Posted on 06/15/2006 11:43:57 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
Developer Ralph Horowitz is puzzled by all this talk about an offer from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office to buy his 14 acres at 41st and Alameda streets..
“‘An offer of a proposal’ — I never even heard of that,” Horowitz told the L.A. Weekly. “I don’t know what that means, it has no significance whatsoever.”
Villaraigosa, speaking at City Hall just hours after the South Central Farmers had been evicted early Tuesday, somberly told reporters that Horowitz turned down an offer from the Annenberg Foundation and the Trust for Public Land to buy his property for $16.35 million. But there was never any actual money offered to Horowitz for his land, he said.
Not a penny.
Responds Horowitz, “There was nothing for me even to respond to. There was nothing to reject.”
Instead, the mayor took a potential element of a potential offer and made it sound fancy. He focused on a letter that the Annenberg Foundation had sent to Horowitz more than a week ago and put it out as a “proposal” to buy the land. According to the proposal, the foundation would deliver $10 million if Horowitz would loan himself the rest of the asking price for up to 18 months while the Trust for Public Land tried to come up with the money. There were other conditions that Horowitz found “incoherent.” Horowitz said it was never an actual offer, or at least not the kind he’s used to seeing in the real estate business.
Villaraigosa and Larry Frank, his deputy who worked on the deal, said the “proposal” was on the table and that Horowitz rejected it, saying the land was worth more, and that ultimately he didn’t want to sell it to some activists who had vilified and offended him.
(Excerpt) Read more at laweekly.com ...
As for Horowitz, was he ever moved by the concepts of green space, self-reliance, urban gardening, immigrant agriculture? Ever? Even slightly?
“No,” he said. “They sued the city and sued me as thanks for letting them use the land for free for 12 years. I thought the gardeners’ conduct completely deteriorated after that. Why should I reward that kind of conduct?”
"There are no illegals here" is tough to top.
In his City Hall press conference, Villaraigosa said Horowitz was subjected to anti-Semitic innuendo on the South Central Farm Web site.
I have bought plenty of real estate.....but I have never tried to make an offer like this???
Apparently, they went to Carlton Sheets on how to buy the property for No Money Down!
"Outside the Mayor’s Office, farmers and their supporters stood helplessly, lobbing criticism at Horowitz and Villaraigosa alike. “That’s a park for my children. It’s a park where they feel comfortable, it’s a way to ease stress,” said farmer Benjamin Velasquez, 39. “And where is Villaraigosa? Where is he? We want him to show his face. They’re destroying all the greenery.”
Velasquez was near tears, understandably. For an almost unbelievable 14 years, the South Central Farmers stuck to their cause and kept a hold on an enormous parcel of land in the middle of the city, defying lawsuits and court orders, rejecting the city’s traditional political arena, and remaining stubbornly confident in the overriding strength of their moral argument: He who works the land, owns the land".
I've got a GREAT idea. There is a ranch in Crawford, Texas belonging to a man named George W. Bush. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you went and laid claim to his property.
I'll even chip in for the bus tickets.
I'd have laughed myself silly as I gave them a 2 word answer.
As an aside, this is a unbelieveably fair story that gives the developer his fair say from a usually extremely left wing source. I have to give them credit for fair reporting in this story.
That's the problem with giving many people something for nothing. They don't appreciate it and they want more. And they hate you if you say no.
susie
It's called a 'carry-back loan' and it's how I was able to get into my first house in 1992 with just $7,000 down.
Essentially, the seller agrees to sell the property for $X less some agreed-upon amout $Y. Your mortgage gets written for the difference, and a separate loan agreement is drafted between you and the seller for the "carry-back" amount $Y.
In my case that was a 5year loan for $20K which I dispatched in 18mos, but it was enough of a reduction in the mortgage amount that my measly $7K met the requirement for a minimum of 5% down.
WOW! The LA Weekly ripping into illegal alien squatters? Whodathunkit?!
This is beyond bizarre--the structure on this deal would guarantee that Horowitz would get hosed.
Well, since the LA Times is about to be dismantled, someone has to report something....even Dems care about property rights. The illegals making the anti-semetic comments from the Mecha playbook with the Mayor as their quarterback.
Gee, I want a free parcel of land to farm on too.
It was not 'green space' and not a public park, and I bet dollars to donuts that if some kids decided to play soccer on this 'green space' or pick and eat some fruits, the farmers would have screamed at them or called the cops.
If the city wants to make it a park, then buy it and make it a green space park. If they want to buy it and give it to private farmers, then I want a parcel too.
I'm a native of Los Angeles city and always have been a resident, even in college. I deserve it! (/sarcasm)
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