Community Corner

UC Threatens Gill Tract Occupiers With Arrest, Fines

UC police used a megaphone late Tuesday to tell the several dozen urban-farm activists who've been occupying the UC-owned Gill Tract in Albany for three days that they are trespassing and face arrest and fines if they don't leave.

UC Berkeley police Tuesday told in Albany that they are trespassing and face arrest or fines if they don't leave.

Using a megaphone and accompanied by three other officers, UC police Sgt. Andrew Tucker entered the field where the protestors have been camped and planting an urban farm since Sunday and issued the warning shortly after 5 p.m.

The several dozen protestors at the Gill Tract appeared unfazed and continued with their work of pulling up the wild mustard in the field and planting their own crops. One organizer of the occupation said police had issued a warning on Monday.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Before Tucker and the other officers strode onto the field, a media representative for the group, Anya Kamenskaya, told Patch, "They've said we're trespassing, but we haven't gotten a direct order so far."

Tucker told Patch he couldn't comment on how much time the occupiers have before police might act to evict them.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

About the same time Tucker that made his announcement, one of the activists, Janneke Petersen, a garden educator in the Oakland Unified School District, used her own megaphone to announce that a workshop was about to begin on "dismantling oppression in the food system."

The determined group entered the field on Sunday, Earth Day, and began planting crops as a demonstration urban farm in the name of sustainable, locally grown and healthy food. They erected a large banner saying, "Occupy the Farm / Take Back the Tract." 

The field lies on the south side of Buchanan Street, west of San Pablo Avenue and east of Jackson Street in front of Ocean View Elementary School. It has been under cultivation for many years as an agricultural research plot for researchers from UC Berkeley and the nearby regional office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In a related development Tuesday, UC officials at the last minute pulled their proposal for at University Village (the UC student housing complex next to the Gill Tract) from the Tuesday night agenda of the Albany Planning & Zoning Commission, Albany Patch reported.

The UC proposal for the Whole Foods store and senior housing has been in the works for several years and has generated significant community interest and debate. The discussion at the planning commission had been much anticipated, especially after the Gill Tract occupiers next door linked the future of the agricultural field to the development proposals.

Tuesday afternoon, UC's project manager for the Whole Foods and senior housing project, Kevin Hufferd, sent a notice to the City of Albany, saying, "The University would like to ensure that misinformation about the project’s impact on the agricultural lands is corrected and that the project, which has been planned with considerable community input and support over four years, is given an opportunity to be thoughtfully considered by the Commission."

Hufferd said no decision has been made on when the item will be back before the commission.

At the field Tuesday, the occupiers were busy not only with continued clearing and planting but also with ensuring a water supply to the new seedlings after UC cut off the water supply Monday. They had brought in large containers of water from which they were feeding irrigation lines and hand-carried containers.

Kamenskaya, a 2009 graduate of UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources, which oversees Cal's agricultural research, said crops planted by the occupiers so far include squash, beans, broccoli, strawberries and tomatoes.

The group hopes to create an ongoing, sustainable farm at the site that can serve as both an educational resource and source of "fresh, healthy food," she said.

She said planning for the occupation began with preliminary discussions in October and November and moved into high gear in January.

"I'm hoping we get to the point where we can do research in organic agriculture," said another member of the group, Asa Dodsworth, who's also a member of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.

He pointed to the plot's history as a field for research in natural pest control. One of the current UC professors who does research at the field, Miguel Altieri, is a noted critic of industrial agriculture who studies biological pest control. The occupiers did not touch the fava-bean cover crop on Altieri's section of the field.

The occupiers Tuesday were also clearing a new area in front of Ocean View School to plant a children's garden that students at the school can see, Dodsworth said. 

They had also marked off protective zones for wild turkeys who have been living in field.

Among the additions was a tepee made of cut mustard grass. The wild mustard is a volunteer cover crop that the UC Berkeley and USDA researchers plow under before they plant their research crops after the spring rains.

Albany Patch has extensive coverage of the Gill Tract occupation. For past El Cerrito Patch articles on the occupation, click "Gill Tract" next to Related Topics below. For alerts to future El Cerrito Patch articles on the topic, click the Keep me posted button below.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here