Stand-off at Berkeley tree sit continues as City Council meets to discuss

At tonight's Berkeley City Council Meeting, council member Donna Spring will ask for an urgent agenda item be added to confront the University over blocking the public sidewalk along Piedmont Ave at the Oak Grove.

SPRING: “I'm hoping that six members of the council will be willing to add it to the agenda, and there I want to make a motion to ask that we write a letter to the university telling them that we need our sidewalk back again. We need public access and to get their barriers off the public sidewalks. If they want to restrict the tree sitters they're gonna have to do it on their own property. Not use the public right-of-way to try to restrict the tree sitters from getting food and water.

Protesters first occupied the trees in the Oak Grove more than 18 months ago in an effort to stop a planned Sports complex adjacent to the stadium at UC Berkeley. Last Monday, in anticipation of a judge's ruling, UC Berkeley brought in a Watsonville tree service company to remove the sitters' platforms and traverse lines.

On Sunday, police blocked supporters from providing food and water to the tree sitters. Ayr a supporter of the Oak Grove, told KPFA that he did not know how much food or water the tree sitters have left, but indicated the situation is not urgent.

Ayr: "Obviously as each day passes their rations are getting lower and lower being that we're not able to get them any new stuff, so we're demanding that the university allow food and water in."

Dan Mogulof, executive director of public affairs at the university, said that the university feels it has achieved its goal of making it difficult for the tree sitters to maintain their protest.

Mogulof: “If they're tired and if they're hungry and thirsty then all they need do is come down and they can have everything they need. Having said that, we continue to monitor the situation on a day-by-day basis. We're in constant contact with the people in the trees, they're telling us that they have adequate supplies. But if we perceive, or hear about any significant change in the status quo, in so far as their health and safety and well-being is concerned, we'll be ready to reevaluate our current position.”

Mogulof would not say whether or not the university would allow the protesters access to food or water after they exhaust their existing supplies. In a formal letter to City Manager Phil Kamlarz, the university affirmed that it is monitoring the health of the tree sitters, and will provide food and water to any protesters who come down.
Mayor Tom Bates said that he does not feel the University should take action against the tree sitters until the legal case has been completely resolved.

Bates: “Eventually this is gonna wind down, just not that far off. The future is here, so it looks like, very shortly, we'll have a definitive answer to the question, “Can they cut down the trees?” And if they can cut down the trees in the near future, which I wouldn't like to see happen, and hope doesn't happen, then obviously the tree sitters are gonna have to come out of the trees. So it seems to me that, right now, that the university oughta not try to starve them out, or not allow them to have water too, in order to stay in the trees until we get a definitive answer from the judge.”

Mogulof said he did not know why the university contracted with Williams Tree Service in Watsonville.

Mogulof: “I personally have no idea where that firm is from I wasn't a party to any of those conversations, but to the best of my knowledge we selected a firm that had had specific experience with these sorts of events and activities in the past and were adaquetly trained and experienced to manage the situation. The fact is, is that no one was seriously injured last week, that we did manage to achieve our objectives and as far as I know the only one seriously injured was an arborist who was bit by one of the protesters.”

The company has done business with UC Santa Cruz in the past. During the winter break, Williams Tree Service removed materials left near the site of a tree sit there. The Metro Santa Cruz Newspaper reports that the tree service's activities at the Santa Cruz site led vandals to damage company property held in its service yard. Citing safety concerns the University is refusing to speak publicly about the Tree Service company.

Dennis Williams of Williams Tree Service also refused to comment on the companies operations saying that he can't speak about the matter until he has permission from the University police department. Mogoluf said he was unaware of any orders prohibiting Williams Tree Service from speaking to the media, and KPFA was unable to secure permission for Williams by the time of this broadcast.

For KPFA, in Berkeley, I'm Josh Wolf