A fistfight effectively ended a two-daylong tree-sit in People’s Park Tuesday.
UCPD received a call at around 11 a.m. alerting the department that a tree-sitter had descended from his perch to engage in a fight with another park occupant, according to UCPD spokesperson Lt. Eric Tejada. Upon arrival, UCPD followed “normal procedure” of removing “platforms” and “lodging tent materials” that the person had in the tree, said Tejada.
Neither Tejada nor park occupants could provide a clear consensus on what the tree-sitter was protesting. A tree-sitter demonstrating in the park in March said he was protesting “Phase 2” of a campus-sponsored maintenance project that began in the park in December and a stay-away order issued to another individual who had allegedly been causing conflict there.
The Berkeley Daily Planet reported in March that Hate Man, a well-known figure in the park, was issued a stay-away order by the district attorney.
According to Christine Shaff, communications director of the UC Berkeley’s Facilities Services Department, there is no validity to the claim that the campus’s maintenance project is divided into phases.
The protests and discord surrounding the maintenance project are reflective of a broader conflict over control of the park between the campus and park activists, who believe the park ought to retain the egalitarian reputation it gained during the 1960s.
“It’s just really sad that the university cannot keep its hands off a public piece of property that’s been governed by general population,” said local activist Zachary RunningWolf.
Shaff said the project’s purpose is to create more visibility and help reduce the rat infestation problem in the park. She has said in the past that the construction of a new residence hall directly across the street contributed to the need for maintenance at the park.
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People’s Park has been in existence for 43 years. The University uses the Park to attract students to its campus advertising that the University is in the institution where the Free Speech Movement originated on campus and in People’s Park in the 1960′s. People’s Park is an international beacon and symbol of Free Speech around the world attracting young and old because of its historical significance.
Cal is as famous for its students and for its professors. For example, one of it’s most famous students, Mario Savio, delivered fiery speeches on Sproul Plaza on Free Speech and was one of the leaders who took part in the in the establishment of People’s Park.
The “maintenance program” that was object of the protest here started in December, 2011 when the University hired a private company to
secretly bull doze Peoples Park. Thousands dollars worth of trees, landscaping,
bushes, plants, flowers were destroyed including a Manzanetta, apple tree, bamboo, blackberry, ice
plant, lemon tree, vitex, jasmine, butterfly bush, at least two plum trees, rose bushes, hemlock yucca trees, coffee
berry, pineapple, guava, and kiwi trees. Historical landmarks such as The Pergola and the Council Grove were either removed, damaged or destroyed. The Pergola was built only after plans for its construction were approved by the Univeristy many years ago.
A police officer at the scene at the time
the bulldozing of the trees and vegetation asked for anonymity but said the
reason the University did this without notice to anyone and at a time when the
students were not in town is because they wanted to destroy the park without having to give notice or tell anyone what
they were doing.
There is an Advisory Committee that is supposed to be notified PRIOR to anything like this being done to the Park. The University failed to notify anyone on the Committee of what they were going to do in December, 2011 and thus violated its own agreement with the people in Peoples Park. Thus, the protest by the tree sitter.
["Neither Tejada nor park occupants could provide a clear consensus on what the tree-sitter was protesting.]
Of course not. It’s “protest” for its own sake, to feed the narcissistic compulsion of these people to be the center of attention…
Running Wolf is outright delusional if he thinks people’s park is governed by general population.
The UC owns that parcel of land, if they want to develop it for some purpose they are legally entitled to do so. It’s public property in the same way any town square or park is public, clearly municipalities are entitled to rezone, re-appropriate for other use and redevelop land that they own.
At the same time I would not take seriously any of the comments made by Christine Shaff on UC’s behalf.
The dorm construction is a red herring, you can build a building w/o the inherent need for maintenance on adjacent property: any changes in the park related to the construction are the result of willful but not fundamentally necessary actions. Also by claiming there’s no other “phase” she now has to defend notion that the UC does not have near-term or long-term plans for converting the park to other uses, a claim which does not stand up to scrutiny of the public record.
Any spat between ZRW&friends and the UC pretty much defines the term “frivolous” or “waste of resources/waste of time/waste of sperm and egg”.