A tale of two canals
ELISABETH M. BROWN
In Bologna, we live on Via Riva di Reno -- “the banks of the Reno.”
What now is now an extra-wide street with parking in the median, was
for 800 years a canal from the Reno river, three miles to the west,
bringing water into the city. In the name of progress, the city
covered its canals, starting in 1935. The water was used for the
open-air laundries that were common in Europe until the ‘50s.
There are photos of people swimming and the water-powered
waterwheels for silk and hemp mills that were once big industries
here. The canal still functions, maybe just to drain storm runoff.
One open section about two blocks long remains. But this city doesn’t
give up its secrets -- or its shame -- easily; it took us weeks to
locate it.
The open canal was a revelation. Colorful buildings back onto the
water, some with flower-filled balconies. It’s sort of a down-market
Venice, no palazzos, just apartments. Hordes of swallows forage for
insects over the strongly flowing murky water. It’s extremely
photogenic; there’s always someone with a camera. On a map from 1957,
the canal is still open just a few blocks west of the old city walls.
Today, a street covers it, and we walked half a mile west until it
suddenly appeared next to a small park.
The canal is lined with walls of brick. Plants grow wherever they
can, taking advantage of holes and rough spots in the walls. The
water is murky, but not smelly. It’s probably just over-fertilized
with agricultural runoff, like the Laguna Lakes. A casually
landscaped path for bicycles and pedestrians borders the canal;
narrow wooden bridges cross the water every 100 yards or so.
The farther we went along the canal, the more wildlife we saw:
small fish, ducks, even some intriguing dark blue insects that seemed
to be dragonflies but could flap their wings. It was Sunday, and
everywhere people were enjoying the fresh air and greenery along the
canal, many on bicycles and just as many strolling. Bologna’s main
cemetery is here, and a flower market.
Other adjacent uses include a school and a plant nursery. Another
half mile along is a large Central Park-like green space with benches
and a path that borders the canal. Bologna’s several canals were an
asset within the old city walls, encouraging open space and less
intense, quieter land uses along their banks.
Belatedly, Bologna has realized its loss. The city has started
putting up little bronze plaques at the few open sections hailing the
important history of Bologna’s waterworks.
Where the Reno canal goes underground at the old city walls
reminds me of downtown Laguna. Beach Street crosses our canal on a
bridge. We don’t usually think of it that way, because the channel is
otherwise underground throughout the downtown area.
Maybe we should rename it Bridge Street to remind people.
Unlike Bologna, we still have a chance to make the right choice
for our channel, starting with the village entrance. Under “local
history” in the library, there’s a study by a Cal Poly Pomona
student; she designed a graceful, meandering open air channel through
the downtown.
In the last couple of years, landscape architect Bob Borthwick and
others have encouraged the city to rethink the channel along Laguna
Canyon Road. Laguna Greenbelt volunteers may soon be planting native
vegetation on the banks of the channel near the dog park.
Let’s not wait until all that’s left of the channel are a few
plaques.
* ELISABETH M. BROWN is a biologist and the president of Laguna
Greenbelt Inc.
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