[Community_garden] Unusual Funding Needs for a Community Garden

[Julie Burleigh]

Dear Community Garden List Members,

My name is Julie Burleigh, and I live in South Central Los Angeles in  
a neighborhood called West Adams. I would like to start a Community  
Garden on my block, in a vacant lot. A Community Garden would provide  
a much needed improvement to our multi-ethnic, low-income  
neighborhood, reducing crime, and improving the quality of life for  
many adolescents, children, adults and seniors in our community. I  
have met with the LA Community Garden Council, and the LA  
Neighborhood Land Trust. They have been encouraging, but I need more  
help.

The vacant lot I am interested in is owned by a woman who has a long  
history of problems with the neighborhood, and the city. The lot has  
a history of gang use, abatement problems, and a fire about 15 years  
ago. Because of $80,000 in back taxes owed by the owner, it is  
scheduled for a Section 8 auction in August. There have been multiple  
liens, multiple fraudulent bankruptcies, and multiple social security  
numbers associated with the owner of this property. I have approached  
the owner about buying the land (for $80K -- what is owed in back  
taxes) -- she said that she would just file bankruptcy again so that  
she could get out of the section 8 auction, and have another year to  
hold on to the property. This owner has gotten out of several  
previous tax sales over many years by filing for bankruptcy just  
before the sale, then canceling the filing immediately after the sale  
date, thus giving herself a potentially infinite number of  
bankruptcies to use. This has been a nuisance property, and the owner  
has used dangerous and illegal practices to get around paying taxes  
and caring for her properties (last year, there was an arson fire at  
another of her properties, in which firefighters were seriously  
injured).

Time is running out, as the tax sale is scheduled for August. Please  
let me know if you have any advice about funding so that we may offer  
to buy the land at the amount it is worth (probably $250K), or if  
anyone has dealt with issues of this nature in acquiring the land for  
their garden. I know we could lease it from her, but its such an  
unstable situation, I think it would just be better if we could buy  
it...

Thank you very much,


Julie Burleigh
323-737-6211
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