colorado River that the days of surpluses were over and the Colorado River was headed into an epochal drought.
COMPLETION of Hoover Dam in 1936 created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. It holds Colorado River water serving California, Arizona, Nevada and the Republic of Mexico. Climate change and population growth in Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles have reduced the lake’s elevation more than 32 feet in the last five years. Here are year-on-year US Bureau of Reclamation closing elevations for September going back to 2004:
DATE ELEVATION
September 30, 2009…
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