Los Angeles, March 5, 2006--At a convergence this afternoon, the South Central Farmers outined four actions the 200 supporters present and those across the city and the planet need to take over the next two days to save the Farmers from eviction.

• Call the Deputy Mayor Larry Frank at the Mayor's office at 213-978-0600 and email mayor@lacity.org to demand that the Mayor stop the eviction, hold a public forum to answer the Farmers' questions, and explain how razing the Farm fits into his plan for greening Los Angeles.
• Call and email the Los Angeles City Council to urge them to action, and not just sympathy, for the Farmers.
• Attend City Council meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week at 10:00 at City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Rm. 304 and speak in defense of the Farmers.
• Demand that developer Ralph Horowitz of the Horowitz Group, 310-440-7878, return the Farm to its rightful owners.

Opening the planning session with "The only thing that's real is the eviction notice," the Farmers brushed off the promises of eventual assistance offered by Deputy Mayor Frank on Friday.  Instead, they are demanding that the Mayor commit now to saving the Farm, and explained that, to date, "the Mayor has done nothing" and that all they've heard from his office is "politician's talk."  They also expressed outrage that their Councilmember Jan Perry refuses to support the Farm, noting that she was elected with 12,000 votes and that the Farmers had over 10,000 letters of support in hand.

With their supporters' help, the Farmers plna on shutting down the city's email server and switchboard on Monday and Tuesday in a mass demonstration of grassroots support for the Farm.  Last Friday, Frank mentioned that he didn't think there was the "political will" for the city's intervention to save the Farm.

The Farm received a one-day reprieve, from Monday to Tuesday, when it was discovered that the wrong papers were delivered with the eviction notice.  The mistake gave the Farmers until Tuesday to vacate, and perhaps as much as a week more with a court hearing.

When asked about a backup plan, the Farmers flatly rejected any plan to replace the Farm with scattered plots across the City, adding that theire message is to "save this place."  They noted that the need is in the Alameda area, that real people, children and elders among them, depended on the 14-acre Farm in their neighborhood for food.  "There is no Trader Joe's in this area," a spokesperson added, to the laughter of the crowd.

The Farmers vowed that "they will not allow the land to be appropriated again" and asserted that their right to farm was won by "the sweat and blood of the community," granted to the Farmers as a direct response to the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising.  They added that the assault on the Farm is part of a pattern repeated in the county's assault on King/Drew Hospital, and they cited the city's sale of the Farm, after the abandoned dumping ground was resuced by the Farmers, as a paradigm of environmental racism.

A quick walk through the Farm proved the Farmers' determination and confidence in their supporters, as families hoed and weeded, and seedlings pushed through the earth.  They received a $500 donation from an anonymous donor and hundreds of dollars more from supporters at the meeting.  Meanwhile, a Sheriff's cruiser rounded the corner in a round-the-clock perimeter check that has been going on for days.

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It is time to do the right thing by returning to Ralph Horowitz his land. Do not listen to the communists or radicals lying to the American people, these squatters are not the rightful owners. These so called farmers are nothing more than thieving beggars looking for a hand out. The facts in the matter are:

*The squatters hold no deed to the land, if they did they would have produced it for the world to see

*Refuse to make an honest purchase offer to the true owner Ralph Horowitz

*May not even be legal residents or taxpayers

*10 to 25 million dollars of American taxpayer funds is a waste to spend on the few families who fail to obey the law.

*If the community needs plants and vegetables the city could solicit the building of a local Walmart.

*This people are lucky this is happening in california instead of arizona where they can be shot for tresspassing

"*If the community needs plants and vegetables the city could solicit the building of a local Walmart. "

Excuse me while I go throw up...

Notice To Vacate

Translation:

esto no es su tierra

the earth doesn't belong to anyone
we belong to it.
It gives us bounty and life.
And beauty.
Sorry for the people who can't see this simple fact.

Did you know that if the U.S. Senate passes the Sensenbrenner anti-immigrant bill (HR 4437), 1.5 million children will instantly become felons?

That's just one of the atrocities under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee, what they're politely calling "immigration reform." If you want migrants treated as human beings, take a minute to send in this UFW petition. Even if you're not a UFW fan--now isn't the time to quibble.

Now, about the boy. He was running around the staging area on the farm when I asked him if I could take his picture. He looked at me, smiled a big smile, jumped on a work table, and struck the pose you see. The "Aqui estamos y no nos vamos" sign in the background was bonus.

BR seems to think this child is a victim. I don't see it--I see a young warrior here. I don't know if the boy is a Farmer or a Farm supporter, but, in either case, he's who Border Raven will be facing in ten years. And I don't think Border Raven and his friends will be able to take it.

Aquí estará, y no va a irse.

Just downloaded David Rovics tune--if he's here, let me tell him "thank you!" I don't think it could have been said better.

South Central Farms from above.


http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=13&Z=11&X=240&Y=2352&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=12&Z=11&X=482&Y=4704&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c


http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=11&Z=11&X=963&Y=9408&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=10&Z=11&X=1927&Y=18818&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=9&Z=11&X=3854&Y=37638&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=8&Z=11&X=7707&Y=75275&W=1&qs=%7clos+angeles%7cca%7c

No te mordistes la lengua?

pinche gringa fea desgraciada.

Congressman Xavier Becerra,

http://becerra.house.gov/HoR/CA31/Hidden+Content/Email+Signup+Form.htm
(Internet Explorer compatible, but not Mozilla Firefox)

Speaker of the California Assembly, Fabian Nuñez,

Assemblymember.Nunez@assembly.ca.gov

County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke

seconddistrict@lacbos.org

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,

mayor@lacity.org

City of L.A. Councilmembers:

Ed Reyes, councilmember.reyes@lacity.org
Wendy Greuel, councilmember.greuel@lacity.org
Dennis P. Zine, councilmember.zine@lacity.org
Tom LaBonge, Labonge@lacity.org
Jack Weiss, councilmember.weiss@lacity.org
Tony Cardenas, councilman.cardenas@lacity.org
Alex Padilla, councilmember.padilla@lacity.org
Bernard Parks, councilmember.parks@lacity.org
Jan Perry, councilmember.perry@lacity.org
Herb J. Wesson, Jr., councilmember.wesson@lacity.org
Bill Rosendahl, councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
Greig Smith, councilmember.smith@lacity.org
Eric Garcetti, councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
José Huizar, councilmember.huizar@lacity.org
Janice Hahn, councilmember.hahn@lacity.org