South Central Farm: Deadline Looming
The South Central Farm — thought to be the largest urban community garden in the United States and a rare greenspace in a park-poor, highly industrialized, low-income community of color — faces imminent destruction.
Earlier in the spring, the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land negotiated a deal to buy the land from private owner Ralph Horowitz for permanent public community-garden use — if they could raise approximately $16 million in 45 days, with a deadline of May 22. Yesterday, TPL’s Bob Reid said that while he has been “very encouraged” by the show of support from a diverse group of supporters across the United States, the total raised to date is around $6 million. Unless another $10 million comes through between now and 5 p.m. Monday, the deal is off — in which case the property owner is expected to proceed with evictions, and the farm will be destroyed to convert the property for commercial/industrial use.
This 14-acre plot of land has been the site of a long series of property-rights, land-use, and environmental-justice struggles since the city seized it from Horowitz, et al., via eminent domain in the early 1980s for development of a trash-to-energy incinerator. In an early environmental-justice struggle, the community organized against the incinerator project, which the city eventually terminated, and for the last two decades the land has been contested in the courts and on the streets. All the while, approximately 350 low-income families have worked the land as a community garden to feed themselves and their families, creating a rare greenspace in a highly industrialized neighborhood.
That rare greenspace will likely be destroyed soon if an additional $10 million is not raised this weekend.
This evening in LA, Ron Kovic will be leading a spiritual procession from Wilshire and Western to the mayor’s Hancock Park residence in support of the farm. For more information, visit the South Central Farmers’ Web site .
To read more about this, see coverage in Clamor, The NewStandard , Counterpunch , and, via your search engines, lots of other places …
For information on how to make a donation, join this afternoon’s march to the mayor’s office, support what may be the last SC Farm farmers’ market, etc., visit the SC Farmers’ site.