Volunteers use guerrilla tactics to beautify public land

Breaking News: Guerrilla armies take over Los Angeles!

The concrete jungle is now ruled by roving bands of volunteer urban guerrilla fighters.

They can be seen everywhere armed with lethal weapons: Rakes, hoes and shovels for killing weeds; buckets of soapy water and scouring pads to slay graffiti; and pallets of quick setting concrete to attack and destroy potholes.

"One of our best units is GAG, Guerrillas Against Gangs," said Gen. Vol Untiere, who heads up the guerrilla army.

GAG is comprised of contingents of angry guerrilla mothers, which are broken up into units that patrol different neighborhoods. Armed with brooms, books, pens and paper, their goal is to sweep the streets clean of young gangsters, and kill off the gangs and illiteracy at the same time.

“Our aim,” said one angry mother who‘s vowed to not lose one more child to senseless gang warfare, Ma Gilla,“is to put the youngsters in protective custody until they can read and write to become educated, productive citizens,” she said.

“Once they’ve accomplished that, they can take their place in our army of guerrilla warriors to make this city a safe, clean place for us, them and their children.

“Lord knows,” she added with a deep sigh,“our AWOL mayor and council members won’t do it, so we’ll have to do it ourselves. It won’t be easy, but yes, we can do it!”

Use a rake, go to jail? Way harsh.

what happen to cal trans and the mismeanors!!!

As one of the guerrilla gardeners mentioned in the article, here's a little extra info.
My running joke was, if I was ever arrested for my freeway border garden, they would sentence me to community service, cleaning the side of the freeway.
Seriously, several years ago, a Caltrans employee, after my years of work, mostly by going through holes in the fence, or gaps in gates, gave me a copy of the master key to all freeway gates. Before that, like the others, I was questioned by police, Caltrans workers, other residents, all the time. After telling the truth, they said OK and went on their way.
After a while, I actually joined on of L.A.'s Neighborhood Councils, and soon knew all the local
LAPD Sr. Lead Officers, aids to local Councilmen, and other community leaders. Every time a Caltrans crew came through, I would run out, introduce myself, and explain what I was doing.
I was given some basic rules by Caltrans. No tree planting. No edibles. No water plants. Nothing with "thorns from hell". I've followed most of those rules.(There is an artichoke, but for the flowers, not to eat.)
Several times I tried to formally adopt the area
under Caltrans Adopt-A-Highway program, but twice
I was rejected twice due to an existing relandscaping plan they had in store (from about 2-7 years ago). Today, much of my maintenance is taking care of what they planted, by don't come by to maintain. I don't blame Caltrans, they can only do what their budget allows (and we all know the state of the CA budget these days).
I could probably get permission today, but only for weed control, not for flower planting.
I don't think any of us ever started this to takeover public lands or looking for extra work to do. In my case, the side of the freeway next to my house was only cleaned once every few years. Still is. We're trying to help, not break the law.
The current movement will hopefully help people to realize the value of this "forgotton land".
I used to call my 2 acres my $3 million garden, the estim. value if you moved it across the street.(Today I call it my $6 million garden.)
I compare it to the L.A. River decades ago vs. today. What was once forgotten and run down is finally being seen as the asset it is or can become. Freeway borders and other forgotten public lands hopefully will see a similar appreciation eventually.