They've adopted our public staircase and would like to plant some drought tolerant natives in the neglected triangle of slope at Corralitas & Rosebud. Realistically, without water, we agreed it would be best to wait for next rainy season unless a neighbor was willing to water regularly.
In the big picture, they'd really like to extend the handrails all the way up the Corralitas Public Staircase. I pointed out there were far more serious problems than handrails with these stairs. Several flights are in need of structural repair due to partial slope failure.
The original public staircase was likely built in 1922 (or earlier), when the tract was first subdivided. ("Hunter Terrace" was cut in 1922.) Handrails were not a part of the original staircase according to the Smith Family, who called Corralitas home from 1938- 2005. The lower two flights of stairs were realigned in 1960-62 by the State, when they cut into the hillside and moved Corralitas and Rosebud to build the 2 Freeway. That's when the handrails were added to the rebuilt portion of the staircase.
I gave the volunteers the list of (supposedly) all of the public staircases the City, prioritized by need for repair that our (now) City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell spearheaded in 2002, while a he was a deputy for (then) City Councilmember Eric Garcetti. Corralitas is number 16, on the list of 220, in the most need of repair. Corralitas has only gotten worse since 2002.
On behalf of my neighbors, I thanked them and asked them to give me advanced notice next time so we'd get some neighbors out there too. In the meantime, consider a donation to the Sierra Club's Verdugo Hills Group.
