{"article":{"id":147917,"heading":"The Farmers Hold Their Ground","author":"Leslie Radford","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","last_modified":"Wed, 22 Feb 2006 03:59:53","article":"<p>LOS ANGELES, February 17--At 10:00 a.m. in a jammed Los Angeles City Council\r\nchambers, two dozen South Central Farmers and a hundred farm supporters in\r\nbright green shirts crowded in the back three rows and behind the pews. \r\nSmall green ribbons and green armbands decorated supporters throughout the\r\naudience.  The farmers waited with years-long-learned patience through\r\ninterminable retirement tributes, recognition of Filipino war veterans, and the\r\nbeginning of a resolution for the residents of Lincoln Place.  Their\r\nsupporters were somewhat more restless.<\/p>\r\n<p>In front of City Hall, another thirty farm supporters stretched banners along\r\nthe bulwarks and marched along the sidewalks with cardboard fruits and\r\nvegetables, and signs demanding the land be returned to the farmers.<\/p>\r\n<p>But it was undoubtedly the implacable demeanor of the  farmers themselves\r\nthat prompted council president Garcetti to urge a speedy start for their\r\nbenefit.  <\/p>\r\n<p>For months, a small contingent of farmers has come weekly from tilling, planting, and harvesting the earth to the architectural grandeur of the John Ferraro Council Chamber to\r\nplead for their land.  Unlike their prior presentations, today the City\r\nCouncil sat up and took note.<\/p>\r\n<p>The farmers worked City Hall like the pros they've become.  At 11:30,\r\nleaving a small group waiting to speak, a sea of green silently left the\r\nchamber and swelled around the third floor corner to the Mayor's office. \r\nOn being told that Mayor Villaraigosa wasn't in, they made sure their presence, as one\r\naide affirmed, \"was noted.\"<\/p>\r\n<p>A bystander was escorted from the council chambers when he predicted a\r\nworkers' uprising if the farm is demolished.<\/p>\r\n<p>Then the mass of farmers and supporters briefly returned to council chambers before\r\nmoving on, again with a group remaining,  to a well-coordinated press\r\nconference on City Hall's south lawn.  There, they made their demands\r\nclear:  <\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>That the farmers refused the Mayor's recommendation that they find private\r\ndonations to buy the 14-acre property from developer Ralph Horowitz at market\r\nprice, when the City had been sold it to him for only $5M.  Instead\r\nthey demanded that the City invoke eminent domain to reclaim the property and\r\nturn it over to the farmers.<\/li><br>\r\n<li>That the Mayor hold a city-wide town hall meeting to explain how the\r\ntransfer to Horowitz happened and to put forward a comprehensive plan for the\r\ngreening of LA<\/li><br>\r\n<li>That the Mayor intervene to halt intensified ticketing of cars parked\r\nadjacent to the farm<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Meanwhile, in council chambers, by noon the farm supporters finally had their\r\nsay.  Groups as diverse as Food Not Bombs and USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development students\r\nstood up for the farmers.  One mother testified that she had fed her young\r\nchildren from the food on the farm and, because of that, avoided welfare until she got on her\r\nfeet.  Another speaker pointed to the City's potential embarrassment if\r\nthe South Central Farm is shut down as the American Community Gardening\r\nAssociation plans its August conference for Los Angeles.  A high school\r\nscience teacher berated the council for racism and classism in their treatment\r\nof the farmers, declared that shutting down the farm would be the first shot in\r\na race and class war, and asked, \"Do you expect these families to docilely\r\ntake their children to McDonald's and watch television\" if the farm is shut\r\ndown.<\/p>\r\n<p>As the speaking group left the chambers to join their sisters and brothers on the lawn,\r\nthe farm supporters put the Council on notice with a chant that \"Hey, hey,\r\nho, ho, these backroom deals have got to go!\" Police urged them on their way out.<\/p>\r\n<p>The farmers left quickly after the press conference, presumably back to\r\nwaiting employers after a half day's absence.  But a small group of\r\nsupporters remained, singing and dancing on the lawn.<\/p>\r\n<p>In spite of my years of education, I remain monolingual.  If I spoke\r\nSpanish, I would have asked the farmers if any of them had learned their quiet resolve in\r\nMexico trying to save their land after NAFTA or during the Mayan uprising for land in Guatemala.  It was two months\r\nago that the farmers announced the imminent demolition of the farm.  Today,\r\nthe farm is still here, and Los Angeles City Council took note.<\/p>\n","contact":"leslie@radiojustice.net","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"and tell the Mayor and City Council, &quot;Thanks, but no thanks&quot; to private buyers","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2006\/02\/faces_at_city_hall-orig.jpg","filesize":"133.7 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2006\/02\/147917.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2006\/02\/faces_at_city_hall-orig.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2006\/02\/faces_at_city_hall-orig.jpgthumb.jpg","medium":"\/uploads\/2006\/02\/faces_at_city_hall-orig.jpgmid.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":147918,"heading":"crowding City Hall","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/crowding_city_hall.jpgbyydn0.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/crowding_city_hall.jpgbyydn0.jpg"}},{"id":147919,"heading":"life, not destruction","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/not_bulldozers.jpg41lgg6.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/not_bulldozers.jpg41lgg6.jpg"}},{"id":147920,"heading":"corn and watermelon","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/corn_and_watermelon.jpg9bu3sa.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/corn_and_watermelon.jpg9bu3sa.jpg"}},{"id":147921,"heading":"largest urban farm","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/largest_urban_farm.jpgrnnwme.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/largest_urban_farm.jpgrnnwme.jpg"}},{"id":147922,"heading":"a view from the City Hall vestibule","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/city_hall_vestibule.jpgwo1fjz.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/city_hall_vestibule.jpgwo1fjz.jpg"}},{"id":147923,"heading":"waiting to be heard","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/wating_to_be_heard.jpgppnlg4.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/wating_to_be_heard.jpgppnlg4.jpg"}},{"id":147924,"heading":"Villaraigosa challenge","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/villaraigosa_challenge.jpgap7kva.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/villaraigosa_challenge.jpgap7kva.jpg"}},{"id":147925,"heading":"on the lawn","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/on_the_south_lawn.jpguyurki.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/on_the_south_lawn.jpguyurki.jpg"}},{"id":147926,"heading":"food not warehouses","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":147917,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","modified":"2006-02-21 20:59:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/food_not_warehouses.jpgxl64zb.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/02\/food_not_warehouses.jpgxl64zb.jpg"}}],"comments":[]}