Red Car Property Lot C: More Uncovered Truckloads Of Dirt, Bulldozer Delivery

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  At 7 AM yesterday, more uncovered truckloads of dirt began arriving for the Riverside Drive construction site, using the Red Car Property north of India Street.  

The motorhome, parked on the Red Car Property with someone living in it, has become a permanent feature of the site since October.

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right of way.  Silver Lake Court is west of the Red Car Property.  This is Lot C north of India Street.  

More than a year ago the architect for the adjacent Riverside Drive 13-unit development told me they would not be using the Red Car Property for deliveries, hauling nor storage of vehicles or equipment or for access to their site. 

They fail to make any attempt to control fugitive dust while driving on the Red Car Property.  That shouldn't be surprising since they also make no attempt at covering the dirt in the truck beds as required by state and city codes.  No haul route was established for the site. The route to this part of the Red Car Property involves hairpin turns on Substandard Hillside Streets that go past the driveways for Allesandro Elementary School. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  A mini bulldozer arrived early Friday morning too.

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 Drive: Hillside Parking

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, September 13, 2017.  Ever notice cars parked this way never seem to get ticketed nor crashed into by large trucks?  Be a good neighbor and park courteously. 

You can report parking violations to the City Dept of Transportation (LA DOT): 818-374-4823.

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: Not A Park, It Just Looks Like One

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 5, 2017.  Bounce house, parents, kids, cars, and amplified music between Lake View Ave and Riverside Place north of Rose Scharlin.  No brush clearance, but the protected native Black Walnut Trees are looking good.  The non-native invasive arundo is looking overgrown.

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-23-17 and backdated to the date the photo was shot and published on Twitter. 

Red Car Canyon: Neighbors Call Police On Suspicious Jaguar Convertible

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, August 1, 2017.  Neighbors called police upon finding an abandoned green Jaguar convertible.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Longtime neighbors recognize the signs of a suspected stolen car: serious front end damage, punched trunk lock (see last  photo), flat tire, car abandoned in a totally inappropriate place for cars to drive on the property.  However, according to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, as of 8:30 AM the car was not reported stolen.  

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, August 1, 2017.  Apparently the car was stuck on one of the many cut up logs surrounding the Charles Lacey Memorial.  On more than one occasion, Red Car Property neighbors reported an  abandoned car prior to the car owner learning his car was stolen.  Neighbors saw the driver of the Jaguar attempting to extricate the car from its sticky predicament around 6:30 PM last night.

In 2016, the Silver Lake Fire burned right up to homes in this canyon before a massive effort by LAFD and partner agencies stopped it. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, #3, August 1, 2017.  Neighbors are particularly nervous about vehicles driving on the Red Car Property since the dry brush has not yet been cleared from the property.  A hot engine parked on dry grass or a rock hitting metal under a car driving on the property can spark a fire. 

We have long advocated for installation of heavy steel gates (similar to gates at the entrance to every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Parks) blocking all vehicle access except for emergency vehicles.  LAFD has requirements for "security gates" posted on their website.

Link to video of Jaguar showing the extent of the dry brush in this location.

Click here for all our suspected stolen cars posts.

Corralitas Red Car Property: Still Needs Brush Clearance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 6, 2017.  Neighbors are downright angry that the Red Car Property owner still has not done brush clearance.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Little has changed since May except a few more neighbors cleared brush back from their property lines on the Red Car Property out of self preservation.  In many places the dry grass has been mashed down by people driving cars and trucks across it.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 6, 2017.  The Red Car Property includes the slope up to the telephone poles that run across the middle of the slope.  Protected native Black Walnut Trees are recovering from the 2016 fire.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor July 6, 2017.  The large protected native Coast Live Oak is still showing dry branches and leaves toasted by the fire.  However, there is a lot of new growth on the tree.  Looks like LAFD brush clearance contractors and adjacent property owners went a bit overboard cutting down Black Walnuts on the Red Car Property.  

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 6, 2017.  Some Lake View Ave property owners did their brush clearance last week.  Looks like their trucks mashed down the dry grass or they cleared some of it so they wouldn't inadvertently spark a fire with their trucks on the flat part of the Red Car Property. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 6, 2017.  Nothing has changed on the Corralitas side. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 12, 2017.  Lest you think things are different today, reports from neighbors along the entire property, as well as photos from above, confirm they still haven't done brush clearance on the Red Car Property.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 6, 2017.  Corralitas Walk, a public walk street is sandwiched between the 2 Freeway (to the right of the chain link fence) and the Red Car Property (upslope from the sidewalk).  The upslope neighbor appears to have cleared some brush from the Red Car Property adjacent to their home.  However the brush still needs clearing here too.  The protected native Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oaks on the slope are recovering here too.

We've talked about the failure to do brush clearance on the Red Car Property for the past decade.  Nothing ever seems to change.

Click here for all our brush clearance posts.

Red Car Property: Owner's No Trespassing Signs Not Deterring Squatters

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 11, 2017.  Neighbors are increasingly frustrated with the month-old campsite on the Red Car Property, near Rose Scharlin Nursery School.  The squatters go to great lengths to hide their camp with dry brush colored umbrella and dry bamboo screening.  They drive in and out of the property in a white 4-door car.  

Neighbors report cigarette butts strewn around perimeter of the camp as well.  With the rash of fires in Elysian Park in the past two weeks, is there any wonder why neighbors are nervous.  These squatters appear to be the same couple removed from the Red Car Property by the owner several years ago. They were also associated with an ongoing problem at, or around, the squatter camp in a house on Riverside Drive that backed into the Red Car Property.

The Red Car Property owner needs to take responsibility for this nuisance.  While there may be a trespass order on file with the LAPD, the property owner has to call the overworked LAPD while the squatters are present and wait for LAPD to arrive to remove them.  Or the property owner can take their own steps to remove the squatters, keeping in mind that could be a potentially dangerous thing to do without LAPD present.

Send your concerns questions and complaints regarding the Red Car Property to hector.vega@lacity.org.  Be sure to include your name, street address and phone number.  If you see fire or smoke rising from this site, or are physically threatened by these squatters, call 911 immediately and be prepared to give dispatch directions to the site from Riverside Drive to India Street (east of the Red Car Property) and south toward Rose Scharlin.

Corralitas Red Car Property: No Trespassing Signs Appear. How About Red Tags?

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017. No Trespassing signs appeared on the ground at the Corralitas end of the Red Car Property.  The signs neighbors wanted to see for the past 2 months are LAFD Red Tag notices for brush clearance.  The Red Car Property extends up to the telephone poles, running across the slope.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  This sign will not stop anyone.  

We've highlighted brush clearance issues on the Red Car Property for the past decade.  Click here for all our brush clearance posts.

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 Lot C: Needs Brush Clearance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  Two months since the deadline for brush clearance passed (May 1, every year) and the Red Car Property (in this post, north of India Street) has yet to be cleared.  That huge dead Eucalyptus is in the 40' wide City street right-of-way for Silver Lake Court.  High voltage lines appear to go through the tree to the adjacent telephone pole.  The crumbling slope is Lot C of Red Car Property.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  Just north of India Street, the grass is taller and much more dense than a year ago.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor July 1, 2017.  Another dead Eucalyptus was trimmed back during brush clearance in December 2016, only after the Red Car Property was red tagged and cleared by a LAFD brush clearance contractor.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  The grass is so thick, you'd never know how crumbly the slope really is.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  The 4th of July is 2 days away, but cigarettes can be tossed any day of the year. 

Send your concerns about brush clearance on 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: 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: Brush Comparison 2017-2016

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 30, 2017.  Dry weeds are taller and more dense than they were just a year ago.  Although the trees are recovering from the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.  Note the dry brush on the slope.  Neighbors are asking, once again, "How do the large lot owners get away without doing brush clearance by May 1, EVERY YEAR?" (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 17, 2016.  A month before the June 19, 2016 fire, the dry weeds on the flatter part were sparse and the dry brush on the slope was mashed down and not as thick as normal years due to the lack of rain.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 20, 2016.  The day after the Silver Lake Fire, the trees didn't look so bad. Lots of water poured on the fire from the air and by hose washed much of the charred debris from the slopes. The following weeks would not be good.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 12, 2016.  Four months later, neighbors questioned if the trees would recover.  The protected native Black Walnut and Coast Live Oak Trees, in particular, had shown signs of recovery, but with a desolate post-fire landscape, if you didn't look closely while walking the property, you did not see the new growth.  It doesn't help that the Black Walnuts and Chinese Elms drop their leaves for winter, so the growing season was all screwed up for these poor trees. 

After the fire, CalTrans clear-cut so many trees adjacent the Red Car Property and Corralitas Drive, there was a dramatic temperature shift in the immediate neighborhood with the loss of so much morning shade. The street is hotter, sunnier and dustier.  It did not rain significantly until shortly after LAFD contractors did brush clearance in December.

Corralitas Red Car Property: Lawless Place

Video: Corralitas Neighbor, May 23, 2017.  Suspecting potential illegal dumping of an uncovered load of dirt, a neighbor followed a large dump truck from Rosebud to the Corralitas Red Car Property.  When the driver saw the neighbor filming him, he turned around and sped off.

Corralitas Neighbor's video shows so much in about a minute's time, I'm just going to make a list...

1. Brush clearance hasn't happened yet.  The deadline was May 1, every year.  
2. Nothing restricts vehicle traffic from driving onto the Red Car Property, further increasing the risk of fire.
3. Dry weeds are taller and more dense than a year ago.
4.  The Red Car Property includes the slope up to the power lines. 
5. One homeowner appears to have cleared brush downslope, well beyond their property line.  After last year's Silver Lake Fire, who could blame them?
6. Primarily, protected native trees on the slope (in the first half of the video) are recovering from the Silver Lake Fire.  (The trees did not burn in the fire, but were "cooked.")
7. Some homeowners on Lake View Ave have not done brush clearance on their own property. 
8.  CalTrans cut down a lot of trees, including some that kept cars from flying off the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway.  The wall of green will not return in our lifetimes.
9. CalTrans repaired the 50' long guard rail after a car did fly off the 2 Freeway and landed on Corralitas Drive.  However, CalTrans failed to place K-rails or other such safety barriers along the unprotected downslope parkway between the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway and Corralitas Drive, a residential street.
10. For erosion control, CalTrans planted some shrubbery after they clear-cut the 2 Freeway slope
11. This portion of Corralitas Drive no longer has shade, sound or air pollution protection the wall of trees afforded. 
12. Corralitas Drive is not a City Standard Street.  
13. City and CalTrans truck drivers ignore the "No Parking Anytime" signs, napping and lunching under the 2 Freeway on Rosebud Ave, as they always have.
14.  The homeless guy still has a camp on Rosebud near the corner of Corralitas.
15.  Corralitas neighbors are so fed up with dumping, they are willing to follow potential dumpers to bust them.
16. While the dump truck was equipped properly, they failed to cover the open load of dirt as required by City and State rules.

Red Car Property: Dumping, Weeds at India Street Entrance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 28, 2017. The Red Car Property remains a lawless place.  The brush is dry and the dumping fresh at India Street.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor April 28, 2017.  Chairs and other debris are among the dumping.  If it is a resident, let's hope they requested a bulky item pick-up via the City's MyLA311, or it may take a while to get picked up.

On a positive note, the large opuntia cactus (on the slope) has recovered from 5 years of unprecedented drought. The mature cactus is good defensive landscaping for its drought tolerance, fire resistance and crime deterrence.   Plant it near windows and along fence lines.  

Deadline for brush clearance is May 1, every year.  That slope is on Red Car Property, Lot C at India Street.
 

Red Car Property: Drywall Pile On Lot C Now Protected By Riverside Drive Developer's Fence

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 21, 2017.  If you're going to fence in property that isn't yours and put in plumbing, then pick up the pile of drywall, first dumped in January 2016.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

In January this year, the drywall pile was still outside the construction fence for the Riverside Drive development that was put up on the Red Car Property last fall.

At least those 3 trees are still alive.  Wonder how many more native trees they cut down.
 

Red Car Property: Lot C Neighbors Tired Of Dumping

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 17, 2017.  A new sign showed up on a fence on Lot C of the Red Car Property, north of India Street before the construction fence.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 17, 2017.  "No Dumping, Trash, This is NOT Your House!!!!!"  Of course the  "fence" is about 20 - 30 feet over the property line on the Red Car Property's Lot C.  

Homes on this downslope side of the Red Car Property front on Riverside Drive.

Red Car Canyon: Neighbors Suspect 2 Stolen Cars Abandoned

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, March 2, 2017.  Yesterday, a longtime Red Car Property neighbor, who walks the property regularly, sent a photo of 2 cars that appeared to be stolen, abandoned on the Red Car Property.  If you look closely at the first photo, you can see the second car further back.  We have not been able to confirm if indeed these cars were stolen, but the story only gets stranger.

In the predawn hours, Thursday, another neighbor walking his dog, offered to call the police for a man without pants who was standing outside one of the cars.  The man declined.  As soon as I learned of the incident, word was sent to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis, CD13 and adjacent neighbors, including Rose Scharlin Co-op Nursery School. 

Longtime neighbors know the signs of abandoned stolen cars.  While the canyon is not a common place to dump stolen cars, it has happened in the past.  Often, neighbors have reported stolen cars abandoned on the Red Car Property, or on Rosebud under the 2 Freeway, hours or even days before the car owners reported their cars stolen.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, March 2, 2017.  Midday Thursday, LAPD came out to check on the car. They told a neighbor it was just stuck in the mud.  There appears to be considerable damage to the right rear bumper.

A third neighbor reported the car was pulled out of the mud by a white truck late Thursday afternoon.  The person who appeared to be with the Prius, was not wearing shoes.

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right of way.  It is private property.  In the early 1990s, there were heavy steel fire road gates that blocked traffic from portions of the property.  

We have long advocated for installation of gates similar to those on every fire road in Griffith and Elysian Parks to prevent all but police/fire/ambulance emergency access.  Fire road gates would enable pedestrians and non-motorized access to the property, while preventing people from driving cars from driving and dumping, joyriding or gathering for parties, which have been persistent problems.  Pedestrians help keep many bad uses out by their daily presence.  

In the past, the property owner threatened to fence off the entire site with chain link, but that would only keep the law-abiding neighbors off the property.  Fencing the entire property only creates a safe haven for bad uses.  Homeless and people looking to commit crimes, use drugs or party would then have free use of the property without the watchful eyes of pedestrians and families who use the property in a positive way.  

The Red Car Property is a lawless place.

Click here for all our stolen car posts.

Red Car Property: How Long Will It Take To Get This Tree Hauled Away?

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, February 18, 2017.  Last week, someone cut down a large Peruvian Pepper Tree on the Lake View Ave side of the Red Car Property.  It has partially blocked the roadway since then.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property is a lawless place when it comes to people cutting down trees and leaving them to become fire hazards.  Nor do they seem to care they've created a fire hazard once the trees dry out. 

The same portion of the Red Car Property seems to attract dead Christmas Trees.

Let the countdown clock start on this one. RIP Peruvian Pepper Tree, February 13, 2017.