Dear Defenders of the Berkeley Post Office,

  Saturday December 20 marks the 50th day of this year's 24/7 occupation at the Berkeley Main Post Office, under the auspices of First They Came for the Homeless and Berkeley Post Office Defenders. The current occupiers have long since eclipsed the 33-day record of the well-publicized 24/7 Tent City at the Berkeley P.O. in August 2013. Their goal: Stop the sale of the Post Office to greedy privateers.

  And they've maintained the encampment through many cold days and nights of drenching rain and driving wind, and putting up with multiple harassment visits by the Postal Police and postal inspectors. Saying no to the privatization and dismantling of our public treasure, the Post Office.

  It's been 15 months since we first claimed this Post Office as public space, paid for by the people and held in trust since Ben Franklin's day. As of today, the information table and big tent are still standing at the historic 100-year-old Post Office at 2000 Allston Way.

  Our banner "Welcome - Our Post Office is Open - Let's Keep it That Way" was confiscated by postal police -- but the handsome "First Amendment" poster remains defiantly wheat-pasted on one of the columns of this beautiful building. After the people of Berkeley mounted a legal challenge and a favorable new zoning ordinance, the Post Office so far remains in the public domain.

  So why don't we have a celebration on the Post Office Steps to mark the 50th day of the people's camp??  

Be there on the steps, starting 1:00 PM Saturday. Bring yourself, your talents, food and supplies for everyone and for the people's camp. For more information go to the Facebook page of First They Came for the Homeless.  

Weather Report for Saturday - NO RAIN .

The Depression-era mural inside the downtown Berkeley Post Office: