skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 5, 2020.
Yesterday evening, Corralitas Drive neighbors were disappointed to find the hastily constructed Red Car Property fence locked. The neighbor's 2-year-old son looks forward to the daily outings on the Red Car Property, as does the entire family.
For nearly 20 years, the Red Car Property owner has threatened to fence the entire property every time neighbors contact CD13 regarding brush clearance, dumping, homeless camps, joyriding, abandoned vehicles, general lawlessness, etc. Considering the brush clearance was done early for what seems like the first time, we suspected a development application was pending. We did not expect a fence.
There are currently no active applications or approvals for zone change or subdivision, and no building permit applications or approvals on file for the Red Car Property. No zone changes or subdivisions have been granted.
CD13 has requested additional information from City departments regarding neighbors' specific inquiries about easements, public safety and the adjacent DWP property fenced in this week at Riverside and Fletcher.
Follow us on Twitter @RedCarProperty for current updates and photos.
Related: The Eastsider
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 27, 2020.
Neighbors want to know what is going on with the Red Car Property as fences like this one being built along side the public sidewalk (Corralitas Walk) adjacent to the 2 Freeway. They seem to be fencing off the entire property. The new fence pictured above, at the 2 Freeway, will create a narrow, less than 10' wide chain link alley with chain link fence on both sides of Corralitas Walk between Corralitas Drive and Allesandro Way.
Neighbors are very concerned about the public safety issues with such a long narrow passageway here, and it's not just about cars flying off the freeway. We'll go more in depth on the public safety issues at a future date.
Please be assured we are trying to sort out what is really going on and we'll be back to posting here on the blog soon. In the meantime, for more immediate news and photos of the fence follow us on Twitter @RedCarProperty.
-DE
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 30, 2017. North of the construction fence on the Red Car Property, some, not all, of the protected native Black Walnut Trees have recovered from the last five years of exceptional drought. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Let's hope all those trees are storing lots of water. Due to the loss of more than a dozen huge Eucalyptus trees on the property near Adelbert, and developers clear cutting the adjacent recovering native woodland for a 14-home development on Riverside Drive, the north end of the trail has been through radical change of the urban forest. It's hotter, sunnier and drier than just a few years ago.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 19, 2009. The Big Parade walked through the same section of the property in JULY. Almost all the trees on both sides of the trail (for the length of the hikers' line in this shot) were California Black Walnuts. Now the walnuts are fighting back with other native and non-native trees.
April Fool's Post 2017
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor March 31, 2017. The marauding pack of Chihuahuas led by the little nasty white dog, was spotted yesterday feeding on a fresh kill on Lot C of the Red Car Property, near the construction fence.
The vicious little wild dogs chased off the photographer who captured this rare photo and then they tried to kill his much larger dog. The last documented sighting was in 2011. However, neighbors have long told of the marauding pack, known for chasing people; swarming large dogs; playing chicken with cars and escaping coyotes with their impressive speed.
This post should not be used as proof of anything other than April Foolishness...
However, the marauding pack of Chihuahuas is real and has been out and chasing people and dogs on Lot C this past week. They now seem to have a mixed breed puppy with them. They were photographed here eating "something yucky" in a trash bag near their reported home. Additionally, they have indeed terrorized people walking on the Red Car Property for years. Read more:
October 5, 2010
July 4, 2011
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 5, 2017. The fence blocking the walkable portion of the Red Car Property for the Riverside Drive construction site, also crosses the vernal pool on Lot C, forcing pedestrians up the slippery slope to access the portion of the trail the developer left open to the public. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
The pile of drywall debris dumped a year ago remains to the right side of the frame. But look, through butchered trees, you can see Griffith Park.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 5, 2017. The flat portion, where cars are parked, is the Red Car Property. It is not a public road, nor is it even a public right of way. To make it a private street, it would require a discretionary action by City Planning. The upslope side is also Red Car Property. It is well documented as the most crumbly slope on the property. The side where most of the cars are parked, is where neighbors have encroached onto the Red Car Property by 20' or more.
See also: Vernal Pool on Lot C on October 14, 2009
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 6, 2002. The former most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property, that we've followed for 16 years, is first big tree behind the encroached chain link fence, on the left side of the photo. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2012. This shot is wider and shot from further away. The same tree is behind the fence on the left. In 2012, the leaves of the protected native Black Walnuts were just starting to turn yellow before dropping their leaves for winter. Yet the big healthy beautiful tree we've followed for so long, was still a deep dark green. It was always one of the to last drop its leaves.
The photo above shows an environment with lots of Black Walnut Trees of varying ages from saplings to mature trees. The closest Black Walnut on the left (the young tree in the foreground) was already over 6 feet tall. There were also Coast Live Oaks of varying ages, Coffeeberries, Blue Elderberries as well as non native species. It was a rich and varied ecosystem.
Photo: Gary Vlahakis, November 6, 2016. The now dead looking tree on the left is the former most beautiful Black Walnut on the Red Car Property. The developer of the Riverside Drive 14-lot development below the Red Car Property butchered all the fresh growth on the tree in September. He also claimed to be watering the trees. (However the water lines appear to be for dust control.)
The same developer erected the fence across the Red Car Property that's become a magnet for graffiti vandals. Thanks for making our neighborhood a better place to live.
Related: Why Trees Matter
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 6, 2016. Last week, more digging occurred around the huge Coast Live Oak Tree on the Red Car Property, adjacent to the Riverside Drive 14 unit. development. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 6, 2016. Who could have guessed? Graffiti vandals found the fence, visible from the 5 Freeway, irresistible. Neighbors notified CD13 a week ago. The fence was put up by the developer of the 14 unit development under construction on Riverside Drive. It is up to the property owner to remove the graffiti. Spray paint cans litter the site. Neighbors hope this doesn't become another Menlo Property.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. From a distance, it appears the construction fence for the 14 unit development on Riverside Drive is blocking the Red Car Property, north of India Street. However, they left us passage on the upslope side of the fence, hidden behind a silver Mercedes. (The Mercedes finally left last night, after being parked there more than a month.) (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. The pile of drywall dumped last January is on the downslope side of the trail, along with a reduced pile of salvage and trash on the 20 - 30' of downslope that is Red Car Property. No word if people are still living in the sheds further downslope.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. Neighbors still aren't buying the line from the Riverside Drive developer, that he doesn't have a deal to develop this part of the Red Car Property. They only cleared the brush from the path here once I bitched at him that it was not a functional path he claimed to have given us. It was full of trampled down brush and castor beans.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. The heritage Coast Live Oak is still standing. The developer blocked the highly used portion of the trail, and left us the narrow portion between the slope and the dust screened, chain link fence.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. There are a few leaves left on what was the most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property. Last month, the developer's brush clearance crew cut all the new growth from the tree for no good reason. The tree is definitely on the Red Car Property.
This site is not the site of the proposed zone change to allow 49 units. However, you better believe if they get the zone change and subdivision for condos on the south end of the property the remaining lots will be subject to a development application.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016. Earlier this year, the protected native Black Walnut across from the Adelbert cut-through was putting out lots of new growth close to the trunk and large branches. We've used this one tree to illustrate the effects of the prolonged drought on even trees that evolved with our drought/deluge hillside ecosystem. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 2, 2016. Unfortunately, when the Riverside Drive developers' tree butchers trimmed trees on the Red Car Property, they cut all the new growth from the Black Walnut Tree. Let's hope they practiced safe horticulture, cleaning the equipment between trees, or they've just spread whatever insect, disease and mold that is killing multiple species of trees on the north end of the property for the past few years.
Compare the photos:
November 2000 - July 2015
July 2015
September - November 2015
November - December 2015
February 26, 2016
May - September 2016
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 16, 2016. Arrow is pointing to drywall dumped in January, still on Red Car Property's Lot C in June, along with the guy living in the truck, and the tidied and migrating piles of debris. The trees benefited from a reasonable amount of rain last winter. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 2, 2016. Last week, neighbors said a couple of guys, joined by the LAPD, paid a visit to the guy living in the white truck. Later the same day, he and his truck were gone. The pile of drywall, now a moldy mess, is still there.
The trees were trimmed badly. I wouldn't expect that pine tree to make it though an earthquake or a massive rainstorm. That type of pine tree tends to lean, but poor trimming will hasten its demise. All of the trees in this shot are on the Red Car Property, including some protected California Black Walnuts. According to the architect of the Riverside Drive Lots, they have permission from Red Car Property owner to place the fence and, apparently, butcher the trees. The Red Car Property extends about 20' downslope, to the right of the plywood fence.
Photo enlarged from previous shot. Maybe in another 20 years the drywall will biodegrade.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 18, 2016. When grading for the Riverside Drive project between Gilroy and Clearwater went over the property line, endangering native trees, it was bad enough, but then the developer made a land grab with a fence across the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, September 18, 2016. The bulldozer took out two concrete post property line markers that marked the rear property line of the Riverside Drive lots as they met the Red Car Property. The posts had been in place for over 100 years and are still in place in parts of the not only this neighborhood, but wherever the Red Car Trolleys ran in Southern California. Railroads nationwide, marked their property with the steel reinforced concrete posts.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, September 23, 2016. But as soon as the fence went across the flat part of the Red Car Property, leaving only a narrow weed strewn path to walk or ride your bike on, neighbors and other Red Car Property users freaked out. We sent photos to the property owner's rep who said they had met with the property owner last week and a fence would be coming, but he did not say it was going to be one that appeared to take a 70' wide portion of the property. We pointed out the lack of fire and emergency vehicle access was indeed a problem particularly since the upslope portion adjacent to homes on Adelbert Ave still had not been cleared of brush. The next day, brush clearance was done.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016. The fence seemed more designed to illicit a buzz, get free PR for a rather gentrifying project on Riverside Drive, between Gilroy and Clearwater. And yes, I say this after speaking to the architect for the Riverside Drive lots. He told me the fence was intended to prevent dumping and protect the trees they're going to plant BEFORE they start grading. Right. Before.
We'll revisit the fence tomorrow.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 24, 2016. The first photos of the day showed workers clearing brush from slope between Adelbert and the new fence on the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
It's almost October and the brush clearance is just getting done now? Brush clearance should have been done on the Red Car Property May 1, just like the rest of the Hillside area. Even the fire further south on the property in June did not prompt the Red Car Property owner to get the brush clearance done on the rest of the property.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1. September, 24. 2016. Brush clearance is always miserable for neighbors because of the fugitive dust. This "dust" carries not only bacteria, but also mold spores that can cause serious bronchial and upper respiratory infections.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 24, 2018. When the fugitive dust turns into a dust storm, it's not healthy for anyone.
Red Car Property Neighbor #2, September 24, 2016. Friday, I spoke to the architect for the Riverside Drive lots (the property line is about 20 to 30 feet below this large Coast Live Oak Tree). He said they fenced-in the slope above the Riverside Lots so they could plant it.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2. Since so many trees have been removed in the past 2 years, neighbors watched closely when they were cutting branches from a large protected California Black Walnut and Coast Live Oak.
Rumors swirled around the neighborhood and Next Door that they were "cutting the oak tree." According to neighbors and their photos, it just looks like branches were trimmed. Lets hope safe horticulture was practiced so they didn't spread the disease/fungus/pests that have been killing many species of trees throughout the neighborhood.
Once again, Red Car Property Neighbors are on top of things as they happen, even if I've not been on top of the blog lately. However, as soon as the first brush clearance photos came in, they were posted to our Twitter feed: @RedCarProperty
When we are able to verify the Riverside Drive Lots developer's statements regarding the fence with the Red Car Property owner, we'll bring you the info here.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 23, 2016. Yes, there's a fence across the Red Car Property. And yes, the homeless guy still lives in the white truck parked in front of the fence on the Red Car Property. Look, they left us a path to walk around on the upslope side of the fenced area. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
I've been inquiring as to what the heck is going on. The fence was put up by the developer of the Riverside Drive lots. I'm delaying posting news until I've verified information. The more facts come in; the more questions come up. So for right now you're getting photos.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 23, 2016. Thanks to our ever vigilant neighbors, this is the most documented fence ever. Keep up the good work!
Please send Red Car Property photos and any wildlife photos taken in the neighborhood if there is any wildlife left: redcarproperty@gmail.com. I'll be posting photos and lengthy news here on the blog. Photos (not always the same) and alerts are posted to our Twitter feed as they come in: @RedCarProperty
Please remember, I don't get paid to do this. The Red Car Property is my albatross.
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
