Farmer Joe Hangs On : ‘Tree War,’ Eviction Threats Fade as Cicero Continues to Till Pierce College Site

The attempt to evict Joe Cicero, one of the last farmers in the San Fernando Valley, from the land he leases at Pierce College has dropped away like the needles of an abandoned Christmas tree on a warm spring day.

May finds the tenacious, grizzled farmer busy selling strawberries and other fresh produce at his wooden stand at Victory Boulevard and De Soto Avenue, and preparing to harvest his annual crop of sweet corn. Meanwhile, officials of the Los Angeles Community College District are revising the terms of his lease on their land to avoid future conflicts like the Christmas tree war of 1990.

The heated three-way dispute between Cicero, the college district and Christmas tree magnate Stu Miller centered on the issue of whether Cicero had the legal right to sell Christmas trees on the public land he leases from Pierce College.

The attempt to quash Cicero’s seasonal tree sales, a Valley institution for generations, originated with Miller, who operated about 50 Christmas tree lots around the city of Los Angeles last season, including one on a strip of railroad property directly across the street from Cicero’s lot on the campus in Woodland Hills.

Miller contended that because Cicero’s lease with the college district did not specifically allow Christmas tree sales, the farmer was engaging in unfair business practices.

He filed a lawsuit against Cicero and the district, arguing that other vendors should have been able to bid competitively for the right to sell Christmas trees on the site.

To settle the suit with Miller, district officials promised to stop Cicero’s tree sales. When Cicero ignored their order and opened for business, district officials threatened to evict him.

The battle then moved to court, and Cicero was subsequently ordered to stop selling trees, allowed to resume, again ordered to stop, again allowed to resume and finally ordered again to stop.

The ringing in of the New Year found district officials wringing their hands in frustration and vowing to evict Cicero for all the trouble he had caused them. But six months later, tempers have cooled, Miller’s lawsuit against the district is settled and district officials have taken no steps to remove Cicero.

They now say that for all the trouble he caused at Yuletide, they really have no wish to see Cicero leave the 15 acres he has tilled for the last four years since the closure of the farm his family operated in the Sepulveda Basin in Encino since 1947.

“The district does not want to dissolve the relationship completely with Cicero. The agreement he has--notwithstanding the Christmas tree sales--has been mutually beneficial to both Pierce College, Joe Cicero and the community,” said Martha Torgow, general counsel for the college district.

Pierce College, which began as an agricultural school and still operates a 250-acre college farm, receives valuable advice and maintenance help from Cicero, school farm officials said.

And others said they enjoy the chance to buy fresh produce in an open-air market.

“It’s like a little bit of the country here in the city,” said Alicia Caine of Agoura.

Marsha D’Amico, who was at Cicero Farms on a recent afternoon with her two sons, ages 9 and 4, said: “I think it’s nice for the kids. They have more room to run around than at a supermarket.”

Cicero said he is not surprised that the district has altered its hard-line stance. He said he suspected all along that once the holidays were over, district officials would let bygones be bygones.

“I didn’t really think they’d go through with it,” he said. “Miller wouldn’t take the pressure off, so they had to do everything in their legal power to stop me.”

However, Torgow said the district is writing a new lease for the property to prevent similar spats in the future.

Cicero’s lease is due to expire at the end of the year, and the new lease will be put up for competitive bid.

Cicero said he intends to compete for it and may even voluntarily terminate his lease with the district sooner so that the new lease can be put into effect by December.

The new lease--which is still in the draft stages and has not yet been approved by the college board--will be similar to the one Cicero now holds. The winning bidder will provide equipment and technical assistance to the Pierce College farm, and till the leased college land.

And, oh yeah, whoever agrees to do all these things can also use the plot to sell Christmas trees.