Riverside Drive: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Wants To Clean It UpMeeting Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 1, 2014.  The intersection of Riverside & Fletcher is a major commuter corridor as well as a designated secondary & scenic highway in the Silver Lake - Echo Park - Elysian Valley Community Plan.  (Click on  photos to enlarge.)

Looking back through years of my archive photos, the businesses along Riverside Drive keep their sidewalks clean.  However, both gas stations tend to ignore their rear & side walls which frequently sport graffiti for months until neighbors complain enough to the owners to get it painted out.  The historic landmark Pacific Electric Red Car Viaduct Footings are not included in the clean-up plans as they are on private property.

Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's (SLNC) Green Committee will devote a good portion of Tuesday's meeting to discussion of the issue of cleaning up Riverside Drive between Fletcher & Allesandro Elementary School.  (At one meeting last year they actually discussed the possibility of putting luminarias on the viaduct footings.)  

We'd like to bring up a few questions & encourage neighbors to attend Tuesday's meeting, since so many of us drive through Riverside Drive just to get to our homes on a daily basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  One of the problems is there are so few homes along Riverside Drive that are owner occupied.  Most are rental homes.   Many Riverside Drive residents south of Gilroy, park on the Red Car Property rather than Riverside Drive to reach their homes.  Bordered on one side by the 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive is a very dark street at night, making it easy to dump bulky items.  Many residents, myself included, witnessed the City recycle & trash trucks speed through pick up so fast they spew the trash all over the street & sidewalk on a regular basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  Riverside Drive at Clearwater has a bunch of vacant lots (where the new owner illegally cut down native trees last summer).  

We should be asking, why the sudden interest in cleaning up this portion of Riverside Drive?  Gentrification in Elysian Valley is exploding with way out-of-scale development & real estate speculation along the LA River.  If speculators want Riverside Drive cleaned up - they should be paying for it.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 17, 2014.  Clearwater Street at Riverside Drive has long been a dumping ground.  

Perhaps we should be hitting up CalTrans to take responsibility for picking up the garbage & bulky items dumped on their side of the street on a regular basis. Team Mitch, from our City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's office, has been cleaning up the area for about a year.  No sooner than it's cleaned up, another load of dumping appears.

Yes, Riverside Drive should be cleaned up.  The SLNC wants to raise money from residents & businesses to pay someone to clean it up on a bimonthly schedule.  However, you should question how the funds will be collected from residents & business owners.  Who will  keep the payment records?  How can the public access those records?   

Attend the SLNC Green Committee Meeting

Tuesday January 20, 2014

7-9 PM

Citibank Community Room

2450 Glendale Blvd

Los Angeles, CA  90039