Thursday, September 22, 2016

Red Car Property: Fence Across Trail, Neighbors Grab Photos When It Looks Like A Land Grab*

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 22, 2016.  Almost simultaneously, I received photos from several neighbors of the north end of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Hearing
loud construction noise too close to home, neighbors immediately grabbed their phones and took photos.  They discovered a chain link fence being put up across the Red Car Property.  It appeared as if the owner of the downslope Riverside Drive lots, currently being graded for construction, were taking the Red Car Property in a land grab.

Photo: Red Car Neighbor #2, September 22, 2016.  Since workers were removing the fence at the the top of the slope, which was an earlier attempted taking by a previous landowner of the Riverside Drive lots, this seemed like a really big land grab.  Quite a few emails landedcame in asking if there was a deal with the Red Car Property to develop the Red Car Property. Good question.
Photo: Red Car Neighbor #2, September 22, 2016.  It's so much easier when I get photos from multiple neighbors, to put together the big picture since we all have different perspectives on the property. The developer appears to have left us a path on the upslope side of the fence
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016.  The fence arrived on a big flat bed truck.  

It still looks like they're either making a big land grab or planning on using the Red Car Property for staging and construction of the Red Car Property.  Either option is not acceptable and we've made inquiries.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016.  By midday, the fence was complete and locked with a chain.  There was a narrow walkway adjacent to the fence. The fence blocked the flat part of the lot.  The fence does not extend further upslope.  They appear to have taken way more than the 20-30 feet of slope many downslope neighbors have taken elsewhere on the Red Car Property. It looks a little more like 70 feet back from the rear property line of the Riverside Drive lots.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3.  Neighbors are understandably nervous, since the upslope portion of the Red Car Property still was not cleared of brush.  Many watched on TV and on line as the LAFD battle a 6 acre fire in Elysian Park the same afternoon.  

The gate is not the type of fire gate LAFD generally approves on fire roads in Hillside Areas.  (Think of every heavy steel gate you see across entrances to trails/fire roads in Griffith Park and Elysian Park.)

We've made inquiries with CD13, the Red Car Property owner's rep and the developer of the Riverside Drive lots. We'll be posting updates here on the blog.  

*This post was actually published 9-26-16, and backdated because I don't get paid to do this and other commitments have limited my time. Due to the rapidly changing landscape of the Red Car Property Neighborhood, I'm backdating posts with photos when there is significant reason to match the date of the news and photos for future reference.  There will always be a disclaimer like this on backdated posts.  I apologize for any confusion this causes our daily readers.  No, we are not on Facebook.  Photos and alerts get published quickly on our Twitter feed: @RedCarProperty