Re: LA Mayor Support More Urban Parks: The Truth!!

**David King l*@yahoo.com**

Mayor Villaraigosa is very good at sound-bites and is
also very good with press releases, but what about
reality?

The truth is that our Mayor Villaraigosa has stood on
the sidelines while the largest community garden (and
ONLY green space in that neighborhood) is threatened
wtih closure by a financier who, from his
multi-million dollar home in Brentwood, has even had
the huevos to SUE the 350 families of South Central
Farms (http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/) for the
litigation hurdles they've placed in front of his
eviction of the community gardeners.  And there is
plenty of grounds to contest the eviction - in the
first place, how did the city of LA come to sell the
land in the first place?

It is true, the shady dealings and closed door
sessions where the city owned land was sold to Mr.
Horowitz, the financier named above, at about 30% of
its current appraised value, occured prior to the
Mayor taking office, but he has not even used his
"Bully Pulpit" to rally support for SCF.  This is from
a man who made much of his poor, Hispanic beginnings
while running for office - now, this same demographic
is the one most afflicted by the sale of the land that
grows food and sustenance for over 350 families in
South Central Los Angeles where it sits alone in block
after block of warehouses and run down ramshackle
housing.  From our mayor's office, mums the word.

Mayor Villaraigosa for green space?  Well, I guess -
as long as it's a press conference and not in real
day-to-day life as we with the dirt under our nails
know it.

How about a dropping a little note to our Mayor - it
seems pretty apparent that he has political ambitions
that extend beyond this city and perhaps this state -
and let him know that if he wants our support, he
really needs to honor his 'vision' in real life - not
just press conferences and grand designs.  

Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa
Mayor of Los Angeles
200 N. Main St. Rm 303
Los Angeles, CA 90012

There are 14 green acres in South Central LA that are
green NOW and don't require a bond measure to get
green.  Enough talk, how about action to preserve what
we already have?  How about it, Mr. Mayor?  You can
talk the talk - how about the walk?  I'd give you his
email addy if I could find it...

So, I'm not cheered.  I'm pissed.  Yadda yadda yadda
don't get us crap.  Talk isn't worth the paper it's
written on.

David King

David King, Garden Master
  The Learning Garden   
  www.thelearninggarden.org  
  office  310.722.3656 

 A garden, where one may enter in and forget the whole world, 
 cannot be made in a week, nor a month, nor a year; it must
 be planned for, waited for and loved into being.

 Chinese Proverb

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