The Farm Is Gone
Tuesday morning, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies evicted farmers squatting on a 14 acre property in South Central that had been used for several years as a community garden.Bulldozers cleared a path through the fruits and vegetables to allow the deputies to enter. 44 people were arrested over a seven hour period.
Protestors chained themselves to picnic tables. Actress Daryl Hannah and famed tree-sitter John Quigley were plucked from the top of a walnut tree on the property and arrested.
Mayor Villaraigosa said "Today's events are unfortunate, disheartening and unnecessary." However, landowner Ralph Horowitz told television reporters "Even if they (the farmers) raised 100 million dollars, this group could not buy this property. It's not about money. It's about I don't like their cause and I don't like their conduct. So there's no price I would sell it to them for.''
I agree that Horowitz has the right to do with his property as he wishes. The real villians here are the City, who bought the property through eminent domain back in the 80s, and then sold it back to Horowitz for $5 million (the property is now said to be worth $16 million). The other villians are the political organizers who sold the farmers a bill of goods in representing them. It was their behaivor and tactics that made a deal with Horowitz impossible.
The City goes on. Horowitz makes a mint. And the radical, leftist organizers move on to their next cause. But the poor folks from the neighborhood are left holding the bag. Nice.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 6/14/2006 12:05:00 AM
45 Comments:
Give me a break. I wish I could have my own urban garden/farm on land owned and paid for by somebody else. The owner of this property was unfairly portrayed as greedy and unreasonable. To Daryl Hannah and the other celebrities, why didn't you pool your $$$$$, buy the property, and donate it?
Villargrosa has shown his true colors as an unabashed communist with the thin fig leaf of being reasonable civic leader. If you look at the so called terms he demanded it was way below market value and by no means guaranteed.
Villargosa's weasily waffling in the Cesspool de Pueblo charter school is even worse particularly when the school is his former city council district.
Such disingenous tactics are only discrediting the mayor and the folks he sides with.
Although i was behind their cause. I didn't like thier behavior , the leaders , who were pushing these people to act like they did.
I wasn't treated well when they came to see Jan Perry while I was resting in her office lobby after a council meeting , getting water, so I could rest before walking home like I do.
One african american leader after the harrassment of Jan Perry in her office , came over to me and looked at me and said What!!!!
The way you do when challenging someone to a fight.
And even after this I still supported their cause.
I don't blame HOrowitz in saying he didn't like their behavior.
You can't force someone to do anything.
So I believe that it is about HOrowitz's principle.
Andof course Occam's Razor , the simplest answer.
If he let the sell go through toi the farmers it could set a prrecedent for other squatters and in his circle of property owners they wouldn't be too happy with him.
Didn't you read Mayor Sam's article?? The way the property was purchased was wrong from the beginning. Then he WAS greedy and unreasonable. Right. He can do anything he wants. The City should have never sold it back to him at below market value and he, as a citizen should not be reneging on business deals because he doesn't like the "behavior" of the farmers. They got screwed by him and the City.
I feel so bad for the farmers.
dgarzila,
they were fighting for their lives and families and food. give em a break.
Old Mister Buck wrote:
¡Hay cabrón! That was my favorite avocado tree! ¿Por que?
Perhaps if the Reds had not played the Jew-baiting "Zionista" card, Seňor Horowitz might have been more charitable toward the NLF de South LA.
P.S. Did you know Che was a loser? Fidel was hatin' on Che. True dat!Fidel had a fiesta when Che screwed up so bad he got himself killed.
I met the farmers , they were humble , it was their leaders who made it hard on people such as myself to even want to go out to the farm .
But i overlooked their leaders behavior and still supported them.
When Mexico government wanted to take over land from a whole town of farmers those farmers , blocked the highways into Mexico City and kidnapped the politicians and threatened to burn some of them alive.
Is that what you want to happen here in the United States?
I am just stating that .
Right now it is so frustrating , on one hand you want the people to obey the law in this instance , but when it comes to illegal immigration , the seperation of families prevents me from supporting the enforcement of those laws , and now with the fight over property rights I want those laws enforced.
I was hoping that , in this instance both groups would come to a mutual understanding , but it didn't happen . ANd I bet it was because of the attitude of those people who were leading these farmers . I beleive Horowitz.
Sorry.
But it still doesn't make it right for the farmers to have been evicted after so long.
And I do agree that this farm was feeding these people healthy foods.
If I was a billionaire maybe. But I beleive Horowitz would have not sold in any case.
He may have been too afraid of his developer peers. He would have become a pariah.
Horowitz is already a pariah. Everybody, including his so called "friends" and his partners hate him, with good reason.
There is no reason to blame Antonio. First of all Ralph owned the property and the city (under Hahn) tried to take it by emminent domain. Ralph negotiated a deal (with Hahn) to sell, but to have the right to buy it back if they did not use it for the stated purpose.
They didn't use it for the stated purpose and he got to buy it back. That was not Antonio's deal; blame Hahn.
Then, the leaders of the simple farmers got nasty and tgried cehap labor tactics. Ever hear the expression, "Don't get in a pissing match with a skunk"?
Well, that's exactly what they did; Ralph is a super-skunk.
Notice any analogy between them "demanding" their non-existent rights and the recent marches by illegal immigrants "demanding" amnesty? Watch for the same result.
That kind of behavior, seeking to cow the rightful, legal owners results in people getting their hair up and gets usually just the opposite result sought.
But here's the truth; Ralph is a penurious dick, and he'd sell it in a New York Second if they offered $100 Million. He'd sell it to Bin Laden or Adolph Hitler for $100 Million. This is just a negotiating strategy by him as well.
So, stop blaming Antonio, who couldn't do anything but try to get a foundation to fund it. He tried; Ralph raised the price and made it too hard a deal.
So, a pox on both Ralph and the farmers' leaders.
I hope they are all evicted and no one offers Ralph anything for it and they find water pollution that costs Ralph $17 Million to fix.
Antonio could do something and he did. He made promises. He took his kid down to the farm, and promised that he would resolve the issue. He gave them false hope then he runs and hides. What a coward. Just like everybody else he met, he told them what they wanted to hear and they worshipped him as a hero. Now where is he? But the farmers are as much to blame for this. Why did they believe this lying sack of shit. I guess they now know how one of Antonio's one nighters feels. They took it up the ass from both Horowitz and Antonio. At least Horowitz gave them 3 years of free rent. What did Antonio give them? Nothing but false hope. But hey, what did Antonio get, another 30 votes? What a whore!
Fucking mickey mouse organizers. They couldn't lead a good fight if their lives depended on it. And the South Central Farmers are NOT their lives, they will move on to the next cause, just like they moved on after Katrina.
They could learn something from LA labor, they can at least stand up to and beat a right wing nutcase governor.
If it weren't for the activist support committee increasing the profile of the Farm, and getting eco-activists interested, the bulk of the money wouldn't have shown up. They were the "bad activists" that opened the possibility for the "good activists" (Annenberg) to step in as 11th hour angels.
The fact is, the poor people of South Central don't have the kind of connections to make it an issue. They lack the fearless audacity of the radical kids, or the name recognition of eco celebs. The radicals, largely unnamed people of color, by the way, did a lot of hard work to make a big stink about the Farm. They put the issue on the alternative media radar. Then the celebs made it mainstream.
Unfortunately, this is how it has to happen, because the "greens" in the City aren't willing to stand up to aggressive developers. The media ignore the poor, except in the most superficial sound bites. The farm itself failed to do effective community organizing to threaten Jan Perry's seat.
"Gotta go, gotta go"
AV trying to spin this. How much has Horowitz given to his campaign?
I used to drive by that farm every day in the 80's and 90's. I used to wonder "who owns that property". It's nice to have that there, but it's the owners property to do whatever he wants to with it.
Did you guys actually think that Antonio would go against a Jew? Every elected position he hs had he ha left to a Jew instead of a Latino - except Huizar, who was owned by Jews anyway. Just look at his "braintrust". Antonio has always and will always put Jews before Latinos.
You gotta read lawekly.com story on this. This is the only outlet that gives the true inside on the organizers. They were a bunch of radicals who exploited this issue. It states that many of the farmers left because the organizers threatened them and now they're over at 111th & Avalon on another farm. I'm glad Horwitz finally came out in the media on the phone giving his side. I agree the organizers ruined this cause with their conduct. It turned off a lot of people. Whenever they went to council Fernando Flores would yell at city council members and stated there would be violence. Sadly 500,000 people marched and not one arrest yet yesterday there were over 30. Those out of work actors used the farmers for their own publicity.
So why did Antonio cave in to these "organizers"? Did it bring back memories of when he used to be an organizer for "Sin Fronteras" - without borders? Or did these hooligans scare the shit our of him, they way he and the Rodriguez Brothers used to threaten and bully those who oposed them. Anyhting for a vote - that's Antonio.
My plants will die.
Can we look at the fact? Horowitz is the rightful owner of the land. As a rightful owner, he should be able to do whatever he wants with HIS land. If I have someone living in my house illegally, I would want them evicted as well. Now, if the city wants this land for the farmers, they should pay a price that Horowitz will accept. Last I checked, this country is still not Communist country where governement can just take land from anyone they want.
I feel sad for the poor who were led to believe that they had a legitimate claim to that land. Where did they get that idea?
The true believers will never cease in their efforts to topple this oppressive capitalist society.
The influx of millions of poor and uneducated to this country has created fertile ground for the Leninist/Maoist/Anarchist alliance to organize. These people are the seeds of the revolution.
since i come to work everyday, sit here for 9, 10, 11 and sometime 12+ hours, can i claim the land that my job is on since i'm here so much?
That's what the farmers did.
9:25
Sorry, only if you are a bronze brother Mechista:
From the Plan:
Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gabacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán.
Pancho caved because he knows his political future is in the third world.
Freaking Liberals. If they had the money to purchase the farm from the owner this would all be solved. All this asshole is going to do is sell it back to AV for $30M like AV's pal Meurelo.
I think the land owner said it best:
"Where does this kind of 'you owe me' mentality end? How good is that for America? What they should have said to the taxpayers of LA and to me is, 'This is a gracious country. Thank you for letting us have our garden here, but we realize our time is up. We've had our 14 years.'"
Trusting liberals to run our country? Scary thoughts!
why is it that not one real mexican from mexico talks about "ASSTLAN" yet we have all these loosers here in Los Angeles talking about some made up story. I wish all these morons with identity crisis would wake up and realize they are in a country that allows them this freedom to act like Pendejos. hey mechistas, las mamadas son un cuarto abajo del ombligo
9:01 AM --
Hey idiot, although we're a capitalist nation, we do have laws that let the government take any piece of land. How else would you have a chance to watch the Dodgers live? Click here to educate yourself a little.
armando navajas --
Spot on brother, spot on. Ya esta que me lleva la ching*** con estos pochitos cagados.
The Mexicans always want to have it their way. If you don't buy their stinking shit, they call you names.
Well you Princes of Tenochitlan. sons of the Fifth Sun, there is a good reason why it's called Asstlan. And we're not buying it.
Talk about sucking cock. Did you know that the fastest growing AIDS population is the immigrant Latino population?
Despite all the Macho bluster, theres a strong undercurrent of bi-sexual activity in that community. The macho men take the virus home to their wives and girlfriends. That's why they always project these homo-erotic activities onto those they wish to insult.
Hey Armando,
The word is "losers" not "loosers".
"Loosers" is what you call Mexicans that have been taking it where the sun don't shine.
Check your Nahuatl dictionary next time.
When did Steve Lopez become a mouth piece for the privelege class?
It seems that someone goes through great pains to distinguish Steve Lopez as having Spanish decent and not Mexican decent as if his surname , being of Spanish origins , needs to make that distinction.
Why is it so important to distinguish himself from Mexicans, is there something wrong with Mexicans? And who was it that made it so painstakingly important to make that distinction?
My observations are that there is something inherently racist in this effort to distinguish his ancestry as being Spanish and not Mexican.
So why is Steve Lopez the great accountability maker? Who is holding him accountable?
I am not a mexican I am spanish
Read the bio at that URL to see what I am talking about.
Maybe he enbraces his european DNA.
Why aren't these squatters being deported?????
Mr. Horowitz deserves a medal for being too good to these scumbags. Let this be a lesson to America....these people are nothing more than ungrateful, lying, cheating, filthy dirty pieces of garbage.
They make me want to puke!!!!
And deport that shitbag Villaraigosa and his band of robbers and gangsters.
I don't ever want to know anyone like 11:07. You are a horrible, despicable person.
You make me vomit.
None of you who are praising Ralph Whore - o-witz are familiar with this entire story. No way in hell..
No person has a right to take another's property for his own use.
The rightful owner held title.
The communists and their sympathizers wanted to take the property unlawfully.
If the city had built the trash incinerator as it had planned originally, the city would have a way to dispose of tons of trash instead of an ugly situation.
1:05,
Maybe you should enlighten us a bit more about this situation if we don't know the whole story? What is it from this story that we're missing?
You should know that Horowitz got the land at a cheaper rate than it was going for AFTER not taking the City's offer at first.
You should know that HE didn't do anything out of the "goodness of his heart ". The City did it out of the goodness of their heart. Hard to believe huh?
You should know that they are NOT all illegal immigrants.
You should know that Horowitz entered into an oral agreement on the price of the land and then once the farmers raised it... he said he wouldn't sell to them. Nice guy.
Stop pretending like poor Mr. Horowitz has owned this piece of property for all of these years, kindly allowing the "illegals" to farm there and then when he tried to do "what he wanted with his own property", was protested by the farmers. What a crock.
What we really need is some more storage space! Oh yeah... because we don't have enough of them. Nice job Ira, but you've overdone it on the storage spaces now. That is your job, right Mr. Handelman? Now CD 7 and CD 12 have them on every freaking corner. They just keep popping up all over the place. As I travel through there on my weekly route, I wonder what the hell those people are stockpiling that they need all of that extra storage for.
If you watch the television news, you see ONLY the one bad person at the entire demonstration. But they show it to you over and over and over and over to make it seem like it was all of the farmers.
Any piece of property will be developed to maximize its utility. If zoning allowed it and someone thought they could make money there, they would build condos.
Look at Lincoln Heights. In an industrial area someone put up a huge development. (Who might that be? I'll bet there are readers here that can I.D. the developer).
BTW,if those communists had dissed me, I would have screwed them too.
1:05
Let me try to understand here.
"You should know that Horowitz got the land at a cheaper rate than it was going for AFTER not taking the City's offer at first."
Wasn't it true that the City took his land in the first place for $4.8m through eminent domain and was going to use it for building a trash incenarator? After citizens rejected the plan, they turned the land into a garden. Horowitz sued to get it back because it was not used as what it was supposed to. So he bought it back for $5m. The city did it out of the goodness of their heart? I don't think so. I think they're covering their ass because they took his land to build something and they didnt.
"You should know that they are NOT all illegal immigrants."
What does this have to do with anything? I never mentioned anything about illegal immigrants. Those farmers are farming on land they do not own and it's right they get evicted.
"You should know that Horowitz entered into an oral agreement on the price of the land and then once the farmers raised it... he said he wouldn't sell to them. Nice guy."
He did have an agreement to sell the land back to the city if they can come up with $10m by May 22, 2006. They failed to do so, thus that agreement is no longer in effect. And since when is oral agreement translate to a legal agreement?
Are there anything else you want to add or let us know that we aren't awared already?
I'm way out of this (another city) but I cared about this story and I'm really sad it's turning out this way. And the reason somebody like me in another city cares about this story is the farm and the tree and the people and the strange wonderfulness of those things coming together in the middle of bloated concrete LA. I'm somebody who dreads driving through LA because the whole place is paved and miserable. Money and law failed that place.
Before we declared ourselves a country and made our constitution and laws, we said hell to the British and told the world why: "We hold these truths to be self-evident." Self-evident! Those walnut trees are self-evident. Those 14 acres of cared-for plants are self-evident. Those dollar-poor spirit-rich people making the wasteland bloom are self-evident. Guess what, life is self-evident. If money and law trump life and you have no problem bulldozing it, that's a self-evident shame. If grace happens, some lucky/blessed/rich thing comes to you that you didn't plan or buy, and you bulldoze it because you didn't plan or buy it, that's a self-evident shame.
We all fail. Were the farmers insulting to Mr. Horowitz? Was Mr. Horowitz mean and spiteful? Did the mayor fail the opportunity of bringing about a wise solution? Too bad. So sad. LA, you had something in that farm, in that situation, and you blew it. I'm grieving.
2:22
Don't be so sad. Invite the farmers to your land in your city.
It's self-evident.
Be sad. I am too. I'm glad someone from another city is sad with us. I wish I had the land to offer the farmers.
You too can buy the land from Mr. Horowitz, then offer your land to the farmers. Then you won't be so sad. You just have to keep paying the mortgage bill every month to keep the free riding farmers happy.
I blame all those celebrity "activist"
people with all the fake tears and false hopes they spill upon this city.
Do you think any of them can walk through Skid Row alone? They live behind fences in gated streets because they FEAR US. Their sympathy was a facade. They milked this tragedy for all the publicity it was worth and then abondoned the farm for other "pet" causes like Sudan, Indonesia,Myanmar... Don't let it happen again, form a real community movement with business leaders, clergy, residents with real interest and integrity for preserving a local landmark.
Tezozomoc and Rufina Juarez---the so-called organizers f---cked things up royally. They are NOT organizers, but despotic so called leaders that work for corporate america. They are such a joke! Instead of bringing people together, they divided eveyone. Supporters and some farmers. Where is the money Rufina Juarez and Tezo collected from the poor farmers? Laura Chick should conduct an audit.
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