Just got back from the Davis Ride of Silence, which was organized by the Davis Bike Collective.
The organizers reached out to relatives of those killed, so at two of the sites, we met friends & family of people killed by drivers while riding their bikes in Davis.
This is the ghost bike for Dr. Marilyn Olmstead and her friends & family were there with us along County Road 100A, next to a farm field.
@mastobikes@fedibikes Ghost bike for Tris Yasay, killed by a still-unnamed UC Davis driver employee in May 2022. UC Davis cops/fire were first to respond so all evidence was collected by UC Davis investigating itself. Unsurprisingly, no charges were made by the DA. And instead of examining its own vehicle fleet & retraining its drivers, UC Davis had its cops apply for a grant to "educate cyclists" about safety.
Meaningless platitudes from outgoing UC Berkeley Chancellor Christ, who cares so much about "shared humanity" that she lied to those who wrote to her in 2020 urging her to read & act on the Demandifesto steps. https://archive.org/details/disability-equity-and-justice-demands
The documentary "Berkeley in the Sixties" is a must-watch for how student activism revulsed the rich white supremacists in this country, making them slash education funding.
When I went to a UC school in the '80s, every computer or telephone system I was required to use to register or do schoolwork was owned & run by the public.
At UC Davis in the 2020s, I have to use Instructure, Duo, AMP Parking, Ivanti, Microsoft, Epic and a myriad of other private sector systems. I am required to give them my data & often to pay for equipment to run them on. #NeoliberalHellhole
Not only does UC Davis continue doing the "it's UC Davis, but it's not UC Davis" when it comes to student housing (nest of private-public "partnerships"),
not only did they install cycle racks we pointed out to them 4 years ago are inaccessible,
not only are the accessible EV chargers not under shade like the inaccessible ones, but
It is depressing to me how little time it's taken for neoliberal Reaganites to groom people into thinking of public universities as a "business".
For those of us who remember a higher standard and/or those of us up on our history, never give up the ship. Educate people and counter the neoliberal narrative that public universities, public libraries, national postal services, etc. should be "run like a business". #NeoliberalHellhole
"By starting the exercise under the cover of darkness and during students’ winter break, university leaders hoped to minimize a conflict with activists adamant the park should remain open space, a living tribute to free speech and student activism."
"He said the university did not notify residents or drivers about its plans to avoid alerting park supporters about the start of the operation.
“We did not want there to be a large protest scene,” Gibson said. “We wanted things to be as safe and smooth as possible, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Berkeley typically requires “no parking” signs be posted 72 hours before parking limits can begin. The city of Berkeley’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon."
Typical "laws are for YOU, not for us" UC attitude.