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Steve Lopez making fun of Farmers| Steve Lopez making fun of Farmers |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Jun 18, 2006 at 12:33 PM | |
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Hi Steve I guess I should have written all the other times you wrote something I liked but time gets away so.. I have appreciated all your articles on skid row and your support and sympathy with immigrants and always enjoy your lighter pieces which give some relief to the serious subjects I deal with every day. Making fun of the South Central farm and its "celebrity advocates" doesn't seem the way to go in a discussion of this important community issue. Some of the facts of this issue you seem unaware of...like the fact that millions of dollars have been raised by those in support of the farm. Over 10 million in fact. Horowitz bought the farm back for merely 5 million in a deal that was struck privately at city hall in a closed meeting. The farmers and the Food Bank who with permission were using the land were not given the opportunity to buy the land or told that the land was being offered for sale before the city began meeting with Horowitz. Wouldn't you see that as a problem? Like no bid contracts perhaps? Selling the land to the farmers to serve a community need you'd think would gain a government more points than selling it to a developer who wants the land for flipping for a profit.
Quoting Mark Williams as an uninterested unbiased player in this story is disingenuous. I've heard Williams speak. This guy isn't happy Latinos dominate the farm in South Central which he thinks is a Black domain and the farm is too Latino for him. What does he mean by "real" farmers being somewhere else? Behaving like landed Gentry? Have you seen the farmers or their little plots? And why quote this guy without hearing all he is about? You do not quote farm advocates in your piece or give background on the movement that got people like Hannah involved whether as new aficionados or long time friends. You can be a cynic. But the over $10 million dollars raised to buy the land is not peanuts even for movie stars. Are you as cynical that Horowitz wants 3 times more for what he paid for it in a back room deal with city hall? Why couldn't that deal had been made with the community farmers saving every body's money on lawyers and court fees? You sure miss the point. This was publicly owned land that was opened up to these farmers to use when its original purpose was abandoned. Many years later this public land is sold back to a developer without any public notice. It is not unreasonable that the people of the community would find that unfair and perhaps illegal. It is not as you say; people thinking they could go on anyone's land and farm. They were there farming with permission on city owned land and the city secretly sold the land without offering the community the same option as Horowitz. Kathleen O'Connor Wang |
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