UPDATES BELOW including news that the landowner set a price, then balked when the Annenberg Fondation offered to meet it.
Looks like all those flyovers by L.A. County Sheriff's choppers were recon missions:
Sheriff's deputies began evictingevicted the South Central Farmers at around dawn this morning from the 13-acre industrial lot where they've built a farm over the past 14 years - and been squatting since the city sold the land in 2003.
Arrests have been made, bulldozers are in position flattening the crops, and the eviction is continuing at this hour, Fernando Flores reports on the farm's web site:
The South Central Farm is under siege. If you live in LA or anywhere near there please make your way to the farm to keep the protesters and farmers safe.
The immediate area around the Farm has been blocked off by the authorities limiting access to the site. Spontaneous rallies of support have sprouted on these perimeters with crowds increasing in size as the morning passes. Protesters still inside the Farm are being physically removed and arrested.
The easiest access is to come from the South side of the farm coming north on Alameda or to head east towards the Farm on 41st or any other streets that run east/west bound.
Once again, this is the Red Alert! The Sheriffs have begun and are carrying out the eviction! Mobilize as many people as you come to continue to protest this oppressive action
Arrests have already been made.
It is still unconfirmed but there are also reports that a protester was carried out on a stretche.
Bulldozer positioned nearby have began breaking through the fences.
Once again, please converge to the Farm.
41st Street and Long Beach Ave. Los Angeles, CA
Thank you.
CBS-2 reports about 50 deputies are carrying out the eviction while LAPD officers are handling crowd control on streets around the farm at 41st and Alameda. All of LAPD is on tactical alert.
The rest of the South Central Farmers web site looks as though the sheriffs caught them napping: They had planned asking people to put more pressure on Mayor Villaraigosa and beg for more time from owner Ralph Horowitz - who has been pressing for eviction for years so that he can build warehouses on his land.
And their calendar lists yet another nightly candlelight vigil for tonight.
The farm's blog's latest post is just a recipe (at the moment) and its second-latest (June 5) seems to be overly confident:
There seems to be several reasons why the sheriff's won't be moving in anytime soon to evict us forcibly. These are all guesses at this point but I think they're fairly valid reasons as to why the LAPD is thinking twice about coming here to begin tearing down this community and arrest activists.
1. Media buzz: we're still getting good local media. It even was a national story for a moment and this kind of attention keeps the PD at bay. I doubt they'll come down here in riot gear when a bunch of celebs are visiting with the farmers and community members.
2. Sheriff's re-election on Tuesday: the local sheriff and LAPD chief are up for re-election in about 72 hours...thats a gamble they don't want to mess with ...
Well, Baca was re-elected pretty handily. I'm betting they did hold off until after the election.
Meanwhile, still no hint on the Annenberg Foundation site about what financial support they may or may not have offered to help buy the farm site from owner Ralph Horowitz,
If you were on scene for the eviction, please post what you saw in comments below.
UPDATE: The Times reports that Darryl Hannah and John Quigley had chained themselves to a tree, while others locked arms around a cement-filled oil drum.
About 14 people remained on the property at 9 a.m., according to Times reporter Hector Becerra, who recounts this cellphone interview with Hannah:
Hannah said she was sleeping in her tent when the Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrived. Quigley alerted her to the raid, and she raced up the tree in about a minute.
"I felt an extreme sense of urgency. Not only did I have to climb up the tree, I had to pull up the rope behind me so they could not follow me," Hannah said in a cellphone interview with The Times from atop the tree.
She vowed to stay up there until deputies forced her down.
LAIndymedia is trying to organize a car-based protest: They're encouraging everyone to drive badly downtown to create gridlock:
GOOD STRATEGY NOW IS TO DRIVE IN DOWNTOWN LA DURING MORNING RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC, AND AGAIN THIS P.M. RUSH HOUR, CAUSE GRIDLOCK. HONK HORNS IN PROTEST. ALSO THOSE IN AREA OF FARM CAUSE GRIDLOCK ON SURFACE STREETS DURING MORNING AND AFTERNOON RUSH HOUR E.G. VERNON AT LONG BEACH, ALAMEDA BLVDS. CAUSE GRIDLOCK.
LATER IN EVEING PROTEST AT TIO--TACO "MAYOR" VILLARAGOSA'S HOME IN HANCOCK PARK WITH NOISY HORN HONKING DEMO AROUND BLOCKS AROUND HIS UPPPER-CLASS HOOD
11:32 a.m.: KillRadio has someone on scene now describing the action: bulldozers in motion, people blocking the street, heavy news media presence. All have been told that if they stop walking near the farm, they can be arrested, the unidentified woman says. Not clear what the charges would be.
1:00 p.m.: KFWB reported the final tally: 43 arrests, and Darryl Hannah and John Quigley were removed from the tree they had chained themselves to, and taken away on charges of trespassing.
1:50 p.m.: AP has it at 120 deputies and at least 39 arrests - plus, they managed to snag an interview with Horowitz:
Horowitz noted that the farmers were squatting on land zoned for warehouses and factories. The landowner said in a telephone interview that he was paying $25,000 to $30,000 a month in mortgage and other land costs.
"We've made, in the last three years, enough of a donation to those farmers," he said. "I just want my land back."
Horowitz accused the farmers of ingratitude, saying they had sued him and their supporters had picketed his home and office.
"I feel that the gardeners have been on the land for 14 years, almost 15 years for free. After 15 years, you say thank you," he said.
Horowitz also said the city had provided other locations for the gardeners, and most had left. In a statement, City Councilwoman Jan Perry also said many gardeners had moved to new garden sites.
3:16 p.m. (via LAObserved): Mayor Villaraigosa held a press conference that appears to lay responsibility for the finality of the eviction squarely on the shoulders of developer Ralph Horowitz.
He says that Horowitz put a $16-million price tag on the land - then refused to sell when the Annenberg Foundation offered to buy it on behalf of the Trust for Public Lands and pay the full amount:
REMARKS BY MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA REGARDING THE SOUTH CENTRAL URBAN FARM
As you know, this morning Sheriff's deputies began evicting farmers and activists at the South Central Farm.
Today's evictions are unfortunate and come at the end of a tumultuous turn of events that at times was not always discussed in public due to the nature of real estate negotiations and the discussions that various parties were having with the property owner.
In light of today's events and the fact that it appears that the owner will not accept a proposal that meets his asking price of $16 million - I felt it was important to brief you today.
Today's events are unfortunate, disheartening and unnecessary. After years of disagreement over this property we had all hoped for a better outcome.
I'd like to be clear about what has transpired.
The property owner asked for $16 million * and last week, after 10 months of negotiations and efforts by my staff and others from the Trust for Public Land and the Annenberg Foundation * a proposal for a full-price, $16 million purchase was made by the Annenberg Foundation to the property owner.
The foundation expressed a clear, sincere interest and commitment by its trustees to acquire the property for $16 million dollars.
This morning, in a conversation with the property owner I reiterated my confidence in and support for the Annenberg purchase. Even after meeting his asking price, Mr. Horowitz told me that he would not sell the property to the Trust for Public Lands and the Annenberg Foundation.
Everyone involved who cares about this garden and who cares about the farmers who have built an oasis in a sea of industry and concrete has done everything possible to meet the property owner's demands. First it was about price, well*. we met his price. He set the bar very high and we met it.
Now the bar has been moved.
I understand a businessman's need to invest and make a profit. I also have a high respect for and will defend property rights. That is the spirit under which we all operated when trying to negotiate and resolve this issue.
But I also believe that we are called upon by a sense of community and civic duty to do the just and right thing. I had hoped that the landowner would have heeded that call.
For those who say that there is no plot of land for urban farming in South LA, you should know that the City will continue plans to relocate farmers to an alternate 7.8 acre site, which has the capacity to house 200 garden plots. Already, 30 farmers have been allowed to begin cultivating the land located at 111th St & Avalon.
We want to make sure the farmers are properly relocated. In addition, there are about 100 more plots located around the City that we have identified for community gardens.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 09:15 AM
