Opinion: Daryl Hannah Sitting in a Tree...
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The biggest waves in the LA blogosphere are being created by the eviction and arrest of farmers and protesters at an urban farm in South Central Los Angeles yesterday (Read the Times editorial here):
On the pro-farmer side, Green Party organizer Linda Piera-Avila writes (via a posting by Politics in the Zeros’ Linda Taylor) that:
The news keeps reporting Horowitz’ side, but very little mention of the Farmers’ side - that the land was sold out from under them in a back room deal three years ago [and] the money to buy the farm was raised, but he refused to sell to the Farmers because he “doesn’t believe in the cause.” I guess that means he doesn’t eat. [...] My heart is heavy this morning as I reflect on what has been lost and the foolishness of the City of L.A. in not nuturing [sic] this gem, this oasis in the midst of urban grit and greed. All the players’ excuses and disclaimers only serve to confirm the disease of our dominant culture and the idolatry of private property rights to the exclusion of the commons and human need.
Tony Pierce at the LAist takes a more realist tack:
This is LA. If you don’t have the paperwork that says you own the land, and if you don’t have a team of mighty lawyers to present that paperwork, you should probably feel fortunate that you were able to farm that land rent-free for the last 14 years.
Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy is more anti-protestors, writing that they did more harm than good:
If they get their way, they might be able to save this particular garden. But if landowners such as Ralph Horowitz learn that once you let people garden on your property, you in effect lose your rights and can never remove the garden, they are likely to refuse to allow the creation of urban gardens on their land in the first place.
Mayor Sam largely agrees and also directs culpability to those other than Horowitz:
I agree that Horowitz has the right to do with his property as he wishes. The real villians here are the City, who bought the property through eminent domain back in the 80s, and then sold it back to Horowitz for $5 million (the property is now said to be worth $16 million). The other villians are the political organizers who sold the farmers a bill of goods in representing them. It was their behaivor [sic] and tactics that made a deal with Horowitz impossible.