Red Car Property Lot C: More Uncovered Truckloads Of Dirt, Bulldozer Delivery

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  At 7 AM yesterday, more uncovered truckloads of dirt began arriving for the Riverside Drive construction site, using the Red Car Property north of India Street.  

The motorhome, parked on the Red Car Property with someone living in it, has become a permanent feature of the site since October.

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right of way.  Silver Lake Court is west of the Red Car Property.  This is Lot C north of India Street.  

More than a year ago the architect for the adjacent Riverside Drive 13-unit development told me they would not be using the Red Car Property for deliveries, hauling nor storage of vehicles or equipment or for access to their site. 

They fail to make any attempt to control fugitive dust while driving on the Red Car Property.  That shouldn't be surprising since they also make no attempt at covering the dirt in the truck beds as required by state and city codes.  No haul route was established for the site. The route to this part of the Red Car Property involves hairpin turns on Substandard Hillside Streets that go past the driveways for Allesandro Elementary School. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  A mini bulldozer arrived early Friday morning too.

Red Car Property, Lot C: Choking On Dirt From Riverside Drive Construction

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017.  Dump trucks hauled loads of dirt to and from the Riverside Drive construction site using the dirt roadway of Red Car Property north of India Street today.  The fugitive dust is out of control.  A neighbor reports at least six truck trips before 11 AM today.  They are not supposed to be using the Red Car Property for access, hauling or storing of equipment.  They've been doing all three.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017. They are not keeping the dirt roadway sufficiently dampened to control fugitive dust.  In fact, they are not wetting the dirt road at all. They are not covering the truck loads of dirt, nor did they give notice to neighbors for hauling activity.  All of these things are boilerplate requirements by Building & Safety under the Los Angeles Municipal Code.  But then so is having a phone number posted on the construction fence.  It's not posted up here where people live.

Photo: December 21, 2017.  The motorhome (on the other side of the dump truck) has been parked behind the locked fence across the Red Car Property since October.  

The developer has an agreement with the Red Car Property owner to fence off a portion of the Red Car Property during construction of Riverside Drive lots.  The Riverside Drive development supposedly does not include the Red Car Property.

Since the motorhome arrived in October, neighbors report increased vehicle traffic at all hours, to and from the construction site.  The guy who lives in the motorhome uses a car to drive to and from his motorhome, as do his friends.  

According to neighbors, since the motorhome arrived, there's also been an increase of suspicious activity and dumping, north from India Street, on the Red Car Property.  There are also people living in sheds on a historically problematic, Red Car Property adjacent, Riverside Drive property.  

Motorhome usually parked on Allesandro, now behind locked gate above Riverside Dr construction site on Red Car Property @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/HW9uMdLxiV

— Corralitas (@RedCarProperty) October 15, 2017

The Red Car Property is a lawless place.

Taylor Yard: Dust Storm This Morning

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  Before 8 AM, high winds caused a dust storm from Taylor Yard.  Worth noting: that bright green fence toward the lower right corner of the tree line is dust screening material.  It's not really helping those homes on the other side.    (Click on photos to enlarge.)

It appears the dust was blowing from the soccer fields, but it may have been the construction site.  It was too hard to see through the trees in those conditions.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  Earlier, the dust was everywhere, obliterating the view of new homes built on the other side of the river on the lower portions of Taylor Yard and Cypress Park.  

This is not the first time we've seen Taylor Yard dust storms.  This just adds to the serious local air quality problems in the area where we have a natural topographic and atmospheric bowl that keeps the contaminants closer to the ground in the area around Cypress Park, Lincoln Heights and Elysian Valley.  

The Taylor Yard dust storms illustrate why we emphasize extreme dust control with any environmental mitigation proposed for the former rail yard.  Highly toxic dirt still needs to be removed from Parcel G before it can be developed as a park.

Corralitas Drive: Hope You Closed Your Windows Before Going To Work Today

Videos: Three Corralitas Neighbors, March 20, 2014.  The City is scraping 2" of asphalt off Corralitas Drive before they resurface it.  Who needs AQMD Rule 403?  (AQMD Rule 403 limits fugitive dust.)  Good times.

Red Car Property: Stuff You Missed This Year Early Morning Particulate Matter Evident Along 2 & 134 Freeway Corridors

Photo: Diane Ewdardson, September 9, 2013.  The morning commute traffic and still air create a toxic soup of diesel particulate matter highlighted by the angle of sunrise against the San Gabriel Mountains and makes dramatic photos too .  Shot from The Red Car Property above Riverside Drive at Gilroy.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Stuff you missed this year: we shoot & collect tons of photos.  So we try to wrap up the year with some interesting ones we never got a chance to run.

Taylor Yard: Dust Storm Again

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 26, 2013, 10:49 AM.*  This morning, Santa Ana winds kicked up an Arizona-style dust storm from the housing development going up on Taylor Yard.  Once again, we hope they did the soil remediation right on the former Superfund site.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 26, 2013, 9:56 AM.  Although the photos don't appear as bad as it was in reality, the cloud of dust was thick and spread over Elysian Valley and Cypress Park. I called City Councilmember Gil Cedillo's staff & sent a photo saying they needed to shut down grading operations immediately according to the city standard conditions of approval for grading & earth moving during high winds. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 26, 2013, 9:54 AM.  The cloud of dust stretched from development all the way to the Metrolink building near the Confluence, at the south end of the rail yard.  (Again, the dust did not read well in the photos, but at least 3 neighbors witnessed it with me.)  At one point, the wind shifted & the dirt drifted over Sotomayor High School, north of the development site, & even reached my house.  There are 9 schools within a one mile radius of the site.

I talked to Jose Rodriguez from Councilmember Cedillo's staff who contacted the developer regarding the dust storm.  The developer said he would get water trucks out there.  An hour later the dust storm was getting worse (top photo) when Conrado Terrazas (also from Cedillo's staff) called to follow up with me.  I said, "Let's put it this way, I can't see parts of Cypress Park right now."  While discussing what I'd seen over the past few days, I also noted the water truck had finally shown up.   Within an hour they got the dust under control.   

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 24, 2013, 9:23 AM.  Two days ago, several neighbors & I noticed a construction vehicle that kept driving at high speeds up & down the length of the yard kicking up plumes of dirt as high at 60' in the air (taller than the newly constructed buildings & dwarfing the Metrolink trains).  They don't seem to be controlling the dust on the ingress/egress to San Fernando very well either, as evidenced by this photo. 

Thanks to City Councilmember Cedillo's staff for immediately responding to this important health issue for the community.  However, it brings up questions as to how unhealthy is this dirt to breathe?  Taylor Yard was a majorly toxic Superfund site.  Should schools be notified to keep children inside during these events?  This is not the first time this has happened with this development.  This developer should be held accountable. 

*Note: Top photo pixilated strangely, it was shot with my phone.

ElysianValley: Congressman Schiff Fed Up With Metrolink's Excuses; Requests Health Risk Assessment

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 25, 2012.  Bone dry, crystal clear mornings show the particulate matter rising from the Metrolink diesel rail yard. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

This morning, Congressman Adam Schiff was joined by Congressman Xavier Becerra, City Councilmember-elect Mitch O'Farrell and dozens of Elysian Valley community members calling for Metrolink to conduct an immediate Health Risk Assessment for the neighborhoods surrounding their rail yard, a few hundred feet from homes in Elysian Valley and Cypress Park. 

Read about today's press conference: The Eastsider

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 12, 2012.  For doubters on diesel rail yards vs freeways, when it comes to air quality: see our post from January 21 2012. 

The community coalition has been well organized & consistent in their message since 2011.  Metrolink has resisted documenting how much their facility impacts the surrounding communities. 

A rail yard is no longer a compatible land use with existing and planned residential and recreational land uses surrounding the revitalization of the LA River in the communities of Elysian Valley and Cypress Park.

Click here for all our Metrolink related posts.

Elysian Valley: Dirt Storm Today, Hope They Did The Soil Remediation Right On Taylor Yard

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 8, 10:25 AM.  Santa Ana Winds kicked up a dirt storm from Taylor Yard and carried it into nearby LA River and Elysian Valley this morning.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 8, 2013.  If you look really closely there appears to be drilling equipment on the site where Metrolink intends to build market rate family and senior housing.  It appears to me that they're doing pre-grading soils surveys. 

They are either not abiding by the City Standard conditions to not do earth moving in high-wind conditions or there is just so much loose earth on site being carried quite a ways off-site by the wind. 

Looks like Elysian Valley Neighborhood Council should insist on higher standards of mitigation for fugitive dust as the standard ones are either not being adhered to, or are insufficient to control potentially hazardous dust. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 8, 2013.  The dirt storm seemed to originate right at the edge of the park at Taylor Yard.  

This level of dirt (particulate matter) can't be healthy for anyone to breathe. 

*Update 5:30 PM: AQMD issues air quality alerts (usually too little too late). Don't expect something this micro to show up. They say our air quality is "good" today, despite the amount of dust and pollen blowing in the wind.   They only issued an alert for the Coachella Valley today.  You can search their map for air quality.  

2 Freeway: CalTrans Working In The Dark, Making Lots Of Noise, What Are They Hiding?

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, October 26, 2012, 11:23 PM.  From around 11PM to 6 AM this morning, CalTrans kept Corralitas Drive neighbors awake with lots of noise but no visible signs of work on the southbound 2 Freeway, directly below homes on Corralitas Drive.(Clicking on photo will not improve image quality).

 

Last night's work might have involved more sandblasting, but it sounded more like scraping of the freeway with large noisy equipment.  Who could tell?  They were working mostly in the dark with nowhere near the level of lighting as the other night.  According to one neighbor, they seemed to be just going in circles making lots of noise. 

 

Perhaps they were working in the dark because the AQMD questioned CalTrans about the sandblasting work being done without the use of proper dust control measures, let alone being done in the high wind conditions. 

 

The AQMD inspector who contacted me in response to my on-line complaint, said neighbors should contact 1-800-CUT-SMOG if they see could of dust rising from the work on the adjacent 2 & 5 Freeways.  Be sure to call as it's happening (24/7 hotline) and leave a detailed message if you don't get a human being.

 

According to the AQMD inspector, Patrick Chandler in the CalTrans Public Affairs office 213-897-3630 wants to hear your complaints about ongoing work on the adjacent freeways too.  But I would also file a formal complaint with CalTrans online to create an e-paper trail.

 

2 & 5 Freeways: CalTrans Lighting Up Neighboring Homes *UPDATED

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 24, 2012, 8:32 PM.  Nope, that's no movie set. CalTrans has been sandblasting the 2 Freeway at the Rosebud Ave overpass, including last night during Red Flag Warning high winds. (A clear violation of AQMD Rule 403.) (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 

Unfortunately, I could not capture photos of the billowing clouds of dust (as they were sandblasting without water).  They seemed to come back after the sandblasting, spreading water from buckets with brooms over the area they sandblasted.  This does nothing to  control the dust during the sandblasting, especially in high winds.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 24, 2012, 11:04 PM.  They moved over to the transition road from the northbound 2 Freeway to southbound 5 Freeway, lighting up homes on Corralitas Drive.  Much like other work on the 2 Freeway, CalTrans seems to do the exact same work on the exact same stretch of roadway every night for months at a time. 

 

Some Corralitas Drive neighbors have suffered from this night light for months now.

 

A check of the CalTrans website, only reveals they are doing "bridge work," but not for how long nor what exactly they're supposed to be doing.  Back around 2004, CalTrans dug up and repaved the exact same places on the 2 Freeway below Corralitas Drive every night for 4 months.  The work lasted from 8 PM to 5 AM and never improved the pavement despite the nightly repaving.  That work was far louder and kept more neighbors awake. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 24, 11:05 PM.  How bright was it?  Compare it to the typical bright white lights from Taylor Yard in the far background.  Taylor Yard is pretty bright too. The gold lights in the middle right of the photo are from Elysian Valley Rec Center, on the other side of the 5 Freeway.

 

If you have complaints about CalTrans work on the nearby freeways - you can complain on their website: http://www.dot.ca.gov/pioform.html

 

If you see billowing dust from the work, call the Air Quality Management District (AQMD) 24-hour hotline: 1-800-CUT-SMOG or complain on their website.  The AQMD won't do anything about it, but you may as well put it on their radar. 

 

The AQMD does little to protect the health of the people who live closest to sources of air pollution.  They prefer to make you think they're doing something on a region-wide scale. 

 

*UPDATE 10-26-12: An AQMD inspector contacted me twice today, indicating we should call 1-800-CUT-SMOG, their 24/7 hotline to report billowing clouds of dust in conjunction with work on the adjacent freeways, particularly in high winds. He also said we should contact Patrick Chandler in the CalTrans Public Affairs office 213-897-3630 to report problems with the freeway construction.