Red Car Property North: Still Needs Brush Clearance

Photo: Jay Lieske, July 13, 2017. The grass is dry and mostly mashed down but not cleared between the construction fence and Fletcher on the Red Car Property.  Protected native Black Walnuts are repopulating the slope.  A number of trees died after five years of drought.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Jay Lieske, July 13, 2017.  The Red Car Property is between Riverside Drive and Fletcher and Adelbert Ave.  Adelbert is a substandard Hillside Street with a number of hairpin turns to reach Lake View Ave.  It has only one means of access.  We don't know why Adelbert is not a Red Flag No Parking street.

Photo: Jay Lieske, July 13, 2017.  A year ago, the construction site on Riverside Drive, directly below the Red Car Property, took a lot of the Red Car Property with their construction fence, in addition to clear cutting trees on the Red Car Property.  This is the pedestrian path they left us.  Last year, their agreement with the property owner was to do the brush clearance on both sides of their fence.

Photo: Jay Lieske, July 13, 2017.  The construction site appears to have done brush clearance on the portion of the Red Car Property behind their fence.  It also looks like a few native trees are returning and recovering to the flat portion of the Red Car Property above the construction site.

Neighbors have expressed concerns that the native saplings and recovering native trees should be preserved as the brush clearance contractors are not known for their care with young trees.  

As with other parts of the Red Car Property, neighbors want to know why the property owner is allowed to get away with not doing brush clearance by May 1, every year?

Click here for all our brush clearance posts.

Red Car Property: Fence, Water Lines, Suspicious Neighbors

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 26, 2016.  When water lines crossed the Red Car Property, yet another neighbor texted photos and suspicions of the Riverside Drive developer of who appeared to take a very large portion of the Red Car Property in the past week.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 26, 2016.  I spoke to the architect for the Riverside Drive project (between Gilroy and Clearwater) on September 23. I asked him to clear the path adjacent the fence, since he claimed we could still walk through.  (He also hoped the fence would stop people from dumping.  The photo above indicates otherwise.)

The photos and reports I'd received from neighbors, said it was very difficult to walk through due to the heavy build up of trampled dry brush and castor beans.  It was a fire hazard.  I had already sent the photos of the fence to the Red Car Property owner's rep, asking when brush clearance would be done, since this is the start Santa Ana Wind season.  Brush clearance happened the next day.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 26, 2016.  The architect claimed the water lines are temporary for the trees and other landscaping they will plant on the Red Car Property slope.  The Red Car Property actually extends 20-30  feet downslope.  

The fence to the right of the formerly most beautiful protected native Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property  was placed by a previous Riverside Drive lot owner in an attempt at extending their backyard.

I questioned the Riverside Drive project architect's agreement with the Red Car Property owner.  He seems to be doing what everyone else has done throughout the years, counting on the fact the Red Car Property is very hard to develop and hopefully the trees won't get taken out by future development on the Red Car Property.  He said they would maintain and water the newly planted trees on the Red Car Property for 2 years.  I asked if there was an agreement in writing.  He failed to answer.

Worth noting, cultivated trees (planted in a landscape project) are not protected by the City's Protected Native Tree Ordinance.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 26, 2016.  Last weekend people panicked when brush clearance was finally done on the upslope side,  between the fence and homes on Adelbert.  

The Riverside Drive architect swears they will not be using the fenced portion of the Red Car Property for grading, hauling, staging, storing  or for deliveries for anything other than landscape related to planting the the slope. Nor are they building the Red Car Property.   The fence seems a bit of overkill for a fence to keep out dumping and to keep people off their plantings.  He claims to have an agreement with the Red Car Property owner.  The Red Car Property owner's rep did not reply to questions regarding this agreement.
 

Riverside Drive: Grading Project Leaves 1 Black Walnut Tree On Adjacent Red Car Property

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 18, 2016.   The developer for the 8 (or 13) Riverside Drive lots below the Red Car Property left one protected Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property when they were grading well beyond the property line, right up to and around the large protected Coast Live Oak Tree.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 6, 2016.  Earlier this summer, neither the Red Car Property nor the Riverside Drive lot owner had done brush clearance by May 1, like responsible hillside property owners.  Little did we know, every tree in this shot, despite their protected status, would be gone by mid-August.

Worth noting in the second photo, according to the Riverside Drive developer's property line stakes that had been in the ground and updated several times in the past few years, the dead Eucalyptus is on the Red Car Property.  The Coast Live Oak is the dark green tree in the upper right corner, is also on the Red Car Property.  Almost all the other bright green trees are California Black Walnuts that had grown back after earlier removals without permits. 

As I've said before, the City's Protected Native Tree Ordinance is a joke.  The point of protecting specific native species is because they are integral to the hillside habitat.  Razing and entire ecosystem, building on almost every inch of available hillside lot and planting a couple of 15 gallon trees in a graded slope, hoping they'll grow really isn't responsible urban forest management. 

Red Car Property: Becoming Less Park-Like Every Day

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  The developer of 13 lots on Riverside Drive left not only a denuded hillside, grading and further taking out trees on the downslope side of the Red Car Property, but also deposited a giant tree stump pulled out of the ground and left on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Earlier in the day, neighbors sounded the alarm when the backhoe was digging right up against the protected Coast Live Oak Tree's trunk.  The Red Car Property line is 20 - 30 feet downslope from the flat part of the Red Car Property.  Clearly,  the Riverside Drive developer moved earth around, well beyond the rear property of the Riverside Drive lots.  

By the end of the day Saturday, concrete posts (reinforced with rebar) that marked the property lines since the dawn of the Big Red Car Trolleys (1905) had disappeared.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Looking in the opposite direction from the oak tree, things are even more bleak.  We'll take a closer look at those trees in coming days.   Here too, the property line is 20 to 30 feet downslope. But the slope has been changed significantly so who knows where the line is anymore.

Riverside Drive: Neighbors Question Grading Project As It Crosses Onto Red Car Property

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Saturday morning, neighbors let me know the developer of the Riverside Drive lots (between Gilroy and Clearwater) was moving earth perilously close to the Protected Coast Live Oak Tree. The Coast Live Oak is on the Red Car Property. Checking the Building & Safety website, I saw no grading permits issued for either of the two adjacent Red Car Property lots.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property line is about 20 to 30 feet downslope from the flat part of the Red Car Property as well as the oak tree.  In the photo above, the backhoe is working on the edge of the flat part. So the Riverside Drive developer was definitely moving earth around the Red Car Property.

The ancient concrete post property line markers, in place since at least the dawn of the Big Red Car Trolleys, marked the rear property line of the Riverside Drive Lots where they back into the Red Car Property. They're about 3' tall and 4" square.  Whenever these lots have been surveyed, the new property line markers line up with the concrete property marker posts.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 27, 2016.  Last month, neighbors were alarmed when a developer began clear cutting trees on 13 vacant lots on Riverside Drive adjacent to the Red Car Property.  

The most consistent comment I'm hearing from neighbors about the Riverside Drive/Gilroy development is, "How is it possible they didn't need approval from the City [Planning] for this?"  I'd like to know that too.  It appears that by submitting applications for building permits for each of 8 lots separately, they seem to have snuck in under the radar for hillside grading and retaining walls.  (There seems to be a question of lot ties and parcel map cases because there are actually 13 legal substandard lots they're using for 14 units, but they only submitted 8 or 9 lots, and I'm not seeing lot ties.)

If you've ever lived near a construction site - you know there are environmental impacts like the constant vibration during grading.  I wonder how much damage the hundred year old homes next door will incur on this not so stable slope.

With no discretionary actions by City Planning (i.e., size of retaining walls, height, setback, parking, yard variances) there was no public review.  Thus, the protected native tree removal permits were issued in August this year, prior to granting grading and retaining wall permits. (It's not clear if grading permits have been issued on all the lots yet.)  

In practice, granting protected tree removal permits prior to issuing grading and retaining wall permits is just poor urban forest management.  Grading is the single most important decision that dictates how things are designed and built on hillside lots.  So often, we see lots sit denuded of trees for decades, before someone comes along willing to throw enough money at it to build it.  Even then, it doesn't always get built.  That is one reason the City's Protected Native Tree Ordinance was favored by environmental and neighborhood groups.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016. Earlier this year, neighbors were happy seeing many of the protected California Black Walnut Trees growing back after the last tree carnage in 2014.  When you live so close to a freeway, EVERY TREE MATTERS.

It appears the City, in its rush to streamline the building permitting process, is ignoring the fact that Hillside development is not always urban infill (redevelopment).  This is greenfield development (lots in a natural state supporting wildlife) that actually attach to a known wildlife corridor (the Red Car Property).  There was a thriving protected native tree habitat on the 13 lots before the developer began cutting down trees without permits (apparently without much of a penalty) 2 years ago.

Clearly this 8/13 lot project is one project, involving a lot of grading between the already built lots on Riverside Drive. 

Related: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Wants To Clean Up Riverside Drive (Yes, you should always ask "Why and who is sponsoring it?")

Riverside Drive: Grading Project Endangers Coast Live Oak On Red Car Property

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor September 17, 2016.  A backhoe was digging and pushing earth around, right up against the huge and healthy protected Coast Live Oak Tree on the Red Car Property this morning. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor September 17, 2016.Within minutes of sending photos to the Red Car Property owner's rep, he responded saying they called the developer who said "they didn't touch the tree."  A Red Car Property rep was en route to the scene.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  The property line is about 20 to 30' downslope from the Coast Live Oak Tree.  The oak tree is on the Red Car Property.  It is one of the few protected native trees left on this portion of the  Red Car Property.  The Riverside Drive developer cut down the protected black walnuts on the Red Car Property without permits. 

He had permits to cut down protected native trees on Riverside Drive lots, not on Red Car Property lots.

Red Car Property: Red Shouldered HawksWhy Trees Matter

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016. As I walked south on the Red Car Property from the historic landmark viaduct footings, I heard the telltale sound of a mockingbird harassing a predator.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

If you want to see more hawks, learn the pissed off calls of mockingbirds.  This one chased a Red Shouldered Hawk to a branch high in a tree on Lot C of the Red Car Property.  I watched as the mockingbird dive bombed the hawk and hopped from branch to branch of a tree that had not resprouted leaves this spring.  The little bird was fearless and relentless in its noisy display.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016.  While the mockingbird focused the bulk of its energy on the hawk near the top of the tree, it kept diving into the dense branches at the center of this clump of trees.  At this time of year, that could mean a recently fledged hawk was hanging around in the relative safety of the trees.  

If you walk the Red Car Property regularly, you know how narrow this trail passageway is.  I didn't see the second hawk until I was within 10' of the trees. The bright backlighting worked in the hawk's favor, as the feathers on its back and wings look like dappled light coming through the leaves.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016.  I felt privileged to witness a Red Shouldered Hawk so close, at eye level.  Both hawks kept an eye on me and my on-leash dog as I snapped photos blindly, hoping to catch a good shot.  Sadly, this was the best I could do. 

I don't know if it was a mated pair or one or two recently fledged Red Shouldered Hawks. In the past few years, we've documented Red Shouldered Hawks on the north end of the Red Car Property almost exclusively.

The north end of the Red Car Property is Red Shouldered Hawk territory, most likely because it is the closest urban forested area to the LA River in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, with such a large swath of trees clear cut from the adjacent Riverside Drive lots, as well as a portion of the Red Car Property, it remains to be seen if Red Shouldered Hawks will continue calling the Red Car Property home.

Learn more about Red Shouldered Hawks: Cornell University's All About Birds

Most of the time, we've seen Red Shouldered Hawks in California Black Walnut trees.  
Click here for all our Red Shouldered Hawk posts. 

Riverside Drive: Chopped

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 15, 2016.  Last week, a large crew clear cut all of the trees and brush on a number of vacant lots on Riverside Drive between Gilroy and Fletcher. This is well beyond brush clearance.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 15, 2016.  A large crew worked quickly,   removing all evidence of all the protected native Black Walnuts as well as all the other trees on what appears to be 8 or 9 vacant lots.  Most of these lots are the same lots where the property owner cut down more than 15 protected native trees without permits in August 2014.  

We don't know if the property owner was fined for the 2014 tree removal.  These lots were a testament to the hardiness of California Black Walnuts, as many of the larger trees cut down in 2014 were growing back.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 15, 2016.  According to CD13, the developer secured a permit from the City's Department of Urban Forestry to remove 1 protected native Black Walnut Tree.  Dozens of Black Walnuts were cut down last Monday.  In addition to the numerous protected native trees of all sizes, they also removed an unknown number of significant trees (with a trunk diameter of 8" or more).  Those trees don't count.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 15, 2016.  We've said it before.  The City's Protected Native Tree Ordinance doesn't do what it purports to do - protect our native hillside habitat by protecting specific native trees.  Instead, it just gives developers a formula for cutting down our native trees, which are becoming more scarce every day.

Riverside Drive: Lots Clear Cut Of All Trees

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 15, 2016.  Monday, I received an alarmed email from a neighbor, saying a large crew was cutting down ALL of the trees on the Riverside Drive lots (between Gilroy and Fletcher) where, in 2014, more than 15 protected native trees were cut down without permits from the City.  Trees were also being cut down from an adjacent Red Car Property lot as well as one or two lots not included in the unpermitted tree removal 2 years ago. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photos from more than one neighbor, were posted to Twitter as soon we received them.  Inquiries and photos were also sent to CD13.  A CD13 representative responded that a permit was issued to remove one protected California Black Walnut Tree on one lot. 

Two years ago, we reported illegal tree removal as it was happening.  In 2014, they chopped down the largest and healthiest Black Walnuts first.  Like Monday, it was a large crew that moved quickly.  At the time, there were no applications pending with Building & Safety.  No permits for protected tree removal were applied for either. 

Today, there appear to be 8 or 9 building permits for homes, in various stages of plancheck, submitted separately for each of the 8 or 9 substandard lots.  A permit for removing 1 protected Black Walnut Tree was issued for just one of the lots.  It is not the same lot for which grading permits were already issued.

Expect a lot of grading activity as (according to the applications submitted) they will be cutting into the hillside and building retaining walls. No discretionary actions by City Planning were involved, so there was no public review. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016.  A couple of months ago, I was impressed at the number of protected California Black Walnuts had grown back on the lots from the August 2015 carnage.

CD13 did not respond to  questions regarding whether or not the property owners were ever fined for illegal 2014 protected tree removal.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016. The Eucalyptus tree in the center of this photo is the large Eucalyptus still standing the first photo, as was the Black Walnut directly to the left of it.  

Also worth noting: the dry Arundo on the top of the hill is also still standing on the Red Car Property Lot C.  Neighbors are still awaiting brush clearance throughout the Red Car Property.

Related
Riverside Drive: Mudwatch, January 10, 2016

Red Car Property, Lot C: More Dumping

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, January 9, 2016.  A beautiful pastel sky couldn't detract from a giant pile of dumping on the Red Car Property's  Lot C, adjacent to a house on Riverside Drive, in the  process of being flipped.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Photo was sent to the Red Car Property owner's rep on Saturday.

Click here for all our dumping related posts.

Riverside Drive: Mudwatch

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, January 6, 2015.  We're on mudwatch for the lots on Riverside Drive near Gilroy. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The neighbor was rightfully concerned, due to the high volume of rain combined with the way a path was bulldozed, creating a perfect path for water and mud.  This slope is in a landslide zone.

The same neighbor sent me a text regarding the earthmover that was working on the Riverside lots last week.  "I saw them doing it.  Didn't even take it [the earthmover] off the truck trailer, just reaching over the sidewalk pulling the hill down towards the street."  Gee, looks like they were hoping to take out one of the few protected native California Black Walnut Trees (to the left of the mud ramp), "by accident." 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, December 31, 2015.  Last week, after the earthmover bashed into the large tree at the top of the wavy staircase, Neighbor #2 sent photos of the lots.  In the above photo, the light beige piles, a third of the way upslope, are piles of dirt.  

When Neighbor #2 sent the photos, I checked the Building & Safety website for permits on all the vacant lots on Riverside Drive.  None had even been applied for.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, December 31, 2015.  Neighbor #2 saw a backhoe digging up on the lots last week.  Via email, he said the backhoe broke off a large branch of the tree atop the wavy staircase.  It looks like the second large branch is ready to go too. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, but it does drop its leaves for winter.  If it was not a protected native tree, it definitely had more than an 8" trunk diameter, making it a significant tree a developer would have to replace.

The Red Car Property is directly above the Riverside Drive lots where, in 2014, more than a dozen protected California Black Walnut Trees were cut down without permits.

The Red Car Property and its rougher adjacent areas are still a lawless place. 

Riverside & Fletcher: Clean Up This Saturday February 21, 2015

Meet at the Arco Station at 9AM.   Pick it up!
Info: outreach@silverlakenc.org

Riverside & Fletcher: Clean Up Day, Saturday, February 21, 2015

Info: outreach@silverlakenc.org

Riverside & Fletcher: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Thinking About Cleaning Up

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 2004.  The City of LA Cultural Historic Landmark Pacific Electric Viaduct Footings haven't looked this good in years.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) is discussing how outreach to the community to clean up Riverside & Fletcher.  Rapid gentrification can't be far behind. 

The fact that it's a major commuter corridor doesn't help matters. As part of their effort to keep the district's neighborhoods safe & clean, City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's staff (CD13) along with the LA Conservation Corps has cleaned up the Riverside Drive sidewalks between Fletcher & Gilroy and Fletcher into Atwater fairly regularly for the past year.   

Cleaning pastel paint off the vandalized viaduct footings will likely not be on the agenda at tonight's meeting.  The viaduct footings are on private property.  It's not a park, it just looks like one. 

SLNC Joint Community Liaison & Outreach Committees

click here for agenda

Monday January 5, 2015

7-9 PM

Neutra Institute Museum & Gallery

2379 Glendale Blvd, LA 90039

Riverside Drive: Might Want To Slow Down When Driving In The Rain

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 16, 2014.  Not only did the car flip & end up on the northbound curb of Riverside Drive, just south of Fletcher, it also took out at least one sad street tree.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 16, 2014.  The car is on the sidewalk just southeast of the Gilroy St overpass of the 5 Freeway.  Riverside Drive is almost a blind curve at Gilroy.

Riverside & Fletcher: This Morning's Bomb Scare

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 22, 2014. Riverside Drive closed at Gilroy earlier today.

LAPD's Bomb Squad had Riverside, Fletcher, Gilroy & Glendale Blvd blocked & apparently a news blackout for most of the morning, leaving lots of neighbors calling, texting & emailing for info.  See The Eastsider for full story.  Photos here.

Riverside Dr & Gilroy, 5 Freeway Overpass: Why So Many People Hate Murals

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 22, 2014.  A neighbor submitted these photos to  My 311 on the City's website  to get the graffiti painted out.  Yesterday the neighbor received the following response:

On behalf of the City of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti, and your City Council, thank you for contacting 3-1-1 to report graffiti in your neighborhood.
Please be advised - we have reviewed the request to remove the graffiti (2131859) that was reported on Jan 22, 2014 at 2701 N GILROY ST and determined that the request should be cancelled.
The associated comments are:
'(Reassigned from CCAC) Gang tags(per constituent/WITH photo)/PHOTO shows mural @ underpass of 5 Freeway/"Frogtown" on walls of underpass in black MYLA311 sR# 033044 1/22/14-OCB/GV - these are neither legal nor coated murals. City cannot abate. CANCEL'
For more information, please contact 3-1-1 with the Service Request Number 2131859.
Graffiti abatement requests may be submitted to the Office of Community Beautification at the following website: http://Anti-Graffiti.LACity.org

According to the attached photos in the neighbor's original submission, the tags have been painted out dozens of times before.  

Highly annoyed, the neighbor contacted me.  We contacted Adam Bass in City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's office (CD13), who expects have it painted out  (or have answers) by the end of the day today.  

Yet one more reason why so many people hate these half-assed murals.

You can also use the City's smartphone app, but it hasn't been working to well for those areas without addresses, that's why we recommend the City's website where you can put in more detail.  Don't even bother calling 311 if there is no address, it won't get logged in correctly.

*5:30 PM: The neighbor reports the graffiti was painted out by noon today.  Thanks Adam in CD13!