LAFD Declares Red Flag Parking Restrictions Will Be In Effect Again Thursday

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, December 5, 2017.  Tuesday, neighbors who parked on the Freeway side of Corralitas Drive, in defiance of the Red Flag Day No Parking signs, got $68 tickets.  The point of the freeway side of the street being clear on Corralitas, where vehicle  access is extremely limited, is to have consistent access for emergency vehicles while leaving the street open for neighbors to escape safely.

After first lifting Red Flag parking restrictions 8 AM today, LAFD has called a Red Flag Day for tomorrow, Thursday December 7, 2017, beginning at 8AM.  Text of the message sent:

DATE/TIME: 12/06/2017 / 03:11:53PM

SUBJECT: RED FLAG PARKING RESTRICTIONS IN EFFECT

The City of Los Angeles has declared that Red Flag No Parking Restrictions to be in effect starting 8:00 AM on 12/07/2017 and will remain in effect until further notice.

For additional information please visit our website at: http://notify.lafd.org/redflag OR call 3-1-1. Thank you for your cooperation.

Note: The Call Center's operating hours are from 08:00 AM to 4:45 PM daily including weekends and holidays.

Ref:notify.lafd.org-37005

Corralitas Drive: Construction Hours Until 9PM Monday Through Friday?!

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, November 21, 2017.  Construction notice is posted at 2608-2610 Corralitas Drive.  Two single family homes are approved for the site situated on a blind hairpin curve adjacent to the Corralitas Public Staircase.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Why does the City allow construction activity in a hillside neighborhood with substandard Hillside streets until 9PM?  

The likely answer is to allow extra time for DIY homeowners who don't have time during weekdays to work on their own homes.  But that is a completely different situation than new home construction or permit-triggering renovations.  

Most construction sites don't work past 6 PM on Corralitas Drive, but why is it even allowed?  Considering parking, limited access and heavy evening traffic on residential Hillside streets in any zone, this is absurd.  Multi-family zoned Hillside streets are even more congested and have bigger parking problems than R1 Hillside neighborhoods.  

If it falls within the Hillside Area, no matter the zone, construction should only be allowed until 6 or 7 PM, M-F.  It doesn't even benefit developers if they have to stop work, move trucks, fences and equipment every time people try to drive up the hill.  

Why is construction allowed on all national holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day?!  Neighbors of this site report the developer will be drilling holes with heavy equipment on Thanksgiving.  No grading, hauling, deliveries or heavy equipment use, associated with construction permits, should be allowed on residential Hillside streets on Saturdays or national holidays. This should include any site where vehicle access is via residential Hillside streets.

Corralitas Drive has suffered through construction of 11 lots in the past 27 years, this is now the 12th.  Yet another duplex has been proposed for another lot on the street.  The fastest site took 18 months to build by developers who knew what they were doing in Hillside.  The longest was 5 years.  Corralitas Drive is not a through street and does not have regulation sized cul-de-sacs.  Weekend construction with heavy equipment and deliveries is not worthwhile.

You can file complaints about violations like failure to adequately control fugitive dust, equipment stored in the street or on sidewalks, blocking the street and public staircases, dangerous conditions, damage to adjacent property on Building & Safety's (LADBS) website. 

Neighbors should save the phone number of Parking Enforcement (LADOT) to their phone: (818) 374-4823 

Rose Scharlin Nursery School: Hullabaloo Saturday October 28, 2017

Rose Scharlin Co-op Nursery School is a Red Car Property neighbor since 1946.  They're hosting their annual children's Halloween Party Saturday, October 28, 2017, 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM. 

According to the flyer and their outreach to the neighborhood, the school will secure a "no parking/loading zone" directly in front of the school for the day of the party.  There is NO PARKING on the Red Car Property.  The school did the same thing for the past couple of years.  According to neighbors, it is a better system than the mayhem that used to ensue from the parking situation on Lake View and the Red Car Property.  (The Red Car Property is not a park, nor a public roadway.  It is private property.)

Please remember to SLOW DOWN while driving the neighborhood as there will be many more children than usual on the neighborhood streets.

If you live within walking distance of Rose Scharlin and have children in heading for preschool in the coming years, we strongly encourage you to consider sending your kids to Rose Scharlin. Until the 2000's, it was a true neighborhood nursery school, with only a few parents dropping off kids by car.  We'd like to see a majority of neighbors join the Rose Scharlin Family again.

After a lapse of 28 years, the school secured their Conditional Use Permit for Rose Scharlin.  It was issued by City Planning February 1, 2017.

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.

Riverside Place: Neighbors Defending Their Own Driveways From Short Term Rental Parking

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  Neighbors put up no parking signs to deter party-goers and tourists from parking in their driveway.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)  

Neighbors on Riverside Place are fed up with a single family home recently sold and turned into a short term rental home (like Air B&B).  Neighbors report short term rental tenants are  there usually only for a few days at a time.  They also complain about large parties at least once a month at the home.  

Riverside Place is a substandard Hillside Street that narrows to a width of about 14'.  There is no City Standard turn-around nor cul-de-sac, nor are there sidewalks.  The southernmost portion of the street is owned by the surrounding neighbors with a public pedestrian easement to the Red Car Property.  Neighbors have limited street parking and things get chaotic when there is a party at the short term rental house.  Even just guests at the house bring parking problems as they are unaware of what is and is not a driveway on the street, often parking in neighbors' driveways.

City Council's Planning & Land Use (PLUM) Committee is supposed to hear fro the public again sometime in July or August.  Click here for City Council File 14-1635-S2.  

Red Car Property: Mudwatch Lot C

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 5, 2017.  The fence blocking the walkable portion of the Red Car Property for the Riverside Drive construction site, also crosses the vernal pool on Lot C, forcing pedestrians up the slippery slope to access the portion of the trail the developer left open to the public.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The pile of drywall debris dumped a year ago remains to the right side of the frame. But look, through butchered trees, you can see Griffith Park.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 5, 2017.  The flat portion, where cars are parked, is the Red Car Property.  It is not a public road, nor is it even a public right of way.  To make it a private street, it would require a discretionary action by City Planning.  The upslope side is also Red Car Property.  It is well documented as the most crumbly slope on the property.  The side where most of the cars are parked, is where neighbors have encroached onto the Red Car Property by 20' or more.

See also: Vernal Pool on Lot C on October 14, 2009

Red Car Property Lot C: Mudwatch, Creeks, Stormwater Flow

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 24, 2016.  You can see the motor oil and other black stuff around the edges of the many deep puddles on Lot C.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 24, 2016.  Lot C Creek drains down toward India Street where it meets up with Red Car Creek (originating as Upper Red Car Canyon Creek), flows down India Street, then makes its way down to Riverside Drive.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 24, 2016.  Red Car Creek was not deterred by the City's paving of the vernal pool at the India Street entrance to the Red Car Property.

Today, City of LA laying asphalt in the vernal pool on Private property: Red Car Property at India St, 3rd time this month @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/0JX9fYZ4GC

— Corralitas (@RedCarProperty) December 21, 2016

Yesterday, I received an email response from a representative of CD13 responding to my email inquiry including a neighbor's photos regarding the City's paving of the Red Car Property this week:

"Street Services is investigating this issue and should be getting back to us shortly. We're [the City] is not in the business of placing asphalt on private property so you can be assured that this won't happen again."

Red Car Property Lot C: Falling Rocks Ahead

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 24, 2016.  The slope to the right of the dirt road has always been the most crumbly slope on the Red Car Property (just north of the India Street entrance to the property).  In 2003, the developer included it as an "open space lot" in their failed 75-home plan.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Corralitas Drive: Practicing For Halloween

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, October 24, 2016.   Just a reminder, slow down while driving our hillside streets.  There are children, animals and people who may not be able to move quickly in the roadway.  Keep your kids and animals inside and, or on a leash this weekend.  Expect lots of revelry for the holidays.

Please show some respect for your neighbors if you are hosting a party.  Turn the noise down after 10PM, not everyone shares your taste in music.  The hills are notorious for the "canyon effect" of sound bouncing around and being louder across a canyon than right next door.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 11, 2016.  Parking is limited to one side of the street on most of our area streets.  Encourage your guests to use a ride sharing or taxi service and ensure they park legally (not on the Red Car Property, red curb, wrong side of the street nor blocking your neighbors' driveways).

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 7, 2016.  Not a pretty opossum: mangy, lumpy and limpy.  

Don't encourage unwanted guests at your party.  If your party is outdoors, be sure to clean up all food trash the same night, or the rats, skunks, opossum, raccoons and coyotes will make a bigger mess of your yard than you left it the night before.  And they will keep returning, looking for more.

Have a safe and sane Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.

Red Car Property Lot C: That's "C" As In Crap

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 22, 2016.  The large pile of dumped drywall remains where it was dumped  on the Red Car Property's Lot C (north of India) in January 2016.  It's been joined by a weight bench and other dumping that has been shifting around this portion of Lot C for months.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 21, 2016.  The drywall pile has gotten larger since we first published it.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 8, 2016.  The piles of dumping seem to get cleaned up periodically, but the drywall has remained constant.  We get tired of being the Red Car Property dumping blog, so we send the photos on to the property owner's rep as we receive them and consolidate them for posting in a periodic dumping wrap-up.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 8, 2016.  It appears that someone is still living in the Toyota truck too.

Click here for all our dumping posts.

Red Car Property Lot C: Vernal Pool & Dumping

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer March 6, 2016.  With just over an inch of rain overnight Saturday into Sunday, the vernal pool on Lot C, north of India Street, stretches nearly across the entire  path. If the rain hits as expected Monday - Tuesday, we might have a tough time navigating this body of water on foot.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, March 6, 2016.  The piles of dumping, trash and construction debris make it tough to go around vernal pool on the side of the path closest to Riverside Drive. The City does not pick up dumping from private property.

For more timely updates on storm related happenings, follow us on Twitter: @RedCarProperty

Red Car Property: Dawn

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, February 19, 2016.  The rising sun lights up the native Black Walnut Tree on the Lake View Ave side of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)
 

Red Car Property Lot C: Dumping, Debris, Crumbling Slopes In 2002

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 6, 2002. The same problems have always plagued the Red Car Property's Lot C. north of India Street: illegal dumping, stored salvage, cars parked on private property, encroached fences, falling rocks and crumbling slopes.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Since we've been following the dumping and associated problems on the Red Car Property way too much lately, I went into the archives and found some photos to match routine problem sites on the property.  There is always more.

Citywide: Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance Update, Public Hearing Tonight

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 6, 2014.  That's the controversial 15-home small lot subdivision in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract, not an office park in Orange County.  It was built on green field, not in-fill.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The City is updating the Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance and design standards for new small lot subdivisions over 20 units.  They're also attempting to incentivize conversion of existing bungalow courts into for sale homes (which is a good thing), rather than tearing them down to build a huge dense development that's out of character with the surrounding neighborhood.

Unfortunately, there's nothing specific to Hillside areas, nor restrictions on green field development.  There is, however, a badly needed requirement for shared trash bins.  The access roads and shared driveways do not appear wide enough for Hillside fire requirements of 20' and should be reconsidered. 

There's also a few references to specific sections of the LA Municipal Code without outlining what they govern.  So we've yet to review all the changes proposed in the ordinance.  As always, the devil is in the details.  Go to the open house and ask questions!

Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance Update 

TONIGHT, January 26, 2016 

Open House: 5:30 - 7 PM

Public Hearing: 7 PM

Grace Simons Lodge

1025 Elysian Park Drive

Elysian Park, 90012

Case #s:
CPC-2015-4499-CA
ENV-2015-4500-CE
Comments in writing will be accepted until February 26, 2016.  See the City Planning website for a host of information.

Rose Scharlin Co-Op Nursey School: Neighbors Given Admissions Priority

Letta Venegas, Rose Scharlin community liaison, wrote in an email, "Families that live within walking distance will be assigned the first visit/interview slots for 2016/17 school year and be given admissions priority."

We're still awaiting a public hearing for their Conditional Use Permit from City Planning. In the meantime, per neighbors' request, the school is making an effort to recruit more neighbors who can walk their kids to school. Neighbors genuinely want Rose Scharlin to be a neighborhood nursery school once again.

If you're a neighbor looking for a nursery school, consider the benefits of getting some exercise walking or biking your kid to school in your own neighborhood, versus sitting in a car and fighting traffic on another street on a road diet to get to a school in another part of town. Driving to the other side of Silver Lake is not a quick trip anymore.

Riverside Place: Dawn

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, January 8, 2016.  LA DWP restored water service to Riverside Place at 7:45 this morning, after working on the broken water main since 9 last night.  The same crew was still cleaning up at 9:15 this morning.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, January 8, 2015.  Riverside Place is already a narrow street to begin with, it's also a substandard hillside street without a regulation turnaround, and only one means of vehicle access.  If you were trapped on this side of the water main break, you could only get out on foot or on bicycle.
 

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: It Would Be A Better Place To Let Your Kids Play, If Cars Didn't Drive On It

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 12, 2015.  The kids were playing within 15' of a parent, just south of India Street.  However, the way some jerks drive the Red Car Property, even that might be too far away to prevent disaster.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right-of-way.  It is private property.  All of those cars and trashcans are parked on the Red Car Property.

Red Car Property: Dumping Ground On Lot C

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2015.  For the better part of a year, Lot C had been looking pretty clean.  In the past few months, it's once again become a lawless place.  Even the black dump truck that was not parking on the property for the past year, has returned. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 14, 2015.  Squatters have several shacks on the Red Car Adjacent lot below the pile of salvage.  The shacks are on a Riverside Drive lot, NOT the Red Car Property.  The property line is about 20-30' downslope from where this photo was taken.  The pile of salvage is actually on the Red Car Property's Lot C.

Red Car Property: It Would Look More Like A Park Without The Parked Cars

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2015.  Thanks for keeping your dogs on-leash and picking up after them.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)