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?")

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: Clean Up Day Saturday, March 21, 2015

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase Clean Up

Saturday March 21, 2015

9-11 AM

Meet at the Red Car Property & Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase

Silver Lake Neighborhood Councilmember John Wingler adopted these stairs & will lead the clean up effort.  Wingler also helped lead the clean up effort on Riverside Drive a few weeks ago.  

Neighbors have long maintained parts of the public staircase.  Yet the section between Lake View & the Red Car Property is the most neglected.  (Clue: the City owns the 24' wide adjacent lot on the north side of the walkway/stair street, between this set of stairs and Lake View Ave.)

 

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, March 18, 2015.  As bad as the section between Lake View & the Red Car Property is, it has been much worse. Our neighborhood's most used public staircases are the most neglected.  So tear yourself away from your computer this weekend & get some functional exercise; pulling weeds & cleaning up graffiti.

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

SLNC History Collective: Feb 5th, Screening of "Los Angeles, The Early Days"

Photo: Security Pacific National Bank, circa 1930.  About 20 years ago, I encountered a guy on the Red Car Property trying to understand where this photo (without the street labels) was taken from.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Without the 2 Freeway, it's hard to understand where things are.  The Red Car Trolley tracks take a left just past the Holyland Exhibition, running north on what we refer to as the Corralitas Red Car Property.  The landscape was massively reshaped in 1960-62 when the 2 & 5 Freeways were built using countless tons of earth removed from the Red Car Property, among other local large lots.  Click here for a handy before/after 1905-2012 photo transition shot in the same location by Jonathan Vandiveer.

That guy wandering the Red Car Property with the photo almost 20 years ago was David Rapka, Echo Park resident & filmmaker.  The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) History Collective will screen his documentary, "Los Angeles, The Early Days."  The Red Car Property is featured in the film.

SLNC History Collective Meeting & Film Screening

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Meeting starts at 6:30 PM 

link to agenda

Screening: 6:50 PM

Silver Lake Public Library

2411 Glendale Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90039

Riverside Drive: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Wants To Clean It UpMeeting Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 1, 2014.  The intersection of Riverside & Fletcher is a major commuter corridor as well as a designated secondary & scenic highway in the Silver Lake - Echo Park - Elysian Valley Community Plan.  (Click on  photos to enlarge.)

Looking back through years of my archive photos, the businesses along Riverside Drive keep their sidewalks clean.  However, both gas stations tend to ignore their rear & side walls which frequently sport graffiti for months until neighbors complain enough to the owners to get it painted out.  The historic landmark Pacific Electric Red Car Viaduct Footings are not included in the clean-up plans as they are on private property.

Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's (SLNC) Green Committee will devote a good portion of Tuesday's meeting to discussion of the issue of cleaning up Riverside Drive between Fletcher & Allesandro Elementary School.  (At one meeting last year they actually discussed the possibility of putting luminarias on the viaduct footings.)  

We'd like to bring up a few questions & encourage neighbors to attend Tuesday's meeting, since so many of us drive through Riverside Drive just to get to our homes on a daily basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  One of the problems is there are so few homes along Riverside Drive that are owner occupied.  Most are rental homes.   Many Riverside Drive residents south of Gilroy, park on the Red Car Property rather than Riverside Drive to reach their homes.  Bordered on one side by the 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive is a very dark street at night, making it easy to dump bulky items.  Many residents, myself included, witnessed the City recycle & trash trucks speed through pick up so fast they spew the trash all over the street & sidewalk on a regular basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  Riverside Drive at Clearwater has a bunch of vacant lots (where the new owner illegally cut down native trees last summer).  

We should be asking, why the sudden interest in cleaning up this portion of Riverside Drive?  Gentrification in Elysian Valley is exploding with way out-of-scale development & real estate speculation along the LA River.  If speculators want Riverside Drive cleaned up - they should be paying for it.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 17, 2014.  Clearwater Street at Riverside Drive has long been a dumping ground.  

Perhaps we should be hitting up CalTrans to take responsibility for picking up the garbage & bulky items dumped on their side of the street on a regular basis. Team Mitch, from our City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's office, has been cleaning up the area for about a year.  No sooner than it's cleaned up, another load of dumping appears.

Yes, Riverside Drive should be cleaned up.  The SLNC wants to raise money from residents & businesses to pay someone to clean it up on a bimonthly schedule.  However, you should question how the funds will be collected from residents & business owners.  Who will  keep the payment records?  How can the public access those records?   

Attend the SLNC Green Committee Meeting

Tuesday January 20, 2014

7-9 PM

Citibank Community Room

2450 Glendale Blvd

Los Angeles, CA  90039

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

Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Elections: VOTE This Saturday, April 12, 2014

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 15, 2013.  Riverside & Fletcher is an overlooked & frequently overwhelmed commuter corridor through Silver Lake. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The entire Silver Lake Neighborhood Council is up for an election this Saturday.  Learn more about the candidates (including several from the Red Car Property Neighborhood) on the Empower LA website.

VOTE:

Saturday April 12, 2014

10 AM - 4 PM

Micheltorena Elementary School

1511 Micheltorena St

Los Angeles, CA 90026

 

More info on if you're an "eligible stakeholder", parking, curbside voting for the disabled, etc: http://silverlakenc.org/2014/04/04/vote-on-april-12/

Silver Lake: How Do You Hold A Silver Lake City Council Candidate Forum & NOT Ask A Single Question About The Reservoir?



Photo: Shawnda Thomas Faveau, March 2, 2008.  Silver Lake Reservoir.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council held a CD13 City Council Candidate Forum last night.  It was the first time all 12 candidates showed up.  However the format precluded fair & open participation by the audience (in which campaign staff and supporters seemed to outnumber actual audience members).   

 

Audience members were asked to submit questions written on forms at the door.  The moderator edited and chose which questions to ask - which seemed to mostly be about neighborhood councils rather than actual issues pressing in Silver Lake.

 

Although the moderator admitted several questions about the Silver Lake Reservoir were submitted, he chose not to read any.  I submitted a very good question about Small Lot Subdivision.  It too was ignored. 

 

As expected, there was no in-depth discussion about any of the big development issues pending in Silver Lake (300 units coming to Sunset Junction, around 100 units in different projects at the 2 Freeway Terminus), or Elysian Park (888 units proposed at Barlow Hospital.)

 

Most of the candidates who haven't spent as much time in the district as others seemed to embrace the murals throughout the community and all eat at the same restaurants. 

 

The election is March 5.  Early voting starts next week. 

 

Keep up with all the latest on The Eastsider's LA City Voter Guide

 

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Community Residents' Association for Parks cannot endorse a candidate. 

 



Menlo Property On Neighborhood Council Agenda: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 5, 2009. There's only one storm drain inlet in Riverside Drive between Glendale Blvd and Fletcher, and that storm drain inlet is at Fletcher. So water sits at the low point on Riverside Drive at the driveway for the Sam Menlo-owned River Glen Apartments. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee (UD&PAC) will consider an application for 120 condos on the Menlo Property. Representatives of Menlo and his Century Quality Management will be present. Menlo is a convicted slumlord with a long history of neglect of the vacant land on Riverside Drive, known as the Menlo Property.

SLNC UD&PAC Meeting
Tues., June 9, 2009
6:30 PM
2898 Rowena Ave., #101
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Click here for agenda

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 12, 2008. Since the entire hillside behind the Menlo-owned River Glen Apts. drains into the street, there's always water on Riverside Drive, rain or shine. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

120 Units Proposed for Menlo Property, But The Wall Will Not Come Down

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 1, 2007. The Menlo Property, Riverside Drive north of Fletcher. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Sam Menlo, convicted slumlord, submitted an application to build 120 condo units on his Riverside Drive property north of Fletcher. It's being handled by City Planning's Expedited Case Unit. Representatives of Menlo's Century Quality Management will present plans to Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee (SLNC UD&PAC) at their next meeting:

Tuesday April 7, 2009
6:30PM
SLNC Office
2898 Rowena Ave. #101
Los Angeles, 90039

Remarkably, Menlo has no intention of removing the giant retaining wall towering above pedestrians on Riverside Drive. Instead, the wall will remain as is, along with the compacted slope behind it as "open space."
Photo: Maryann Kuk, April 25, 2000. Menlo Property on Riverside Drive north of Fletcher, note the steel rebar sticking out of the ground on the far end of the half-finished retaining wall. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Since the mid-1980's, what's become known as the Menlo Property on Riverside Drive north of Fletcher has been controversial. The history is almost as long as the Red Car Property's (south of Fletcher). Over the next week, we'll look at the highlights of the past 20+ years.

According to the City's Department of Building & Safety files on the property, in 1987, Hartwood Development Inc. secured grading and building permits to build 288 apartment units in three buildings on Riverside Drive between Fletcher and Glendale Blvd. Construction began on the River Glen Apartments closer to Glendale Blvd soon thereafter.

The second phase was closer to Fletcher, and was to include a 900-foot long, approximately 30-foot high retaining wall, built right up against the sidewalk. Atop the retaining wall would sit a 35-foot high apartment building. Letters from neighbors and Silver Lake Residents Association meeting notes describe the proposed wall and structure as prison-like.

Work soon began on the wall which remained half finished for more than a decade. A Building & Safety report dated July 20, 2000, talks about exposed rebar, mountains of plastic-covered uncompacted fill dirt and an unsecured site remaining unchanged from a report dated February 21, 1991.

Menlo acquired the property in 1992. Throughout the 1990's, Menlo kept saying he would build the approved plan, even though the approvals had expired. For years, Menlo ignored the Orders to Comply issued by Building & Safety to restore the slope to its original condition.

Coming tomorrow: graffiti-covered black plastic slopes and neighborhood activism.
See also: Legacy of Failed Development