There’s a 14-acre plot of green in downtown L.A. It comprises some 300 plots where people grow food to feed their families (and, presumably, to sell at farmer’s markets). Now the owner of the property wants to put up warehouses. The farmers don’t have the $16 million required to save their little oasis.
So the celebrities are out. Joan Baez is sitting in a tree. Guitarist Ben Harper said he wished he had ‘super deep, stuipd, dough’ to buy the land outright.
Well, why not? The glitterati are in a better position to buy the land for the farmers than the city, which has to justify the purchase to the taxpayers. They have plenty of disposable income, and they can probably write contributions off of their taxes. The landowner gets the market value of the property and can build his warehouses elsewhere. The farmers have their plots. The City has a quasi-public park.
I’m wondering what the celebrities hope to accomplish. They are good at gaining public attention. Perhaps they want the people of L.A. to donate money for the Cause? I think most people are more worried about how they’re going to pay for the gas that gets them to their jobs. While the mayor did get some money, it was about $10 million short. After all, $16 million is a lot of money for the benefit of a small number of people. It seems to me that the celebrities should pass the hat amongst themselves, since they have the means to do so and will accumulate more Karma points by putting their money where their mouths are than by merely wringing their hands and saying, ‘Won’t someone think of the poor people?’.
I think the little farm is good for the community. It provides food and income to people who have little money. It is a patch of beauty in a sea of concrete and asphalt. And dammit, there’s just something charming about it. But the owner of the property has a right to use it as he wishes. I have no problem with the City buying the property in principle; but as I said, it’s a lot of money for not many people. Even as Liberal as I am, it would be going a little too far. What happens when people take over the next vacant lot?
And I’m a little bit cynical about the motives of celebrities. Certainly they do care about these poor farmers; but they’re also getting an ego boost from it. It’s all very well to cluck about the plight of the poor farmers as one is wearing multi-thousand dollar evening clothes and munching on catered foods after collecting $10,000 goodie bags for attending an Event; but wouldn’t it be nice if they – the ones making millions in Hollywood – would stop talking about the situation and just do something about it?
