none, , CorrespondenceBern J. an Esq. 2 Chuckwagon Road Rolling Hills 90274
Work # 424.238.2062 Home # 310.356.6267 CeII # 310.962.6497
Emails bernaalvin(alcox.net, bernemvbucha.com
June 13, 2010
The City Manager
City of Rolling Hills
2 Portuguese Bend Road
Rolling Hills CA 90274
The Manager
Rolling Hills Community Association
1 Portuguese Bend Road
Rolling Hills CA 90274
Mr. Robert Gledhill
The Owner
37 Eastfield
Rolling Hills CA 90274
Re: Your renters at 37 Eastfield. Rolling Hills
Dear Mr. Gledhill:
I've lived at 2 Chuckwagon, next door to your property on 37 Eastfield, for 8 or 9 years now. I think I
purchased my place in 2001, though I could be off by a year either way. In that period there has been
only one tenant living at your place - a young family, who stayed approximately 18 months to 2 years;
and they were really excellent neighbors. Their children were nice, their dog was nice, and they were
friendly and genial. It was a pleasure to have them as neighbors. I was sad when they moved out. Since
that time, as you know, your place has been unoccupied, with only the gardeners and maintenance
people coming on a regular basis. There's been a couple of occasions over the past few years when your
sprinklers have malfunctioned or been set wrongly by the gardeners (I'm not sure which). Upon noticing
this, I've taken the liberty of going onto your property and turning off the malfunctioning sprinklers, so
that you didn't end up with an astronomical water bill, and I didn't end up with a saturated property. I
recall the last occasion, some months back, when some workers were removing and replacing your brick
patio, I didn't realize there was a flooding problem until it had persisted for some hours - the water had
saturated my vegetable garden and run down Eastfield almost halfway to the guard shack, and the rush
of water had carried quite a bit of soil down the hill with it.
The reason I mention these things is to simply let you know that I view these things as normal
occurrences amongst neighbors, and not something to get excited or upset over. In ordinary times they
wouldn't warrant mentioning. Those times, unfortunately, appear to be over.
1
Bern J.' . yin Esq. 2 Chuckwagon Road Rolling HilCA 90274
Work # 424.238.2062 Home # 310.356.6267 CeII # 310.962.6497
Emails bernaalvin(abcox.net, berm mvbucha.com
A couple of weeks ago, as you know, a new family of renters moved in to your property. They made
their presence known almost immediately, and in some rather unfortunate ways. Despite their short
tenancy to this point in time, they've managed to assemble an impressive list of faux pas. And I think
you'll agree as you read this sorry missive that 'faux pas' is a very charitable epithet.
I'm not one to complain normally; my usual modus operandi is to simply try to work things out in a
civilized and reasonable manner. My attempts in this regard, and my girlfriend, Beate's attempts, appear
to have been rudely rebuffed (especially by the wife), forcing me to spend my time committing this list
of grievances to writing. Here they are -
• during the first few days, they made their presence known, and very loudly - the incessant riding
of a 4 wheel motor bike up and down your driveway, accompanied by the raucous shouting
father (not the children) shattered the normally bucolic and peaceful atmosphere that makes
Rolling Hills a good place to live. To add insult to injury they have a set of drums (the musical
kind) set up outside, which they played on a few occasions (more on this below).
• during the first week of their tenancy, on 2 occasions I was attacked on my own property by
their large black dog. When I say 'on my own property', I'm not talking about my property near
the border with your property; I'm talking about getting attacked by a snarling large black dog
(your renters have two dogs - one large and other small) while watering my vegetable garden; a
habit I like to pursue early most mornings at this time of the year. I should note my vegetable
garden is at least 15 or 20 yards from the border between our properties. While I found this
rather disconcerting, I took the view that the dog, because of the lack of fences between our
properties, had no idea where his turf ended and mine began. I am a dog lover, having owned
several dogs over the years. I decided to overlook this in the interest of getting along.
• a couple of days later I heard a weed whacking device being operated in what sounded like my
orchard (directly up the hill from my house abutting the back of your property). I walked up
there to investigate and discovered that a young fellow had proceeded to cut down about 80%
of the grass in my orchard (and he'd managed also to sever my water hose in the process) along
with the grass on your property. I pointed out to him that though the grass on my side needed
cutting, it was my property and I really didn't want my neighbors paying to have the grass cut on
my side of the property line. He looked confused and told me he'd been instructed by your
renters that my orchard was in fact part of their property. I showed him where the property line
was and offered to have him give me a quote for cutting the grass down below in my front yard,
as a way for him to recoup the price of the time he'd spent cutting the grass in my orchard. He
came down and gave me a quote, which was significantly higher than market. I told him this
whereupon he departed rather grumpily. He came back later with a slightly lower but still above
market quote, which I declined.
• the next day Beate and I noticed a whole lot of dog shit had been deposited in the middle of the
narrow path that leads up the hill to our orchard. This seemed odd in a couple of respects - first
it was far too much for 2 dogs to have excreted in the 24 hours that it suddenly made its
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Bern J. an Esq. 2 Chuckwagon Road Rolling Hill 90274
Work # 424.238.2062 Home # 310.356.6267 Cell # 310.962.6497
Emails bernaalvinCa cox.net, bern(mvbucha.com
appearance, and secondly, it was in an area that is not a natural spot for a dog to want to
evacuate his bowels. We decided to, again, ignore our now growing suspicions of our renter
neighbor's motivations.
• a day or so later Beate noticed your renters digging on the path that leads up the hill to our
orchard. She went up to investigate to find your renters, incredible as it may seem, in the act of
digging up the path and planting a vegetable garden. Beate pointed out to them politely that
this was not their property and that they needed to uproot their vegetables and move them
elsewhere. When Beate informed me of this, I realized that there was a serious problem here
that, much as I didn't want to, I would have to confront. Beate and I walked up to our orchard
and observed them re -planting their vegetable garden further up the hill on the appropriate side
of the property line. I asked could we come over and speak to them? They consented. I asked
them whether they were aware of where the property line was? With the wife mumbling
incoherently about I'm not sure what, I walked with the husband to the property line and
showed him exactly where the fence had been that you had removed a few months back. I
explained to him that there was a bridle easement on either side of the property line. He
indicated that he understood. We then rejoined the wife who was busily re -planting and
watering the previously uprooted vegetables. I related to the two of them that their black dog
had tried to attack me twice on my property in the first week they moved in. The wife offered by
way of response (quite hostilely, I should add) that the dog was a rescue dog and anyway there
were no leash laws in Rolling Hills. I pointed out to her that the lack of leash laws did not absolve
her of responsibility for her animals, and neither did the fact that the animal was a rescue dog. I
also requested that they desist from playing their drum set (mentioned earlier) outside, but
rather move it inside where they could play to their heart's content. The wife told me that there
was no room for it inside, and that they could play it outside if they wanted to.
• yesterday an unpleasant verbal altercation occurred when the smaller dog decided to threaten
Beate when she was up in our orchard tending one of our fruit trees. The wife came out again
muttering in a hostile fashion that she was looking into the property line issue. Your renter
apparently continues to believe that our orchard is on your property.
• this afternoon brought even more bizarre behavior from the wife. I was sitting in our orchard
hand watering some of my fruit trees (a form of relaxation for me) when the wife arrived home
and the small dog decided to come over and start barking at me as I sat watering my trees. This
was slightly irritating at most, but I noticed from the corner of my eye the wife becoming more
and more agitated because her dog would not come to her and disengage from barking at me. I
could not help noticing the extreme degree of the wife's agitation. The dog finally discontinued
barking and retreated back to the renter's side of the property line. I resumed watering my fruit
trees in peace. Not for Tong! A few short minutes later a loud engine -like noise again disrupted
my Sunday afternoon ruminations. The noise came from your property. It stopped after a few
minutes whereupon I again resumed watering in relative peace. Concluding my watering, as I
walked back down the (now infamous) path to my house, it became clear what this engine -like
noise was I'd heard a few minutes previously. It was apparently some kind of high pressure
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Bern J.vin Esq. 2 Chuckwagon Road Rolling Hili'.:A 90274
Work # 424.238.2062 Home # 310.356.6267 Cell # 310.962.6497
Emails bernaalvinecox.net, bernOmvbucha.com
water cannon that the wife, enraged over little Rocco's disobedience, aimed down the hill from
your driveway onto my property and turned on full force. The result was a long fairly narrow
swath of vegetation on my property ripped out and pushed down the hill onto the edge of my
vegetable garden along with a large amount of displaced soil. I was frankly astonished at this
behavior, so astonished that I had Beate take photos of same.
I'm being forced to the view that the wife's (in particular) repeated, frantic, angry, hostile and
inappropriate behaviors are so bizarre, Beate and I are now seriously concerned what these people will
do next. Please understand that while I've related this tale of woe in a somewhat comical (depending
on one's viewpoint) fashion, I am serious about putting the addressees of this letter on notice of the
behaviors of your renter's in 37 Eastfield. If you could help resolve some of these issues, it would be
much appreciated.
Sincerely,
-ja'43L1
Bern Galvin
Beate Kirmse
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