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 Neighborhood: Signs Of The Times

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 15, 2017.  Last week, LA City Fire Department began posting "No Smoking, No Discarding of Burning Objects" signs in the Hillside Area surrounding the Red Car Property and Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract (above photo at Allesandro and Rosebud - the sole vehicle entrance to the steep Semi Tropic hillside).

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 15, 2017.  The municipal code sections are referenced on the signs, here seen at the site of the 2016 Silver Lake Fire at the end of Corralitas Drive.  The LAFD has the authority to place these signs in Hillside Areas. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 15, 2017.  While brush may be cleared in many of the areas now, brush is often often dry for months before it is cleared.   Neighbors who've seen the same signs all over the Hollywood Hills for decades, noted their more recent proliferation in Beachwood Canyon and requested the signs for our neighborhood.  Several neighbors provided a list of suggested locations to the LAFD fire marshal overseeing the placement of the signs.

Photo: Jay Lieske, September 23, 2017.  Indeed, the fire marshal compared parts of our  neighborhood to neighborhoods in the Hollywood Hills.  We have many isolated areas like this one on Adelbert, right up against brush areas on narrow winding Hillside streets with no through traffic, in addition to public staircases and paper streets that are hidden and open to the Red Car Property.

Neighbors welcomed the signs as a reminder we live in a tinder dry hillside neighborhood.  Neighbors hope the signs get the attention of smokers who carelessly discard their cigarettes in dry brush areas.  At least one neighbor documented discarded cigarettes in parts of the neighborhood in the request for signs.  Neighbors noted areas where partying, homeless camps and squatter houses have attracted problems.  

I've asked for these signs for 25 years.  I'm grateful to the Red Car Property Neighbor who was able to devote time and energy into spearheading this project to making it a reality. 

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.

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Dead Trees, Brush Clearance

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, June 13, 2017.  Dry grass on the odd slope on Allesandro St at Rosebud Ave which is actually Sunflower Ave, but the maps are out of sync with the street signs.  (click on photos to enlarge.)

The odd slope is within the CalTrans easement, but like everything surrounding the 2 Freeway, no one takes responsibility for it. More than once in 27 years,  I've seen a CalTrans crew spray the weeds with poison.

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, June 13, 2017.  Enlarged from previous photo.  Dead Eucalyptus are in the Modjeska Street right-of-way, a paper street, on an  extremely steep slope in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  Looks like the Modjeska slope is in need of brush clearance too.  The City will never build  40' wide Modjeska Street right-of-way, as it is steeper than a 30% grade.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 22, 2016.  A year ago, the dead non-native Eucalyptus in the Modjeska paper street, were clearly evident as viewed from Corralitas Drive.  Eucalyptus trees all over the area have been dying suddenly for the past 4 years.  The Modjeska trees have been dead for more than a year.

Every year on and around the 4th of July, some idiots invariably shoot fireworks off over the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.

Red Car Creek: Rainfall Totals, Stormwater Trivia

*Photo you missed this year...

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 15, 2015.  Are you ready for El Niño rains?  Know where stormwater runs through your property, like this creek that flows down the Red Car Property to India Street from Lake View.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Little known fact: there's a old cistern, half on private Lake View Property, half on Silver Lake Court, an unbuilt City street right-of-way west of and adjacent to the Red Car Property.  

LAFD offers sandbags, and sand at specific fire stations. See the LAFD website for details.

Rainfall totals as collected in the Corralitas Drive rain gauge:

December 21 - 22, 2015: 0.25
Rain year to date: 1.07" 

*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.
 

Silver Lake Court: Dead Eucalyptus In Power Lines

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2015.  The most recent dead Eucalyptus above the Red Car Property, may either be on private property for an adjacent home or the paper street of Silver Lake Court.  Either way, it is up against the power lines and should be removed.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Click here for all our dead tree posts.

Corralitas Walk: Scenic, Yet Ominous Sky

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, October 25, 2015. Corralitas Walk is a 9'8" wide, public "walk street."  In other words, it's a City sidewalk with no street.  It was created as mitigation for the 2 Freeway taking the alternate vehicle access to Corralitas Drive from Allesandro Street. Corralitas Walk connects pedestrians and bicyclists Corralitas Drive to the corner of Lake View Ave and Allesandro Way. 
 

Red Car Property: Early Rain Gives Way To Excessive Heat Again This Week

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, September 29, 2015.  Get out and walk the Red Car Property before the sun gets high in the sky.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a public street.

Red Car Property: Not A Park, Nor Is It An Unpaved City Street

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, September 25, 2015.  The LA Times and some mapping services incorrectly identify much of the Red Car Property as Silver Lake Court.  They are wrong.  The Red Car Property is private property. Silver Lake Court is a an unbuilt paper that is west of and inaccessible from this part of the Red Car Property.   (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: No, You're Not Hallucinating From The Heat & Humidity

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 24, 2015.   Moai stand guard at the section of the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase between Riverside Place and the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

This segment of the public staircase is recognized by the City Dept of Transportation as a public staircase/walk street. 

Note: I always see people, guidebooks in hand, attempting public staircase hikes in the summer heat.  I've walked the steepest hills and public staircases of Silver Lake and Echo Park for 25 years.  If you are just a casual hiker, don't do this after 9 AM or before 7 PM in the summer heat.  Hiking stairs, even on cloudy days, increases your body heat unbelievably fast.  With the kind of humidity we're experiencing, sweat doesn't evaporate and you run the risk of heat stroke.  

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: According To Dept of Transportation Map, 2/3s Of It Doesn't Exist

*Updated

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July27, 2015.  Yesterday, while trying to report a red curb in need of repainting, we learned the LA Dept of Transportation online map shows the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase doesn't seem to exist between the paper street of Silver Lake Court and Silver Ridge.  In other words, one of the most well-used public staircases in the neighborhood doesn't link Lake View to Silver Ridge, the Red Car Property or Allesandro Elementary School. Yet there is  City street sign post on the south side of Lake View Ave and Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase marking the intersection.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015. Remnants of red paint are on the curb, looking down toward the Red Car Property from Lake View.

The public staircase (or walk street) appears on ZIMAS (the City's mapping & zoning information system) and the County Assessors' maps.  LAFD used to have the only reliable public staircase (and unbuilt paper street) map for emergency response.  (In the  early 2000s, during the last Silver Lake - Echo Park - Elysian Valley Community Plan Update, we gave the LAFD Hillside map to the Dept of City Planning, so  they could update and create a public staircase map.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015.  The Silver Lake Public Staircase intersects Lake View Ave and continues up to Silver Ridge Ave.  There is no parking anytime on the west side of Lake View Ave.

There is no excuse for the City not to coordinate all of their mapping systems.  This is 2015, not 1995. 

*Update 3:30 PM:  Word came from DOT via CD13 Silver Lake  Deputy Mary Rodriguez.  Submit requests like this using the nearest address, and describe the location.  Mind you, I tried that route several times yesterday, but the website refused to take my request.  Today the website accepted it.  If neighbors want to follow up on this red curb, use service request #44828.

Lot C: Mockingbird Is Way Too Bold

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 19, 2015.  As I passed the India Street entrance to the Red Car Property, I once again heard the nasty threatening sounds of mockingbirds divebombing a hawk in a tree on the slope above the Red Car Property (Silver Lake Court). (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Due to the extreme backlighting I really did not know what type of hawk it was until the mocking bird chased it from its perch.  Thus the hawk revealed its red tail feathers.  

It never ceases to amaze me how big mockingbirds can make themselves appear when they are taking on a hawk. 

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.

Silver Lake Court: Squirreling Native Black Walnuts Away For Another Day

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 23, 2014.  Caught in the act, a squirrel was sprinting across the expanse of Silver Lake Court (a paper street) near the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase, with a Black Walnut in its mouth.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: City Councilmember O'Farrell Reaffirms Park Vision

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 1, 2014.  This is not Silver Lake Courtt, it's the Red Car Property at India St: private property on which we've all been trespassing.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

In a recent letter to Red Car Property neighbors, City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell reaffirmed his support of Trust for Public Land acquiring the Red Car Property "to become permanent parkland and serve this community for future generations." 

In response to the Red Car Property owner's recent attempt to fence part of the property to prevent dumping, O'Farrell adds, "I want to be very clear, I am committed to working with the entire neighborhood on a permanent parking solution."

Read Councilmember O'Farrell's letter here.

Red Car Propery: Sunset Over "Lot C"

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, October 30, 2014.  (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. 

SR 2 Freeway: Why We Need Trees*

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 22, 2014.  Yesterday, bumper to bumper traffic on the southbound 2 Freeway started around 7 AM & lasted until about  noon.  Pictured here from Corralitas Drive, that's Corralitas Walk - a less than 10' wide public sidewalk adjacent to the freeway & the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

*The trees on the opposite side of the northbound lanes 2 Freeway, between Oak Glen & Rosebud, will be replaced with a sound wall.  CalTrans claims the wall will go at the top of the slope and minimize tree loss - but those trees are growing right at the top of the slope in a narrow parkway.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 22, 2014.  By 10 AM the 2 Freeway was still bumper to bumper with the added  joy of heavy diesel exhaust from the hoards of big-rig trucks.  The fumes were overwhelming as there was no wind.  Traffic continued this way until around noon.

Yesterday showed how much one or two incidents can screw up the entire area.  Before dawn, CalTrans called a Sig Alert for the molasses spill from a big rig, closing the southbound 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights for a while.   

Then there was a bomb scare (lasting until about noon) at Riverside & Fletcher that had people scrambling for alternate routes through Elysian Valley, Atwater & Silver Lake. 

It was a good day to stay home with the windows closed & the air purifier cranked up to high.

Click here for all our sound wall posts.
 

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.

Lot C: Dumpster Gone!

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 4, 2014.  We can only hope the trash chute is next.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)