Legacy of Failed Development

Speculators salivate over the large vacant lots in our neighborhood, usually attempting a zone change and hoping to make a quick buck. Developers get a turkey of a property that often ends up being sold at County tax auction because their money runs out. Most of the large lots are where huge quantities of earth was removed for, and dumped after area freeway construction.  

1. Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 2004. El Moran St., just below the historic Landacre Cabin, has been eroding into the lots below for decades. The street is unsafe to drive and was frequently used for illicit activity due to its seclusion and state of neglect. The City barricaded it in the mid-1990s. (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

The three 1-acre lots currently under threat of a subdivision and zone change in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract are currently zoned R-1 for single family homes. Prior to the Silver Lake - Echo Park Community Plan and the Hillside Ordinance, a zone change for a 30-unit apartment building was approved in the early 1980s. In one of the extensions for the zone change, case # CPC 86-084-ZC, a letter from the developer indicates serious questions regarding soils and engineering reports. The letter admits a number of their soils engineers just disappeared when faced with the challenge of this particular site. The zone change expired unused and the zone reverted to 3 lots zoned R-1.

  2. Corralitas Red Car Property Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 2005. Countless tons of earth were removed for freeway construction in 1960, leaving the Red Car Property slopes to slide in heavy rains. (Click on photo to enlarge.)  

The history of failed development on the Red Car Property is long and well documented. More than once, speculators gained approvals for a zone change. Each time the zone change expired unused. Grading was a primary concern. Of course, being in a hole next to the Freeway might have something to do with it too. A series of Red Car Property owners refused to limit vehicle access to the property resulting in another nuisance. Since the property is used by neighbors as a park, the property has fewer problems with homeless taking up residence.  

3. 18-Acre Elysian Park Parcel Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2003. 18-Acre Elysian Park Parcel is off Riverside Drive, between Allesandro and Stadium Way. It included the steep hillsides surrounding it and extends up and over to Whitmore St. (Click on photo to enlarge.)  

The City acquired the 18-Acre Parcel off Riverside Drive for Elysian Park with Prop K funds in the late 1990s. Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park (CCSEP) was the driving force behind the acquisition. Review plans for this parcel on the Rec & Parks' website. Prior to park acquisition, Foodcraft Coffee wanted to put warehouses on the site. A required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) showed 40' (deep) of uncertified fill. The uncertified fill would have to be removed and recompacted or removed entirely before construction. Like the other large lots in our neighborhood, it was the site of considerable earth moving before and after freeway construction. 

Until a few years ago, the site was often used by off-road motorcyclists as a practice field, complete with orange cones to mark the track and jumps off the wooded hillside. CCSEP, community members and CD13 asked the LAPD and Rec & Parks to block vehicle access to the site. Other trivia: a homeless encampment has been in the grove of trees off Riverside for at least 20 years. In the late 1970's, the Hillside Strangler dumped at least one body on the property from the closed off portion of Landa St.   

4. Menlo Property

  Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 2007. The Menlo Property Wall looms over Riverside Drive north of Fletcher. (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

No one is really sure how long the giant wall has been on Riverside Drive just north of Fletcher. UPDATE for more of the wall history see posts from: April 6, 2009 and April 7, 2009.  

Until 1955, the Red Car Trolley ran through the property. In the late 1970's, the Hillside Strangler dumped at least one body there. For decades, an unfinished retaining wall from an abandoned development seemed ready to collapse into Riverside Drive. A developer planned to build 80 units of apartments on the site in the 1980s. The developer ran out of money and abandoned the site. The community was left with a huge nuisance property, tagged with graffiti, a frequent site of illegal dumping and a big attraction for transients in motor homes.  

In the late 1990's, after years of effort by Silver Lake Residents Association, then City Councilmember Jackie Goldberg asked the City Attorney to take action. The current owner is Sam Menlo, a convicted slumlord, sentenced to live in one of his own slum apartment buildings in Orange County in 2000. Menlo continued neglecting the property, allowing dumping to pile up, refusing to do brush clearance, then covering the hillside in plastic and letting the caster beans grow up through the plastic. 

The City Attorney compelled Menlo to make the retaining wall functional, stabilize and landscape the hillside. About six years ago the grading and landscaping was completed. The slope is watered and maintained regularly. However, soil compaction allows for little to grow. There are still problems with graffiti vandals, homeless and dumping. Hard to believe, but it is better than it used to be.  

In 2007, Menlo's management company approached Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee, wanting to build condos on the site. After two meetings, the plan for zone change and subdivision was never filed.  

2-18-09 UPDATE: Never say "never." Developer filed for 120 unit condo development. They need a zone variance, plan amendment and site plan review. There will be a public process. For more information watch this blog as well as the SLNC UD&PAC meeting agendas.

What does a 2:1 compacted slope look like?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 27. 2009. Menlo Property on Riverside Drive north of Fletcher. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Menlo Property (above) is a good example of a landscaped and maintained, 2:1 compacted fill slope. Even six years since it was landscaped, little grows except ground cover. Only a few trees, planted after the soil compaction, survived. This is what we have to look forward to on the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract if the proposed 16-lot subdivision gains final approvals.

You could use the drainage benches for recreational access, but you better be awfully fit as they are steeper than they look.

Would it really be an improvement over the natural hillside as it looks from Corralitas Drive, Lake View Ave. and Silver Ridge Ave.? (See photo below.)


Photo: Diane Edwardson. Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract as seen from Corralitas Drive. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Idyllic Open Space Endangered

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2004. Native California black walnut woodland thrives in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Just because the City's Grading Dept. approves a plan, does not make it an environmentally sound plan.

The plateau (above photo) along with the downslope (to the right in the photo) containing California black walnut woodland within the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract will be eradicated if a developer's plan to subdivide and sell a 16-lot subdivision (15 homes and one "open space lot") gains final approval by the City Council.

The developer led the community to believe we would be gaining the upper plateau as open space, accessible to the public. However, the developer's grading plan calls for the removal of the entire upper plateau and slope below containing a thriving California black walnut woodland.

Community leaders reluctantly leaned toward the compromise, until they learned (after the close of public comment in December 2007) the slope and plateau would be removed and compacted 2:1, creating a steep, inaccessible slope. Native trees do not grow in compacted slopes. Plus, removal of the plateau would result in no functional park space.

While the developer maintained he would landscape the "open space lot," it is unlikely much would grow on the site. (But then, the developer is not going to build anything; just subdivide and sell.) For an example of a compacted 2:1 slope, see the Menlo Property on Riverside Drive north of Fletcher (the vacant lot between Home Restaurant and the River Glen Apartments).

Semi Tropic Hell

Photo: Diane Edwardson. Future site for 15 homes?
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

A developer wants subdivide and sell the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract 3-acre site as a 16-lot subdivision. If approved, almost all of the trees will be cut down and the entire hillside site graded. The "open space lot," lot 16, would be graded and compacted into a 2:1, non-functional slope, even though the developer only plans for homes on the lower portion of the site.

The neighbors learned of the developer's grading plan AFTER the close of public comment in December 2007. The grading plan was approved by the Grading Division of Los Angeles Dept. of Building & Safety in March 2007, but the approval letter was missing from the City Planning case file until a neighbor provided it to the City Planning staff (per staff request) in February 2008.

The public was denied due process since the most important environmental factors, the grading and tree loss, were not made public nor evaluated properly under CEQA.

While anything built on the site should be safe and to current grading standards, the neighbors think the loss of so many mature and native trees combined with a complete reshaping of the hillside is too high a price to pay, especially since the developer has no intention of actually building the site himself.

The neighbors will make their appeal to the City Council Planning & Land Use Management Committee next week:

PLUM
Tues Feb 3, 2009
2pm
City Hall, Room 350

City Council File: CF-09-0082
APCE 2006-8787-ZC
VTT 62900-SL-2A
CD13

Neighbor Continues Abusing Red Car Property

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 14, 2009. Red Car Property north of India St.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

For as long as most residents remember, the Red Car Property north of India has looked like a used truck lot for CalTrans. A neighboring property owner uses the Red Car Property to park his trucks, without the Red Car Property owner's permission. He even uses a backhoe to carve out eroding dirt from the hillside, so he can have more room to park his ever-expanding fleet. In August 2008, a neighbor sent photos of the excavation. Clearly, from the photo below, the excavation continues.


Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 14, 2009. Red Car Property north of India St.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Hunting Interrupted

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2009. "Puncher" on Red Car Property at India St.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Puncher is a semi-feral cat who calls the Red Car Property home. One neighbor named him Puncher because of the way he bats at hands when people try to pet him. Another neighbor writes, "He's very smart. When the coyote chased him, I opened the door and the coyote fled. Puncher went up on the hill, of course being white, he really stands out. I drove my car along the road to make sure the coyotes went far enough so Puncher could get to safety. When I drove back, Puncher walked along side my car for safety."

Stalked at Tree #50

Photos: Diane Edwardson, January 14, 2009. Tree #50 on the Red Car Property
and Adelbert Ave. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

While walking the Red Car Property, I noticed some newish metal tags on a few of the trees at the Adelbert end. Admittedly, I've not walked the property much lately, so I am not sure when the tags appeared. The neighborhood guard dog (above right) did not appreciate my interest in the tagged trees. Tree #50 (written in marker over an engraved #425, see below) is a significant eucalyptus tree.

Breathe This: Haze Over Taylor Yard

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 12, 2009, 8:56 AM. Taylor Yard haze as seen from the Corralitas Public Staircase, overlooking the 2 & 5 Freeways. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

On crystal clear mornings when humidity is Red Flag Day low, a haze of pollutants forms over Taylor Yard, LA River and Elysian Valley. It's like a lower level mini-inversion layer formed by the local topography surrounding the 5 Freeway, expanding upward as the day gets warmer. Morning shadows and light on the hills of Glassell Park highlight the haze when viewed from Corralitas Drive. (Developers wonder why we fight tooth and nail to save significant trees in the neighborhood.)

Hummingbird Flowers

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 12, 2009. The hummingbirds are happy with the warm weather and the flowering succulents on Corralitas Drive. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Mating Season

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 7, 2009. Two (possibly red tail) hawks atop the big pine tree at 2600 Corralitas Drive. Apologies for the poor photo quality, it was shot with a point & shoot camera toward a very tall tree. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Edwardson, January 8, 2009. Hawks do not appear

in this photo; it is just an illustration of their location.

MOTHRA!

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2008. Black Witch Moth, Ascalapha odorata. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Last week, Jonathan Vandiveer, a Red Car Property neighbor, sent me the above photo of a giant moth he found dead on his porch last summer. You can almost hear the tiny women chanting "Mott-terrrr-iiiii-ya!"

I have never seen a moth with nearly a 7-inch wingspan in Los Angeles, let alone the neighborhood. So, I searched What's That Bug? and the LA County Natural History Museum Entomology Dept.'s "Common Insects of the LA Basin."

The Black Witch Moth is a common migrator through Los Angeles between Central America and Canada. They are nocturnal and fly like bats. (We also have brown bats in the neighborhood.) In Los Angeles, Black Witch Moths will breed and feed on acacia trees. (There's a big acacia tree that blooms with yellow flowers on the 2 Freeway across from 2517 Corralitas Drive.)

UPDATE 1-15-09: Neighbors at 2517 Corralitas report having seen these Mothras and their caterpillars for years, usually dead on their porch. They debated whether they were moths or butterflies. Mystery solved.

If you have photos of any neighborhood wildlife (including scary bugs), please send them to Diane Edwardson at redcarproperty@gmail.com with info pertaining to when, where and who took the photo as well as any other observations of the animal's behavior at the time. DO NOT attempt to pet or feed wildlife.

For more on urban wildlife, see City of Los Angeles Animal Services website.

2008 Neighborhood Wildlife Review

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 1, 2008. Can you spot the Corralitas Fox? (Click on photo to enlarge.)

2008 was a year for unusual wildlife sightings in the neighborhood. Late spring was a busy time for wildlife on Corralitas Drive. In April and May, we had routine sightings of the Corralitas Fox. George Jones captured awesome photos of a hummingbird raising a baby. There was even an incident of snake vs hawk (the gopher snake won). In most neighborhoods, daytime coyote sightings are unusual, but not here. Apparently, summer is the time for giant moths.

In August and September, we had two separate reports from different neighbors of a female mule deer: one on Rosebud under the 2 Freeway near Allesandro around 10AM; the second a few weeks later on Corralitas at the base of the Corralitas Staircase around 11PM. Unfortunately, no one got a photo.

Mule deer live in Griffith Park, but not Elysian Park. City Wildlife Officer Greg Randall reported female mule deer often flee Griffith Park and hide during mating season (August- September). However, he too had never heard of sightings this far south of the park. It's possible the deer found much less nighttime traffic on Riverside Drive since the abolishing of overnight parking last year. The deer likely found its way to Corralitas and Allesandro via the Red Car Property, a wildlife corridor.

In October, a juvenile red-shouldered hawk visited regularly, but was not as comfortable with people as earlier red tail hawks. The Audubon Center in nearby Debs Park lists at least 10 different raptors on their bird checklist.

For the past month, Corralitas Drive neighbors up and down the street reported seeing and hearing a great horned owl around dawn, dusk and throughout the night. Several neighbors report two owls calling to each other on recent nights. No one has been able to snap a photo of the owls yet. In the past, at least two different species of owls were seen in the neighborhood; great horned owl and a similar looking owl at about half the size.

If you have photos of any neighborhood wildlife (including scary bugs), please send them to Diane Edwardson at redcarproperty@gmail.com with info pertaining to when, where and who took the photo as well as any other observations of the animal's behavior at the time. DO NOT attempt to pet or feed wildlife.

For more on urban wildlife, see City of Los Angeles Animal Services website.

Backing into the New Year

Photos: Kolts, 1937. Nancy Kolts at 2598 Corralitas Drive.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

There were once giant power line towers crossing the Red Car Property, Corralitas and Allesandro to the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract. The house in the background burned down in a fire in 1980. Photo courtesy Pat Kolts.