Saving the Commons: LA's South Central Farm

"Situated among the warehouses, railroad tracks, and truck depots of industrial Los Angeles, South Central Farm is something of an oasis, and it's become a vital food source for 350 low-income, mostly Latino families...The generous size of the plots means that families have enough space to actually meet much of their need for food. This isn't hobby gardening.

In late May, after the first of two efforts by the Trust for Public Land to purchase the parcel from its owner failed, the farm's fate became a cause célèbre in a city well known for celebrity causes. Community organizers and Hollywood celebs began a last-ditch effort to raise awareness and secure permanent protection for the land.

Supporters may have come one step closer to that goal yesterday, as TPL began a second attempt to intervene, drafting a formal offer to buy the land with support from the Annenberg Foundation. While the South Central farmers and their unlikely support squad wait to see how the latest development plays out, they say the controversy has raised vital questions about the future of our urban spaces, and what a livable city looks like.

The South Central saga can be read as a parable of how society habitually places the interests of private property owners above the needs of impoverished communities. But to observers both near and far, South Central Farm is a living model of something more positive: how to cultivate community from the grassroots. It's proof of how city dwellers, working together, can build a more sustainable world, starting with something as seemingly simple as the food they eat."