In the wake of the tragic end to a demonstration staged a few weeks ago, a new tree-sitter has once again turned People’s Park into the site of protest.
Self-named Littlebird climbed into the same tree occupied in at least two previous tree-sits near the corner of Haste and Bowditch streets at about 11 p.m. Tuesday.
The last People’s Park tree-sit lasted just over a week and ended Sept. 6 when one of the protesters fell out of the tree. Unlike past tree-sitters, she was not tied into the tree at the time of the fall, according to Zachary RunningWolf, a local activist and organizer behind the tree-sit.
Littlebird said his tree-sit is a protest against the University of California’s ownership of the park and UCPD’s presence in patrolling the park. He added that his protest is also against curfew laws that prevent people from sleeping in the park.
“This is the People’s Park, and I am here first and foremost for the people,” Littlebird said. “It’s very important people have a place to express themselves freely … and I can’t think of a better place than People’s Park.”
According to UCPD Lt. Marc DeCoulode, police issued a trespassing admonition to the tree-sitter Wednesday night.
RunningWolf said the sit was prompted in part because the university has been cutting down trees in the park without consent from the “community.” He added that after the sit began, he heard that the campus intended on cutting down the cedar tree that the current and past tree-sitters have been using as their venue.
In response to safety concerns sparked by the last protest’s ending, RunningWolf said the responsibility lies with the university and added that the protest will end when the university relinquishes control of the park.
“If Cal wants everybody to be safe, just give the park to the people or the city of Berkeley, and we’ll stop protesting from high heights,” he said. “So it’s on Cal.”
According to a flier at the park, there will be a “take back the park meeting” at 1 p.m. Friday to “demand no new development by UC Berkeley.”
Sarah Burns is the lead crime reporter.
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Anyone notice that there are 3 articles on this subject? Why does this loser need any more attention?
“Littlebird’s Mamabird, Catherine of Ashland, Oregon, say git outta that tree right now! Although she agrees with people being able to sleep in the park.
I remember when my friends and I would put urine-soaked pizza from Crossroads in people’s park and watch as the homeless eat them… good times, good times
TeenageMUTANTNINJATURTLES…sick little creep are you not? I want to talk to your parents NOW!! BUT THEN PERHAPS THEY ARE AS SICK AS YOU ARE!
The guy who was up in this tree is a good friend of mine, truth is he’s just a street kid crashing out in peoples park, and just so happened to have a twacked out friend with a bunch of tree house building supplies. It was basically a party up in the tree, supply bucket and all. Its funny how quickly something can grow into a big deal.
Oh and the chick that fell out was intoxicated to say the least. Just sayin.
I say only allow squatters and home bums to sleep in the trees, out of sight out of mind. Hahah
Running Bowels, Carol Denney, Little Turd, and other park supporters want it to remain the worst sort of cesspool any college town has had to endure. And ideological asshole Councilman Kris Worthington is always there to justify its place as a home for those who don’t wish to sleep in Berkeley’s homeless shelters because they don’t allow drugs or alcohol. Well fuck all of them! Demand that the university turn its property into student housing or anything else other than a base for the criminal activity which Peoples Park has been for decades…
Honestly, since the University now charge a significantly higher rate for student housing than is charged by the private sector for an apartment that offers a higher living standard, there really is no point in the university building any more overpriced housing.
Regent’s Park was the perfect location for the Student Athlete High Performance Center. This would have preserved the Memorial Stadium Oak Grove and completely transformed the Southside/Telegraph.
Twenty years ago, the University could have located the Haas Business School at Regent’s Park which again would have preserved Cowell Hospital, the Sand Volleyball Courts on Bancroft and would have completely transformed the Southside/Telegraph.
UC Berkeley has a severe deficit in terms of available athletic fields in comparison to other comparable universities. During the time of the universities acquiescing to the taking of Regent’s Park by street people, there has been a loss of 40% of the athletic fields in the Central Campus area, at a time when the undergraduate population doubled. Evans Field was lost when RSF was built thirty years ago and West Field has been occupied with temporary buildings for over a decade. North Field was decreased in size by the Music Library.
At the time of the initial occupation of Regent’s Park with half the present undergraduate population there were five central campus area athletic fields open for recreational use: Evans Field, North Field, West Field, Kleeberger Field, Underhill Field.
At present with twice the undergraduate population: North Field(reduced in size), Maxwell(Kleebeger) Field, Underhill Field.
That is a 70% reduction in athletic fields per student.
UC Berkeley is in dire need of more athletic fields for recreational use and especially a natural grass field, as Underhill and Kleeberger-Maxwell are artificial grass. An athletic field, well populated and lit till midnight or beyond, maybe with an additional recreational sports facility built underground would transform the area.
I wonder if anyone has calculated the opportunity cost of leaving Regent’s Park vacant on a yearly basis in terms of lost rent, not to mention the private sector’s loss due to diminished value of commercial properties along Telegraph and surrounding streets. Once the low life and riff raff are removed from the Telegraph corridor, it could be the center of a typical lively college town area drawing respectable patrons from surrounding areas.
Clark Kerr writes in his personal memoir…
“The one tragedy has been “Regent’s Park.” The area some two blocks south of the main campus had been purchased for a residence hall. It was taken over by students and street people in a campus riot after Ronald Reagan became governor in 1967. The National Guard was called in, fully armed.There were some 150 casualties and one death. The campus was sprayed by a potent tear gas from a helicopter. In practice, the area has been held ever since by street people and only partially reclaimed by the campus and city. It became, for a time, a center for drug dealing and petty crime. This plot(2.8 acres) is, I believe, the only area reinquished to street people on any U.S. university or college campus- relinquished by Governor Reagan’s Board of Regents.”
Clark Kerr, “The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California Volume One”, (University of California Press), 127-128 .
“Once the low life and riff raff are removed from the Telegraph corridor”
And how exactly is this to be done without more violence and casualties? Whose life is to be sacrificed for opportunity costs?
James Rector was actually killed by the police, not the National Guard.
“have been using as their venue.”
Venue? I think “perch” would be more appropriate for birdbrains.
I love people’s park. It is the people’s park and the homeless deserve a place to sleep and stay. Berkeley should know better than to bulldoze this park for housing. So many of the professors and students at Cal stand for a cause that goes far beyond the norms of today’s corporate, American-excellence driven culture. Students and faculty know that in order to serve the marginalized, they cannot widen the gap between the rich an the poor any longer. By bulldozing this park, the school is contributing to residential segregation, dividing America’s class structure even more, thus further slashing the opportunity for anyone in the lower economic classes to rise up the social and economic ladder. Berkeley, you stand for such noble causes. Use this opportunity to show the world there is hope in residential integration and that real social and economic change is possible.
Try hanging out with someone at people’s park. Get to know them like a REAL person, give the chance, and then tell me what you think, commenters.
“By bulldozing this park, the school is contributing to residential segregation”
Note that nothing has been bulldozed, and there are no plans to bulldoze anything. Some people love to stir up trouble.
[I love people's park. It is the people's park and the homeless deserve a place to sleep and stay.]
Why do the people who don’t work, don’t pay taxes and don’t act responsibility, have a place to squat at the expenses of those who do?
[By bulldozing this park, the school is contributing to residential
segregation, dividing America's class structure even more, thus further
slashing the opportunity for anyone in the lower economic classes to
rise up the social and economic ladder.]
Wow, what a profound statement, little girl. How many bong hits did it take you to come up with that gem?
The homeless are hardly typical of the American poor. The American poor are the people who have to put up with the panhandling and smell of the homeless, and whose park has been trashed.
Sounds like a trustafarian to me.
Yep.
Why are we still discussing this UC Berkeley? It’s your property – do what you want with it and think of the safety of the students. Bulldoze the park and stop allowing your students to pay almost $30,000 a year for shitty/far housing only to get mugged/beaten along the way by criminals. kthxbye
“think of the safety of the students”
The Regents are doing exactly that. Every attempt to build on the Park has been met with violent resistance. One bystander was killed by a blast from a police shotgun. The best thing students can do about the Park is to stay far away from it.
bullshit stay away from it? you talk about one fucking shotgun blast. how about all the rapes and the murders caused by the homeless scum? get your head out of your ass you POS
When he ran for mayor, RunningMouthWolf wrote in his campaign literature that he was a leader of the movement to save the Ethnic Studies department a decade or more ago. Except if you run thru the archives of the DC or any other paper, his name is mentioned. The fool is a liar and a blowhard. He’s responsible for the woman with the broken back. He LOVES taking responsibility for the tree-sits but once something goes wrong with a tree sit, he refuses to take any responsibility. He does the big talk, but he can’t walk it.
Zachary doesn’t WANT people to get hurt. He just doesn’t care if they do. He doesn’t care about anything except his own ideas.
Running-mouth won’t be really happy until he goats somebody into getting killed.
Bulldoze the park and build housing on it.
People have been saying this for years. The people want student housing, not a park for criminals.
If you think this proposal is new, think again. The problem is a group of activists who push their agenda to the point of deadly force:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Park
They want to appropriate the land for an anarchic state.
Bullshit. The problem is the lack of will on the administration’s part to do what everybody knows is right. By God, we still live in a society of laws, and if the powers-that-be want to drive the hooligans out of people’s park, they have ample force at their disposal to do so.
“we still live in a society of laws”
That’s exactly the point. What is your justification for applying force? What law is being broken? The police could easily drive them out of they park. What’s to stop their coming back? This was all worked through in the 1970s.