This morning, October 15, City Council is scheduled to vote on Jan Perry's proposal that would release developer Ralph Horowitz of the 2.6-acre green space requirement and make it easier for him to sell the property. And so the future of the 14-acre plot of land, at 41st and Alameda is once again under dispute. Previously the site of the famous South Central Farm, once known as the largest urban farm in the country, if the not world, the land has become the most disputed plot of real-estate in the city. (At the time of its demolition circa 2006, there was a massive community mobilization to save it, and the goal of the farmers to reclaim the land has not died.)
Are members of the City Council colluding with real estate moguls to illegally make bad real estate deals? The original deal to sell the land back to Horowitz was conducted in a closed-session meeting, a meeting which has recently been deemed illegal by a Superior Court judge, as reported in the LA Times. Not only has Horowitz underpaid for the land, he's now seeking to extract more value from it than agreed before. The City should demand the terms of the original agreement. That was the deal negotiated -- a community benefit of green space, the value of which cannot be measured in simple dollars and cents: our city needs more recreational space, particularly in the east side of South Central Los Angeles.
Full statement: Editorial: Jan Perry's Latest Offensive Against the South Central Farm Land (41st & Alameda) by LA Indymedia Collective
BREAKING: City Council Votes Unanimously Against South Central Farmers | Report Back: City Council Unanimously Supports "Turning Land into Cash" by RP | Video: LA City Council Votes for Warehouse At South Central Farm Site by wsrcreative
Background: (video) Justicia Tierra Y Libertad Large by altla04 | Jan Perry's Attempt to Remove Green Space Requirement Gains Steam | Jan Perry Proposes Waiver of Green Space Requirement for South Central Farm Land by RP
Archival: Never Forever 21: Round 3 | Joan Baez, Julia Butterfly & John Quigley Begin Tree Sit at South Central Farm by Jennifer Morris and Christina Aanestad | Encampment at the Farm -- Day 8 by LA-IMC, A, and Free Radio Santa Cruz | Protests growing at Farm, activists call for more support | BULLDOZER RETURNS TO FARM, Direct Action Disables Bulldozer
Editorial: Jan Perry's Latest Offensive Against the South Central Farm Land (41st & Alameda)