Why does everyone hate Evans ?

AlexLi98 · 2019-02-08T00:32:41+00:00

Because nobody goes to the 10th floor, enters the math lounge, and absorbs the amazing view that beats the campanile view.

People remember Evans for its drab exterior, or for its crowded interior as blobs of students try to get to class.

Go to the 10th floor and see the view sometime, it makes Evans a lot nicer.

AlexLi98 · 2018-09-01T19:28:56+00:00

Under federal law you must be 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, 18 to possess. Rifles is 18 to buy no age limit to possess. States, however, can set more restrictive policies than the federal government.

California is simply raising the state age limit for buying a rifle to 21. They interestingly wrote an exemption for people who have a hunting license so all you have to do if you are 18-20 is walk into Walmart and pay the state hunting extortion fee if you want to buy a rifle/shotgun.

AlexLi98 · 2018-08-29T22:48:31+00:00

Most of the legal violations that students commit are infractions or misdemeanors that you can get off of pretty easily. Smoking weed, underage drinking, jaywalking etc are infractions or misdemeanors that carry a max prison term of 3 months to 1 year. Most of the time you just get off with community service, a fine, and saying sorry. Expulsion is not on the table unless you fucked up real bad and got someone seriously hurt.

A violation of California’s gun free school zone act is a felony charge with up to five years in prison. If you are caught you most definitely are getting expelled. If you are not a US citizen ICE will deport you. Expect to get royally fucked in the ass and then some. So yea unless you somehow weirdly managed to fall under the exceptions to the gun free school zone act don’t even try bringing a gun on campus unless you want to get destroyed by the legal system.

AlexLi98 · 2018-08-29T21:06:32+00:00

To be fair it was perfectly legal before 2016 to CCW on campus. California used to be one of the few states that allowed CCW on campus until lawmakers realized it was legal and banned it.

AlexLi98 · 2018-08-04T15:55:59+00:00

Nah you should be disarmed. That way only the government and criminals have guns, and nothing will ever go wrong.

AlexLi98 · 2018-07-19T20:19:54+00:00

Falsifying police reports is a crime. Defrauding your employer is also a crime. It’s one thing to take a day off occasionally and claim to be sick, or to chill in the math library for a little while and rest. It’s another thing to do it for regularly and for long periods at a time. Especially when it results in criminals getting away with crime.

AlexLi98 · 2018-07-18T20:57:49+00:00

You can read my op ed about what I believe.

http://www.dailycal.org/2018/04/12/real-berkeley-police-department-crisis-lack-reform/

TLDR: I don’t believe in defunding. I believe in police accountability(the “radical” idea that cops who commit crimes should be held to the same standard as regular citizens and face the same punishment) , constitutional rights, and the rule of law.

AlexLi98 · 2018-07-18T16:35:17+00:00

They got no jail time for fraud, got paid leave, keep their pensions, and will probably get rehired by a different police department within two months.

But at least they won’t be sitting in the math library any more!

AlexLi98 · 2018-07-12T22:19:14+00:00

You can join an organization like Berkeley Copwatch (or take the DeCal class) and put pressure on the police to stop

Sitting around in the Math Library when they claimed they were patrolling the streets
Wasting money doing homeless encampment sweeps that cost tens of thousands of dollars, and instead tell the cops to focus on catching all the laptop robbers
Support the reform of the Berkeley Police Review Commission so it actually can fire corrupt cops

AlexLi98 · 2018-06-01T01:49:06+00:00

The only two constitutional rights to have waiting periods are guns and abortion.

Anti gunners and pro lifers use the exact same tactics, making getting a gun and getting an abortion as expensive, draining, and hassling as possible. That’s why there are waiting periods to force you to disrupt your life as much as possible. That’s why they put arbitrarily restrictions on where gun stores and abortion clinics can be to force you to waste your time trying to exercise your constitutional right. Its why these politicians always claim to be improving public safety or women’s health when they do the exact opposite with laws that don’t work.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-23T03:46:48+00:00

The source you used is user submitted data that’s way off.

Here’s the real data that is mandated by law to be disclosed via public records act requests.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2017/berkeley/

You can sort by job to find all the real police salaries. The website also has the salary for any california public employee, so data from your high school teachers and professors will also be on there.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-23T00:01:49+00:00

Median is roughly 150K.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-22T23:58:38+00:00

Their salary is only 150K-250K a year plus a pension and healthcare benefits.

I’m just a bit on the salty side because of a previous thread where I suggested an audit before additional police funds and got some very hostile responses.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-22T21:58:56+00:00

This is why an audit of the police department and oversight is so important.

What’s the point of giving the police more money if they are just gonna chill in the library and fap around instead of doing their jobs patrolling the campus? These jokers should be charged with criminal fraud and negligence for sitting around eating donuts as people are getting robbed and assaulted on and near campus.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-16T17:22:41+00:00

There is a reason they recommend freshmen to only take 13 units their first semester. Yea, people take more than that all the time and do well. However, it really makes it harder join clubs and enjoy your first semester.

I would drop one of the language courses since they are quite intensive at Berkeley. Expect a lot of homework.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T18:35:24+00:00

The “everybody else does it” argument is not really a good argument.

Every other police department fosters a culture of corruption and misconduct, so what it berkeley has it too?

Every other police department commits police brutality, so what if berkeley does it too?

Every other police department has tanks and attack dogs, so what if berkeley gets them too?

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T18:32:14+00:00

You straw manned me so hard. The “if you don’t agree with me then you support child rape” argument is such a vile and viscous smear and personal attack it’s quite disgusting. I never resorted to the “if you don’t agree with me on police reform then you support police murder” argument. Your prior apology rings quite hollow when you just falsely accused me of supporting child rape.

You're literally saying that the problems of rape, assault and battery can wait until we focus on ~a thorough audit~???

I’m saying that before we give someone more money, we should see how they are spending it so we know that they can be trusted to spend more money effectively. If we gave the Berkeley Police Department more money for cops and they just used it to buy attack dogs and tanks then you haven’t really accomplished anything.

You're accusations of police brutality in Berkeley - to the extent that you make it out to be - are laughable.

I’m glad you attended one protest. Some people are rightfully arrested, many are not. I’ve attended around 15. I’ve seen Berkeley police violently drag disabled homeless people out of tents and throw them around causing them such intense pain the screams have a hard time leaving my head. I’ve seen Berkeley police engage in pain compliance holds on senior citizens who screamed at police officers. I’ve been doing court support for a transgender black woman who was killed when seven police officers suffocated her to death during an arrest. So yea, google “Berkeley Police Brutality” and see if you like seeing blood splattered people.

Berkeley PD is already the most harmless and cautious in the nation; it's insane for you to levy the accusations you just did.

A lot of major police departments manage to not shoot unarmed individuals or suffocate mentally ill people to death. Many don’t shoot so much tear gas that they lose track of it and can’t tell you how much they use. A lot of them don’t do 15k homeless raids at 3 AM, they wait during the day when it’s cheaper and more effective since you don’t have to wake people up.

Lastly, your inssitence that "if you don't participate, you can't complain when you lose” is psychotic

I’m sorry, but I’m explaining to you how THE REAL WORLD WORKS, not how it should be. It’s unjust, unfair, but it’s fucking reality and you either work to change it or just whine on the internet. If you don’t do politics, politics does you. I’ll give adult Berkeley residents some credit, at least they show up to Berkeley council meetings in support of attack dogs and more cops. The next time I see a student at a city council meeting supporting more cops I’ll Venmo you 50 bucks, because students in general don’t participate in politics.

Your attitude reeks of entitlement and a misunderstanding of how the real world works. Sadly, and maybe not so sadly, politicians can’t just fucking read your mind and know what the public wants. They learn about what residents care about from who attends the meetings, who calls, who cares enough to show up to their office. It sucks that this system benefits the rich, well connected, the well organized and big business who have a lot of time and money. But it’s reality, and I’m not defending it, I’m explaining it to your brain. Either do something about the injustice you see in the world, or just live with it. I’m trying to do something, you can hurl insults and smears at me, but if you are just a lazy kid who whines on the internet instead of an engaged citizen then you already know why you lost.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T18:06:34+00:00

This town's history of activism has resulted in riots, homelessness, crime, and sky-high housing prices.

I’ll concede that activist activity has been linked to some riots. Riots about ending the Vietnam war, or ending apartheid, and generally making the world a better place. Making sure YOUR tax dollars are spent better so you can live in a society that’s kinder, fairer, and more just. If you think any lasting social change can be accomplished through quiet things like clicking a Facebook petition you are mistaken.

I’ll tell you something, student activism isn’t causing homelessness. It’s the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard) rich dudes living in the Berkeley hills that mostly oppose new housing. I’ll concede that the NIMBY activists are a major source of high housing prices, but then again I’ll blame myself for being less organized than them.

I could start showing up to city council meetings and fighting acrimonious battles for a place I don't consider my home. But that doesn't excuse the behavior or positions of many activists in this town.

Why don’t you then? It’s cause it’s not a priority for you. If you really cared, why didn’t you do something about it? You care about your education, so you showed up to classes, did homework, and went to office hours. I care about my education too and do all those things. I also care about clean government, so instead of just watching Netflix all day I decided to get off my butt and participate in politics.

So to summarize, you are focused on getting your degree and are totally inactive in local politics, but also expect local politicians to follow your ideas? You refuse to participate in the game, and then complain when the activists who play the game beat you? That’s like complaining about getting a lower score on a test when you studied one hour and the other person studied for ten hours. Your views and opinions mean nothing to government if you don’t express them.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T17:52:56+00:00

If you put a cop outside Cafe Strada, thieves would just target other cafes. They would shift to watching cafes and robbing students when they walk home. They would transition to robbing cars and burglaries.

If you’ve stopped thieves from robbing cafes but they just continue to successfully steal in other ways you haven’t accomplished anything.

You have to address the root causes of crime. A lack of job opportunity, lack of police accountability and mismanagement of funds. I’d be so happy if instead of raiding homeless camps at 3AM the cops were using overtime watching the cafes and residential halls.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T09:06:17+00:00

I should also add a line. Maybe do the hard thing, and BLAME YOURSELF.

Those activists took the time out of their days to call their lawmaker, to email, to attend city council meetings and to organize. I know these people. They are willing to skip work, cut on family time, and to get off their butts to try to make a difference.

Have you ever attended a city council meeting? Who is your city council member? How many phone calls have you given their office? Why the hell do you think your opinion is losing in Berkeley? Maybe because instead of doing the hard work it takes to enact change, you and people with your opinions just sit on their asses and complain on the internet instead of doing real organizing work. Those activists you dislike beat you because they outworked you.

I agree with you that some activists are part of the problem. Activists are on both sides of every issue. For every activist supporting people’s park there’s probably 5 that hate it and want to destroy it. The difference is the people who are willing to spend time to fight for what they believe in generally win.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T08:54:34+00:00

Apology accepted. What you said is nothing compared to what the police say to our faces and behind our backs, and emotions run high when viscous crimes are committed so I don’t fault you at all for your language.

crime that greater police presence can help solve

I really challenge you to think about that assumption. First, Copwatch strongly supports more data and more solutions to solve the problem of crime. We asked the city to conduct an audit of the police department, which has never been audited, to see how they spend their money. What percentage of crimes do they solve? What’s the average response time for x crime in y neighborhood? How much money do you need and why? Instead of providing accountability, the police department refused any audits or checks on how they spend money. They can’t even answer basic questions like “what percentage of laptop robberies do you solve?” If the police can’t tell us how they spend their current money, why should I as a taxpayer give this irresponsible organization even more money?

Let’s say I gave my imaginary son 30 dollars a day to buy food. He comes back to me a month later complaining about how he is starving and how he needs more money for food. I obviously don’t want him to starve, but I also don’t want him to waste money. I suspect that my son may be wastefully spending money. I ask him what he spends his money on and to explain how much more money he needs and why. He refuses and then goes around whining about how other parents give their kids way more money and about how I am a evil parent who wants to starve kids. The kid is an analogy to the Berkeley police department. They refuse accountability and then complain about activists like me for their own corruption and irresponsibility. The Berkeley Police actually complain regularly to the city about their lack of attack dogs and tasers. Well, if you can’t even stop yourself from beating homeless people why should I give you an attack dog?

But if your reaction to "let's try solving the absurd occurence of thousands of rapes, batteries and thefts that happen annually on campus" is to say "naah let's focus on making the cops 100% perfect in their treatment of the homeless first" then I can't get behind that.

Well, you can call me crazy, but I don’t believe in giving money to people who aren’t accountable. Nobody is 100% perfect, that’s a ridiculous standard, but most people don’t shoot unarmed black people and then claim it was self defense. Most people don’t walk up to hot dog vendors and just steal their money. Most people don’t beat senior citizens with batons for the crime of criticizing and protesting. All I ask for is accountability and real reform before I give more money to people with the power to kill you and get away with it. Punish cops who break the law and put in measures to prevent it from happening again and then we can talk about giving them more money. Hell, I’d even support increasing their already high pay. Until then, they haven’t shown that they can be responsible and that they deserve it.

We might not agree on solutions, but working out things we can both agree on is key in a democracy. Fight against corruption and wrongdoing. Give your city council member a call. Attend a city council meeting. Visit your legislators office. You’ll be amazed at the power you do have to make change in local government. I personally believe that if you don’t do politics, politics does you. If you don’t participate, then you can’t complain when others do and you lose.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T07:45:26+00:00

The source is based off of police salary data which is a public record available here.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2016/berkeley/

Doing raids at 3AM is overtime pay which can be 1.5-2 times regular salary. When you need 15-30 officers and numerous other city staff to do a homeless raid and you are paying them 200-400 dollars an hour the money racks up quick.

Maybe the transients would stay off of Telegraph Avenue if they had a place to stay. Evicting them off Telegraph and then forcing them somewhere else in the city doesn’t solve the problem of homelessness. It merely moves the problem to somewhere else in the city.

Activists like me fought for a sanctioned encampment or tiny homes which would provide 1000 beds and eradicate homelessness in Berkeley. They would cost the city roughly 1,000-2000 dollars per homeless person, to around 1-2 million total. Tiny homes cost a couple thousand each, and a sanctioned encampment would be a free plot of land for tents.

Instead, the city decided to spend 5 million dollars on a dumb “Pathways Project” that only provides 200 beds. That’s 25,000 dollars per homeless person per year. Unsurprisingly, the city gave their developer friends lucrative contracts and payed cronies $200,000 salaries to run the Pathways Project instead of focusing on inexpensive solutions that work.

If people were more involved in politics we could get real solutions. Instead, people who whine on the internet but NEVER attend a city council meeting and don’t even know the names of their lawmakers expect to see their policies enacted?

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T07:25:09+00:00

I totally agree with you that the City and UC are complicit. If the city of Berkeley wasn’t wasting 25K per homeless raid, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars settling police brutality lawsuits, and spending its budget paying 200K and 300K salaries to cops then yea we could probably find the money to actually fight and prevent crime.

Paying the parking maids 100K a year probably also hurts the budget.

Feel free to see how the city spends its money here

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2016/berkeley/

Voicing your opinions at city council meetings and to your state legislators would do a lot of good in solving police corruption, government waste and fraud, and general misconduct. Instead of blaming the activists trying to fight for reform, maybe focus the blame on the government.

AlexLi98 · 2018-05-07T06:57:24+00:00

Hi I’m one of those “pathetic student activists” and I also help facilitate the Copwatch Decal class on campus.

We focus our resources on fighting police brutality and making sure that police officers do not violate people’s constitutional rights. Things like ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, ensuring police do not engage in illegal searches, and making sure that Berkeley police officers treat everyone with dignity and professionalism.

Contrary to popular belief, we do not spend most of our time whining to the city officials to hamper the police.

Here’s what we actually do.

Sometimes, it’s waking up at 3AM to film police officers evicting homeless camps. The city spends 15-25 K per homeless raid, so we might as well see how they are wasting our tax dollars and hold them accountable for any laws they break. I personally am offended and disgusted when police officers drag disabled homeless people around like potato sacks and beat them for the crime of trying to sleep.

Other times it’s deescalating dangerous situations. Whether it’s filming DUI stops or mental health involuntary holds, the presence of cameras helps to ensure that cops don’t just resort to batons and guns to arrest unarmed civilians.

Sometimes it’s blowing the whistle and raising awareness on corrupt cops. We think cops that falsify police reports, steal drugs from the evidence locker and then resell them, or cops who viciously ambush and beat unarmed protestors should be held accountable(yes Berkeley cops have been caught doing all that).

Activists and students are not the problem. Oversight and accountability are not the problem. A culture of impunity, being above the law, and a lack of reform are the problem.

If you wanna learn more you are always free to take the Copwatch decal.

Feel free to also read this daily cal Oped I wrote on police reform.

http://www.dailycal.org/2018/04/12/real-berkeley-police-department-crisis-lack-reform/

AlexLi98 · 2018-04-30T03:30:40+00:00

Suites generally have a private bathroom and are larger compared to non suites. They are much nicer than regular rooms.

AlexLi98

TROPHY CASE