Or do you think it's fine as is?

Also who's actually been there?

we actually live about 5 mins from the river....
been there once...

lots of times - we live in atwater village where the bottom has been removed - take our dog and now daughter for walks. it almost looks like an actual river if you squint. i'd love to see large trees planted alongside so that you can walk in shade instead of feeling blasted, and i think creating a reservoir off to the side in a park (think the idea has been discussed for Taylor yards) would be incredible.

i live downtown near it. i think they should rip all of the concrete out.

but then again, where are all of those chase scenes going to be filmed?

Before Sci-Arc moved downtown- their present day building typically hosted one or two movies/tv show chase scenes a week. One of my first tasks as a fledgling set designer in 1995 was to build a model of Santa Fe Ave for the movie Spawn. 10 feet of foamboard was a beautiful sight! All at 1/87th matchbox scale for the stunt men and director to coreograph.

They still can film in the neighborhood- see the current crop of Ford Mustang commercials. So tearing out the concrete would just provide a new urban jungle for H-wood to shoot in...