Corralitas Drive: Sad

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 

Red Car Property At India Street: Oh Sure, That'll Work

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  A neighbor found a No Trespassing sign on the ground at India Street on the Red Car Property.  Looks like the Red Car Property owner is enabling neighbors to call the LAPD to enforce the trespass order on the homeless camp south of India Street near Rose Scharlin Nursery School. 

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: Why We Bitch About Brush Clearance - Failure To Restrict Vehicle Access

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor,May 31, 2017.  A year after the Silver Lake Fire, and the Red Car Property owner has not only failed to do brush clearance by May 1, they continue allowing vehicle access  to the the Red Car Property, including the steep, narrow Red Car Canyon between Corralitas Drive, Lake View Ave and Riverside Place.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Additionally, a number property owners on Lake View Ave and Silver Ridge Ave have failed to do brush clearance.  You can't control your neighbors.  You can report brush clearance issues to LAFD Brush Unit:
LAFDBrush@lacity.org, 800-994-4444.  If you're reporting issues on the Red Car Property, include: Hector.Vega@lacity.org in CD13.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 4, 2017.  Dirt bike motorcyclists were reportedly riding back and forth on the Red Car Property last Sunday.  (Neighbors called police.)

Since the dry weeds are taller and more dense than last year, neighbors are understandably concerned.  Increasingly, neighbors have reported cars and construction trucks driving onto the property since construction began on the Riverside Drive Lots off Lot C - nowhere near Corralitas Drive.
 

Red Car Property: Dawn At India Street

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, January 9, 2016.  Still looking for motivation to get up early and walk or run before work?  Sunrise from the Red Car Property is pretty spectacular.

Red Car Creek: Flowing From The Red Car Property To Riverside Drive

Photos: Jonathan Vandiveer, January 5, 2016, all before 10:15 AM.  Red Car Creek flowed north from runoff of the hills above (Lake View and Silver Ridge) toward India Street.  "The heavy rain had stopped about 15 minutes before I took these pictures, just some light rain at the moment," Vandiveer wrote in an email.  "Not as dramatic as it could have been."

If you think there is not a lot of water in the next few photos, skip down to the last one -  Riverside Drive at Allesandro Elementary School.

From the Red Car Property, the stormwater flows from the Red Car Property onto India Street.

India Street is lucky to have sidewalks on both sides of the street, as it is much steeper than it photographs.  India Street is only a block long, east of the Red Car Property, where it ends at Riverside Terrace.  There are no storm drains on India or Riverside Terrace.

From Glen Eden the stormwater continues downhill taking a quick left from Riverside Terrace onto Glen Eden.  Glen Eden is a very steep street that is the only way to reach not only a large number of homes in the neighborhood, it is also the only way to drive into both parking lots at Allesandro Elementary School.

Every time it rains, water and mud collect at Riverside Drive and Glen Eden.  The storm drains are not well placed for moving the water off the street.  The mud usually doesn't get cleaned up quickly either, creating a dangerous situation when cars try to drive up hill even once the rain stops.  

If you see blocked stormdrains, call 311.  According to the mayor, in a press conference today, they will be answering 24/7 this week, for storm drain emergencies, if you listen to the prompts.  You can also try this link on the City's website.

It's going to be a long El Niño year.  Send us your rain related photos from the Red Car Property neighborhood: redcarproperty@gmail.com
 

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 Property: Joyriders Kicking Up Dust

Photos: Diane Edwardson, December 7, 2015, 3:31 PM.  I heard the sound of a car speeding down the Red Car Property behind me.  Unfortunately, I did not get good photos but they do illustrate the dust that was kicked up.  This is another reason why the property needs to be gated to vehicle traffic.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Considering I'd just passed an elderly woman walking with her nurse and a man walking his dog, I immediately, pulled my camera from my pocket and just shot photos - not waiting to see if they were in focus.  The light was bad and the dust would throw the focus off once it got close.

The bright blue Mustang type car was shiny and in new condition, with what appeared to be 3 people inside, as it fishtailed past the elderly woman and her nurse.  I stood in the middle of the path to the wooded canyon area shooting photos.  They slowed down and turned around behind Rose Scharlin Nursery School, but choking dust was everywhere.

The blue car sped back toward India Street.  I go no better photos with my phone.

Switching back to my camera, I could at least see the dust the speeding car kicked up.

I could also see the elderly woman holding her sweater over her mouth and nose to keep the dust out.  That's not haze.  That's the 20' cloud of fine dust the car kicked up.  It was a crystal clear, but dark afternoon on the Red Car Property.  The sun had already moved beyond the top of Silver Ridge.

This is not the first time this year we've see people joyriding on the Red Car Property, putting people and animals at risk, in addition to creating a health risk with the dust.  It is yet another reason why the property should have heavy steel parking gates similar to the gates on every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Park to prevent all but emergency vehicles on the property. 

Corralitas Red Car Property: Watch Your Step! Broken Glass, Toxic Material & A Dishwasher

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 4, 2015.  Saturday morning, a small, but no less dangerous pile of broken glass, mirrors and plastic, dismantled fans, cellphone cases, bottle caps, mini blinds, earbuds, hose parts, a bathtub faucet and assorted trash appeared on the meadow of the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 4, 2015.  The waste is considered toxic: at least one broken fluorescent tube (pictured here) and a large brick sized battery was among the debris.

We've seen this type of broken glass dumping a few times before. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 3, 2015.  The dishwasher was dumped under the same tree where 2 dishwashers were dumped in August.  This tree seems to be a favorite dumping ground for someone who strips large appliances and home electronics then dumps the carcasses by driving several hundred feet up onto the Red Car Property to leave them where they often sit for months or years.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 3, 2015.  The pile of debris was dumped almost purposely, close enough to the trail where unsuspecting kids and dogs are likely to step on the sharp glass, particularly once the grass grows up around it.

This is vandalism plain and simple. 

You can't use the excuse, it's toxic waste, you didn't want to put it in the trashcan, if you're just going to dump it on the ground.  

The City's toxic & e-waste collection center is about a mile up the 5 Freeway from here, open 9AM-3PM, Saturday and Sunday.  If you're already stripping the wiring out of the electronics, dump your broken glass in a trash can and bring the toxic crap to the City's S.A.F.E. Drop Off Center.  It's free and they even take it out of your car for you.  

But if their intent is to vandalize the Red Car Property, the only thing that will stop people from driving onto the property to dump large items, are serious heavy duty fire gates like the City has on the fire roads of Griffith Park and Elysian Park and some minor landscaping improvements.  Emergency services have a master key to those gates. 

The City will not pick up the dumping from the Red Car Property.  It is private property.  If you see someone dumping, take photos, get a license plate, description, and call 1877-ASK-LAPD and report it immediately.  If you've taken a photo - it also records the time and date.  

Click here for all our dumping related posts.
 

Red Car Property: Abandoned Mercedes SUV Removed After Three Months

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 21, 2015.  The totaled Mercedes SUV abandoned on the Red Car Property on Memorial Day Weekend, was finally removed late this week.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015.  The SUV was parked in the area south of India St, on the Red Car Property, where Rose Scharlin Nursery School is allowed to park 4 cars.  When the crashed SUV first appeared, before putting it on the blog, we sent photos and information to Rose Scharlin and to the property owner's rep.  Neither claimed any knowledge of the SUV's owner.  We repeatedly asked the Red Car Property owner's rep to have the car removed as it was only attracting more problems to the area.  LA City Dept of Building & Safety issued an order to comply to remove the abandoned SUV earlier this month.

Without adequate parking gates to keep vehicles off the property, this type of problem will persist. 

Lot C: Abandoned Mercedes SUV Still There

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 16, 2015.  Silver Mercedes SUV license plate: 6AON271 has not moved since it showed up on the Red Car Property just south of India Street,  May 23, 2015.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

If this is your car, which is registered to an address in San Rafael, please come pick it up immediately.  

We notified the property owner's rep on May 23 and frequently since then.  He wonders why people dump their trash on the Red Car Property.  Perhaps the property owner should take measures to tow the illegally parked cars away, block the property at India and Corralitas to vehicle traffic with a LAFD approved gate and do the brush clearance by May 1, every year.

Lot C: Is Not A Place To Abandon Your Crashed Cars

 Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 23, 2015.  Saturday morning a Mercedes SUV, license plate 6AON271, showed up on the Red Car Property just south of India Street.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The SUV appears to have been in a very bad accident.  Both airbags were deployed, there was windshield damaged, massive front end damage and as of Tuesday, it was still leaking oil onto the Red Car Property.  It appears to have been towed there, but who knows?  Someone discarded their cigarettes in the oil puddle.  Perhaps they were hoping to start a fire.  

Photos and details were sent to the Red Car Property owner's rep, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, CD13 and Rose Scharlin Nursery School, since this is their unmarked parking area.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 26, 2015.  Tuesday morning, the Mercedes SUV was still parked in the same place as was the Nissan Frontier Truck which may have been there since Friday.  

Perhaps it's time to install proper fire gates on the property.  Note: the No Parking sign on the gate still has not been replaced since we pointed it out to the property owner's rep, over a month ago.

Red Car Property: Don't Dump Your Auto Parts Here!

*Update at end of post

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 26, 2015.  A black bumper was abandoned on the Red Car Property midway between India and Rose Scharlin Nursery School.  It appears to have been in the middle of the dirt roadway as there were several small pieces in the middle of the property, and and the bulk of the bumper later tossed over to the side, below a large protected California Black Walnut Tree.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The guy contracted to pick up dumping on the property saw this bumper while I was out there.  He said he would pick it up. 

Although, it's not nearly as bad as 2013.

Worth noting, it appears some joyriding happened on the property Monday or Monday night as there were the signs of donuts in the dirt behind Rose Scharlin.  It's time to install proper fire gates at India and Corralitas.   

*Update 6-6-15: Bumper picked up. 

Red Car Property: Watch Your Step! Rusty Nails Dumped With Gravel

 Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 20, 2015.  Sometimes you just have to put your glasses on.  What I thought were sticks amongst the gravel, turned out to be a few dozen rusty nails.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 20, 2015.  A few weeks ago, someone dumped some gravel in the deep tire ruts on the Red Car Property just north of Rose Scharlin Nursery School.  Today I happened to notice there were a bunch of 3 - 6" rusty nails in it.  This is not certified fill.  

Regardless whether or not it was an intentional dumping of nails, it's just another reason the property should be blocked to vehicle traffic.  It's a pretty safe bet this gravel wasn't carried in.  It was driven here.

Hope you've had your tetanus shot before picking up the nails. 

Red Car Property: Saturday Joyriding *updated 3-29-15

Photo: March 28, 2015,  10:44 AM.  A man with at least 2 children in the backseat of a new Toyota truck (with dealer paper in the license plate frame) sped onto the Red Car Property at India, fishtailing as he turned south, kicking up clouds of dirt rising 20-30 feet high.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

I lost sight of him as he headed toward Rose Scharlin Nursery School & Red Car Canyon.  In the photo above, the truck is headed south after passing the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase. A few minutes later he sped north past India toward Adelbert & the historic landmark viaduct footings, again, kicking up big clouds of dirt the entire way up the property.  

A few minutes later, while chatting with a neighbor, I watched a second, black truck speed onto the property, even faster & more recklessly.  The black truck was also heading south toward Rose Scharlin & Red Car Canyon, kicking up even larger clouds of dirt.  Police were called. A few minutes later, the black truck left the Red Car Property at India, driving very slowly up from the south. 

Photo: March 28, 2015, 11 AM.    The white truck came down from the northern end of the property, also driving very slowly. 

This morning, like any Saturday (or Sunday), I ran into a number of people out walking, running & playing with their kids & walking their dogs on the Red Car Property.  Driving & pedestrian trail use do not go well together.  This morning, I was afraid at one point I was going to get hit by this white truck as it sped toward Red Car Canyon.

*UPDATE 3-29-15: This morning, I received an email alert from Elysian Valley Neighborhood Watch citing a similar incident on the LA River path late last night.  A Honda drove recklessly onto the 12' wide pedestrian/bike path Elysian Valley.  According to the email residents made calls to 911 as the Honda drive at high speeds north & south on the pedestrian/bike path.  It was pointed out there are certain "unchecked access points" to the River path that residents have highlighted public safety issues for years.

There are LAFD approved fire gates on every fire road in the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Park & Elysian Park.  Emergency crews & park rangers have master keys to those gates. There is no excuse for The LA River to be neglected in this way.  

Similarly, for the past 20 years, we requested of each subsequent Red Car Property owner to reinstall the fire gates that were on the Red Car Property at Corralitas, India & just above Gilroy.  They are a very heavy gauge steel that cannot be driven through by joyriders.  

Red Car Property: India Street Gate Crashing

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 7, 2015.  Guess reusing the ancient gate posts without checking to see if they were securely cemented into the ground was not necessarily a good idea.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The neighbor who shot the photo, discovered one side of the gate  crashed into by a vehicle yesterday.  The neighbor reports the gate had been wide open when prior to the crash.  There was also a vehicle's side view mirror on the ground.  The neighbor did not witness the incident.   The incident was reported to the Red Car Property owner's rep yesterday.

Red Car Canyon: Glass Tabletop Dumped

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2014.  What do they say about broken windows attracting more trouble?  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

A large, round, glass tabletop was dumped then shattered. It joined the pile of construction debris dumped in August.  A neighbor reports it was not there Friday when she walked her dog.  The same neighbor has been working on the pile of dumping, picking up what she can.   However, the Red Car Property owner's rep promised to take care of the original pile of dumping (along with others) months ago. 

We've seen piles of broken glass dumped in the vicinity before.

Recently, the Red Car Property owner resurrected a parking gate at India St to prevent dumping on the property.   We pointed out to the property owner's rep & CD13 that both India & Corralitas entrances to the property would need to be blocked to vehicle traffic to help prevent dumping by those driving onto the property. 

Click here for all our dumping related posts. 

Red Car Property: India Street, Blue Sky, Power Lines, Open Gate

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 21, 2014.  Fall landscape, looking east from the Red Car Property on India St.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: Property Owner Asserting Rights

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 28, 2014.  A new sign and a parking gate returned to the India Street entrance to the Red Car Property yesterday.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

For now it appears the gate is open, but it seems the Red Car Property owner means business this time around.  (According to the owner's rep, pedestrian access is still allowed.)  Earlier this month, vehicles were towed from Lot C, north of India St. 

Steel parking gates used to block all but pedestrian &  emergency vehicle access to the Red Car Property.  In the 1990s, they disappeared.

As a side note, Silver Lake Court is an unbuilt (City) paper street that does not actually intersect India St.  It intersects the public staircases of Roselin & Silver Lake Ave.  Silver Lake Court runs along the crest of the slope with the palm tree, behind the telephone poles; it dead ends out of frame to the right.