Los Angeles, March 3, 2006--Unimpeded by the morning's chill and rain, the\r\nSouth Central Farmers and several dozen supporters repeated their weekly trek to the faux-marble corridors of\r\nCity Hall to demand the mighty institution find a way to rescue their 14-acre Farm\r\nfrom the eviction\r\nnotice and bulldozers of developer Ralph Horowitz.<\/p>\r\n
Unlike the very public demonstration\r\nof two weeks ago, today's smaller group of forty or so worked the halls with\r\nurgency and intensity born out of the now-imminent eviction order.<\/p>\r\n
City Council Unmoved<\/i><\/b><\/p>\r\n
For months, the Farmers have gone through a weekly ritual of trying to engage\r\na disinterested City Council during public comments. This time, the\r\nCouncil heard six of about twenty people who wished to speak, when Council\r\nPresident Garcetti cut them off, saying the Council had already indulged in an\r\nextra ten minutes of public comments. He hurriedly mentioned that a\r\nCouncil member could move to extend the time and rushed on to other\r\nbusiness. In fact, no Council member appeared to have much interest in\r\nhearing from the Farmers.<\/p>\r\n
The Farmers Push on the Mayor's Office<\/i><\/b><\/p>\r\n
The band marched out of Council chambers, around the corner, and through the\r\nRomanesque hallway to the Mayor's office. Demanding to speak with the\r\nMayor, Rafael Gonzalez, Associate Director for Mayor Villaraigosa’s Office of\r\nNeighborhood and Community Services, eventually emerged from the maze of offices\r\nbehind the reception desk. He was introduced to the group, including\r\nrepresentatives of LA-ANSWER, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, the\r\nIndependent Action Center, Global Women's Strike, the USC Planners Network, and\r\nthe Westside Greens. <\/p>\r\n
The Farmer's put forward their demands: that the Mayor hold a public meeting\r\nto explain his new plan for greening Los Angeles and respond to the Farmers,\r\nthat the Mayor intercede in the eviction process, and that the City stop harassing\r\nthe Farmers with parking tickets at the Farm. Gonzalez told the assembled\r\ncrowd that they needed to talk to Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood and Community\r\nServices Larry Frank, but that Frank was tied up in meetings. Clearly, the\r\nMayor wasn't going to come out from the labyrinth.<\/p>\r\n
The Mayor's Office Steps Out<\/i><\/b><\/p>\r\n
The Farmers peppered Gonzalez with questions, until he brought Frank to\r\nthem. After some generalities and faced with sharp questioning, Frank\r\nresponded to the Farmers' questions for about half an hour in the 3rd floor\r\nrotunda.<\/p>\r\n
Frank explained that the Mayor's Office was trying to negotiate an option to\r\npurchase the land, to forestall the eviction. The eviction is expected to\r\noccur in seven to fourteen days after a court hearing. The land developer, Ralph Horowitz, has indicated to the Mayor's office his\r\nwillingness to sell the land to the Farmers for $16.35M, more than threefold the\r\n$5.05M he paid for the property when the City sold it to him two years ago.<\/p>\r\n
Horowitz is demanding $50K for a thirty-day option to buy and double that\r\nfor sixty days. According to Frank, the Mayor is seeking to raise the\r\nmoney from the Trust for Public Land.<\/p>\r\n
Thus far, the Farmers have raised $9M, including $6M from an anonymous source\r\nwhich insists that the Farm be kept intact, and much of the rest from the Trust\r\nfor Public Land.<\/p>\r\n
Frank suggested that, \"as a backup,\" that the Farmers settle for\r\n\"four or five acres\" at their current location and small plots\r\nscattered elsewhere throughout the city, and \"you can take this as a\r\nrevolution for open space, and I can get the Mayor to stand side by side with\r\nyou.\" He was met with several loud No's and a wall of\r\nresistance. It was clear that for the Farmers the issue was the farm\r\ncommunity, not token scraps to save face.<\/p>\r\n
Frank showed his frustration when he admitted that the developer was\r\n\"using you guys as hostages\" to hold up the city. When asked\r\nabout using eminent domain to reclaim the property, Frank said that eminent\r\ndomain would require that the city pay Horowitz fair market value and cited\r\nHorowitz's claim that it was worth $25M, a return of five to one on his\r\npurchase price and a loss of $20M to city coffers when the sale was\r\nnegotiated. According to Frank, Horowitz is offering the Farmers a deal at\r\n$16.35M.<\/p>\r\n
If the land is returned to the Farmers, title and administration would be\r\nunder the Trust for Public Land and the Los\r\nAngeles Neighborhood Land Trust.<\/p>\r\n
Where's the Mayor?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\r\n
The Farmers continued to insist that the Mayor appear at a community meeting\r\nto answer their questions and commit to the Farm. Frank claimed that the\r\nMayor has been acting on the matter for six months and had interceded in two\r\nearlier eviction attempts. He noted that the Mayor had assigned Frank to\r\ntry to resolve the disagreement. But Frank also questioned whether the\r\ncity, \"not just the Mayor\" has the \"political will,\" noting that\r\n\"there are many other significant needs the city has.\"<\/p>\r\n
Frank flatly and repeatedly rejected the demands for a community forum with\r\nthe Mayor about the Farm and the Mayor's call for a green Los Angeles (which is\r\nlikely to begin with razing the Farm), citing \"practical concerns.\" He\r\nadded that the Mayor was ready to \"stand side by side with you to raise\r\nmoney.\" When asked about the forum again, Frank snipped, \"The\r\nanswer is no. Not yet.\"<\/p>\r\n
A few minutes later, in an elevator heading to the upper echelons of City\r\nHall, Frank, Gonzalez, and an unidentified woman were clearer: the Farmers\r\njust didn't understand the practical situation, that the politicos who had the\r\nMayor's ear were insisting he not be seen with the Farmers until the Farm was\r\nsecured and Villaraigosa could take credit for rescuing the Farm.<\/p>\r\n
If the Farmers do manage to raise $7.35 M before the options run out, the\r\ntrue heros will probably go unnoticed and unacknowledged, but they probably\r\nwon't care. It will be a late start on the planting season, and they'll be\r\nbusy. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"leslie@radiojustice.net","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"City Council proves fallow, but the Mayor's office has initiated negotiations to save South Central Farm. The Farmers still have a long row to hoe--they need to raise $7.35M to save the Farm.","numcomment":5,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2006\/03\/monitor-emulated.jpg","filesize":"44.0 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2006\/03\/149170.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2006\/03\/monitor-emulated.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2006\/03\/monitor-emulated.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":149171,"heading":"waiting to be heard","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","modified":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/waiting_to_be_heard.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/waiting_to_be_heard.jpg"}},{"id":149172,"heading":"while the Council doesn't listen","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","modified":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/council1sm.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/council1sm.jpg"}},{"id":149173,"heading":"and doesn't listen some more","article":"","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","modified":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/council2sm.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/council2sm.jpg"}},{"id":149174,"heading":"finally meeting with Larry Frank","article":"in the gray suit","author":"Leslie Radford","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","modified":"2006-03-06 01:22:53","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/mtg_w_frank-sm.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2006\/03\/mtg_w_frank-sm.jpg"}}],"comments":[{"id":149189,"heading":"why?","article":"Is anyone else asking themselves why the city will pay 10 to 25 million dollars to buy land that will only help 350 people. This will be a way of taxpayer money for the sake of quieting crybabies unhappy to be be thrown off land they do not even own. Those funds are better suited in a project that help the majority of the city, not a very small group that may not even be legal residents or citizens.\r\n\r\nthink about it.","author":"Justice","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2006-03-06 05:21:19","modified":"2006-03-06 20:41:32","fileurl":""},{"id":149195,"heading":"Farmers will lose :)","article":"The squating farmers will soon learn to buy thier veggies at walmart like the rest of the country. You put up a nice fight but you lost. LOL\r\n\r\n","author":"no land grab","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2006-03-06 06:12:22","modified":"2006-03-06 06:12:22","fileurl":""},{"id":149207,"heading":"JUSTICE?","article":"If we were not pourring tons of money into an illegal war based on lies that profit only oil and defense contracted corporations--the elite and the wealthy--then there would be plenty of money from our taxes to pay for stuff that people need... like a farm with some greens.\r\n\r\nOur city certainly needs more parks or farms, not warehouses.\r\n","author":"JUSTICE?","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2006-03-06 10:52:59","modified":"2006-03-06 10:52:59","fileurl":""},{"id":149247,"heading":"350 people?","article":"It's not 350 people, but 350 families. Also, it's a capital investment, not an annual expenditure, so, you should amortize that number over years.\r\n\r\nI think $16 mil is too high. I looked on yahoo real estate, and the only comparable price was a storefront in Leimert Park. There's no building on the Farm.","author":"johnk","parent_id":149170,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2006-03-06 19:58:23","modified":"2006-03-06 19:58:23","fileurl":""}]}