Updates: southcentralfarmers.org

Horowitz was the original owner of the property and sold it to Los Angeles at the end of the 1980s for $4.7 million. But in 2003, Horowitz, in a typical sweetheart deal – or “behind closed doors,” as these acts of favoritism are sometimes called – regained 14 acres of the land for $5 million. He is now asking for $16.3 million, a sum the farmers, despite their best efforts along with other civil society groups were not able to collect.

Unofficial sources within the local government claimed that the government would step in with some financial help, but today it seems Villaraigosa did not move a finger to prevent the eviction.

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The hunger strikes, prayers, chants, paintings, cries and tears that have been expressed for several weeks in defense of this land could not stop the ambitions of corporate capital to put an end to this lung of the city in order to build big box stores in its place.

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DH from her jail cell

Actress Hannah, 45, said of her arrest: “I’m not thrilled about it, but I felt it was important to sustain my commitment.

“I spent the last 23 days down at the South Central farm, which is the largest urban farm in the nation and provides food for hundreds of families.

“The subsistence farmers are from one of the poorest communities.

“This farm should be a model for sustainable urban agriculture. It needs to be replicated, not eradicated.” She said she had got involved after filming the garden for her website blog, when she “fell in love with it and the farmers”.