Red Car Property, Lot C: Choking On Dirt From Riverside Drive Construction

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017.  Dump trucks hauled loads of dirt to and from the Riverside Drive construction site using the dirt roadway of Red Car Property north of India Street today.  The fugitive dust is out of control.  A neighbor reports at least six truck trips before 11 AM today.  They are not supposed to be using the Red Car Property for access, hauling or storing of equipment.  They've been doing all three.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017. They are not keeping the dirt roadway sufficiently dampened to control fugitive dust.  In fact, they are not wetting the dirt road at all. They are not covering the truck loads of dirt, nor did they give notice to neighbors for hauling activity.  All of these things are boilerplate requirements by Building & Safety under the Los Angeles Municipal Code.  But then so is having a phone number posted on the construction fence.  It's not posted up here where people live.

Photo: December 21, 2017.  The motorhome (on the other side of the dump truck) has been parked behind the locked fence across the Red Car Property since October.  

The developer has an agreement with the Red Car Property owner to fence off a portion of the Red Car Property during construction of Riverside Drive lots.  The Riverside Drive development supposedly does not include the Red Car Property.

Since the motorhome arrived in October, neighbors report increased vehicle traffic at all hours, to and from the construction site.  The guy who lives in the motorhome uses a car to drive to and from his motorhome, as do his friends.  

According to neighbors, since the motorhome arrived, there's also been an increase of suspicious activity and dumping, north from India Street, on the Red Car Property.  There are also people living in sheds on a historically problematic, Red Car Property adjacent, Riverside Drive property.  

Motorhome usually parked on Allesandro, now behind locked gate above Riverside Dr construction site on Red Car Property @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/HW9uMdLxiV

— Corralitas (@RedCarProperty) October 15, 2017

The Red Car Property is a lawless place.

Corralitas Red Car Property: 49 Unit Zone Change Applied For. Here We Go Again

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 11, 2016.  Thursday, The Eastsider broke the news, an application for a zone change and tract map to allow for 49 condo units on the south end of the Red Car Property was filed with City Planning.  The property includes considerable slope that burned in the Silver Lake Fire, June 19, 2016. (Yes, that Eucalyptus Tree burned and is now a fire hazard on the Red Car Property.) (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The City Planning process for a zone change is a public process allowing for public review of the file and a public hearing, where neighbors have the right and responsibility to voice their opinions. 

The current property owner bought the Red Car Property in 2001.  They never got to the public hearing stage with a 2003 development proposal for 75 homes.  In the 2003 proposal, the "open space lot" was an unusable slope that would have been behind a 25' tall retaining wall.

In 1995, the neighbors won against a similar zone change proposal, when the planning commission agreed with then CD13 City Councilmember Jackie Goldberg, who spoke on behalf of the community, and denied the zone change.

The development history of the Red Car Property is long and sad when it comes to missed opportunities for park acquisition.   The exclusive option the Trust for Public Land held for 2 years on the Red Car Property was not renewed earlier this year.  Despite promises of funding from City, County and State sources, it would not be enough to acquire the property.  Public funding options for areas like ours are tricky due to the recent run up in real estate prices.  

When you look at the history of the Red Car Property, know that history repeats itself and opportunities change. One thing that does not change is the resolve of this neighborhood to fight for open space and against dense development.  Don't ever underestimate Red Car Property Neighbors. 

Read more:
The Eastsider
Red Car Property Development History
Legacy of Failed Development
2012: Why is the City doing such a good job of brush clearance when the private property is for sale? 

Editor's note: I apologize for the late post regarding the zone change application.  It is not a crisis, nor is there an immediate deadline.  The Eastsider's news did make the rounds of neighborhood email lists.  For breaking news, follow us on Twitter: @RedCarProperty  

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, Riverside Drive: Black Walnuts Made A Brief Comeback

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 6, 2016.  The protected native Black Walnut Trees that were mostly chopped down a year earlier, had staged a comeback by summer 2016.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2015.  A year ago, after brush clearance on both the Red Car Property and the 13 Riverside Lots below, the future was not looking so good for the protected native Black Walnuts.  The trees suffered through years of drought, combined with overzealous or perhaps intentional butchering of the new growth around the old stumps of the Black Walnut Trees butchered in 2014.  And yet the Red Car Property owner could not bother to take down the dead Eucalyptus that had been alive in summer 2013.  The Eucalyptus, Coast Live Oak and everything upslope from the property line marker, is on the Red Car Property.

Riverside Drive: You Never Know What's Under There Until You Start Digging

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 1, 2016.  Wonder if they'll find the 8' diameter concrete conduit a former Riverside Drive resident used for target practice of military grade automatic weapons, as recently as the mid-1990s, before he got busted.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016.  Until a few weeks ago, the lots looked more like this.  The graffiti wall hiding behind the now since removed protected native California Black Walnut, but is visible behind the no parking sign in the first photo above. 

Riverside Drive: More Trees Cut Down Saturday

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, August 29, 2016.  Saturday, more large trees including at least one Protected Native Black Walnut Tree and a "significant" sized Eucalyptus were removed along with other trees from yet another lot on Riverside Drive.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

It's hard to tell the addresses when there are a total of 13 substandard vacant lots adjacent to the Red Car Property here. More than one Black Walnut Tree has been removed since August 15.   A "significant" tree has no protected status, but usually require replacement on a 1:1 basis with a tree that won't reach that size again in our lifetimes.  Yet, without a discretionary action by City Planning, there is no public review and no accountability.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, August 26, 2016.  Last Friday, the developer tore down the much beloved local landmark, the curvy stairs on Riverside Drive and cut into the hillside on a number of lots with a backhoe, despite only having grading permits in hand for 1 of the 13 vacant lots (and not the one with the curvy stairs.)

Also worth noting is the ancient concrete property line marker that marks the rear lot line adjacent to the Red Car Property.  (We'll address property line markers and brush clearance in upcoming posts.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016.  It's hard to tell, but the wall with graffiti on it, is hidden behind the Black Walnut Tree.  

Also worth noting are the low, green "bushes."  Those are not bushes, but protected native Black Walnut Trees that were cut down 2 years ago without permits. They have been regenerating as native trees in the right habitat will do.  We addressed this in the past as well as after the Silver Lake Fire and will address this again as we have extensive archives.

In my experience, if they're cutting down trees on a Saturday, they likely don't have a permits to remove the protected native trees.  This lot does not appear to have the same address as the lot which received a permit to remove one protected native Black Walnut Tree.

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

Rosebud Ave: Moved For Freeway Construction, 1961

Photo: Smith, 1961.  Prior to freeway construction, Rosebud Ave used to go straight across from Corralitas Drive, cross Allesandro and up the Semi Tropic Spiritualists Tract.  They created a dogleg (to ease the steep rise in Rosebud) from Allesandro to Rosebud and Sunflower on the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract side of the 2 Freeway. 

On the Corralitas side (this vantage point), Rosebud was moved a couple hundred feet south (to the right), where Rosebud presently crosses under the 2 Freeway, ending at the Corralitas Public Staircase.

It's difficult to match this shot today because of the trees on the 2 Freeway (foreground) and homes on Corralitas Drive. The 5 Freeway (on the left) is also under construction on the left side of this photo.  

Click here for all the 2 Freeway History related posts.

Corralitas Drive: Concrete Pylon Abandoned On Sidewalk By Developer

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 1, 2015.  For the better part of a month, an 8' long concrete pylon has blocked the sidewalk across from the construction site at 2612 - 2614 Corralitas Drive.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

Neighbors have asked the developer to remove the pylon which was dug out of the site weeks ago.  It's not like we can call the City for a pick up.  The homeowner where the pylon is abandoned is not at all pleased.  Construction workers have been parking their trucks on the sidewalk elsewhere adjacent to his property (in the red zone), breaking sprinkler heads, killing plants and damaging the sidewalk.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015.  The pylon makes it tricky to exit the passenger side of a car and makes it impossible to use the already narrow sidewalk when cars are parked there.  Considering how fast people drive the street, it is really important to have the sidewalk clear to walk after dark.

UPDATE 9-4-15: The pylon is now being stored on the developer's site. 
 

Corralitas Drive: Joys Of Hillside Living

Photo: Esteban Gonzalez, July 8, 2015.  This is why the Corralitas Neighborhood Watch tries warn neighbors via email to move their cars in advance of heavy equipment moving up & down the hill for construction sites.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Esteban Gonzalez, July 8, 2015.  It usually takes some work to get around the first curve on Corralitas - even when the cars are cleared from the area.  The developer has been giving us notice of deliveries & parking needs to keep a lane of traffic open at his site at the top of the public staircase.

Photo: Esteban Gonzalez, July 8, 2015.  
Today, there was a mix up on my end and I apologize for not getting word out sooner.  According to Gonzalez, the driver was a real pro and managed not to hit any fences on this corner on the way up the hill on Corralitas Drive.

Corralitas Public Staircase: Native Morning Glories & Stalled Development

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 23, 2015.  Native Morning Glories managed to survive the brush clearance and will bloom all summer long.  Maybe it's because nothing has happened on the construction site for the better part of the last 2 months.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Neighbors are hoping the half-framed retaining wall isn't turning into another chapter in the Legacy of Failed Development. 

2 & 5 Freeway Interchange: Big Parade LA Will Walk Around It Saturday

Photo: Smith, 1961. The scale of the 2 & 5 Freeway Interchange is deceptive when you're standing on Riverside Drive.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Big Parade LA starts the 2 day, 32 mile, 86 public staircase, epic urban hike, Downtown, Saturday May 2, 2015.  Echo Park Lake, Elysian Park, LA River, Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract and all the quirky routes in between are featured in Day 1.  The day is split into multiple trail loops.  Maps, timetables and everything you want to know: http://bigparadela.tumblr.com/

Photo: Smith, 1961.  When seen from the lot next to Paul Landacre's cabin in the Semi-Tropic Spiritualists' Tract, you get a better idea of the impact the freeways and their construction had on the neighborhoods of Elysian Valley, Echo Park and Silver Lake.  The freeways physically and psychologically divided the 3 communities.  This photo also shows the phenomenal volume of earth moved grading for the freeways. Prior to the freeways, there was a valley between Corralitas and the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract. 

Note the huge scarp on the slope  2/3s of the way up the hill on Corralitas where CalTrans cut into the hill moving Corralitas Drive making room for the 2 Freeway.   

We are proud to support Big Parade LA, as we have every year since the first Big Parade in 2009. Click here for all our Big Parade posts.
 

Corralitas Drive: We've Been Through Grading Hell Before

Photo: Kleven, 1960.  Corralitas Drive used to have a secondary outlet to the south on Allesandro Street between Whitmore and Walcott, past modest homes with grassy front yards, where children played beneath large shade trees.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Kleven, 1961.  Within a year, homes were removed (some were moved to other parts of the neighborhood),  trees cut down and the State moved countless thousands of cubic yards of earth from the Red Car Property and other area vacant hillside lots to grade for the 2 & 5 Freeways. 

We've looked at the  photographic history of 2 Freeway through our neighborhood primarily through unique images contributed by long time neighbors of the Red Car Property.  Click here for all our 2 Freeway History posts.
 

Corralitas Drive: Joys Of Hillside Living

Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 19, 2015.  Coping with Hillside Construction is particularly difficult in an established neighborhood for both the neighbors & the construction crew.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 19, 2015.  Frankly, when there is only one means of access for the entire hill, crews have to realize they have to work with the neighbors and give them advance notice when they're going to block the street most of the day & have heavy trucks going up & down the hill all day long - especially since there are 2 hairpin turns on the hill.  The lower one is a notorious one for parked cars to be hit & run by big trucks.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 19, 2015.  A neighbor at the top of the hill reported huge trucks were making 18-point turns in the (substandard) cul-de-sac all day long.  The smell of exhaust was heavy in the air when I took the dog for a late afternoon walk yesterday.

India Street Stop: June 19, 1955

Photo: Loren Ayers, June 19, 1955.  Red Car Trolley fans lined the tracks and climbed telephone poles, cameras in hand (like here, at the India Street Stop),  in an attempt to capture their memories on film of the "Big Red Cars" on their final day on the Glendale Line.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

It's difficult to replicate this shot today due to the enormous volume of earth removed from the Red Car Property for grading for the 2 & 5 Freeways. 

According to neighbors present at the time, the tracks were pulled up fairly quickly after the last train.  However,  the viaducts both at Fletcher & Riverside Drives and Riverside Drive & Glendale Blvd were not removed until 1959.  

Thanks again to Paul Ayers for sharing his late uncle's photos with us.

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: The Big Parade Will Walk Through Today

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2011. It doesn't look like this anymore. (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

The Big Parade will walk through what was once one of the most beautiful hillsides of Elysian Heights.  It's hard to believe it was only 2011 when it still lived up to its name, "Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract."  Now it's more like "Orange County Office Park."

The preeminent 20th Century wood-cut print artist, Paul Landacre was inspired by the beauty of the landscape of the hillside, creating art in his 40 years of living and working on his (now neglected historic cultural landmark cabin & grounds on the hill.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2013.  What was once 4 acres of mostly native trees below Landacre's modest home, a natural habitat for wildlife, is now a sterile, controversial, eyeball searingly bright white series of stucco boxes on an unnaturally graded slope.  

The developer did see the light of day when potential buyers said what do you mean there's an acre of open space that we pay to maintain above our house and we can't walk to it?  So as an afterthought, they built a publicly accessible staircase that is extremely steep out of railroad ties.

The Big Parade, the ultimate urban hike, will walk down the Artis quasi-public staircase today.  Follow their progress on Twitter.

Red Car Property: Not A Park, It Just Looks Like One

May 9, 2014.  Does mustard come with that model?  That's most likely non-native invasive Black Mustard, but a check of CalFlora turns up an array of wide variety of mustard species  growing in LA County.  

Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control on the issue of toxicity.  We often get email suggesting some plants are edible. If you are eating your way through the Red Car Property, we DO NOT recommend you eat any plant you find in the Red Car Property neighborhood without first doing your own research.

Lot C: "The Red Car Is A Lawless Place"

Photo: February 6, 2014.  A number of concerned neighbors are questioning whether this construction site (north of India St) even has active permits because the entire slope on which the staircase/trash chute is built on is well known  as the most unstable slope on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The slope from about level of the chain link fence down is a part of the Red Car Property, "Lot C."  A check of Building & Safety's website indicates no active permits for any of the adjacent properties.  It's hard to tell if it's for a house on Roselin or Adelbert. 

The Adelbert Landslide Zone runs through this portion of the Red Car Property.

Lot C is well known for its anything goes lifestyle.  Red Car Property owners have never shown much interest in cleaning up the ongoing problems or broken windows here.

One of the neighbors who passed the site this morning commented, "The Red Car [Property] is a Lawless Place."

Elysian Park: Barlow Hospital Applies For Grading Permits Without An Approved Project

SaveElysianPark.org

Barlow Hospital appears to be piecemealing a project by applying for grading and retaining wall permits prior to any approval of a project for the Elysian Park property.  Read more and join the fight.  Save Elysian Park is organizing now.