Protest the Deforestation and Poisoning

of the East Bay Hills by UC Berkeley

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Wednesday, June 29, 2016 – 12 Noon
UC Berkeley (Southside Entrance)
Bancroft Way and Telegraph Ave
Berkeley, California

(Black areas: Targeted East Bay forests –  From: FEMA EBH EIS)

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STOP THE DEFORESTATION AND
POISONING OF THE EAST BAY HILLS!

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UC Berkeley, the East Bay Regional Park District, the City of Oakland, and others, with funding from FEMA and other public moneys, plan to kill over 450,000 healthy trees in the East Bay hills, some over a hundred years old, on over 2,000 acres of public lands from Point Richmond to Castro Valley.
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The destruction has already started, and is expected to escalate as early as August, the end of the official nesting season, unless we stop it.
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Millions of animals will die from the loss of homes and food and the devastation left by bulldozers, chainsaws, and poison, and the air quality and climate in the Bay Area will suffer. Large amounts of herbicides are planned to be applied over a 10-year period, including Roundup (glyphosate, Monsanto), Garlon (triclopyr, Dow), and Stalker (imazapyr, BASF).
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These pesticides have been shown to cause serious health problems in both humans and animals, as well as complex negative ecological impacts on forest organisms. They persist in the soil, and have found their way into watersheds and ground water. Roundup has been banned in many countries because of its toxicity, and the World Health Organization recently classified glyphosate as a 2A probable carcinogen. The poison would affect everyone who uses the parks, and wash into the bay from the creeks. Do we need more cancer and chronic illness?
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When asked for public comment about one of the most important parts of cities — our parks and open space — of the 13,000 people who responded, 90% opposed the plans. Since then, over 65,000 have signed a petition demanding the projects be stopped. Why is the will of the people being ignored?
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Under the guise of fire safety, the agencies involved plan to kill moisture-rich forests that precipitate over 10 inches of water from fog drip in the midst of drought.  According to FEMA, the goal is to transform much of the East Bay parks landscape into “grassland with islands of shrubs”, but this will increase fire danger by creating a highly flammable environment where fires can spread quickly, driven by winds unimpeded by tall trees. Our once beautiful parks will be barren and desolate, and when the rains start, the landslides will come.
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These destructive actions are driven in large part by the ideology that the eucalyptus, acacia, and Monterey pines are non-native plants, that are harmful to native ecosystems. Conservation biologist David Theodoropoulos thoroughly debunked this ideology at a recent event in Berkeley, viewable online at youtube.com/watch?v=n1i3RP7eDFc
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Eucalyptus are the preferred nesting site for eagles, hawks, and large owls, and preferred resting site for migrating Monarch butterflies. They also feed hummingbirds, bees, and other pollinators. Monterey pines create incredible animal and plant diversity. A survey of 173 ornithologists reported that 47% of birds eat from non-native plants.
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In spite of the myths, eucalyptus are actually less flammable than native bay laurels. Firefighter David Maloney, appointed to the Oakland-Berkeley Mayors’ Firestorm Task Force to investigate the causes of the 1991 Hills Fire and make recommendations to prevent its recurrence, said:
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“The Task Force Report concluded that the spread of the fire was mostly due to the radiant heat generated by burning houses… The spread of the fire was not due primarily to burning trees — eucalyptus or any other species.”

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For more details, visit these websites:

SaveEastBayHills.org
MillionTrees.me
HillsConservationNetwork.org
EastBayPesticideAlert.org/wpad.html
TreeSpiritProject.com/sfbayclearcut
BAPD.org/trees.html

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Get in touch, and get involved:

Coalition to Defend East Bay Forests
Contact: defendeastbayforests@riseup.net
Alerts: lists.riseup.net/www/info/eastbayforests-info
Info: facebook.com/CoalitiontoDefendEastBayForests

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No Clearcuts, No Pesticides

Defend East Bay Forests!

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JOIN CODEPINK, WORLD CAN’T WAIT, OCCUPYSF Action Council and others at the huge PEACE banner

Feel free to bring your own signage, photos, flyers, …Additional signs and flyers provided.
Stand (or sit) with us and the huge PEACE banner.

On the steps facing Market Street, below Feinstein’s office,
Directly above the Montgomery BART/Muni station.

 This should be a short meeting – we need to prepare for the Councilvote on the Kalb/Gallo measure.

Join us for free weekly meditation happy hour on Wednesdays, co-hosted by the Art of Living Eastbay Berkeley/Oakland.

We will teach simple and easy guided meditation and breathing techniques to let go of stress and trauma, let your hair down, and celebrate!

We believe that love is the universal language. We also believe that love is the universal cure to heal what ails societies worldwide. These meditation happy hours are our love offering to the community and are the result of a beautiful new & evolving partnership w/The Art of Living facilitated by Neelam Patil…& the universe ♥

Dogtown Redemption, with post-film discussion

Open as MANY homes as possible…

Hold them as long as possible…

Leeloo is an artist and musician living with mental illness. She is also a trans woman of color.

Leeloo had a crisis situation that was mishandled by John George Hospital, resulting in an irresponsible discharge that left her on the streets of San Leandro without a phone, glasses, or money. As a result, she allegedly acted out of her own self preservation and as a result is jailed in ‘protective custody’ at Santa Rita.

We are fighting for her to get her case seen in Behavioral Health Court. Please come out and show support for Leeloo! We will be wearing all black in solidarity with Leeloo.

The more community that can show up for her proves to the DA that she is an excellent candidate for this ‘diversionary’ legal process.

*The event is listed at 9:30am on Thursday. There’s likely to be some waiting around, folks are welcome to continue arriving any time before 11am.

“WE HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO GO.”

Like thousands of other Oakland residents, our family was evicted by a slumlord after we reported
him to the City. After 6 months of living out of our car, searching three counties for housing or even
shelter services with no help in sight, we have decided to take our struggle directly to City Hall. Since
we cannot find shelter, we will take shelter in this public building until our city officials provide relief
for us and the thousands of other families who have been displaced.
Stand with us at Oakland City Hall (14th & Broadway) this Thursday (June 30th) at noon.

If you have nowhere to stay,
stay with us at City Hall Thursday night.
Hot meals will be provided.
#HousingIsAHumanRight #StopStayExpand

More info (PDF):

nowhere-else-to-go

The Sheriff wants to build a new $55 million jail expansion at Santa Rita for treating mentally ill inmate.  It needs to be stopped in its tracks and the money redirected to mental health treatment outside of jail.

We’ve got some momentum to re-invigorate and have a lot to discuss with the decarceration plan. Here a tentative agenda for 7/28, feel free to add additional items by directly replying to me.

• Check in
• What’s happening, what’s coming up in the community
• LeeLoo Update
• Individual and org commitments
• Shared leadership structure and coalition admin.
  • agenda setting
  • meeting location
  • facilitation
  • meeting frequency
  • listservs
• Decarceration Plan

The demand for justice is happening and needs you!

A fundraiser for survivors of the fire that burned down the homes of 58 people on Mission and 29th.

Door fee will be $10 USD (but no one turned away). We’ll also do a raffle (please message if you have suggestions for raffle prizes). El Rio are kindly donating all bar proceeds from 8-12 to the fund.

All proceeds will go directly to the familes and will be matched 1-1 by a corporate sponsor. The Mission Economic Development Agency will process all donations and won’t be charging a fee.

Please join ex-Calavera restaurant workers and the Bay Area Restaurant Worker’s Movement (BARWM) for a rally, community meal and celebration of resistance across the food system!

On July 1st, BARWM will be scaling up our #BoycottCalavera campaign, giving voice to ex-Calavera employees fighting wage theft! We’ll be serving up delicious, free tamales made with love from Tamales La Oaxaqueña! Come hungry, and help us turn away customers with our irresistible community meal. We will host a rally with ex-Calavera employees, community organizers and other food workers sharing stories of resistance and celebrating our many struggles together. And there will be music!

As part of this next phase, BARWM seeks to deepen our relationships with food, economic and racial justice groups organizing across the Bay. We believe in a food chain solidarity that transcends borders and industries, to heal our rotten food system while fighting for justice on the job.

Join us as we launch our official #BoycottCalavera endorsement letter with a celebration of food and music as we continue to educate Oakland residents about the labor exploitation and injustices that have been going on in our very own city.

More information on the campaign & the BARWM: https://goo.gl/LYGBUX

The Tony Award-winning SF Mime Troupe opens in Berkeley July 2 & 3, then San Francisco July 4 with its 57th season premiering “Schooled“

Education. It’s like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That’s how Livina Jones feels about her son Tom’s new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. With it’s old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and racist treatment of kids just like hers Livina believes Roosevelt is exactly the sort of school that can benefit from a little free-market common sense. The nanny-state government has failed to see students as individuals, and failed to give them the real-world skills they’ll need to get ahead. So who says it isn’t time for some big money, for-profit schooling?

Edith Orocuru, for one. She’s the long serving history/civics/American government/basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt, and she’s willing to fight for her version of education as long as her reconstructed hips will allow. But is she fighting for a system that can be fixed, or is she just too blind by her past to see how times have left her and her school behind? And when an efficiency expert, Mr. Babbit, is assigned to improve her class is it a sign that Edith is behind the times, or a sign of something more sinister? And with privatization on the line, and a Wall Street heavy hitter lined up to fold the entire district into his conglomerate, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum. And when did the hall monitors start wearing brown shirts and arm bands?

Dogtown Redemption, with post-film discussion

Yes we are going back to demand our right to rest, housing we can afford, ending 647e. Donations always needed tents, blankets,food, propane stove and housewares.Cash is always welcome so we can buy the survival stuff we realy need. Got big furniture you don’t need? Drop it off especially that big ratty sofa the dog sleeps on. Sorry Fido homeless people need it more then you do.

This dinner (of spaghetti and a sweet red sauce with grilled garlic bread) is being held in conjunction with First They Came for the Homeless’ re-establishment of Liberty City in an effort to demonstrate peaceful, communal living and self-sufficiency.

https://www.facebook.com/events/294334184246214/

A homeless person is still a person, but in America the homeless are less than Untouchables: they are invisible to most of us, and a nuisance to others. In Berkeley the homeless not only have to live on some of the most dangerous streets in America, they have to constantly deal with persecution from the police. Why is the city insisting on harassing and ticketing those without money, many of whom have served our country, many of whom have mental illness and/or are struggling with drug addiction and/or the after-effects of abuse? Why are these people being scapegoated as millionaires and billionaires continue to hoard money when we know once you’ve got enough of it, it can’t buy you anymore happiness? Did the bankers not ruin our country and world economy? Why are they still making so much, continuing to profit off of the cheap labor and suffering of the Underclass? And why does so much of the Underclass still defend them? Because they believe in the myths of the American Dream and the Self-made Man?… No man is an island…

But let’s talk more about it over spaghetti on Saturday!

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over four years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!

COME MARCH WITH US 
Calling all renters to march with ARC in the Alameda 4th of July Parade ! The city has seen some of us on the streets gathering signatures, now let Alameda see MORE of us to show the city how important the issue of rent stabilization is and how many people it impacts.

We’re calling on individuals, families, students, faith groups, and other sympathetic groups to join in.  Kids on bikes, trikes, in wagons, and in strollers welcome and wanted.  Dogs, too – great way to take your dog for a walk !

The parade starts at 10 am on July 4. Line-up starts as early as 8 am.  The parade route is 3 miles long but you don’t have to walk the entire route.

We will send you more information after June 29 with our parade line-up number and exact instructions on how to get in the line-up.

Let’s show the city that the ALAMEDA RENTERS COALITION is a important part of Alameda and here to stay. COME MARCH WITH US !”

Dogtown Redemption, with post-film discussion