The announcement is on the front page of SouthCentralFarmers.com and here’s the tip we just got (Thanks Yosi):
URGENT BREAKING NEWS SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS EVICTION HAPPENING NOW 5 A.M. SQUADRON OF HELICOPTERS & SQUAD CARS CAME TO EVICT FARMERS & PEACEFUL SUPPORTERS
NOW WHAT: Eviction of South Central Farmers and Supporters Darryl Hannah and John Quigley still inside the property, other peaceful protestors conducting nonviolent civil disobedience. WHERE: South Central Farm 4000 S. Long Beach Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90058 (Media enter on 40th Pl. through Long Beach Ave. Park on 41st )
WHY: For over three weeks supporters have been onsite at the South Central Farm, the nations largest urban farm, which serves as a 14-acre oasis in the middle of L.A.s concrete jungle. This 14-year-old community gem functions as an active farm for more than 350 families and fills a local need for fresh produce, green space and a safe haven in a poverty-stricken region of Los Angeles. The farmers, community volunteers and celebrity supporters are in a daily state of peril anxiously awaiting the farms fate. “The South Central Farm is a gem in the Los Angeles landscape. It supplies local communities with fresh, organic produce, gives children a safe environment to play and learn in, and provides a successful example of urban sustainability for the rest of the world to follow” – Dr. Joseph Hurwitz, Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Isaiah
CALL ANYONE YOU KNOW IN LA, MAKE SURE THEY CAN GET OUT THERE AND PROTECT THE FARM! **PASS IT ON**
I also just got this notification that PillyBurbs.com is the first to pick up the AP story by Jacob Adelman that should be all over the place within the hour:
Dozens of sheriff’s deputies descended on an urban garden near downtown at daybreak Tuesday and began evicting the 14-acre site’s farmers and their supporters.
Deputies used a saw to cut down part of the chain-link fence around the site while 15 to 20 protesters gathered outside the area and chanted “Save the farm.”
Absolutely disgusting, and absolutely unsurprising.
Villaraigosa could have done a whole lot more, but I guess looking like a go-along guy in the eyes of developers is more important than saving the largest urban farm of its kind when you’re the “green” mayor.
Funny how he’s singing the my-hands-were-tied blues, right at the same time he’s sticking his big unwanted hands into the running of the school district.