PRESS RELEASE-JAN. 13, 2012
UC BERKELEY SLAMSCAPES
PEOPLE’S PARK FOR CHRISTMAS
By Some accounts, it was as early as 4 am on Dec. 28 that UC
Berkeley Police and contracted landscape workers hired by UCB started
setting up orange plastic fencing around the west end of People’s
Park. By 2pm the damage had been done: Bulldozers, backhoes, and
bobcats… chainsaws and chippers… the berms of pavement lifted by
activists in 1979 and stacked next to both the Dwight and Haste
sidewalks as a reminder of our history were leveled. Dozens of mature
plants tended by community gardeners were turned to mulch,
long-existing pathways were indiscriminately blocked off with no
consideration for handicapped access.
Perhaps worst of all was the indiscriminate vandalism of a
volunteer-built structure that existed along the fence line on the
west side, starting near the NW corner and running southwards about 72
ft. This structure, called a “pergola”, was built by volunteers in
1999 and 2000 out of the old-growth redwood lumber that had been
recycled from the University’s ill-fated volleyball courts.
The University required an incredibly involved and drawn out
approval process for the pergola structure that took almost a year to
accomplish. Both the City of Berkeley Planning Department and the
University of California’s Landscape Architect, Jim Horner, signed off
on the project. The structure was inspected after it was completed
and passed, also by Jim Horner.
That the University of California at Berkeley came in the middle
of the night and chainsawed off the trellis portion of the pergola,
killing both a mature grape vine and a mature kiwi vine in the process
was dreadful. That they ran the old-growth redwood that had been
transformed by volunteers from a volleyball court to a pergola through
a chipper before anything could be done about it was shocking. That
they accomplished their vandalism without once notifying any of the
many volunteers who had worked on that project about their plans,
although they themselves had required the volunteer activists to go by
the letter of the book, was a rape…
There is some possibility of redress, perhaps a civil case
against the University, as the project was documented thoroughly from
beginning to end…
Mostly, right now we are working on a benefit at the
ART HOUSE GALLERY AND CULTURAL CENTER
2905 SHATTUCK AVE. (between Ashby and Russell)
SATURDAY, FEB. 4, 2012
from 6-10pm
This is an Acoustic Show
Featuring performances by
PHOENIX
ANTIOQUIA
ANDREA PRICHETT AND FRIENDS
FOOD NOT BOMBS!
$10 SUGGESTED DONATION
CONTACT INFO-(510)830-7787
