LETTER TO JOSHUA SISKIN, GARDEN EDITOR L.A. VALLEY DAILY NEWS
joshua@perfectplants.com
DEAR J.S - The City of L.A. cited me for using 5% of my curb strip area
(corner house so two curb strips) for flowers, fruit trees, pumpkins,
tomato plants, whereby passing children (Zelzah has huge foot traffic,)
& young apartment dwellers could find free food & learn how
to garden.
unable to afford tomatoes or pumpkins myself, (soc security pension
of
$340 a month,) I've done this curb yummies thing for 2 years but now
the
city is citing me, asked me to pull out these plantings. I have not
done
so, thought I'd talk to you first.
One unique thing about this situation is, there is no room in front
or
back yard for vegies as this sixty year old house has many enormous,
old
trees and my landlord is 90 and doesn't want to chop anything down.
I
have no license or car, no roomies, so no driving to a 'PUBLIC GARDEN"
and they're charging 4 times last year's rate, which you probably knew.
Thus, I grow on the curb. Pedestrians and children pick the bounty all
summer long. I feel that if every gardener in the Valley does his extra
zucchni tomato and pumpkin seedlings as curb strip free food, and
as I do, maybe a peach, apricot or citrus tree or two.. we will happily
deal with food inflation, (at an alltime high now) AND inspire hungry
children and seniors alike to foodscape in any space they can find,
and
share produce to boot.
However, the City of LA in addition, threatened me with huge cash fines
if they have to come and remove it. I invite all of you with extra
plants to plan a curb Victory garden. Photograph yourself there and
send
graphic by email to City Planning. We can, as a group, achieve victory
over the taxing city officials, super costly supermarkets, over
inflation, and recession. Oscar nite the documentary prize winner stated
that not oNE SINGLE Wall street bankster who'd defrauded America had
been jailed. One man came up against a negligent policy on high. I
wonder, was he foolish? I see no citizen has come up against the city's
policy. Maybe we should.
P.S. The City Hall Fine-taking-nazis probably will threaten to jail
me
if I don't pay the fine they levy on my CRIME even tho it just be for
growing and gifting food for the hungry and teaching youth to foodscape.
If I don't pay the fine, will I have to go to jail to define the only
path open to hungry people vis a vis a suppressive and broke City Hall?
Forbidding this new yuppie trend toward xeriscaping* on a curb
strip is
almost as bad as forbidding peaches, apricots, zucchini, pumpkins &
tomatoes. In most cities and states people plant the whole curbstrip
and
nobody cares. It may be public property -- agreed, we're responsible
for
it, but instead of wasting petroleum gasoline, money for labor to mow
it, --and polluting the air as well, --why not plant it? That area
can
produce a lot of food, flowers and fruit -- something other than grass
that one must mow monthly. Have our city dinosaurs not been paying
attention to the predictions for spiking food costs? I hope you can
mention this and we get lots of EGYPT in L.A. ---i.e. protest, support
and more people planting curbstrips which would be civil disobedience.
Might pave the way for EGYPT across the USA. Once LA wets their feet
in
dissidence.... (ahem!)
signed, ANITA SANDS HERNANDEZ
*xeriscaping is using plants that don't need water