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Memorial Grove Tree Sit Anniversary
December 2 was the one year anniversary of the tree sits going up in Memorial Grove in Berkeley. The struggle to save it goes on.
The Tree Sit is One year old!
So many people have come and gone, tree sits have come and gone, so many have been a part of it all. Thank you everyone.
Now the pressure is increasing but there are people ready to respond.
A wonderful anniversary party took place on the Dec. 2 anniversary. One year ago three people climbed up three old oak trees and the community came out in support.
The day began early with dozens of people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the grove. people chatted and ate food while the mainstream media interviewed speakers. Now there are two big fences to keep us out of the grove. Older women organized food and the tree sitters lowered lines. The bags and buckets of food were tied on and the rope pulled up. Load after load went up and the tree sits are now set for many days.
People called for a march. We went down the sidewalk then turned into a parking lot inside the outer fence. There were police barricades but people moved them out of the way and we ere able to enter part of the grove. Police stood inside the inner fence and video taped. People shook the fence, climbed a tree, wrote "Save the Oaks" in sticks on the fence, danced and spoke.
Outside by the sidewalk there was a large bus and many bands played inside. People crowded in to see.
Later Circus Pandemonium had a performance in the grove. The whole grove is lit up by bright new lights and this was perfect for the performance. They juggled and did skits about the tree sit and other performances. The best was wen one woman lowered long cloth from a tree sit and did airial dancing.
A drum band played and people inside the grove and on the sidewalk/street had a dance party. Another band played inside the bus. Then the bus left and by 9:00 there was only a small crowd. People talked to the tree sitters and to friends as the wonderful day drew to a close.
So many people have come and gone, tree sits have come and gone, so many have been a part of it all. Thank you everyone.
Now the pressure is increasing but there are people ready to respond.
A wonderful anniversary party took place on the Dec. 2 anniversary. One year ago three people climbed up three old oak trees and the community came out in support.
The day began early with dozens of people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the grove. people chatted and ate food while the mainstream media interviewed speakers. Now there are two big fences to keep us out of the grove. Older women organized food and the tree sitters lowered lines. The bags and buckets of food were tied on and the rope pulled up. Load after load went up and the tree sits are now set for many days.
People called for a march. We went down the sidewalk then turned into a parking lot inside the outer fence. There were police barricades but people moved them out of the way and we ere able to enter part of the grove. Police stood inside the inner fence and video taped. People shook the fence, climbed a tree, wrote "Save the Oaks" in sticks on the fence, danced and spoke.
Outside by the sidewalk there was a large bus and many bands played inside. People crowded in to see.
Later Circus Pandemonium had a performance in the grove. The whole grove is lit up by bright new lights and this was perfect for the performance. They juggled and did skits about the tree sit and other performances. The best was wen one woman lowered long cloth from a tree sit and did airial dancing.
A drum band played and people inside the grove and on the sidewalk/street had a dance party. Another band played inside the bus. Then the bus left and by 9:00 there was only a small crowd. People talked to the tree sitters and to friends as the wonderful day drew to a close.
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previous indybay articles wrote the fence costed $80,000. The new updated figure is closer to $115,000. Since the installation of the first fence (mid-August), we estimate UC Berkeley has been spending more than $5 per minute on combating the tree-sit, and has already surpassed the $1 million mark in total expenditures, which includes UCPD and security guard wages. Note this figure does NOT include any money they've spent on their Public Relations dept., Dan Mogulof and friends.
The cost of the new Sports Athletic Training Facility is about $125 million, so I suppose $1M is a drop in the bucket for them.
I recommend UCB spend $125 million towards RETROFITTING or DEMOLISHING and RELOCATING MEMORIAL STADIUM, because the next major earthquake to rip through the Hayward Fault is bound to wreck that place, and hurt some people. Please note, contrary to UCB's previous assertions, the tree-sitters are NOT OPPOSED to and are NOT BLOCKING any efforts to RETROFIT THE STADIUM!
The cost of the new Sports Athletic Training Facility is about $125 million, so I suppose $1M is a drop in the bucket for them.
I recommend UCB spend $125 million towards RETROFITTING or DEMOLISHING and RELOCATING MEMORIAL STADIUM, because the next major earthquake to rip through the Hayward Fault is bound to wreck that place, and hurt some people. Please note, contrary to UCB's previous assertions, the tree-sitters are NOT OPPOSED to and are NOT BLOCKING any efforts to RETROFIT THE STADIUM!
The delays from the lawsuit and treesitters against the new building are costing over 100 times as much as the fence, so the argument above is quite irrelevant.
The stadium houses facilities that are used nearly every day by hundreds of students and staff. In order to retrofit the stadium, those facilities inside of it have to be built elsewhere, and that is precisely what the project that you are so vehemently opposing on shaky environmental grounds (as opposed to seismic grounds, which are safe according to the experts who have studied the soil) is addressing.
As well, many of the parties in your lawsuit, like the Panoramic Hills assoc and the City of Berkeley are actually opposing the retrofit of the stadium because they hate having people come to watch football games, just as much as they hate having people go watch concerts at the Greek. They basically hate the campus community.
The stadium houses facilities that are used nearly every day by hundreds of students and staff. In order to retrofit the stadium, those facilities inside of it have to be built elsewhere, and that is precisely what the project that you are so vehemently opposing on shaky environmental grounds (as opposed to seismic grounds, which are safe according to the experts who have studied the soil) is addressing.
As well, many of the parties in your lawsuit, like the Panoramic Hills assoc and the City of Berkeley are actually opposing the retrofit of the stadium because they hate having people come to watch football games, just as much as they hate having people go watch concerts at the Greek. They basically hate the campus community.
This place should be another Peoples Park!
In the late 60s, thousands of students protested in favor of People's Park.
In this case now, there are a few dozen students who have actually showed up at protests in favor of blocking the new building as opposed to the THOUSANDS of students who have signed petitions *in favor* of the new building, which is going to SAVE LIVES OF FELLOW STUDENTS AND CAMPUS STAFF in case the big one hits Hayward Fault.
If you want to rally the campus community around an environmental cause, you will have to find a worthy environmental cause, like global warming.
In this case now, there are a few dozen students who have actually showed up at protests in favor of blocking the new building as opposed to the THOUSANDS of students who have signed petitions *in favor* of the new building, which is going to SAVE LIVES OF FELLOW STUDENTS AND CAMPUS STAFF in case the big one hits Hayward Fault.
If you want to rally the campus community around an environmental cause, you will have to find a worthy environmental cause, like global warming.
If the students don't care enough to rally about global warming, than maybe we could get them to hone their organizing skills on saving a few old oak trees. Then they can go onto global warming!
Cutting down the trees, and building another stadium, will contribute to Global Warming.
If MORE TREES are replanted after some trees are cut, the net effect will be carbon neutral, losses will be offset. What opponents of the project keep ignoring is that more trees will be in the area (three to one actually, so a lot more trees.)
As well, the loss of the couple of acres to the construction of the building will be offset by the conversion of the paved paking lot north of the stadium into a tree-lined pedestrian plaza.
All in all, the project will not have a negative impact on global warming, unlike the cutting of 10,000 mature eucalyptus trees just beyond the stadium, which no one has protested or tree-sat for, because let's face it, there are no cameras around there and because the main backers of the opponents to the project, the Panoramic Hills Association, is actually in favor of cutting those trees. This really underscores the hypocrisy of the opposition to the campus project.
As well, the loss of the couple of acres to the construction of the building will be offset by the conversion of the paved paking lot north of the stadium into a tree-lined pedestrian plaza.
All in all, the project will not have a negative impact on global warming, unlike the cutting of 10,000 mature eucalyptus trees just beyond the stadium, which no one has protested or tree-sat for, because let's face it, there are no cameras around there and because the main backers of the opponents to the project, the Panoramic Hills Association, is actually in favor of cutting those trees. This really underscores the hypocrisy of the opposition to the campus project.
Save Oaks in Berkeley
http://SaveOaks.com
Contact The University!
Let them know how you feel about protecting the magnificent Oak grove near Memorial Stadium.
UC President Robert Dynes
1111 Franklin Street #12113
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Phone: (510) 987-9074 Fax: (510) 987-9086
UC Berkeley Chancellor
Robert Birgeneau
200 California Hall #1500
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone: (510) 642-7464 Fax: (510) 643-5499
UC Board of Regents
1111 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Phone: (510) 987-9220 Fax: (510) 987-9224
--------------
http://SaveOaks.com
Speak Out:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Speak%20Out.html
Sign up for Action Alerts:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Action%20Alerts.html
Alternatives:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Alternatives.html
Learn More:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Learn%20More.html
End the sports/construction/automobile/asphalt industry gangsterism in UC Berkeley, the City of Berkeley, and the world. We should be growing organic vegetables, planting trees and digging up asphalt for exercise, not dribbling rubber on concrete, and not driving polluting sofas on roads.
http://SaveOaks.com
Contact The University!
Let them know how you feel about protecting the magnificent Oak grove near Memorial Stadium.
UC President Robert Dynes
1111 Franklin Street #12113
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Phone: (510) 987-9074 Fax: (510) 987-9086
UC Berkeley Chancellor
Robert Birgeneau
200 California Hall #1500
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone: (510) 642-7464 Fax: (510) 643-5499
UC Board of Regents
1111 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Phone: (510) 987-9220 Fax: (510) 987-9224
--------------
http://SaveOaks.com
Speak Out:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Speak%20Out.html
Sign up for Action Alerts:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Action%20Alerts.html
Alternatives:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Alternatives.html
Learn More:
http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Learn%20More.html
End the sports/construction/automobile/asphalt industry gangsterism in UC Berkeley, the City of Berkeley, and the world. We should be growing organic vegetables, planting trees and digging up asphalt for exercise, not dribbling rubber on concrete, and not driving polluting sofas on roads.
For more information:
http://SaveOaks.com
Comments on UC Oak Grove:
End profit-motivated gangsterism of UC Berkeley and the construction, security, automobile, oil and sports industries. The oak grove conflict at UC Berkeley must be seen in the greater context.
The construction, sports, security, and automobile industries are exploitative at UC campuses and the world. Evaluate big business policies and hold them accountable for environmental destruction.
The construction industry wants the $125 million to build the sports building, in addition to the $100K+ spent on erecting chain-link fences with barbed wire. Big bucks attracts big corruption and mass psychosis.
Auto company logos brainwash stadium goers. Catastrophic global warming; cars are obsolete. Count the empty seats in automobile traffic; energy waste. A million people
dead in Iraq; who's fault?
A nobler sport: macho tree-planting. Save the planet and show off your muscles! Your beautiful muscles are much more visible on a bike than in a car.
The security industry is raking in the bucks, standard time and overtime for cops, video survellience equipment, time spent evaluating video tapes, administrative time. Is is really necessary? Definitely not. It's abuse of power and a way to suck money and good will out of the school, the state, the taxpayers, and the bottomless pockets of those that print the money.
The sports business at UCB is clearly connected to the automobile business. Take a look at all of the giant logos around the top of the stadium. The giant parking lots and influx of SUVs for sports events. In the context of catastrophic global warming, cars and centralized entertainment are obsolete. Change is in the air; wake up, everyone! Start counting all the empty seats in the endless stream of cars rolling by on Piedmont Avenue up by the stadium and you will see the wasteful energy policy and habits of car culture. A million people dead in Iraq; the world is watching and will not forget. See below for internationally recognized scholar Noam Chomsky's view on sports and entertainment.
The automobile industry wants all that traffic coming the area for sports events and daily office commuters, and student athletes killing time while the planet is in crisis. Athletes might want to retrain in a different field and do some macho tree-planting on a large scale so there will be a future. Big scholarships, fame and trophies for those who plant the most! Your beautiful muscles are much more visible on a bike than in a car.
The oil industry is clearly permeated with criminals, destroying communities and the environment and perpetuating bad urban design. The auto/oil/construction industries work hand in hand to keep society involved in mass consumerism and dashboard hypnosis, parking lot enslavement, and much more. Global warming can be largely attributed to the corrupt design of industrialized societies. End the corruption of government by the oil industry special interests.
The security industry is raking in the bucks, standard time and overtime for cops, video survellience equipment, time spent evaluating video tapes, administrative time. Is is really necessary? Probably not. It is a show of power and a way to suck money and good will out of the school, the state, the taxpayers, and the bottomless pockets of those that print the money.
===========
Here's a useful excerpt from an interview with internationally
recognized scholar Noam Chomsky:
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1992----02.htm
"Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of
those media is just to dull people's brains.
This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League. And to worry about "Mother With Child With Six Heads," or whatever you pick up on the supermarket stands and so on. Or look at astrology. Or get involved in fundamentalist stuff or something or other. Just get them away. Get them away from things that matter. And for that it's important to reduce their capacity to think.
Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this.
You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that's why energy isdevoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on."
End profit-motivated gangsterism of UC Berkeley and the construction, security, automobile, oil and sports industries. The oak grove conflict at UC Berkeley must be seen in the greater context.
The construction, sports, security, and automobile industries are exploitative at UC campuses and the world. Evaluate big business policies and hold them accountable for environmental destruction.
The construction industry wants the $125 million to build the sports building, in addition to the $100K+ spent on erecting chain-link fences with barbed wire. Big bucks attracts big corruption and mass psychosis.
Auto company logos brainwash stadium goers. Catastrophic global warming; cars are obsolete. Count the empty seats in automobile traffic; energy waste. A million people
dead in Iraq; who's fault?
A nobler sport: macho tree-planting. Save the planet and show off your muscles! Your beautiful muscles are much more visible on a bike than in a car.
The security industry is raking in the bucks, standard time and overtime for cops, video survellience equipment, time spent evaluating video tapes, administrative time. Is is really necessary? Definitely not. It's abuse of power and a way to suck money and good will out of the school, the state, the taxpayers, and the bottomless pockets of those that print the money.
The sports business at UCB is clearly connected to the automobile business. Take a look at all of the giant logos around the top of the stadium. The giant parking lots and influx of SUVs for sports events. In the context of catastrophic global warming, cars and centralized entertainment are obsolete. Change is in the air; wake up, everyone! Start counting all the empty seats in the endless stream of cars rolling by on Piedmont Avenue up by the stadium and you will see the wasteful energy policy and habits of car culture. A million people dead in Iraq; the world is watching and will not forget. See below for internationally recognized scholar Noam Chomsky's view on sports and entertainment.
The automobile industry wants all that traffic coming the area for sports events and daily office commuters, and student athletes killing time while the planet is in crisis. Athletes might want to retrain in a different field and do some macho tree-planting on a large scale so there will be a future. Big scholarships, fame and trophies for those who plant the most! Your beautiful muscles are much more visible on a bike than in a car.
The oil industry is clearly permeated with criminals, destroying communities and the environment and perpetuating bad urban design. The auto/oil/construction industries work hand in hand to keep society involved in mass consumerism and dashboard hypnosis, parking lot enslavement, and much more. Global warming can be largely attributed to the corrupt design of industrialized societies. End the corruption of government by the oil industry special interests.
The security industry is raking in the bucks, standard time and overtime for cops, video survellience equipment, time spent evaluating video tapes, administrative time. Is is really necessary? Probably not. It is a show of power and a way to suck money and good will out of the school, the state, the taxpayers, and the bottomless pockets of those that print the money.
===========
Here's a useful excerpt from an interview with internationally
recognized scholar Noam Chomsky:
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1992----02.htm
"Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of
those media is just to dull people's brains.
This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League. And to worry about "Mother With Child With Six Heads," or whatever you pick up on the supermarket stands and so on. Or look at astrology. Or get involved in fundamentalist stuff or something or other. Just get them away. Get them away from things that matter. And for that it's important to reduce their capacity to think.
Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this.
You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that's why energy isdevoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on."
For more information:
http://SaveOaks.com
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