Newswire: Police Evict Farmers & Community from the Nation's Largest Community Garden

- *L.A. COUNTY SHERIFFS EVICT THE SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS IN EARLY
MORNING RAID
Press Release: South Central Farm, June 13, 2006
L.A. COUNTY SHERIFFS EVICT THE SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS IN EARLY MORNING
RAID

By
Press Release: South Central Farm, June 13, 2006
*

The end for South Central Farm?

BY BRENT HOPKINS, Staff Writer
LA Times
6/14/2006

Not legal challenges, not folk singers' entreaties, not even a last-minute
infusion of $10 million could save the South Central Farm.

Sheriff's deputies moved in before dawn Tuesday to evict the farmers from
the 14-acre plot, a rare swath of green in the otherwise industrial belt
between Alameda Street and Long Beach Avenue. Seeking to prolong the
multiyear land dispute, protesters chained themselves to pipes inside.

Actress Daryl Hannah, environmental activist John Quigley and a few other
demonstrators secured themselves above the fray in a walnut tree. Supporters
poured in, chanting and waving signs, as county Sheriff's Department
deputies and Los Angeles Police Department officers bearing clubs and
shotguns surrounded protesters, making arrests.

"This is the end, my friend," said Tezozomoc, one of the farmers'
representatives, quoting a line from Jim Morrison. "But we don't know yet.
This is just another chapter."

A chapter in the struggle that dates back to the mid-1990s, one involving
celebrities and community activists, political pressure and complex land
deals. Developer Ralph Horowitz bought the site two decades ago, lost it to
the city through eminent domain, then bought it back for the price the city
paid him. In the interim, the sizable site became used by more than 350
families to farm peppers, cilantro, squash and indigenous herbs.

But after Horowitz regained the property with the intent to transform the
rows of corn and cactus into a commercial project, the farmers sat on
tenuous ground. They fired off 61 claims to block development, all rejected
by the court, and requested a temporary restraining order, also turned down.

They enlisted the help of high-profile supporters such as Hannah, folk music
icon Joan Baez, musician Ben Harper and his wife, actress Laura Dern.

And they relentlessly lobbied Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to use his clout to
keep the site open. Through various sources, his office was able to wrangle
$6 million in donations, well short of the $16.3 million Horowitz originally
requested to sell the site.

Last week, the Annenberg Foundation announced a surprise offer of $10
million in cash and an agreement to finance the remaining $6 million.

But Horowitz, reportedly furious about being cast as the villain by farm
supporters, rejected the offer and demanded the farmers removal. At 5 a.m.
Tuesday, 65 helmeted deputies of the Sheriff's Department's Civil Management
Unit moved in, with the LAPD and Los Angeles Fire Department assisting.

Authorities cut through the chain-link fence around the farm and extricated
the demonstrators who'd locked themselves inside. Then came an earthmover to
level off the ground for a fire engine. The truck pulled inside and extended
its ladder, eventually plucking the remaining protesters from the tree
shortly after noon.

The LAPD arrested 27 people on suspicion of failing to disperse, and
sheriff's deputies arrested an additional 17, including Hannah, on suspicion
of failing to obey a court order and obstructing a peace officer.

The scene was chaotic, but largely peaceful. There were demonstrators
accusing the authorities of breaking apart the community. Then there were
counterdemonstrators accusing the farmers of breaking apart the community.
Then came the guitar players, then the drummers.

Armed with an ear-splitting whistle and a pot she banged with a rock, farmer
Andrea Rodriguez angrily defended the site she's come to rely on.

"We want to go back to Mother Earth, get nutrition for our families," she
said in Spanish. "We will struggle. We won't go. We are all together and we
will not leave. We're just farmers, we don't have money, but we're still
important."

Repeated attempts to reach Horowitz at his office were unsuccessful, though
he told The Associated Press that he found the farmers to be ungrateful and
wanted his land back. Though Dan Stormer, an attorney for the farmers, said
they'll have one more day in court in July to try to claim ownership of the
land, Horowitz has already said he will not sell to the farmers or their
supporters.

A few hours after the evictions, Villaraigosa spoke with Horowitz on the
telephone and reiterated his support for the Annenberg Foundation's $16
million offer.

But Horowitz said the property was worth even more money, Villaraigosa told
reporters later. Horowitz also told the mayor he felt personally vilified by
the farmers and wouldn't sell until he evicted every single person from the
land.

"I told him that from my vantage point, this is a more than fair offer. This
is an opportunity for us to have an urban garden in the city that wants to
be the greenest big city in America," Villaraigosa said. "And he said, well,
that was nice but he wasn't accepting."

While running for mayor, Villaraigosa pledged to help save the farm and,
once in office, assigned Deputy Mayor Larry Frank to seek private donations
to help the farmers buy the land from Horowitz.

But the price was a moving target, the mayor said, going from about an
estimated $6 million to $10 million to $12 million to the final price tag of
$16 million.

The mayor and allies had a hard time raising funds to buy the land because
many potential donors felt the land wasn't worth the price.

"I understand a businessman's need to invest and make a profit. I also have
a high respect for and will defend property rights," Villaraigosa said. "But
I also believe that we are called upon by a sense of community and civic
duty to do the just and right thing. I had hoped that the landowner would
have heeded that call."

-------

NEWS FROM THE FARM - 6/13/2006 8:59am,

8 people have been carried out on stretchers and they have
started to bull doze the land!

WHAT: Hundreds of officers with the Los Angeles Sheriff department
swarmed onto the peaceful, non-violent South-Central Farmers garden at
5:15am today accompanied by six helicopters buzzing over the sleeping
supporters.

Supporters of this 14 acre organic farming community remain outside the
locked-down area on the street chanting their protest of this forceful
action while 20 are still inside the farm.

Dozens of supporters have been living on the land, sleeping in tents, and
taking turns living in the Walnut tree on the premise while fasting to show
solidarity with the Farmers. Julia-Butterfly Hill just came down last week
after fasting for 23 days. Several celebrities have shown up in the last few
weeks - Willie Nelson, Martin Sheen, Danny Glover, Ed Begley, Jr, Joan Baez
to name a few.

As of this time, Daryl Hannah and aerial artist John Quigley are up in the
Walnut tree refusing to come down. 20 campers on the land have locked
themselves to benches, fences and the base around the tree while L.A. County
Sheriffs are attempting to saw their locks off.

Yesterday, a peace offering of organic flowers and fresh produce from the
Farm was presented to the developer, Ralph Horowitz at his offices in
Brentwood, California and to Mayor Antonio Villagairosa at City Hall. Their
response to this appears to be this early morning raid.

Citizens are frustrated with the Mayor because of his apparent lack of
political leadership in this, even though he has publicly stated supported
of the Farm in the last few weeks.

The Farm supporters are asking people to:

1. Call City Hall to ask that Mayor Villaraigosa step up and exhibit
political leadership and interfere with the eviction. PH: 213-978-0600

2. Come down to City Hall to express their support. Address: 200 N.
Spring Street - Los Angeles, CA 90029

3. Come to the Farm to Protest this oppressive and destructive action
against the Farmers and their supporters

WHERE: 41st & Long Beach Ave. Los Angeles,
CA (Alameda exit off Interstate 10)

WHEN: All Day June 13, 2006

****A SPECIAL 7:00PM candlelight vigil will be held on-site The public is
encouraged to attend

To learn more about the South Central Farmers, visit:
www.southcentralfarmers.com Contact: Fernando Flores: Co-Chair of South
Central Farmers Support Coalition PH: 909-605-3136
southcentralfarmers@yahoo.com

HISTORY:

The South Central Farm, a 14-acre green oasis in the middle of downtown Los
Angeles, is in danger of being lost to warehouse development. This community
garden has been operated mainly by Latino immigrants for more than a decade
and has become an important part of the culture and open space in Los
Angeles.

In 1992, the Farm was created in response to the Rodney King uprising to
help develop and align the local South-Central community. The Los Angeles
Regional Food Bank signed a lease with the city of Los Angeles to set aside
the South Central Farm as a community garden. Since then more than 350
impoverished families have banded together as the South Central Farmers to
transform an industrial dump into an urban paradise. These families have
been successfully augmenting their household food supply with the resultant
harvest.

But in 2003 the city sold the land to a private developer to build
warehouses. The community was outraged, and the farmers refused to leave the
land while they tried to raise the money to buy the property themselves. For
the last several weeks -- in the face of a deadline to come up with the
money or be evicted -- the farmers, with the help of appeals by activists
and celebrities, worked around the clock and successfully raised the money
to purchase the property. At last report, the Annenburg Foundation had
offered to help raise the 15 million to purchase the land but it seems
responding to pressure, the developer has changed his mind and decided not
to sell the land to the farmers after all.
***************************************************

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_756.cfm