Farming For Publicity

Actress Darryl Hannah was arrested in a walnut tree last week. She was evidently protesting the planned development of a 14-acre plot of land in Los Angeles. Local area residents have used the property in question as a garden for the past 10 to 15 years, but the property owner has decided to sell it. The thought of someone actually selling their own personal property so incensed the freeloaders who were gardening on the plot that the owner had to obtain a court order just to exercise his legal property rights.

Now I can’t really blame the local gardeners for being upset about the eviction, after all they’re getting to use someone else’s personal property and they don’t have to pay the property tax. However, this is not public property and the people who have been using it have absolutely no right to it. They have been using it by the good grace of the owner and nothing more. You can bet that most people wouldn’t have been as generous as he has been. The owner is perfectly within his rights to sell it, and those who are losing their gardens should be happy that they got to use it for as long as they did. The fact that this whole fiasco required legal action is appalling.

Personally, I think that a community garden is more appealing and attractive than a warehouse, a parking lot, or a 7-Eleven is, but my opinion doesn’t matter in a case like this. It’s private property and the owner can do what he wants with it. Private ownership of land is one of the things that are great about this country. Your opinion of what someone else should do with their property is worth about as much as a cup of sand in the desert.

So what does all of this have to do with Ms. Hannah anyway? Was she one of the local residents who were planting gardens on the property? No. Is she really in favor of putting an end to personal property rights in this country? Perhaps, but I doubt it. Her protest was nothing more than a publicity stunt. She doesn’t want Hollywood to forget about her. When was the last time Darryl Hannah had a lead role in a movie that anyone actually watched? The best way to be popular in Hollywood is to be seen as a champion of environmental or human rights and Hannah was able to hit the double whammy with this arrest! Hannah went after and received the publicity she needed. I didn’t hear anything about her trying to actually help the gardeners buy the land. They had the opportunity and were able to raise $10 million of the $16 million asking price. Don’t you think Hannah and her friends could come up with $6 million if they really cared? I didn’t hear Hannah invite all the local residents out to her Colorado ranch to continue gardening on her property either.

In the end it worked out for everybody. Darryl Hannah got her name in the paper and she’ll be at the top of everyone’s list in Hollywood again. The property owner finally gets to exercise his rights of ownership and the local residents get something too. The City of Los Angeles is giving them an 8-acre handout on the taxpayer’s dime! It’s a great day for everyone; except perhaps for the taxpayers in Los Angeles.

Date Added: 18-06-2006