The Garden is a 2008 documentary that was nominated for an Academy Award. It is an absolutely amazing film that covers the story of the South Central Farmers, located in South Los Angeles, CA.
This group of about 350 farmers operated the largest urban farm in the country, transforming it from a space filled with junk to a productive community garden, from 1994-2006.
So why were they kicked out?
The land was originally taken by the city under eminent domain to be used for the Los Angeles City Energy Recovery Project (LANCER). However, after a large amount of community opposition the project was abandoned. Afterwards, the city sold the property to the L.A. Harbor Department.
In July 1994 the Harbor Department granted a revocable permit to the L.A. Regional Food Bank , which is a private, nonprofit food-distribution network housed across the street from the Lancer incinerator site – to "occupy and use the site as a community garden". So the farmers began their work and everything was peachy.Then, in 2001, Ralph Horowitz, a part owner in the former property sued the City for breach of contract, for failure to honor the original right of repurchase. The city ended up selling the property back to Horowitz, through a private deal (sketchy), for a nice price of $5,000,000.
Well, the owner of the land, Horowitz, issued an eviction notice to the farmers in 2004 after they had been farming the land for 10 years. The farmers filed a lawsuit stating that the selling of the land was invalid, and the LA County Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order and later a preliminary injunction halting development of the property until the lawsuit could be settled. Sadly, the farmers lost the lawsuit and the court raised the injunction, unfortunately allowing Horowitz to proceed.
Horowitz's plan was to sell the land for $16.3 million dollars, more than three times the amount he paid for it (greedy much?). He told the farmers that if they could pay for the land, he would sell it to them for that price. So with the help and support of celebrities (such as: Danny Glover, Leonardo DiCaprio, Willie Nelson, Daryl Hannah, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Alicia Silverstone) the farmers began raising money.
They successfully raised over $6 million dollars. They seemed to be losing hope, but as the eviction date neared the Annenberg Foundation donated the rest of the money.
They did it! They successfully raised $16.3 million dollars to save the garden!
However, Horowitz cheated them. He refused to sell them the property,
stating that he never thought they would be able to raise the money, and that he would never sell it simply because he did not like the farmers.
Subsequently, the farm was bulldozed without care.
and after meeting the request of Horowitz, they were still kicked out.
What kind of horrendous, horrible, careless person would do that?
The farmers were giving a small amount of land to begin building another
farm, but it does not make up for the corrupt and unjust treatment they
received from the city and Horowitz.
The saddest part of this story is that the land that was bulldozed has remained untouched and unused since the eviction day. What was done is wrong. This type of urban farming is what needs to be done and what should be celebrated, not destroyed.
What a waste.
"Why don't we pay more attention to who our farmers are? We would never be as careless choosing an auto mechanic or babysitter as we are about who grows our food."
— Michael Pollan
