A Heads Up
Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. So much shit going on. Parents were in town, Jenny's house fell out of Escrow (back on the market kids, so if you're looking, snatch it up), Tons of work fulltime and freelance, and just typical insanity.
Jenny and I are leaving for Chicago tomorrow to chill and visit friends (you all know who you are). I'm sure I’ll have tons to report on when I get back. In the mean time, check out my Yelp reviews. I just conquered 100+ reviews which is cool.
One thing I think i should mention. My friend Spencer and I were talking about the tragedy of the final demise of the Urban Farm in South LA. I had been following this story for quite a while and had meant to Blog it several times. This event just seems like a senseless one. I mean, it just seems like an overt attempt by both the city and business hungry fucks to destroy an efficient and self-sufficient community service. I mean, LA is one of these city's that constantly bitches about the lack of money to help the poor and empower the city.... So people take over a barren piece of land and build a thriving garden to feed themselves...and just when it feels like a success and part of the community, a bunch of heartless assholes decide to take it over and build a parking lot or storage facility or something. Really ridiculous. And you know what, I feel partially responsible. Several times I thought that there was some small thing I could do to raise awareness or help in some small way...but I didn't. Today, after the fall of course, I thought of how easy and cool it would have been for AA to supply some sustainable shirts for someone like myself to create a cool design to print on...and then sell as a fundraiser. Threads did a similar thing for Katrina victims and I believe they raised over a million dollars or something(ok, a mil is expecting alot, but you know, maybe a couple hundred). If I or AA had helped to raise money we could've potentially helped to buy the property and give it back to the citizens. But instead, I obsessed about trivial things and drank my wine. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but I'm not going to ignore it either. These are small but effective things we can do for our world, our city. It aint always impossible.
The other month, I think I mentioned that the web team at AA and I collected money to buy cloths to send with my friends who were going to Kenya. The cloths were delivered to an Orphanage and evidently was a success. We hope to do more fund-raising and donation type things for this place. I'll post pictures and a more involved story as soon as I can. This is what I'm talking about...It may not change the world...but it does effect needy people. That's cool. For a person like myself, who has no savings or investments, that’s huge.
ps.
16 Million (i just heard) is what the owner was willing to sell the land for. What a fucking saint. And now he says he wont consider selling out of principle. This guy is unbelievable. He expected them to beg and instead they stood up for themselves and now he's accusing THEM of being rude and insensitive. I'm speechless.
Jenny and I are leaving for Chicago tomorrow to chill and visit friends (you all know who you are). I'm sure I’ll have tons to report on when I get back. In the mean time, check out my Yelp reviews. I just conquered 100+ reviews which is cool.
One thing I think i should mention. My friend Spencer and I were talking about the tragedy of the final demise of the Urban Farm in South LA. I had been following this story for quite a while and had meant to Blog it several times. This event just seems like a senseless one. I mean, it just seems like an overt attempt by both the city and business hungry fucks to destroy an efficient and self-sufficient community service. I mean, LA is one of these city's that constantly bitches about the lack of money to help the poor and empower the city.... So people take over a barren piece of land and build a thriving garden to feed themselves...and just when it feels like a success and part of the community, a bunch of heartless assholes decide to take it over and build a parking lot or storage facility or something. Really ridiculous. And you know what, I feel partially responsible. Several times I thought that there was some small thing I could do to raise awareness or help in some small way...but I didn't. Today, after the fall of course, I thought of how easy and cool it would have been for AA to supply some sustainable shirts for someone like myself to create a cool design to print on...and then sell as a fundraiser. Threads did a similar thing for Katrina victims and I believe they raised over a million dollars or something(ok, a mil is expecting alot, but you know, maybe a couple hundred). If I or AA had helped to raise money we could've potentially helped to buy the property and give it back to the citizens. But instead, I obsessed about trivial things and drank my wine. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but I'm not going to ignore it either. These are small but effective things we can do for our world, our city. It aint always impossible.
The other month, I think I mentioned that the web team at AA and I collected money to buy cloths to send with my friends who were going to Kenya. The cloths were delivered to an Orphanage and evidently was a success. We hope to do more fund-raising and donation type things for this place. I'll post pictures and a more involved story as soon as I can. This is what I'm talking about...It may not change the world...but it does effect needy people. That's cool. For a person like myself, who has no savings or investments, that’s huge.
ps.
16 Million (i just heard) is what the owner was willing to sell the land for. What a fucking saint. And now he says he wont consider selling out of principle. This guy is unbelievable. He expected them to beg and instead they stood up for themselves and now he's accusing THEM of being rude and insensitive. I'm speechless.
posted by lakeside at 10:06 PM
3 Comments:
While it's a shame the land didn't remain with the community, the actual issue was more complex than just the man didn't want to give it to them. It went back and forth and was very close, but some of the more vocal farm organizers could be perceived as anti-semitic and, apparently, became quite ugly. Once this occurred, the man, apparently, reasoned he wouldn't deal with them anymore.
Furthermore, farmers on this land had to pay an exhorbitant fee to be a part of it -- something that most other urban farms do not do. Where did this money go? The organizers were not saints either.
Lastly, the city was willing and is willing to find land at other urban farms in the area to accommodate the loss. I believe most of the independent farmers have taken the city up on that.
The city did what it could, considering the situation.
thanks for the perspective...
no matter who was or wasn't at fault for the demise of the park, i still find it disheartening that such a seemlingly beneficial resource had to be destroyed.
i was unaware of the fee you spoke of...do you know what an average fee was?
if i'm not mistaken, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1k.
If you can find the archives for WHICH WAY, L.A.? on kcrw, i believe one of the last stories they did on it (going back several weeks now; probably early june) is where i heard about the fee.
it is a shame to lose open land in the middle of the city.
Post a Comment
<< Home