...Recently, landowner Ralph Horowitz began taking action on plans to replace
the garden with a warehouse.
Horowitz noted that the farmers were squatting on land he owned which was zoned
for warehouses and factories.
Horowitz said in a telephone interview he was paying $25,000 to $30,000 a month
in mortgage and other land costs.
"
We've made, in the last three years, enough of a donation to those farmers," he
said. "I just want my land back."
"
The gardeners don't make the rules. They don't violate court orders at their
will, promise to get off the land and not get off, demand that they be given
the land for free. There's an end to this type of thing," he said.
Horowitz accused the farmers of ingratitude, saying they had sued him and their
supporters had picketed his home and office.
"
I feel that the gardeners have been on the land for 14 years, almost 15 years
for free. After 15 years, you say thank you," he said.
Horowitz also said the city had provided alternate locations for the gardeners
and most had left. In a statement, City Councilwoman Jan Perry also said many
gardeners had moved to new garden sites.
The effort to save the farm attracted support of numerous activists and celebrities,
including "Splash" and "Wall Street" star Hannah, Quigley,
country singer Willie Nelson, actor Danny Glover, folk singer Joan Baez and
tree sitter Julia Butterfly Hill.
Supporters moved onto the property full-time in mid-May and occupied the walnut
tree after the judge issued the eviction order.
The roots of the dispute go back to the 1980s, when the city forced Horowitz
to sell the land to for $4.8 million for a trash-to-energy incinerator. The project
fizzled and the city turned the land over to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank,
which allowed people to begin gardening there after in the early 1990s.
Horowitz sued to get the site back and the city settled in 2003 by selling it
to him for $5 million.
Garden supporters took legal action, but ultimately the state Supreme Court decided
against hearing the case.
In the meantime, Horowitz offered to sell 10 acres of the land for $16.3 million
to a trust set up on behalf of the farmers. The group failed to raise the money
before the purchase option expired May 22, and Horowitz got the eviction order.
Horowitz said he intends to find tenants for the land and will not sell it to
any gardeners or their supporters.
"
This one they're not getting," he said.
---
Associated Press Writers Solvej Schou and Michael R. Blood contributed to this
report.
AP-WS-06-13-06 1624EDT