The L.A. Department of Public Works has applied for a grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to divert stormwater runoff from a storm drain at the top of Los Liones Drive into a dry streambed that runs through Los Liones Gateway Park. The project is one of many planned citywide to prevent polluted water from reaching local beaches, said Michelle Vargas, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works. Currently, the runoff from the 800-acre watershed of Los Liones Canyon flows into the storm drain located just below the Los Liones trailhead. The eight-foot-high drain runs underneath Los Liones Drive and Sunset, emptying into the ocean just south of Gladstone’s Restaurant. The plan is to divert stormwater into the half-mile streambed that runs from the Los Liones trailhead (which connects to Topanga State Park) to a catch basin at Sunset Boulevard near Fire Station 23. When California State Parks engineered the creek about 10 years ago, the state had plans to divert some of the water from the city’s stormwater drain to the creek to create a riparian zone. ‘We haven’t had the funding, but it has been our goal,’ State Parks Information Officer Sheryl Watson said. The project conveniently fit into the city’s efforts to prevent stormwater from reaching beaches, Vargas said. The runoff mainly comes from parkland ‘that is not terribly polluted, but does get some pollutants,’ she said. In February and early March, the stretch of Will Rogers State Beach at Sunset near Gladstone’s received an F rating in wet weather, according to Heal the Bay. Last year, the annual grade for the beach was a B in wet weather. By bringing the stormwater into the Los Liones creek, Vargas explained that it will be exposed to sunlight and a natural cleaning process will occur. In addition, less water will reach the beach because it will filter into the porous creek bed. The plans have not been finalized for how the water will be diverted, Vargas said. The objective is to shunt all, or at least the majority, of the water to the creek. ‘A hydrology feasibility study still needs to be done, and a lot can change,’ Watson said. ‘The idea of diverting water into the creek is still preliminary and there are a lot of decisions to be made. The first thing that needs to happen is that funding needs to be made available. Then, we can begin to talk about more specific possibilities.’ Public Works is asking for $800,000 to $1 million from the State Water Resources Control Board for the project. The grant funding would come from Proposition 84, which was passed in 2006 and authorized the issuance of $90 million in bonds for water-quality projects. However, legislators have temporarily frozen the bonds because of the state’s projected budget shortfall of $42 billion. If Public Works is unable to secure the grant, ‘We will explore options to push this project through,’ Vargas said. Pacific Palisades resident Randy Young, who helped spearhead the effort to create Los Liones Gateway Park, is excited because the addition of water will draw more wildlife and provide nutrients to the approximate 3,000 native species planted by State Parks and local volunteers. Ten years ago, State Parks received a $350,000 grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to create the park, which includes an amphitheater, picnic areas, parking lots, hiking trails and a restroom. Young believes that once water is in the creek, the park will be a more pleasant place to visit. There will be a series of water cascades at the bottom of the streambed near Station 23. The Pacific Palisades Community Council and the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association have sent letters encouraging the State Water Resources Control Board to fully fund the project. ‘We support this project because it will divert questionable stormwater and help the city meet its bacterial pollution mandates,’ said George Wolfberg, president of the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association. In addition to shunting water to the creek, State Parks hopes to further improve Los Liones Park. The department plans to spend $250,000 (a mix of Caltrans grant money and State Parks’ Major Capital Outlay funding) to replace the chain-link fence at the trailhead entrance near the Getty Villa Service Road with a wrought-iron one, add another restroom and make the trails handicapped-accessible. ‘That work has already begun, but it had to be put on hold because of the bond freeze,’ Watson said, adding that State Parks’ funding is through bonds. ‘Once the funds become available, the work should be completed in 11 months.’ For more information about the plan to divert stormwater to the creek, call the city’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Team at (213) 978-0333 or visit the Web site at lastormwater.org.

Last year, when the plea went out for Pacific Palisades residents to open their homes for Pali Blues women soccer players, most of whom are in college and receive zero-dollar amateur contracts, Gina Kornfeind e-mailed Kenzo Bergeron, the team’s director of operations: ‘If you ever need a place for a player, let me know.’ The Blues, who played their first season last year as a member of the new 41-team, nationwide W-League, will once again practice on the Palisades High field and play their home games there, starting May 9. Kornfeind, the mother of four girls (Meredith, 16, Molly, 14, Lindsay, 11, and Maggie, 6), forgot to tell her husband Fred, a psychologist at the Veterans Administration, about the e-mail, but within a week she heard from Bergeron that he indeed had a player, Jill Oakes, who needed a room from early May through early August. The Kornfeind girls were excited. They had seen Oakes play at UCLA and they knew she was dating Lakers guard Jordan Farmer. What father could say no to the prospect of the possibility of housing a sports celebrity, as well as meeting a second one? He agreed. Alas, Oakes called Kornfeind back and told her that she was moving in with her boyfriend, but that she had two friends who needed a place to stay: Rosie Tantillo, a USC graduate and Sasha Andrews, a University of Nebraska graduate. The family had only one guest room, but Kornfeind, who works part-time as a social worker and a bereavement counselor, agreed to meet both women.   ’I already knew Tantillo, who had worked out with my daughter’s club team,’ said Kornfeind, who has volunteered for several years as an AYSO commissioner. After visiting with the two players in the family’s kitchen in the Marquez area, Kornfeind offered them both a place to stay’if they wanted it. One girl could have the guest room, the other a space in the family’s unfinished basement. During their ‘interview,’ Kornfeind discussed expectations, which she said were minimal, because she felt that taking players in was a kind of ministry that helped the community by supporting a professional sport and exceptional women whom youth could emulate. ‘I expected that since they were grown women, they would be using our home as more of a boarding house,’ Kornfeind told the Palisadian-Post. Although Andrews had been living unsuccessfully with a family in Brentwood and Tantillo was sleeping on a sofa at the home of Blues head coach Charlie Naimo, Kornfeind was surprised’but pleased’when they both said ‘yes’ to her offer and moved immediately into the family’s sparse living quarters. ‘It turned out to be the most unbelievable, rich, exciting experience,’ Kornfeind said. ‘It was like having two new daughters. Every day after school, my younger daughters would come home and ask if Rosie and Sasha were there.’ Kornfeind said that even though she had no expectations, the soccer players proved to be helpful. They drove her girls places such as the orthodontist and soccer practices, helped with dinner, served as confidantes for the older daughters, and were inspirations for how hard one has to work at a sport to reach the next level.   ’My kids learned that if you want to be that good, you have to do more than practice two times a week,’ Kornfeind said. Tantillo and Andrews tried out for the inaugural women pro soccer teams, which debut this week, but weren’t chosen. ‘It was good for my daughters to see them deal with disappointment,’ Kornfeind said. ‘They [the players] had a sad day or two and then went for a run down to the pier and back.’ Meanwhile last year, Tantillo and Andrews attended various Kornfeind soccer games games and brought other Pali Blues players to cheer them on. Tantillo told Meredith, who plays for PaliHi, ‘Charlie loves that style of play, and you could play for the Blues someday.’ Kornfeind said it was a real confidence booster for her daughter, who went on to make first team All-Western League.   Unlike most W-League players, who stayed with families and moved out when the season ended in August, the two players are still living here, but will soon move out: Tantillo to Buffalo and Andrews to Indiana to join new soccer teams for the upcoming season.   ’We’re really sad they’re leaving’it’s going to be hard,’ Kornfeind said. ‘They’ve become such a part of our family. As much as we gave them, we got back more.’   Her husband, whose experience had to be akin to living in a sorority house, must agree, because he told his wife: ‘If they leave, I think we should take in another player.’   Host families are needed immediately for about a dozen players. Please contact Jason Lemire at (310) 264-4649. Visit: www.bluessoccerclub.com

Construction was scheduled to begin this week on the much-anticipated Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center at Palisades Charter High School, and students and community members should be able to dive in by early 2010.   The aquatic center, with a 12-lane competitive pool and adjacent two-lane pool, is the vision of 90-year-old English teacher Rose Gilbert, who has donated $2 million toward construction costs. The center, located at the corner of Temescal Canyon Road and Bowdoin Street, will be named after her late daughter and swimmer, Maggie Gilbert.   The Division of the State Architect reviewed the plans and gave the school the go-ahead about three weeks ago, enabling the board of directors to hire Sarlan Builders in Beverly Hills to construct the pool for $3.85 million. The total cost of the project (which includes expenditures such as permits, inspection and design plans) is projected to be $4.2 million.   ’The scope of the project expanded somewhat in the final set of plans and the cost of some of the materials increased since last summer, which is why the total project budget has increased,’ according to Executive Director Amy Dresser-Held.   For one, there were some land-stability issues. Because the entire campus was built on fill, a concrete slab with steel rebar will have to be installed under the pool to provide stability.   ’The contractor is working to mobilize his crew and address issues like installing gates in the temporary fence,’ prior to breaking asphalt on the outdoor basketball courts, Dresser-Held said Tuesday.   The school has raised $2.9 million thus far, including $150,000 from the Palisades High Booster Club as the second-largest donation thus far. Other important contributions have been received from American Legion Post 283 ($50,000); Kwok’s Shell Station at the corner of Sunset and Via de la Paz ($10,000); Cal National Bank ($5,000); Pacific Palisades Junior Women’s Club ($5,000); and Riviera Masonic Lodge 780 ($5,000), according to Chief Business Officer Greg Wood.   Once the aquatic center is complete, Dresser-Held is positive that the school will be able to afford operating it. The projected annual operating cost is roughly $375,000, and Dresser-Held anticipates that the school will bring in about $500,000 annually by leasing the pool to aquatic user groups during non-school hours. The surplus will be set aside for maintenance and repairs.    ‘In building our business plan for operation, we were conservative in only assuming that 75 percent of non-school time the pool would be permitted out,’ Dresser-Held said.   Aquatic user groups can secure time from 5 to 7 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, as well as on the weekends during the school year, Dresser-Held said. The pool will be available all day during the summer. Westside Aquatics has contributed financially to the construction of the pool and has already secured pool time. Dresser-Held added that school leaders are ‘committed to offering public swimming, currently envisioned to be on Sundays, but we are still considering different models for providing this.’   The school’s fundraising efforts for the pool are ongoing, with a tribute dinner for Gilbert planned for June 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. Dinner costs $150, with all proceeds benefiting the aquatic center. Contact: palihigh.enschool.org.