Riverside Drive: Attempted Rape Reported To LAPD, August 23, 2019

Photo: Google Street View.  A pedestrian tunnel crosses beneath Riverside Drive at Allesandro Elementay School.   

This weekend, an attempted rape in the 2200 block of Riverside Drive (Allesandro Elementary School)  showed up in the daily Crimemapping email.  I requested whatever details could be shared from our new LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) for Silver Lake, Jesus Aispuro.  He responded with the following email: 

An Attempt Rape report was taken on August 23.  The incident occurred at 2:00pm.  An adult victim was walking in the tunnel, near the school, when she observed an unknown male suspect in the middle of the tunnel. As she walked by him,  the suspect blocked her path and grabbed one of her wrists and attempted to pull up her shirt.  The Victim slapped his hands away.  The suspect then unzipped his pants.  The victim then ran out of the tunnel and the suspect left the tunnel on the other side.  There was no one else inside the tunnel at the time of the incident and no kids were out in the area at the time.  They have assigned patrol units to monitor the tunnel and I will also go out there to monitor it as well.  There have not been any other incidents like this in the area.
Officer Jesus Aispuro

LAPD Northeast Division

If you are afraid to use the tunnel under Riverside Drive, DO NOT JAYWALK. A pedestrian was killed in 2014 in a hit & run incident in front of Allesandro Elementary.  Take the long way around and cross Riverside at the signal at Allesandro or Gilroy.  My understanding is the tunnel is only unlocked during school hours, but I have not confirmed this in years.

Through the years, neighbors have asked me about carrying pepper spray to defend themselves, but mostly, to defend their dogs from coyotes and pit bulls while walking.  Pepper spray is tricky and you may not point it in the right direction if panicked.  I recommend an inexpensive, pocket size air horn (many friends carry them when hiking and camping).  It's loud and ear piercing, breaks up fighting dogs and scares off coyotes.  It also gets the attention of anyone nearby.  

I say don't live in fear.  Take action: learn self defense techniques, know your neighbors and their contact info, don't walk with headphones, know the streets and public staircases in the neighborhood, install motion sensor lighting and locked mailboxes, adopt a dog or two (please don't adopt a pit bull if you have never handled one before).  If you are the victim of a crime, make a police report.  LAPD doesn't know there's a crime problem, if you don't report it. 

Editor's note: Since the onset of the LAPD Senior Lead Officer program (after the 1992 riots), whenever I've heard a rumor or seen a report of rape or other violent crime in the Red Car Property Neighborhood, I request info from our SLO.  I do not publish reports of domestic violence, which seems to be most of the very rare number of violent crimes reported to LAPD in our neighborhood. 

In more than 12 years of producing this blog, I can only think of a handful of violent incidents occurring in our neighborhood.  In 2012, a woman was murdered elsewhere and dumped near the 2 Freeway entrance across from Allesandro Elementary.  Five months later, another murder victim was found on Allesandro Way.  In 1996, a drug bust turned into such a large gun bust, the police shut down traffic on the 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive, Fletcher and locked down the entire neighborhood around the Red Car Property for hours.

Our neighborhood crime is primarily mail theft, car break-ins, dumping, graffiti vandalism, joyriding and a lot of stolen cars seem to get dumped here. We highlight the general lawlessness around the Red Car Property.  We'd much rather be posting photos of the urban wildlife and native plants around the Red Car Property Neighborhood.  While we've not updated the blog frequently in recent years, we continue posting on Twitter @RedCarProperty.

Useful Links:

LAPD contracts with Crimemapping for crime stats.

LAPD  e-policing

LAPD crime prevention tips

LAPD non-emergency phone: 1-877-ASK-LAPD

Red Car Property: Toilets, Bumper, Aquarium

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2017.  Neighbor reports the toilets, bumper and aquarium arrived on Lot C of the Red Car Property at India Street, as soon as the previous pile of dumping was picked up earlier this month.  They are still there now.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2017.  Perhaps the dumping would be curtailed,  if the Red Car Property was closed to all motorized vehicles, except emergency vehicles, with steel gates similar to those on every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Park.

Red Car Property: Abandoned Squatters' Camp Used Again Last Night

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017. Neighbors are fed up by the Red Car Property owner's failure to pick up the debris left behind after the squatters vacated their camp.  These photos and email (excerpted here) are from one of many concerned neighbors contacted CD13 and LAPD.  "Someone slept again last night on the old Red Car squatters encampment - I know because they left a new red blanket and new trash (see pics)."

The camp was established by a couple of squatters, mid-June.  Neighbors reported it immediately and constantly for the past few months to CD13 and LAPD.  A few weeks ago, neighbors reported the camp abandoned by the couple of squatters who had been driving a white car to and from their camp near Rose Scharlin Nursery School on a daily basis. 

Neighbors raised the concern that so much debris left behind will only attract new inhabitants.  "Does the owner really want to leave an open invitation for squatters to come live, sleep, and trash his property?"

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017.  Pictured here: dry brush right next to the campsite.  Neighbors continue raising the alarm over brush clearance.  Out of self-interest, a few neighbors cleared some of the slopes near their own homes.  "I see the [brush] clearance is still not completed, or even started (Rose Scharlin did their own hill themselves rather than wait)."  

Considering the number of cigarette butts discarded in and around the camp, neighbors are justified in their alarm.  "This is a danger to the whole neighborhood, especially with smoking squatters sleeping there."  The neighbor continues, "Does our whole neighborhood have to go up in flames before someone enforces the Brush Clearance ordinance!?!  Has LAFD even inspected this negligent property that is putting our neighborhood at risk for a catastrophic fire?"  Yes, LAFD has cited the owner several times this year.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017.  Adding insult to injury, last night's homeless left new bags of trash.

Click here for all our squatter related posts. 

Follow us on Twitter for more timely updates on the squatter camp and brush clearance.

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-26-17 and backdated to the date the photos were shot and originally published on Twitter.

Corralitas RedCar Property: Why We Bitch About Brush Clearance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  A number of neighbors were very concerned about a newer red pick up truck suspiciously parked in the middle of the dry grass on the Red Car Property for hours, earlier tonight.  Brush has yet to be cleared from the Red Car Property.  There is nothing preventing vehicles from driving onto the Red Car Property. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  Several neighbors called LAPD's non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD.  At least one stayed on hold for an hour before giving up.  However, it only made neighbors more creative.  They shined lights on the truck, annoying the people inside, and the truck finally took off.

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-26-17 and backdated to the date the photo was shot and originally published on Twitter.

Red Car Property: "Broken Windows" Attract Homeless Camp

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 27, 2017.  A bunch of railroad ties have been collecting behind a home on Riverside Place near Rose Scharlin Co-op Nursery School.  Whether this is a failed home improvement project or just plain illegal dumping, it's an eyesore and a fire hazard.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 27, 2017.  For several weeks, neighbors have been calling and emailing CD13's Hector Vega and the LAPD, asking them to enforce the no trespassing order.  Neighbors are concerned about the fire risk on the property yet to be cleared of dry brush.  

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 27, 2017.  Yes, that's a pile of dried out bamboo screening atop a mattress beneath a large umbrella and other debris hidden daily by the squatters on the Red Car Property.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 27, 2017.  Let's see, what came first, the dumping or the homeless camp.  If you said the dumping, you're right.  Although, it does appear some of the railroad ties have been moved around and some brush clearance adjacent to the fence was done since Saturday.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor June 22, 2017.  LAPD has long advocated fixing the "broken windows" in neighborhoods because it only gets worse, attracting new problems as time goes on.  This activity is occurring on the Red Car Property.  Neighbors have done their part reporting it to authorities. CD13 notified the Red Car Property owner as soon as they began receiving complaints from multiple neighbors, two weeks ago.  The property owner has failed to do brush clearance, failed to restrict vehicle access to the property and failed to remove the squatters from the property.  It's up to the Red Car Property owner to take responsibility for what occurs on the property.

Neighbors should call the police 1-877-ASK-LAPD and report suspicious activity on the Red Car Property.  You will need to remind them there is a no trespassing order on file with  LAPD Northeast.  You will also need to describe how to get there.  For instance, this site is on the Red Car Property SOUTH of India Street between the end of Riverside Place and Rose Scharlin Nursery School. 

Send your questions, comments and complaints about the Red Car Property to CD13's Hector.Vega@lacity.org
 

Red Car Property Lot C: No Brush Clearance Yet

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 23, 2017.  Brush clearance has yet to happen on the Red Car Property slope above the Riverside Drive construction site.  (The construction site took about 60' in width of the Red Car Property with their construction fence.)  *Photo details at end of post.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 23, 2017.  At least many of the remaining trees on Lot C are recovering from five years of unprecedented drought and complete devastation of the slope below the Red Car Property.  The upslope side of the trail (to the wood fence) is Red Car Property.  It's the end of June and still no brush clearance.  

*Photo details: A neighbor ran into LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) Luis Reyes (covering for vacationing Silver Lake SLO Lenny Davis) and CD13 Deputy Hector Vega on Lot C of the Red Car Property.  They were investigating neighbors' complaints of homeless camps near Rose Scharlin and near Fletcher.  They notified the homeless person near Fletcher of the no trespassing order the property owner has on file with the LAPD for the Red Car Property.  While offering services, they told him he could not stay on the property.

Red Car Property: Spot The Homeless Camp

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 15, 2017. Neighbors discovered a blue tent pitched among the bushes on the Red Car Property near Rose Scharlin Nursery School today.  Just past the pile of railroad ties dumped on the property behind a home on Riverside Place.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

One neighbor heard voices coming from inside the tent this morning.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 15, 2017.  Neighbors from Corralitas Drive, Riverside Place and Lake View Ave texted and emailed photos to me and CD13 today.  Neighbors are concerned about the risk of fire since brush clearance has not been done.  Homes on this part of the Red Car Property are very close together.  There are still some dead and dying Eucalyptus trees in the background of this photo, as well as a stand of arundo.  

Neighbors are also concerned due to recent mail and package theft, as well as a general increase in property related crimes in the area.  When you call the police regarding anything on the privately owned Red Car Property, you need to tell LAPD dispatch there is an active  trespass order on file at the Northeast LAPD Station or they won't respond.

Send your concerns regarding brush clearance, homeless, partying, joyriding or any other issue on the Red Car Property to hector.vega@lacity.org in CD13. 

Corralitas Drive & Rosebud Ave: Homeless Guy Refuses To Move

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #1, March 5, 2017. Neighbors are  frustrated by the City's policy allowing the homeless to live on the sidewalk.  Neighbors were fed up when the homeless guy's camp expanded with electronics, Christmas lights and what several neighbors described as "entertaining sketchy looking friends." (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #1, February 14, 2017.  Neighbors on Corralitas Drive had been remarkably tolerant of the homeless guy who, he first week of January, took up residence under the 2 Freeway,  at the corner of Rosebud Ave and Corralitas Drive.  However, after six weeks, neighbors noticed a deterioration of his camp, of blocking much of the sidewalk. 

Neighbors were fed up and amplified their calls and emails to CD13.  Several neighbors responded to our earlier post, including this response on February 17, by a neighbor at home with her kids, sent via email to neighbors and CD13:

"He knocked on my door on a rainy day, asking me for a wine bottle opener because someone stole his. I kindly told him I don't have one and immediately closed the door. I was home with all my kids and pretty concerned because as he went down the stairs (most likely frustrated), he went to my neighbor's garage door and cracked the bottle open by breaking off the neck of his wine bottle and leaving the broken glass on the sidewalk."  

Another neighbor home with his kids, witnessed the same incident after he'd sent the homeless guy away after making the same request at his door.   

In the following weeks, neighbors were on edge due to a reported increase in Silver Lake car break-ins; an attempted Corralitas garage break-in; graffiti, package and mail theft; suspicious vehicles cruising our hard to find hillside street; other cars seemingly abandoned on the Red Car Property; and most disturbingly, witnessed by multiple neighbors, a woman described as either on drugs or crazy, showing up inside at least one home on Corralitas Drive and another home on Riverside Place.  (Both times, homeowners confronted the woman, who did not know her.)  Only one of those events was witnessed as related to the homeless guy, but his presence only aggravates the general unease in the neighborhood.

Corralitas Neighbor #2, March 6, 2017.  Neighbors were surprised to see so many City trucks and police officers in the tunnel late in the day, March 6.  The homeless guy had been given notice by the City, at least 72 hours prior to the Dept of Sanitation regarding moving his property from the sidewalk.  

Corralitas Neighbor #2, March 6, 2017.  The City followed their standard policy to clean  the sidewalk.  The lengthy process to remove property from City sidewalk was initiated in January. Due to civil rights lawsuits, the City has a very specific policy related to removing the homeless' belongings from City property.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #2, March 7, 2017. Three hours after his camp was cleared by the City, the homeless guy returned.  Neighbors are getting hostile.  Remember, Rosebud Ave is the primary means of access to Corralitas Drive.  It is the only vehicle access. 

Corralitas Neighborhood Watch warned neighbors NOT to give handouts to the homeless guy as it was only encouraging him to stay.  Neighbors resumed their emails to CD13.  A representative assured us, the return was reported to PATH and the process resumed.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #3, March 9, 2017.  Less than 24 hours after the homeless guy's camp was cleared from under the 2 Freeway on Rosebud at Corralitas Drive, a new couch appeared.  The old couch was black.  This begs the question, who is delivering  couches to the homeless?  He did not get it here on his shopping cart.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #2, March 17, 2017.  Neighbors are frustrated as his pile of belongings and trash grows daily.  One neighbor said, "His collection grows every day...he is so in your face, as if that is now his property."  Other neighbors have witnessed suspicious activity.

Neighbors with children and single women have expressed fear and will no longer walk through the tunnel to reach Allesandro.  With such a small street, the homeless guy knows all of our schedules, cars and homes.  Neighbors are fed up.

CD13 is urging neighbors to report all suspicious and illicit activity to the LAPD.  Report dumping and graffiti to MyLA311.

It is not a crime to be homeless, nor is public urination.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor #4, March 22, 2017.  It figures, in Silver Lake, we have hipster homeless.  Corralitas Neighbor #4 remarked, "I think our homeless guy has a subscription to dwell."

Clearly people in Silver Lake throw out too much stuff.  Instead of throwing your used home goods, clothing, toys and furniture in the trash, or giving the stuff you're tired of directly to the homeless guy, donate it to Out of the Closet, Goodwill or St Vincent de Paul.  All three have donation centers in Cypress Park or Lincoln Heights, freeway close and just minutes away.  

PATH outreach workers were seen again yesterday talking with the homeless guy who, so far, has refused to get off the street.

Related: City of LA Guidelines on Abandoned Property and Encampments (CD13)
PATH

Request a bulky item pick up, report illegal dumping, graffiti, street light outages, and other City Services: MyLA311

Earlier post: February 17, 2017

Red Car Property, Lot C: Never A Dull Moment

Stuff you missed this year, and in 1996...

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 11, 2015.  One evening, last May, much to the alarm of neighbors, more than a dozen police cars, including LAPD officers in riot gear and circling helicopters, showed up to a house on Riverside Drive, accessed via the Red Car Property's Lot C, north of India Street.  Yes, there is access to the house from Riverside Drive, but most residents here use the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 11, 2015.  Police cars were lined up on the Red Car Property, north of India Street; on India Street; as well as on Riverside Drive around Gilroy.

In an email response to my inquiry at the time, LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) for Silver Lake, Lenny Davis replied, officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 2300 block of Riverside Drive.  "Due to recent national events, we are tending to respond with our equipment on when we handle calls like that."  While they found no evidence of shots fired, they did recover two stolen cars parked on the Red Car Property. 

Last May's incident was actually mild compared to the 1996 bust at a house a few hundred feet north on Riverside Drive, also accessible via the Red Car Property north of India Street.  Then, an LAPD undercover drug buy quickly turned into a huge weapons bust.  It was such a large and volatile cache, police closed Riverside Drive, Fletcher Drive, both the 5 and the 2 Freeways, as well as neighborhood streets.  There was a huge back up of traffic as streets and freeways were closed and evacuated for hours while the bomb squad and LAFD cleared the cache of weapons. 

In the 1996 incident, LAPD discovered the homeowner had broken into an out-of-commission, 8' diameter concrete conduit.  It was a pre-1912 DPW water main that doesn't even show up on current tract maps - somewhere in the hillside west of Riverside Drive.  (Note: for all you LA City nerds: it pre-dates the Crystal Springs Conduit, which is not as large.)  

The homeowner was using the 8' concrete conduit as a firing range for military assault weapons.  He even had a grenade launcher.  Next door neighbors, TV news reporters and LAPD Silver Lake SLO Al Polehonki, went inside the tunnel once it was cleared by LAFD and LAPD.  All reported the same thing: the thickness of the concrete and the hillside created a sound barrier so the neighbors did not hear what was happening underground. 

The use of an old water main as a firing range for military assault weapons however, would raise questions about slope stability if the conduit was damaged by the weapons.

*Stuff You Missed This Year is our annual wrap up of interesting photos and things we just didn't have a chance to run, because everything seems to always happen at the same time.  Since the May 2015 incident appeared to involve ongoing criminal activity (unrelated to the 1996 incident other than by location) and a major show of force by the LAPD, we really didn't know what to do with it at the time other than report it to the neighbors, CD13 and the Red Car Property owner's rep.
 

Red Car Canyon: Campfire Last Night

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 2, 2015.  Someone is trying to scare neighbors by having a campfire in Red Car Canyon.  Luckily, things have been pretty damp at night and the grass is green right now.  They clearly tried to hide it by arranging the large tree stumps to block the view from the Corralitas end of the Red Car Property - the most likely direction from which the LAPD or LAFD would have entered the property.

Wednesday night, neighbors called the police when a noisy party of  teenagers with expensive bicycles went on for hours near the Riverside Place entrance to Red Car Canyon.  One neighbor reported that shortly after email regarding the loud party went out to the canyon neighborhood watch list, the group took off on their bikes down Riverside Place. 

After yesterday's campsite on Lot C, Howard Fields, owner's rep for the Red Car Property, immediately updated the trespass order with LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis.  If someone is having a campsite, blocking emergency access, partying, vandalizing property,  call the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD.  A copy of the trespass order is on file at the Northeast LAPD.  If a serious (violent) crime is taking place or you see fire call 911. You may need to leave your phone number and give them directions to the property as sometimes they come from another division. 

DO NOT CONFRONT THESE INDIVIDUALS.  If you see them littering, be polite and ask them to take their trash with them.  Neighbors who have encountered the partiers, day or night, say they just appear to be kids from the neighborhood, not gangbangers.  So if you know them, have a chat with them, but do not get confrontational. 

If you smell fire, step outside and investigate.  Just because the grass is green now, does not mean the trees have recovered from the drought.  Eucalyptus, pine, palm trees, arundo and bamboo are highly combustible year round.  If you have these trees and plants around your rear fence, you might want to take a look at them this weekend and do some pruning.  Brush clearance is a year round responsibility.

Red Car Property Lot C: Camping Is Not An Approved Land Use In R-2 Zoning

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 1, 2015.  This is not an unpaved public street.  It is private property: APN: 5438-007-001, also known as Lot C, north of India Street on the County Assessor's maps.  The Acura is parked there with someone hanging out inside.  The engine was not running. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

When a neighbor sent photos early this morning of the campsite and cars blocking the trail on Lot C of the Red Car Property, I immediately sent them to the property owner's rep Howard Fields, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, City Councilmember O'Farrell's Deputy Adam Bass (CD13) and City Attorney William Larsen.  There has been an ongoing squatter problem with a couple of properties adjacent to this end of the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 12, 2015.  Since March, neighbors have been complaining about squatters on 2340  2344 Riverside Drive*, a vacant lot adjacent to the Red Car Property, just about 50' from this morning's campsite.  

As of September, there was an increase in activity on the 20-30' portion of the downslope where all the construction debris, tires and junk is stored, as suddenly it was being moved around.  The downslope 20-30' belongs to the Red Car Property not to 2340  2344 Riverside Drive*.  The flat portion of the lot was being used as a bathroom and dumping ground again.  I let all the aforementioned authorities and the Red Car Property owner's rep know about it several times in September.  Neighbors reported an increase in activity too, including when someone had tapped into the DWP transformer on the telephone pole at Gilroy with an extension cord to another adjacent garage known to house squatters.  

Since early May, things had been quiet on the Red Car Property.  Do not confront these squatters.  These people appear to have been living on the street a long time and may not be entirely stable.  

Until we know how to best deal with this situation, I suggest sending photos of problems on the Red Car Property to CD13: adam.bass@lacity.org with Red Car Property in the subject line.  If it is an emergency call 911.   

*2344 is the vacant Riverside Drive lot with the squatters.  2340 Riverside Drive is the adjacent house.  At one time, the same family owned both properties.  The house is being flipped.  The adjacent vacant lot has squatters.  Both properties use the Red Car Property's Lot C for access.

Red Car Property: 2 White Cars Abandoned Behind Homes On Corralitas

Photos: Corralitas Neighbor, August 11, 2015, 6:55 AM.  While out for an early walk this morning, a neighbor found two cars parked in a suspicous place hidden into the hillside behind homes on Corralitas Drive, on the Red Car Property.  Neither car was parked there yesterday morning. 

The Buick, a 4-door white sedan's CA license plate is 4COA887. 

The Subaru, a 4-door white sedan's CA plate is 5UMC525.

Photos with this information were sent to the Red Car Property owner's rep, LAPD Senior Lead Officers Lenny Davis and Gina Chovan, CD13 and nearby neighbors. 

Since this is private property, if the cars are not reported stolen, only the property owner can have them towed.   Since the property is not gated to vehicle traffic as it was some 25 years ago, it periodically becomes a dumping ground for stolen and abandoned vehicles.  The neighbors at these 2 homes are not parking their cars on the property. 

In the meantime the Mercedes SUV abandoned on the Red Car Property south of India, Memorial Day Weekend is still there. The Red Car Property remains a lawless place.


*UPDATE Aug 13, 2015: Cars gone. 
 

Red Car Property: Mercedes Abandoned Memorial Day Weekend, Has Not Moved

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 3, 2015.  We first reported this silver Mercedes SUV, CA plates: 6AON271, to the property owner's rep and LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis on May 23, 2015. Now it's attracting more trash and dumping.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

City Parking Enforcement refuses to tow cars from private property if they are not stolen.  This car was registered to an address in San Rafael when LAPD SLO Davis checked in May.  At the time, it was not reported stolen.  The Red Car Property owner has to have the car towed. 

In June, it was reported to Building & Safety. The inspector seemed to think this SUV was coming and going from the property.  Right.  My guess is he never went out to see the vehicle. CD13 has requested Building & Safety follow up on the complaint.  There is no lack of photographs on the blog or in my archives.

Click here for all the abandoned Mercedes SUV posts.

At least the Buick abandoned on Corralitas at the Red Car Property was finally removed in the past week.   Parking Enforcement can cite and tow if the car is abandoned on a City Street.  

Note: Despite what many mapping services say, the Red Car Property is NOT Silver Lake Court (an unbuilt City street right-of-way, just west of the property between Silver Lake Ave Stairs, ending north of Roselin Stairs).  The Red Car Property is private property and it is a lawless place. 

Red Car Property: Why Brush Clearance Is So Important

*UPDATE at end of post

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 16, 2015.  This past weekend, a homeless couple took up residence under a densely overgrown tree directly behind homes on the Red Car Property. A neighbor confirmed it Monday.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

Since parts of a sectional couch  and a bag of trash were dumped and left untouched since February, we've been asking the Red Car Property owner's rep to have the trash and dumping removed and trim the tree branches up from the ground per LAFD brush clearance regulations.  We warned him that dumping would only attract more dumping, scavengers and homeless.  

Sure enough, Saturday was a very strange day with the couple throwing things all over the place from under the tree, claiming to be "cleaning up the community!"  However they were making a really big mess.  I was followed by the woman on Saturday, as was a neighbor,  yesterday.  The woman never stopped talking.  We just walked away. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 16, 2015.  The tree should be trimmed up from the ground as it is 1. a fire hazard and 2. offers the homeless a place to hide.  

The deadline for brush clearance was May 1.  No brush clearance whatsoever has begun on the property yet.

How come the individual hillside homeowners all have to do brush clearance by May 1 but the large lot landowners never seem to do their brush clearance by even the 4th of July?  Their negligence puts the entire neighborhood at risk.

The Red Car Property Owner's Rep Howard Fields, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis and City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's Deputy Adam Bass have all been notified of this new campsite and all of the recent dumping.  

Bass forwarded the information to the Neighborhood Prosecutor and advised neighbors to file a complaint with Building & Safety if the Red Car Property owner fails to clean up the dumping and homeless issues.

The Red Car Property is private property and there is an active trespass order signed by the property owner on file at the Northeast LAPD desk. 

LAFD Brush Clearance Unit  

Related: Fire 2014
Brush Clearance  
2012, Why did the City do such a good job at brush clearance while the property was for sale?
Homeless

*UPDATE 5-25-15: The homeless couple that had taken up residence were last seen mid-week. Yesterday a contractor for the property owner removed the couches, debris and other dumping from under and around the tree, as well as the rest of the south end of the Red Car Property.  Per the contractor, will be returning this week to trim the tree and do brush clearance.  Within a few hours of the dumping being removed, someone dumped a door on the property 50' from the tree.  (We've seen this behavior before too.)