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.

Red Car Property: Abandoned Squatters' Camp Used Again Last Night

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017. Neighbors are fed up by the Red Car Property owner's failure to pick up the debris left behind after the squatters vacated their camp.  These photos and email (excerpted here) are from one of many concerned neighbors contacted CD13 and LAPD.  "Someone slept again last night on the old Red Car squatters encampment - I know because they left a new red blanket and new trash (see pics)."

The camp was established by a couple of squatters, mid-June.  Neighbors reported it immediately and constantly for the past few months to CD13 and LAPD.  A few weeks ago, neighbors reported the camp abandoned by the couple of squatters who had been driving a white car to and from their camp near Rose Scharlin Nursery School on a daily basis. 

Neighbors raised the concern that so much debris left behind will only attract new inhabitants.  "Does the owner really want to leave an open invitation for squatters to come live, sleep, and trash his property?"

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017.  Pictured here: dry brush right next to the campsite.  Neighbors continue raising the alarm over brush clearance.  Out of self-interest, a few neighbors cleared some of the slopes near their own homes.  "I see the [brush] clearance is still not completed, or even started (Rose Scharlin did their own hill themselves rather than wait)."  

Considering the number of cigarette butts discarded in and around the camp, neighbors are justified in their alarm.  "This is a danger to the whole neighborhood, especially with smoking squatters sleeping there."  The neighbor continues, "Does our whole neighborhood have to go up in flames before someone enforces the Brush Clearance ordinance!?!  Has LAFD even inspected this negligent property that is putting our neighborhood at risk for a catastrophic fire?"  Yes, LAFD has cited the owner several times this year.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 13, 2017.  Adding insult to injury, last night's homeless left new bags of trash.

Click here for all our squatter related posts. 

Follow us on Twitter for more timely updates on the squatter camp and brush clearance.

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 photos were shot and originally published on Twitter.

Red Car Property: Abandoned Squatters' Camp In Use Again

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 11, 2017.  More than one neighbor reported someone slept in the recently vacated squatters' camp last night.  A CD13 representative and LAFD Brush Inspector told the property owner to remove the abandoned debris.  LAFD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis told the owner he would arrange for an officer to be on site when the owner removes the debris in case of any misunderstandings with squatters. 

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-24-17 and backdated to the date the photo was shot and originally published on Twitter.

Corralitas Drive: New Homeless Camper Next To Dry Brush Of Red Car Property

*Update, August 4, 2017 at end of post

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 1, 2017.  Tuesday morning, neighbors discovered a new camper/trailer parked next to the Red Car Property on Corralitas Drive.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Video: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 1, 2017.  First posted on Twitter, also available on YouTube.  Not only is the camper parked next to the dry brush of the Red Car Property, the sidewalk is blocked, there's a propane tank in front and what appears to be a bag of charcoal briquettes at the the back of the camper (see video below).  The white Saturn parked behind the camper, is associated with the squatters who recently abandoned their camp on the Red Car Property near Rose Scharlin. 

The protected native California Black Walnut Tree has recovered well from last year's Silver Lake Fire. 

Neighbors want to know why the Red Car Property owner always seems to get away with not doing brush clearance by May 1, every year.

Send your concerns about brush clearance, vehicle access and any other concerns regarding the Red Car Property to hector.vega@lacity.org in City Council District 13.  Include your name, street address and phone number.


*UPDATE: August 4, 2017, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis spoke to the woman living in the trailer yesterday.  The trailer was gone today.

Red Car Property: Squatters' Camp Today

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 20, 2017.  Early this morning, the tent is gone, but the camp, still there.  It first appeared behind homes on Riverside Place and behind Rose Scharlin Co-op Nursery School more than a month ago.  

Since it first appeared, neighbors have been calling the police asking them to enforce the trespass order.  Unfortunately, the squatters never seem to be home when the LAPD drops by.  Silver Lake LAPD Senior Lead Officer Lenny Davis spoke to the property owner's son regarding removing the camp earlier this week.  CD13 notified the property owner of the camp last month.  It is the property owner's responsibility.  But then, it's also the property owner's responsibility to do brush clearance by May 1, every year.

Click here for all our squatter 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: "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 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: Homeless Adding Furniture

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 18, 2017.  The homeless camp on the Red Car Property behind Rose Scharlin Nursery School is expanding with furniture.

Red Car Property: Settling In

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 17, 2017.  Red Car Property is not approved for camping uses.  Neighbors have notified CD13 who sent email to Red Car Property owner regarding the camp site near Rose Scharlin Nursery School.

Red Car Property: Spot The Homeless Camp

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 15, 2017. Neighbors discovered a blue tent pitched among the bushes on the Red Car Property near Rose Scharlin Nursery School today.  Just past the pile of railroad ties dumped on the property behind a home on Riverside Place.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

One neighbor heard voices coming from inside the tent this morning.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, June 15, 2017.  Neighbors from Corralitas Drive, Riverside Place and Lake View Ave texted and emailed photos to me and CD13 today.  Neighbors are concerned about the risk of fire since brush clearance has not been done.  Homes on this part of the Red Car Property are very close together.  There are still some dead and dying Eucalyptus trees in the background of this photo, as well as a stand of arundo.  

Neighbors are also concerned due to recent mail and package theft, as well as a general increase in property related crimes in the area.  When you call the police regarding anything on the privately owned Red Car Property, you need to tell LAPD dispatch there is an active  trespass order on file at the Northeast LAPD Station or they won't respond.

Send your concerns regarding brush clearance, homeless, partying, joyriding or any other issue on the Red Car Property to hector.vega@lacity.org in CD13. 

Red Car Property: Developer Blocked Walkable Portion Of Trail, But Did Brush Clearance (After Some Arm Twisting)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  From a distance, it appears the construction fence for the 14 unit development on Riverside Drive is blocking the Red Car Property, north of India Street.  However, they left us passage on the upslope side of the fence, hidden behind a silver Mercedes.  (The Mercedes finally left last night, after being parked there more than a month.)  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  The pile of drywall dumped last January is on the downslope side of the trail, along with a reduced pile of salvage and trash on the 20 - 30' of downslope that is Red Car Property.  No word if people are still living in the sheds further downslope.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  Neighbors still aren't buying the line from the Riverside Drive developer, that he doesn't have a deal to develop this part of the Red Car Property.  They only cleared the brush from the path here once I bitched at him that it was not a functional path he claimed to have given us.  It was full of trampled down brush and castor beans.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  The heritage Coast Live Oak is still standing.  The developer blocked the highly used portion of the trail, and left us the narrow portion between the slope and the dust screened, chain link fence. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  There are a few leaves left on what was the most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property.  Last month, the developer's brush clearance crew cut all the new growth from the tree for no good reason.  The tree is definitely on the Red Car Property.

This site is not the site of the proposed zone change to allow 49 units.  However, you better believe if they get the zone change and subdivision for condos on the south end of the property the remaining lots will be subject to a development application.  

Red Car Property, Lot C: Migrating Piles Of Dumping

Photos: Multiple Red Car Property Neighbors.  Above, March 3, 2016.  Over the past two months, a large pile of clothes, bedding, broken plastic bins, computer parts, monitors, TV parts, washing machine drums and other trash has been shifting back and forth on Lot C, near a Riverside Drive house and lot that had squatter problems.  The house has been under renovations for almost a year.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

January 9, 2016.  We  documented the pile when it first arrived after the New Year.  Previously it was just washing machines, salvage and other construction debris.  December 3, 2015 was the last time the Red Car Property was clean right here.  It has always been a dumping hotspot.

January 21, 2016. The trash was consolidated and generally tidied up a few days earlier.

January 21, 2016.  How considerate, they tidied up the trash and dumped a large pile of drywall. 

January 30, 2016.  By the end of January, little had changed, although it appears either animals or people had torn through the trash.  We were tired of posting so many dumping photos on the blog, but we continued sending them to the Red Car Property owner's rep.

Photo: January 30, 2016.  A squatter is living in the white truck that's been parked on Lot C on the Red Car Property for years.  We sent this photo and others along to the Red Car Property owner's rep as soon as they came in.  The truck is still parked in the same place today.   
It is parked directly adjacent to the downslope portion of Lot C, where the adjacent property owner has long encroached on the Red Car Property by storing salvage and debris.

February 19, 2016.  Last month, the trash pile was shifted over to the side with the drywall pile.  Looks like some new graffiti is on the white door being stored back there.  What have we always said about broken windows inviting more problems?

February 19, 2016. The trash in this shot is also in the current photo at the top of this post.  Although someone nabbed the shoes. 

Come on, the homeless have already picked through it.  Haul it away.  The drywall is still there, it's just hiding behind the trashcans.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)


Click here for all our dumping posts.

Red Car Property: Angel of Adelbert

Stuff you missed this year...

Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 15, 2015.  A statue was left behind by squatters when they were removed from a house on Adelbert. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Last February, a fence went up on the property line, around a house that had previously been occupied by squatters. Neighbors were surprised by the extent of the encroachment on the Red Car Property.  The Adelbert house was bought by flippers and the squatters moved to a nearby house and adjacent lot on Riverside Drive.  

The Riverside Drive house was similarly was bank owned and since sold to a house flipper.  The squatters continue returning to a lot on Riverside Drive adjacent lot the Red Car Property.  CD13, LAPD, City Attorney, Dept of Building & Safety and LA Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) have been working to move the squatters into actual supportive housing rather than homemade sheds on a dangerous slope, and clean up conditions that drew squatters to the site.

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.

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: Park Bench Americana

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, October 20, 2015.  Looks like the "park bench" was recently upgraded with some "art," including a half bicycle wheel and battered American flag that flew behind the Red Car Property-adjacent squatter house* on Adelbert on a mannequin for a few years.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

* The squatters were cleared from the Adelbert house in February 2015.  Squatters have since taken up residence on another Red Car Adjacent lot just southeast of this location on Riverside Drive.

Red Car Property: Adelbert Cut-Through Has A New Trail Marker

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 27, 2015, 6:47 AM.  We often see creative trail markers on the cut-through from Adelbert Ave to the Red Car Property.  Unfortunately, the markers usually seem to coincide with squatter activity in a few homes adjacent to the north end of the Red Car Property.
 

Red Car Property: The Shifting Pile Of Salvage On Lot C

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 11, 2015.  The large pile of salvaged windows, old CalTrans vehicles and other debris has been on the downslope portion of the Red Car Property's Lot C, adjacent to a Riverside Drive house cleared of squatters earlier this year.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The pile of debris was recently shifted away from the house.  The Red Car Property extends about 25' downslope - about to the shed in the background.  The shed is a recent addition to the Riverside Drive vacant lot, where neighbors report seeing some of the squatters cleared from a house on Adelbert earlier this year. 

A little more than a year ago, a family vacated their longtime home they owned on Riverside Drive.  The house is now being flipped.  They also owned the lot next door (now a hosting a camp of squatters) and stored salvaged items on the lot as well as on the Red Car Property.  They never returned for the salvage.  

Now the "broken window" that was allowed to fester despite repeated requests to the Red Car Property owner's rep to remove this salvage/debris pile have further encouraged the lawlessness on the Riverside Drive "vacant" lot below. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 12, 2015.  For years the debris pile (down the hill) looked like this, until recently.  Shifting the pile does not make it better.  It needs to be removed completely.  

When the squatter camp moved up onto the Red Car Property for one night, more people started paying attention to what was going on here.  

All of the salvage/debris in these photos is on the Red Car Property.  The squatters and the sheds are on an adjacent Riverside Drive property. The Red Car Property owner, LAPD SLO Lenny Davis, City Attorney and CD13 have all been notified of this problem.   

The Red Car Property owner has a trespass order for the Red Car Property on file at Northeast LAPD.  If people are conducting drug deals, starting fires, committing violent acts, etc, call 911.  If you see people casing cars, trying door handles, etc, call the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD and report it while it is happening.  Tell them there is a trespass order on file with Northeast LAPD.  This site is north of India Street on the old Pacific Electric Red Car Right of Way, or Red Car Property. 

The Red Car Property is private property and it is a lawless place.