By CHRISTINA HOAG Protesters want the city to halt a massive warehouse project on the former site of an urban farm that was bulldozed two years ago amid protests from Darryl Hannah, Joan Baez and other celebrities who wanted to preserve the garden for dozens of inner-city families.
More than 50 people, mostly from the South Los Angeles neighborhood where the site is located, held a rally Wednesday outside City Hall before attending a public hearing on the matter.
"It doesn't benefit us at all," resident Carmen Espinoza told members of the city planning commission's advisory agency. "There's already a lot of traffic and a lot of noise at night. There are two schools and a park. A lot of children would be affected."
The project, proposed by landowner Ralph Horowitz, calls for a 643,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution complex at the former community farm.
Protesters at the hearing told city officials the warehouse project should be halted because it would increase traffic, air pollution and noise in the neighborhood.
According to planning documents, the site is zoned for light manufacturing use. The warehouse will provide 1,200 jobs, and Horowitz has agreed to donate a 2.6-acre parcel of the property to the city, which has said it will build a community soccer field there.
The commission's advisory agency delayed a decision on the warehouse after being inundated with letters, petitions and reports opposing the project. Chairwoman Maya Zaitzevsky said members need more time to consider the public's comments.
The hearing was the latest chapter in the long-running saga of the tract known as the South Central Farm. Beginning in 1982, the 14-acre site was used by about 350 families to grow food and flowers. The city, however, sold the land to Horowitz, who evicted the growers and bulldozed the site in 2006.
Residents, farmers and celebrities fought hard to prevent the demolition, staging demonstrations such as a tree-sitting protest that included Hannah. Other celebrities involved in the effort included Willie Nelson, Danny Glover, Baez and tree-sitter Julia "Butterfly" Hill.
The saga is related in "The Garden," a new documentary by filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy that was shown last month at the L.A. Film Festival.
[Note: For more information on the South Central Farm go here. They were also featured in the documentary Escape from Suburbia ]
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