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Come
to Green Party teach-in on South Central Farm,
Monday, February 28th "Green LA with Justice"
video
- LA Green Party endorses campaign to save
the
South Central Farm. (video - LA Independent
Media Center)
"Greens
Support South Central Farmers", by Jason Neville
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Green Party of Los Angeles County
Resolution in support of the
South Central Farmers
of Los Angeles
 WHEREAS, the South
Central Farmers, an organization of approximately 350
Meso-American families who farm a 14-acre piece of land located
at 41st and Alameda Ave. in Los Angeles is threatened with
seizure and removal from their land by the City of Los Angeles
and a "strip-mall" private developer;
AND WHEREAS, all these families and the local community depend
heavily on their approximately 900 square foot plot of this
land to grow food to feed themselves; many of the farmers who
have plots at this urban farm have been working continuously
there for more than 13 years; and the 14-acre farm in the middle
of South Central Los Angeles is one of the largest of its type
in the nation and is well known for being a productive and
beneficial use of open green space in a densely populated urban
metropolis;
AND
WHEREAS, unbeknownst to the members of the South Central
Farmers, in 2003 the City of Los Angeles, which held title
to the urban farm property, entered into secret negotiations
to sell the property to a "strip-mall" private developer. The
City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, was simultaneously advocating
for development of the urban farm and litigating against the
real estate developer. While Judge W. Crispo had ruled 3 times
against Ralph Horowitz, real estate developer, the city attorney
recommended that the land be sold back to Horowitz. It was
later discovered that the Horowitz interest made several thousand
dollar contribution to Mr. Delgadillo's campaign. In October
2003, the farmers learned for the first time that the City,
ignoring completely their wishes and their ability to raise
public awareness and gather support for continued use of the
property as an urban farm, was about to transfer title to a
private party. The farmers mobilized immediately to prevent
the sale, but the City kept them in the dark and allowed the
sale to go through. In selling the property, the City wasted
taxpayer money because the farmers, if they been given proper
notice, would have been able to find a benefactor interested
in seeing that the land remain as an urban farm;
AND WHEREAS, the City claims that it had to sell the property
because the former owner had sued it, ignoring the fact that
the business had no legal standing to sue because it had never
incorporated or filed a fictitious business name in the State
of California and that the basis for the former owner's lawsuit
was weak and speculative;
AND WHEREAS, The Los Angeles City Charter allows the City
to sell real property it determines that it no longer needs.
Before selling property it no longer needs, the City must comply
with various procedures designed to ensure that the City does
not squander resources by selling property it needs. The intent
of the Charter is that the City sell only property it no longer
needs. The City's sale of the garden property to the Horowitz
interests did not comply with the procedures required for sale
of property no longer needed by the City;
AND WHEREAS, the South Central Farmers are raising crops not
normally available in Los Angeles, including plants, herbs
used in traditional medicine, trees and vegetables indigenous
to Meso-America.
THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Green Party of Los Angeles
County calls upon the City of Los Angeles to nullify the sale
of the 14-acre urban farm and cease and desist from attempting
to dispossess the South Central Farmers and that the City agree
in principle to transfer the formal ownership of the land in
question to a non-profit cooperative trust to be administered
by and for the South Central Farmers.
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