Monday, May 21, 2012
Albany Patch welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor via albany@patch.com. Click "Keep me posted" below for email updates related to future stories about the Gill Tract.
[Editor's Note: Follow Albany Patch on Twitter for updates. See all the background on Occupy the Farm on Albany Patch.] On May 15, James Mink wrote on Albany Patch about the frustration of trying – across thousands of comments on multiple threads – “to put an issue to bed successfully.” To help address that need, below is a FAQ to enable PATCH’ers to find substantiated facts easily. Much of the cited information is on the City of Albany’s website. Feedback and suggestions to this FAQ are welcome: The goals are accuracy and objectivity. 1) What and where is the Gill Tract? Land currently referred to as the Gill Tract is about 10 acres in the northeast corner of UC Berkeley property in Albany. It’s bounded by Buchanan/Marin to the …
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/column-2012-uc-gill-tract-and-university-village-faq
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/locations/7062938
Friday, May 18, 2012
Albany Patch welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. See all the Gill Tract stories on Albany Patch at http://patch.com/bvbHo. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for updates about this story.
[Editor's Note: James Mink shared this letter to the City Council related to two agenda items set for Monday. Albany Patch welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. Email albany@patch.com with your contribution.] Dear Council members, Because I will be unable to attend the City Council meeting next Monday, May 21 due to a prior commitment, I wanted to write to you with my thoughts regarding proposed Resolution No. 2012-34, which is listed as Item No. 8-1 on the Agenda. Resolution No. 2012-34 would have the Council urge the University “to establish a space on the Gill Tract where the Albany schools and community can participate in gardening education and/or farming.” While this language seems unobjectionable on its face, by …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The ruling prohibits defendants from entering the Gill Tract. A hearing is scheduled for May 31.
[Editor's Note: This story was updated May 17.] Follow Albany Patch on Twitter for updates. More information is available via #occupythefarm on Twitter. See all the background on Occupy the Farm on Albany Patch. An Alameda County Superior Court judge in Hayward issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday against defendants named in a lawsuit brought by the University of California against protesters who took over university-owned land in Albany last month. Judge David Hunter’s ruling prohibits the defendants from entering, occupying or farming on the Gill Tract themselves, or helping others in any of those activities. Another hearing is scheduled for May 31, when the judge will decide whether to order a preliminary injunction against …
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/judge-issues-temporary-restraining-order-against-occupy-the-farm-defendants
1848730
/locations/7047215
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Please share your ongoing photographs and videos of the Gill Tract activity here. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we publish future stories on this topic.
Please share your ongoing photographs and videos of the Gill Tract activity here. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we publish future stories on this topic. Read more here. Learn about the proposed Whole Foods and senior housing development here.
37.885706
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/your-occupy-the-farm-photos-videos
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/locations/6949156
Monday, May 14, 2012
Occupiers said they were surprised by a police raid Monday morning. UC Berkeley issued a statement citing growing demands from faculty and neighbors to take action. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for updates on this story.
Follow Albany Patch on Twitter for updates. More information is available via #occupythefarm on Twitter. See all the background on Occupy the Farm on Albany Patch. This story was posted at 9:25 a.m. Monday and updated at 10:50 p.m. University of California police arrested nine people Monday morning in a raid designed to end the occupation of the Gill Tract and allow the university to begin research preparations this week, officials said. One young man, who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, remained on the property as of 9:44 a.m. about 15 feet up in a tree, said University of California spokesman Dan Mogulof. Authorities were in communication with him, and he didn't appear to have any gear or supplies. (There was no update as …
37.885706
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/uc-statement-on-gill-tract-ucpd-has-been-asked-to-secure-the-property
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/locations/7011648
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an alert about new items on this topic. See all the Gill Tract stories on Albany Patch at http://patch.com/bvbHo. This following post resulted from a conversation with Gopal Dayaneni today.
[Editor's Note: Gopal Dayaneni of Occupy the Farm shared these statements, during a phone conversation with us, just before 11 a.m. Albany Patch is heading into the meeting hosted by the university about the future of urban farming and research at the Gill Tract, and will provide more information afterward.] We are removing the encampments. We don't need the encampment to assert the right and responsibility to tend the crops. We don't need to camp here .... We're leaving all the things that are appropriate to farming. We've been discussing it over the last day or so. We made that decision this morning. We're now executing it. We're still doing our events today. We're creating access points. We're building a slide for kids to get in. We …
Friday, May 11, 2012
Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an alert about new items on this topic. See all the Gill Tract stories on Albany Patch at http://patch.com/bvbHo.
The University of California at Berkeley released a new statement at 12:39 p.m. Friday about activities at the Gill Tract. It has been reprinted below in full after a short summary. (See all our past coverage here.) According to the statement, signed by George Breslauer, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and John Wilton Vice Chancellor of administration and finance, a planning meeting has been set for Saturday morning to "tackle the details of how the Gill Tract will be shared by our researchers and urban agriculture, and how the effort will be supported, coordinated and sustained under the university’s supervision." The meeting agenda was developed along with the city of Albany, and the talk will include appointed city officials, …
37.885706
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/new-uc-statement-university-moves-ahead-to-plan-research-urban-farming-at-gill-tract
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Media copters responding to police activity at the Gill Tract woke residents Wednesday. City and school district issued a joint statement calling for safety. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we write about this topic.
Wednesday was already set to be a busy day at Ocean View Elementary School, with standardized STAR testing and a walk-and-roll-to-school event. And then came the helicopters, hovering overhead until just before the morning kindergarteners’ 8:20 a.m. arrival. CBS confirmed that one of the helicopters was theirs and said they thought the other belonged to KTVU. Members of the media descended on the site Wednesday to cover new police activity at the University of California-owned Gill Tract. Police locked a western entrance to the field, across from Ocean View, to limit access to the area by activists who took over the land on April 22 to turn it into an urban farm. The site is used for agricultural research by a group of scientists who …
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Ocean View Elementary School
1000 Jackson St, Albany, CA
/articles/helicopters-create-stir-over-ocean-view-school-fbcecb13
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
According to the University, "the occupiers still have the opportunity to accept a proposal that would allow for a peaceful end to the illegal encampment." Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we publish future stories on this topic.
[Editor's Note: The University of California released the following statement at 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday. It appears below as it was released. The complaint appears with this story as a PDF. Those named include Gopal Dayaneni, Anya Kamenskaya, Devin Murphy, Stefanie Rawlings, Eric Larsen, David Grefarth, Russell Bates, Alejandra Cano, Vaden Dabney, Erik Eisenberg, Marika Iyer, Nathan Pitts, Gabrielle Silverman, Francisco Stierle, and "DOES 1 through 150." Another woman, Elizabeth Fairweather, initially was named in the suit, but she told Albany Patch she's studying abroad in Peru for the semester. The university said on May 11 that she will be dropped from the suit "until we can confirm whether or not she was a participant." See all the …
37.885706
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Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/university-of-california-files-lawsuit-against-14-alleged-occupy-the-farm-members
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/locations/6993298
This story is developing. Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we publish future stories on this topic. See all the Gill Tract stories at http://patch.com/bvbHo.
[Editor's Note: See the most up-to-date tweets and photographs on Twitter here via Albany Patch.] UPDATE: 2:18 p.m. Activists at Occupy the Farm said a group of supporters is planning to march from the North Berkeley BART station to the Gill Tract at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. At 1:35 p.m., the University of California filed a lawsuit against individuals and unnamed members described as being part of the Occupy the Farm activities. Learn more here. UPDATE, 12:06 p.m. Just before noon, a group of 20-30 activists convened a strategy session at the Gill Tract. There was somewhat of a lull in the activity after a busy morning, with fewer police and members of the media remaining on scene. Lt. Eric Tejada, University of California Police Department …
37.885706
-122.297486
Gill Tract
1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA
/articles/gill-tract-activists-uc-locks-gates-threatens-use-of-chemical-agents
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/locations/6980714
David
12:10 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Clarifications to #12 & #13 - For the project to proceed as proposed by UC, many things are still required, I don't know the order of what goes when: - City Council needs to certify the Environmental Impact Report and defend that decision in court if it is challenged, - Re-zoning the entire area for commercial, current zoning allows for 15,000 sf of retail, UC wants 85,000 sf of retail, - A PUD … more ›