Urban gardeners evicted from community farm in L.A.
South Central Farm, a 14-acre community garden in a sea of warehouses in urban L.A., will be bulldozed to make way for … a warehouse. The 350 low-income families who for years have been growing food on the plot this week lost their fight to save the farm. Landowner Ralph Horowitz obtained an eviction order, and protestors, who in recent weeks have included celebs Daryl Hannah, Joan Baez, and Julia Butterfly Hill, were forcibly kicked out by the cops. More than 40 people were arrested. Horowitz had been forced to sell the land to the city in the 1980s for a project that never happened. In 1992, the city turned the site over to a food bank, which allowed families to build a community garden there. In 2003, Horowitz settled a lawsuit he brought against the city, which then agreed to sell it back to him for $5 million, and he’s been trying to get rid of the gardeners ever since. The morning of the eviction, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa offered to pay Horowitz his $16 million asking price for the plot, but Horowitz declined. “I just want my land back,” he said. Gotta have your priorities.
