SF Chronicle: Arborist upsets UC Berkeley tree-sitters

Link, with photos.

 

UC Berkeley police brought in an arborist at dawn Tuesday to snip ropes and dismantle a wooden platform at the Memorial Stadium oak grove, where tree-sitters have been roosting for more than 14 months to protest the university's plans to build an athletic training center where about 100 trees now stand.  The arborist climbed into the grove about 6 a.m. and cut most of the ropes connecting the half-dozen platforms the tree-sitters have built in the foliage. The arborist also took down one of the platforms, which was uninhabited. In the process, a bucket of human waste fell about 60 feet to the ground.  There were no arrests, and a university spokesman said police moved in because the protest appears to be winding down. But the action enraged the protesters. "They cut a s- bucket and it fell to the ground and exploded," said Erik Eisenberg, 39, a leader of the tree-sitters' ground crew who goes by the name Ayr. "They've made things less safe and less sanitary. All they're trying to do is harass and intimidate us."

About half a dozen protesters remain in the trees, living on wooden platforms outfitted with tarps, blankets and rudimentary kitchens. Almost immediately after the police left Tuesday morning, the protesters began repairing the severed ropes, which they use for swinging from tree to tree.  University spokesman Dan Mogulof said the remaining tree-sitters will be able to get food and water using the ropes that are left. "There's just a hardcore few left up there," he said. "The police felt this was a good, safe opportunity to act, to address some of the public safety and public health issues." A judge is expected to rule by June on lawsuits filed by the tree-sitters, the city of Berkeley and neighbors in an attempt to stop the stadium expansion plans. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller has asked for more evidence to show whether the $125 million Student Athlete High Performance Center sits atop the Hayward Fault. The fault runs under Memorial Stadium, but Miller said the architectural drawings don't clearly show if the center is part of Memorial Stadium or a separate building. If Miller rules that the athletic center is part of the stadium, the project would violate 1972 Alquist-Priolo Act banning new buildings on earthquake faults. Miller ruled previously that the university must comply with the act, even though as a state agency it is exempt from many other state and local laws. Miller will hear more arguments on the case on March 7, and has 90 days to rule. "The testimony will be as dry as the Sahara Desert," said Stephan Volker, attorney for the California Oak Foundation, an Oakland nonprofit supporting the tree-sitters. "But we're confident our evidence will demonstrate the Student Athlete High Performance Center is indeed a renovation to California Memorial Stadium."

The university could be forced to scratch the project if Miller rules the center is a renovation to the stadium and the stadium, in turn, is worth less than $250 million. According to Alquist-Priolo, renovations to an existing building on a fault cannot exceed half the building's value. The university has said Memorial Stadium, an 85-year-old Beaux-Arts bowl on the National Register of Historic Places, is worth $595 million - roughly the cost to replace it. The plaintiffs argue that the stadium is so dilapidated that it is worthless, and any renovations would be a violation of Alquist-Priolo. The university hopes Miller will decide that the athletic center is a separate building, allowing construction to proceed immediately. "We knew from the beginning we wanted a separate building," Mogulof said. "We asked the architect for a separate building. And we're very confident the plans show just that - a separate building."