Reportback from the 9/28 Gathering at the Albany Bulb

 Taken from: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/09/30/18744120.php

People trickled in slowly, on 'bulb time', to the potluck on the neck of the Albany Bulb. Food from East Bay Food Not Bombs, alongside contributions from others, were laid out on a table. On that table hung a banner that read "Defend the Bulb" with the "n" doubling as a squatter's symbol. The food was not only plentiful, it was delicious.

As folks ate, they swapped stories about the bulb. Some people talked about walking their dogs, others about the logistics of having to carry all potable water to their campsite. Some discussed the sculptures, others broke down the finer points of graffiti style present on the bulb. Those at the event were from all walks of life, people who might not have interacted otherwise. Everyone agreed about the importance of "sharing the bulb," of "keeping it how it is" and of the personal importance of the place to them. The bulb residents mingled with the supporters, joking and eating together. One resident had just found a gopher snake. It twisted around her arm as kids came up to pet it.

People announced a camp-out on October 2nd as a practice run before the eviction is imminent. It was requested that people bring water, both for themselves and for sharing, and camping gear. The evening of the October 2nd gathering will also be a time when people come together to clean trash from the bulb. That action was suggested both by the residents as a way of helping them with things they do everyday. It was also suggested by others as a way to demonstrate that the Bulb is self-regulating and in no way needs city or state intervention. From here, the discussion diverged in many directions. People clearly had many different ideas of what would be the best way to defend the space. Rather than let these differences become division, let's open up a wide space of resistance. Many of the suggestions are not mutually exclusive. While a good deal of respect for the residents and their wishes is warranted, a wide range of practices and perspectives can coexist in the struggle to defend autonomous space at the Bulb.

Around sunset, everyone walked back to the Bulb amphitheater to listen to acoustic music. Some bands were invited and others just showed up--the whole evening came together organically. A large campfire was started, fed with last year's Christmas trees. After a folk punk set by a Danny Discord (Modesto, CA), a string band played a song about the Bulb and the sense of freedom people feel there. Everybody sang along. Blackbird Raum played well after dark at the south end of the amphitheater. People danced, tripped over chunks of sidewalks and screamed along with the band. Enjoying the space, making friends around the campfire, listening to acoustic music together--sharing these experiences helped to connect people to that space.

Outside of the residents and their legal team, substantive resistance to the current efforts to evict the Bulb residents and manicure the space for "passive recreation" is still forming. The event on Saturday was an opportunity for people pissed off by the current plans to meet each other and hear updates about the situation. These conversation will continue at the October 2nd campout. Come to the campout, stayed tuned for future announcements and, most importantly, find your own methods in the defense of this wild autonomous space.

The sun lowered towards the Marin headlands as everyone gathered into the cove (the stepped concrete plaza at the neck of the bulb) to discuss the current situation at the bulb and what can be done. One man, there with his two daughters and their dog, spoke spontaneously to open the meeting. He talked about the importance of having wild space and of how his experiences at the bulb over the years have moved him deeply. The legal team came to the meeting with a very interesting announcement. An agreement was reached that will give residents a 7-day warning before they are evicted. Participants in the assembly thought that a week is enough time to plan and execute a response to the threat of an eviction.

City Government Moves Again to Evict Squatters at Albany Bulb

Osha Nuemann's most famous statue, 'Goddess.'

Albany seems like more of the type of town that would have the last racially segregated farmers market left in the US - not a place where a vibrant squatters and radical artists community calls home, but it is. While the East Bay is blessed with both People's Park and the Albany Bulb, the two spaces are remarkably different. Located in Albany, which is found just North of Berkeley and right next to the ocean on Buchanan Street, the Albany Bulb is a peninsula that overlooks San Francisco and the greater bay area. Like several of the other peninsulas that dot the coastline, the Bulb was created out of a landfill that included bits and pieces of the BART system such as large slabs of concrete and rebar. Much of this debris can still be seen to this day. In 1984, the city stopped using the area as a dump directly into the ocean and as the decades wore on, nature began to come back slowly. By present day, the Bulb is a sanctuary for many endangered birds, a wide variety of plants, and various animal species. As the East Bay Express wrote in 1999:

Communal library at Albany Bulb.

Then, around 1993, a new species began to call this place home. A small group of squatters moved in and erected a tent city among the weeds and ten-year-old saplings. Pioneered by young punkers and urban deep ecology anarchists, a settlement slowly grew. For a time, dog-walking locals strode past this scattered collection of isolated shanties deliberately constructed to blend in with the environment-and never knew it. Everyone had an acre of peaceful open space to themselves, living a strangely rural existence surrounded by the stunning vistas of an urban metropolis. Open-air raves were held in a nearby pit called "the amphitheater," and enterprising artists welded the rebar into disjointed, compelling shapes.

Graffiti mural at 'The Castle.'

In 1999, the city of Albany moved to evict the homeless people and the subsequent legal battle was chronicled in the documentary, 'Bum's Paradise.' Afterwards however, many people moved back to the Bulb and despite repeated eviction attempts, a strong squatting community remains. Walking around the Bulb, I was impressed by the complexity of many of the shelters and homes that exist on the land. There is little trash and garbage; people obviously take very good care of the area. Many of the homes are largely hidden. If you walk along the trails and don't pay attention, by and large you won't notice many of them. There is also a large amount of infrastructure and communal common space that people have made, such as a library building and an amphitheater. On the tip of the Bulb, someone has has also created a 'castle,' which is covered in graffiti and different murals and overlooks the golden gate bridge.  

For many though, the most infamous part of the park is the art, much of it created by materials found on the landfill itself. Most iconic of all the art are the the statues, many being created in part by Osha Nuemann, a former member of Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers! and later, Black Mask, two early anarchist groups from the late 1960's. "It's art without restraint," says Osha of the art. "Art coming out of nature, without having to look over its shoulder and ask permission." Graffiti artists also are a part of the Bulb's rebel culture, with pieces popping up from anarchist writters such as GATS, and SWAMPY, as well as underground legends such as OLD CROW. One group, based out of Oakland, called "SNIFF," also created a series of art installations around the Bulb, including many paintings.  

The future of the Bulb though, like everything in the bay area, is in question. Two things threaten the wild anarchy and self-organized nature of the area. The first is from developers, who are salivating at the thought of turning the area into condos and shopping malls. One developer, Rick Caruso, has already attempted to develop the land, although his plan was turned down.

The Bulb is also threatened by the city government, who currently wants to try and turn the Bulb further into an official state park. While technically the entire area is a park already, the city could come in and add new roads, fences, and other developments to the land, which in turn would mean the destruction of the art and the eviction of the squatting community. At a recent city council meeting in early May, the Albany city council directed police to once again enforce a 'no-camping' policy at the Bulb, starting in October of 2013. According to the Albany Patch website, these sweeps against the homeless would be coupled with "the Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Manager meet[ing] with East Bay Regional Park District and State Parks to begin a process to make the Bulb area a public park." Such development would mean an end to everything on the Bulb that makes it what it is for so many people. The art, the dogs running around off-leash, and the squatter's homes. As one blogger commented:

I'm just going to say that the place has become a jewel - simply by being ignored by the authorities. For years, it was allowed essentially to self regulate, plants grew without being tended, animals and birds arrived, reptiles and rodents emerged, rose bushes bloomed hidden between concrete slabs dumped 40 years ago, artists came and left a treasure trove of outsider art, the homeless moved in for over 10 years. And now, they have started the process of destroying that imagination, to replace it with something that can be controlled, contained and coerced into compliance with a 'park plan.

What is beautiful about the Albany Bulb is that is is self-organized, user-controlled and directed, and wild and free. It is an interesting collection of graffiti artists, squatters, and also dog-walkers and park goers. Most who use the space enjoy and appreciate it's wildness and it's this sense of autonomy and self-organization that brings hundreds to the park. It's also beautiful to see the natural world reclaiming something toxic that human beings have foisted into the ocean.

It should be clear though, that the government is interested in much more than just clearing out the homeless from the area or stopping graffiti artists from painting on concrete. They are interested in control. Just as University of California Police moved quickly to break up the short occupation of UC Berkeley land in Albany over the last several weeks, the city of Albany is looking to finally clear away squatters from government owned land. While the popularity of the Albany Bulb is without question, it's rebellious and illegal nature are problematic for the power structure. The Bulb if anything is a clear violation of the logic and laws of class society: people live without rent, create without permission of government authority, and exist together and with the earth on their own free will. In a society where such ways of existence are always criminalized and seen as threatening by those in power, this is exactly why the Albany Bulb is important and should be defended.  

The question remains, what vision of the park will win in the end? Will we who enjoy the freedom and self-governance of the current state of affairs be able to defend this way of life, or will power and capital win the day? Better yet, how can we expand such forms of life and ways of being? How can such actions and occupations link up and support each other? Out only reply is the same of the anarchist groups of the 1960's, 'Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers! - We've Come for What's Ours!'