In Response to The Garden

Before I begin, I fell that it's important to note how emotionally fueled this documentary was, and how it very clearly only on one side of the argument.

I felt that overall, the claims made in The Garden were very strong, ranging from dealing almost completely with pathos in terms of these people's livelihoods, as well as a lot of logos with legal battles and city laws, etc.

I think the strongest claim in favor of The Garden community was that Horowitz purchased the land back from the city, but that the sale was not made pubic, despite it being between a public entity and a private buyer, and despite that land being occupied for something else.

The lawyers in favor of The Garden did a very good job of putting that forth, and hinting at possible corruption by Jan Perry and the Concerned Citizens organizer. This therefore diminished their credibility, and in the eyes of the viewer, made the plight of The Garden community more believable and trustworthy.

However, on part of Horowitz, there were some arguments that weren't included in the documentary. Such as that The Garden was on city property, but wasn't an open organization, or that farmer's didn't have plot terms, and therefore there was never a need or desire to let in new farmers, as most farmer's stayed on their acres without renewing there time there.

I think that it's important to take note of Horowitz argument in this context, because it gives a more balanced view as to what the battle was to begin with. I support The Garden community, but the documentary did more of a job of criminalizing Ralph Horowitz, Jan Perry, and Juanita Tate, rather than focusing on the tangible arguments of the other side.

However, the remarks made by Ralph Horowitz at the end seemed degrading and inappropriate, and diminished his credibility further, as he stated that "they never once thanked him, they were not gracious, and that they kept on saying 'you owe'."

I felt those comments to be inappropriate, and essentially put The Garden's argument far above Horowitz's.

I did some search as to the current status of The Garden now, as this film was made in 2006, and only updated to 2008.

The current status of the lot is still empty, and Horowitz hasn't made any plans to build or sell the area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Central_Farm

-Jenna Peneueta-Snyder