Dee
05-27-2006, 03:30 AM
Folksinger Joan Baez to occupy tree in bid to help save urban garden (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/24052006/2/koddities-folksinger-joan-baez-occupy-tree-bid-help-save-urban.html)
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Joan Baez and tree-sitter Julia (Butterfly) Hill have taken up residence in a tree to raise awareness about a 5.7-hectare urban farm threatened with demolition.
Hill, who lived in a redwood in Northern California for more than two years to prevent loggers from cutting it down, said she and Baez will be among those who will occupy the tree in shifts.
The 65-year-old folksinger's hits include The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Please Come to Boston.
Two door-sized platforms have been placed in the tree for the sitters and a support group has set up an encampment on the ground.
Hundreds of farmers could face evictions after The Trust for Public Land came up $10 million US short in its bid to buy the site. The nonprofit group was not able to raise the $16.35 million required by the time the purchase option expired Monday.
The trust signed a contract in April with landowner Ralph Horowitz to buy four hectares of the 5.7 in south Los Angeles where about 350 families, most of them working-class immigrants from Central America, tend small plots of fruits and vegetables.
Hill said she was protesting now because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has pledged support for the farmers but has not come through yet.
Villaraigosa's spokesman did not immediately return a message left after business hours Tuesday.
Deputy Mayor Larry Frank has said the city was trying to help the farmers move to other sites, including an 3.2-hectare plot that can accommodate 200 of them.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Joan Baez and tree-sitter Julia (Butterfly) Hill have taken up residence in a tree to raise awareness about a 5.7-hectare urban farm threatened with demolition.
Hill, who lived in a redwood in Northern California for more than two years to prevent loggers from cutting it down, said she and Baez will be among those who will occupy the tree in shifts.
The 65-year-old folksinger's hits include The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Please Come to Boston.
Two door-sized platforms have been placed in the tree for the sitters and a support group has set up an encampment on the ground.
Hundreds of farmers could face evictions after The Trust for Public Land came up $10 million US short in its bid to buy the site. The nonprofit group was not able to raise the $16.35 million required by the time the purchase option expired Monday.
The trust signed a contract in April with landowner Ralph Horowitz to buy four hectares of the 5.7 in south Los Angeles where about 350 families, most of them working-class immigrants from Central America, tend small plots of fruits and vegetables.
Hill said she was protesting now because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has pledged support for the farmers but has not come through yet.
Villaraigosa's spokesman did not immediately return a message left after business hours Tuesday.
Deputy Mayor Larry Frank has said the city was trying to help the farmers move to other sites, including an 3.2-hectare plot that can accommodate 200 of them.