Continuing the saga of my friend Ron's battle with the City of L.A. over his edible garden in the public parkway. Ron and I have taken to calling him a 'gangster gardener'
RON FINLEY'S GARDEN
Ron Finley had garden
Corner of Expo and Chesapeake
Grew all kinds of veggies and flowers
Between the sidewalk and the asphalt street
Neighbors said 'We dig it'
What an awesome use of space
Eliminate the Monsanto grass
And put eggplant in its place
Plant tomatoes in its place
But down the block lived a complainer
Who was anti-everything
Who filed a complaint with the City
And got Ron's ass in a sling
In a bureauchromatic sling
Ron Finley had garden
Corner of Expo and Chesapeake
Grew all kinds of veggies and flowers
Between the sidewalk and the asphalt street
Came an investigator from the City
Name of Mr. Yee
Wrote Ron up a citation
That imposed a stiff penalty
An unpayable penalty
Neighbors heard about it
'n like bees they began to buzz
They said whatever this block's gonna be,
It ain't gonna be what was, that's right,
It ain't gonna be what it was.
Ron Finley had a garden
Corner of Expo and Chesapeake
Grew all kinds of veggies and flowers
Between the sidewalk and the asphalt street
The City learned a lesson
From its counterproductive schemes
One complainer's not a neighborhood
And a parkway's a place to grow beans
And a parkway's a good home for beans
Go out and garden like a gangster
Mark your turf with carrots and beets
The seeds of your decisions are your colors
Your sign is Grow more than Eat
So throw the G over the E
G over the E
G over the E