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.