Stop the War Makers. Hands Around the Lab. Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Never Again!
Aug 10, 1:30pm - 3pm, Robert Payne Park, 5800 Patterson Pass Road (at Vasco), Livermore

March for Immigrant Rights
Sep 20, 11am Assemble at Yerba Buena Gardens (Mission St. between 3rd & 4th), San Francisco; 12pm - March up Market St.; 1:30pm - Program & Festival at Civic Center.

Rally and March to Defeat Proposition 54
Sep 25, 12:00noon - Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley

Reportback from Palestine
Sep 27, 6:30pm - Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby Street, Berkeley

End the Occupation! Bring the Troops Home Now!
Sep 28, Noon - Dolores Park, San Francisco - 12pm. Gather at Dolores Park, march to: 2pm - Rally at Civic Center

Forum: Defend Environmntal Justice, Defeat Prop. 54!
Sep 30, 7:00 PM - Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way, Berkeley.

In Celebration of the Free Speech Movement: The Berkeley ACLU Presents Larry Fly
Oct 6, 7:00 PM - Pauley Ballroom West, Berkeley campus

Stop the FTAA and School of the Americas
November 19-23, Miami and Colombus, GA.

Buy Nothing Day
November 28, Everywhere.

Promoting Gill Tract Sustainability to Create a Healthy Urban Future
Interview With Courtney Hall
By Annie Klein

For the past nine months, Courtney Hall, a 22-year-old undergraduate UC Berkeley student majoring in Development Studies, has been working tirelessly as part of a grassroots organizing effort to preserve a plot of UC-owned land known as the Gill Tract that is located in Albany, California. At the forefront of the struggle to promote an alternative vision to the University's plans to develop the Gill Tract has been a coalition known as Urban Roots-a group that Ms. Hall has been intensely involved with since its' formation in March 2002. On November 24th 2002, I had the pleasure of interviewing this delightfully cheerful, passionate, and humble activist to ask her about the history of Urban Roots, the multiplicity of issues at hand in this development project, the value of the Gill Tract, the lessons that she has learned through her experience with grassroots organizing, and perhaps most importantly, what people can do if they would like to get involved in these efforts to help create a healthy, sustainable future for the local, East Bay community. What follows are some excerpts from my interview with Ms. Hall.

Klein: Perhaps, I should begin by asking you- what is the Gill Tract?

Hall: The Gill Tract is a plot of land owned by the University of California, Berkeley. It is in Albany (North of Berkeley) on the corner of San Pablo and Buchanan St. and is part of the larger property called UC Village. It is altogether 14 acres and was sold to the University by the Gill family who had a nursery on the land in the earlier part of the 20th century. The Gill family sold it to the University in 1929 and since then the University has developed it into an agricultural research station. In the 1940's, it housed the division of the International Department of Biological Control and has been a site for doing research in agricultural alternatives for years. It's still being used for research today. There's also a community farm that takes place there every summer and that I worked at this past summer. Half of the farm is made up of family plots (many of which are maintained by families living in the UC Village) and the other half is a collective area. Keep in mind that they don't have to pay for any of this which is pretty good for community gardens because usually you'll have to pay ten to fifteen dollars a year in fees.

Klein: When did the University decide that they were going to develop on this land?

Hall: They've actually been talking about development for years. A lot of the reasons of why they said it was okay to go ahead and start concretizing these development ideas was because of the enormous pressure the University has been under to provide affordable student housing and also the opportunity that arose to move all of the applied research (that would have necessitated using the Gill Tract) to UC Davis. While we [Urban Roots] did not have specific details of the University's plans for development, the request for qualifications from developers that the University released in March made it clear that the University wanted to build a certain number of student housing units (330 units of student and faculty housing) and some commercial development which would pay for the relocation of the community center and the two baseball fields. We were told that the best place for the baseball fields and community center was on the Gill Tract and that sparked a lot of interest in wanting to show them that there are alternatives to building in this area.

Klein: Why should the Gill Tract be preserved? In other words, what value does this piece of land hold?

Hall: The Gill Tract represents a part of Albany's history. Originally, this land was a valuable resource to the indigenous people who benefited directly from the site's streams and ideal location near the bay. When Edward Gill purchased 104 acres of this land in 1904, it became home to a nursery with an international reputation for producing antique roses. Then, when the University bought the nursery, the land was divided up amongst a variety of entities including the USDA, the Albany Schools, Albany City Hall and was used for a variety of different functions including wartime housing, community gardens, and agricultural research. In 2002, the extended Gill Tract community includes those who are engaged directly in its activities such as UC students, faculty, staff, and researchers, community farm participants. Furthermore, we must not forget those who benefit indirectly from the land's aesthetic and environmental contributions, such as Ocean View Elementary School, UC Village residents, USDA Western Research Laboratory, and beneficiaries of community farm produce.

The Gill Tract

In terms of the environmental contributions the Gill Tract offers, this piece of land is incredibly rich. The fertile soil of the Gill Tract has been cultivated for over 100 years creating a diverse ecosystem which effectively helps in buffering the hydrological cycle and rain water infiltration and maintaining the biodiversity of plants and animals that are native to this area. This includes and is certainly not limited to Monarch butterflies, California Red-legged frogs, Steelhead trout, California Slender Salamander, and Western Garter snakes. The fact that over a dozen plus different species of trees exist on this site along with the Codornices and Village Creeks provides further evidence that the Gill Tract is extremely rich in diversity.
The Gill Tract also possesses amazing potential to serve as a tool for research and community outreach education in urban ecosystems, including studies of urban agriculture, ecological design, riparian and aquatic ecosystems, watershed management, urban forestry and urban ecological restoration. Because of its urban location, it is easily accessible to a wide-range of people.
Lastly, I would like to address just some of the economic benefits of the Gill Tract. According to conventional economic models, the returns from the Gill Tract as a vegetative open space could never match that of the returns in dollar value of a commercial development of the site. The Gill Tract should be considered a public good because of the long-term benefits it generates and its potential to be economically, highly productive farmland in an urban center. The forested area of the Gill Tract helps to moderate temperatures curbing money that would be otherwise necessary for heating or cooling costs.

Klein: How did you come to be involved with Urban Roots?

Hall: I saw this flier for a meeting last March and I said-"Exciting, saving urban agriculture! That sounds great!" So, I went to this meeting. There were probably about 20 people there. I knew nothing about the Gill Tract at that time. The first meeting was incredible! It was organized by a graduate student from UC Berkeley who had spent the previous summer working at the Gill Tract and he found out about the UC's plans to develop it and that the University had just put out a request for qualifications by developers. Looking back to the first days and how this was an honest to goodness grassroots effort, I've never seen anything like it before. People from all different backgrounds came to that meeting and we discussed the issue and what were the best strategies for what to do next. We decided to draw up a petition to the University saying that we value this land as an educational, agricultural, and community resource and because of that we need to encourage the UC to not only preserve it but to reopen dialogue so that it can be turned into a center for urban agriculture. Of course, that focus has changed a lot since we wrote that as we've been challenged to look at this issue from other perspectives and have tried to be more flexible in our vision. At the first community forum, this struggle was centered on urban agriculture and we were all speaking from our own personal interest. Now, having gone to the second community forum several weeks ago, we've come so far in clarifying our vision. It's no longer solely about urban agriculture. Rather, it's about saving a valuable resource that will enhance the future sustainability and preserve the historical legacy of this area.

Klein: That feeds in well to my next question then which is what is the mission and goals of Urban Roots?

Hall: As a coalition of concerned students, community members, and UC faculty, Urban Roots is committed to working in cooperation with the UC to incorporate the preservation of the Gill Tract and its inherent value in the plans for redevelopment of the San Pablo Mixed-Use Project. Specifically, we are seeking to incorporate in these plans such values as education, student action through democratic participation in University decision-making, community health, urban sustainability (designing urban areas in a conscious way to ensure ecological and social diversity, stability, and resilience), and food security-that is, access to the cultivation and consumption of nutritious food at the local level and a decreased dependence on the political and economic institutions responsible for global food insecurity.

Klein: How has Urban Roots sought to realize its goals?

Hall: Well, besides the petition that we started circulating last spring and from which we've received over 1,000 signatures, Urban Roots recently submitted a proposal to the University on Nov. 19th and the competing development teams (which are Alan and O'hara and the Martin Group). Urban Roots proposes to preserve the 10-acre historic forested and agricultural area of the Gill Tract by restricting new construction and baseball fields to the 16-acre portion of the development site with already existing buildings and infrastructure. Urban Roots' proposed site plan addresses and meets all requirements set out by the UC in the Request for Proposal, including those for housing, community facilities, retail development, landscape guidelines, creek restoration, and circulation and access guidelines. We're basically proposing that the University increase the density south of the Village Creek that would free up all of the land that is agricultural land and forested area. Our plan differs from the proposals put forth by the other development teams in that it moves the baseball fields south of the Gill Tract and the community center to the more dense area of the entire area. Perhaps, I should back track just a bit to review a time-line of events that have already occurred in the development process. Okay, so, after the developers put in their qualifications responding to the University's request, the University picked three development teams from seven-Alan and O'Hara, the Martin Group, and the Emerald Fund (who later dropped out). In the middle of July, the University put out requests for proposals and gave the developers a three-month deadline to submit their proposals. When the request for proposals came out, Urban Roots looked at it and said-"Okay, this is what they want. We need to find a way to make it fit our demands and the community's demands that aren't being addressed by the University and to enter an alternative proposal." The University will select a developer by late December or early January. We've been meeting with each of the developers, individually, to present our plans to them so that they know that we're out there. Once a developer is selected is when our opportunity comes up to apply more direct pressure (to the University and the developer) and influence them as much as possible with the Urban Roots proposal. Right now, Alan and O'Hara seems to be much more willing to make changes and work with us.

Klein: What are some of the visions that Urban Roots have for the Gill Tract?

Hall: The Gill Tract could be a center for sustainable urban agriculture and design, an arena for democratic education at UC Berkeley, an educational site for the Albany Unified School District, a demonstration urban farm employing youth and providing locally organic grown food, a new park, and/ or an interdisciplinary outdoor, natural laboratory for research. The Gill Tract could serve as a green venue for small concerts, town meetings, and ceremonies. The Gill Family Bungalow could be a historical museum for Albany surrounded by a rose garden featuring Gill's roses and a native plant nursery. Its important for me to say that while these are some of the ideas that have been shaping our vision and that while I have been very interested in the potential that this land offers for sustainable urban agriculture, I've realized that in this struggle listening to the interests of others and being willing to cooperate is essential.

Klein: Do you have any words of wisdom that you would like to share with other people who are grass roots organizers based on your experience with organizing around the issue of the Gill Tract?

Hall: I have a few. Number one, don't let your self burnout. [We both laugh!]

Klein: How have you been affected by the "activist burn out phenomenon"?

Hall: Well, I don't sleep anymore. Sometimes when you get your mind so set on something that you want to do, its easy to get wrapped up in that whole notion of "progress." Realizing that social change takes time is a great lesson. There are some days when I am absolutely frustrated complaining about how this or that person didn't show up to a meeting, asking myself where is the support, why don't people see this as a cause to get involved in…just a lot of negative ideas that come from the pressure of not feeling like anything is really happening. And that's the thing, a lot of times things are happening and it's hard to see the changes. It just takes time.

Klein: If people are interested in getting involved with organizing around this issue or would like to learn more about Urban Roots and the group's proposal, what would you suggest that they do?

Hall: People can go to our website at www.gilltract.com where they can view the Urban Roots proposal and site plan, take a picture tour of the Gill Tract, sign up on our list serve lists.riseup.net so that they can receive updates from us, and find out information about our letter writing campaign. Our meetings are every week and they change from week to week because we have to work around people's schedules for those who work or are in school. If you're on our list serve, you'll receive an update in advance about when and where the weekly meeting will be. If you want to contact Urban Roots and friends of the Gill Tract you can e-mail gilltract@yahoo.com. Copies of the UC Request for Proposals, the developer's proposals and the Urban Roots proposals are available at the Albany Community Library (located at Marin and Masonic Ave.).

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