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Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, February 13, 2017. Someone cut down a large Peruvian Pepper Tree (Schinus molle) between 3 PM Sunday and 10 AM Monday. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 24, 2017. The pepper tree is the dark green tree on the left side of the above photo. It was a large and healthy looking tree. There is a difference between trimming a tree properly and destroying a tree. This incident doesn't even qualify as tree topping.
At least they didn't cut down the protected native Black Walnut trees (the trees with no leaves - they drop their leaves for winter).
The Red Car Property includes the slope up to the fence line on the Lake View side. The portion of the Red Car Property between Rose Scharlin Nursery School and the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase, abutting on Lake View Ave homes, does not have as egregious of encroachments as other sections of the Red Car Property.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 25, 2016. The Peruvian Pepper Tree looked to be about 30' tall in 2016. While it was not a protected native tree, it was a "significant tree," with a trunk diameter of at least 8".
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, February 13, 2017. The split in the trunk was below the cut, not above. So a cut was made and the weight of the tree (on the downslope side), split the tree and it went down. Look at the first photo again if there is any doubt about the cut.
Another neighbor commented, "What is with all the tree hate?!" Indeed, the Red Car Property is a lawless place.
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: Diane Edwardson June 6, 2016. The native trees (downslope from the dying Eucalyptus and the complete right side of frame) looked spectacular earlier in June. (Click on photos to enlarge)
The non-native invasive Castor Beans at the lowest point, at base of the slope were 4 to 6' tall. Brush clearance had not yet been done, nor had it been done by the date of the fire.
Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, June 19, 2016. Fire crews stayed on scene for about 24 hours to ensure hot hot spots didn't spark new fires. Hard to tell at this point, but most of the native trees were still green, just a little crispy around the edges. All the combined helicopter water drops and ground crews manning hoses not only saved homes, but may have helped save the trees in the long term.
Photo: Diane Edwardson June 20, 2016. One day after the fire, large protected native Coast Live Oak, halfway up the slope, was mostly green.
Photo: Gary Vlahakis, July 9, 2016. Three weeks later and even the native trees that did not burn in the fire, but fried in the extreme heat of the fire. Mature native trees can survive major wildland fires in Southern California, so we hope they'll recover from the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.
*Updated with a photo from August 2015.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 3, 2015. The dumping on the Red Car Property's Lot C, was just shoved over onto the slope - of which - the first 20-30 feet of downslope is Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
The past year has seen more people, public staircase guidebooks in hand, walking even this portion of the Red Car Property. The more people who use the property as a park, the more eyes on the property for safety. However, dumping makes people feel less safe. Dumping attracts other problems like more dumping, graffiti, rats, coyotes, more dumping, scavengers, crime, and more dumping. When the property is clean, we tend to see less dumping because it looks like someone gives a damn.
*Update additional photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015. I originally did not run this photo because I did not want to give the graffiti vandals publicity, but it does illustrate my previous point. The savaged windows, carts and generators have been here for years.
The family who owned them moved away. Since they moved, squatters took over the vacant lot next door where all the salvage is stored. No one seems to know if the family still owns the lot below the Red Car Property. The house was bought by flippers, and more junk keeps piling up in the adjacent lot as well as the Red Car Property. Everything in the above photo is on the Red Car Property.
If you see someone dumping - anywhere - snap a photo with your cell phone, get a license plate and vehicle/person description and call it in immediately to the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 30, 2014. A neighbor sent a photo of a new encroachment (chain link fence) by a Riverside Drive house on either the Red Car Property or DWP property. We're not sure where exactly the property lines are. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
We're tracking rainfall totals on Corralitas Drive:
December 30 - 31, 2014: 0.4"
Season to Date: 6.19"
Update 5:15 PM: That is not a random bus as an earlier version of this post stated. It's an illusion created by the panorama setting on an iPhone. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The photo was cropped from a wider photo.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 30, 2013. Thanks for doing the brush clearance well beyond your fence and onto the Red Car Property, but you need to be a good neighbor and paint out the graffiti too. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 2, 2010. Why not take 50' land from the Red Car Property? Everyone else is already encroaching. The property line is actually a few feet from the door and fence. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
