Here Theo collected much of his evidence about the fires blamed on Wood Street
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I, Theo Cedar Jones, have lived at the Wood Street community (settlement) since November 2020. Since that time, I have caused none of the fires at Wood Street. Included in my exhibits are examples of my efforts to identify and document fire risk and hazard situations at Wood Street, and keep the other stakeholders informed of those risks. In addition, I offer evidence within my exhibits of helping to coordinate large scale cleaning efforts to remove flammable materials from Wood Street, to assist in the refilling of empty fire extinguishers and distributing them to members of our community, to make requests for fire investigations from the Oakland Fire Department, and to engage efforts with Andrew Lee (EBMUD) and the Oakland Fire Department to install fire hydrants within Wood Street to assist our rapid responders in containing and controlling fires at Wood Street.
This was posted on my van, which is also my home and my place of worship, and is neither stolen nor abandoned. Although this was posted by Burlington Northern, it was Caltrans that was responsible for the physical destruction of the Art and Music Camp where this vehicle was located.
In addition to depriving the residents of the Wood Street community of all water, residents are also deprived of water resources in the immediate vicinity of the Wood Street settlement. (On the Left) The City of Oakland and EBMUD place theft-proof locks on all of the fire hydrants within 5 blocks of the Wood Street community, exacerbating the problem of lack of water for the residents. In addition, (On the right), the City of Oakland has left the public showers at Raimondi Park, immediately across the street from the Wood Street community, locked for years, further depriving residents of that most basic human need, fresh clean water.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1770abmfoeo9ex/20210624_white%20phosphorous.mp4?dl=0 This is a video of a very suspicious fire in an abandoned vehicle that clearly indicates the use of accelerants.
https://rumble.com/v1f9h7r-august-8-2022.html Video of Theo Cedar Jones requesting investigation from OFD of fires at Wood Street.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/news-from-somewhere-purtell
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oakland-homelessness-cob-on-wood-b1881628.html%3famp
https://m.startribune.com/the-unhoused-ought-not-be-left-unheard/600143551/
Nick Johnson’s YouTube video about the Wood Street Commons, currently has 5.6 million views, 77,000 likes, and 27,596 comments, many of them very favorable about the inspiring and positive qualities of our community’s ability to self organize and fix problems trash and visual blight.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWmKh13b50
https://www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts/article/Oakland-homeless-encampment-eviction-Wood-17336874.php
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Judge-Prevents-Caltrans-From-Clearing-Wood-Street-17323627.php
https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Community-of-cob-huts-rise-in-West-Oakland-16118904.php
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea-homelessness/
https://naturalbuildingblog.com/cob-on-wood-homeless-community-in-oakland-california/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/11/oakland-homeless-cob-on-wood-village
https://www.postnewsgroup.com/cob-structures-house-kitchen-clinic-shower-in-west-oakland-homeless-community/
https://www.instagram.com/cobonwood/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oakland-homelessness-cob-on-wood-b1881628.html%3famp
https://m.startribune.com/the-unhoused-ought-not-be-left-unheard/600143551/
Nick Johnson’s YouTube video about the Wood Street Commons, currently has 5.6 million views, 77,000 likes, and 27,596 comments, many of them very favorable about the inspiring and positive qualities of our community’s ability to self organize and fix problems trash and visual blight.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWmKh13b50
https://www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts/article/Oakland-homeless-encampment-eviction-Wood-17336874.php
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Judge-Prevents-Caltrans-From-Clearing-Wood-Street-17323627.php
https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Community-of-cob-huts-rise-in-West-Oakland-16118904.php
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea-homelessness/
https://naturalbuildingblog.com/cob-on-wood-homeless-community-in-oakland-california/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/11/oakland-homeless-cob-on-wood-village
https://www.postnewsgroup.com/cob-structures-house-kitchen-clinic-shower-in-west-oakland-homeless-community/
https://www.instagram.com/cobonwood/
Exhibit N
https://www.nicswell.co.uk/health-news/homeless-die-30-years-younger-than-average
The life expectancy of homeless people is up to 30 years less than average. I believe the biggest contributing factor to this reduced life expectancy is a combination of the fear of eviction, and the actual experience of being forcibly evicted.
If the average number of forcible displacements faced by each homeless person is 4, then each displacement causes a 7.5 year reduction in a person's life expectancy. If I am displaced from my current residence at Wood Street, it will be the second displacement I have experienced, causing a 15 year reduction in my life expectancy. If the actuarial value of one year of a human life is $100,000, then the damages I claim against Caltrans for lost life expectancy is $1,500,000.
https://www.nicswell.co.uk/health-news/homeless-die-30-years-younger-than-average
The life expectancy of homeless people is up to 30 years less than average. I believe the biggest contributing factor to this reduced life expectancy is a combination of the fear of eviction, and the actual experience of being forcibly evicted.
If the average number of forcible displacements faced by each homeless person is 4, then each displacement causes a 7.5 year reduction in a person's life expectancy. If I am displaced from my current residence at Wood Street, it will be the second displacement I have experienced, causing a 15 year reduction in my life expectancy. If the actuarial value of one year of a human life is $100,000, then the damages I claim against Caltrans for lost life expectancy is $1,500,000.
Exhibit O
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The Cob on Wood Village, where I currently reside, is under immediate threat of destruction by Caltrans. The replacement cost for the loss of our village is as follows: 3 cob homes (at $25,000 each) - $75,000, 1 sleeping cobin - $5,000, 1 Fire Ring - $5,000, 1 music stage - $2,000, 1 shipping container - $20,000, Main Gate and Fencing - $2,500, Lighting and electrical infrastructure - $1,500, Water infrastructure - $1,000, Composting toilet - $5,000, Elevated water reservoirs - $3,000, High efficiency refrigerator - $1,000, Solar Generator system $5,000, tools and supplies - $3,000. Total damages that Caltrans and the State of California and Governor Newsom will be liable for if they destroy our village is $119,000.
Under the settlement for Sanchez v. Caltrans, we expect Caltrans to preserve, tag and store all of these items for 60 days.
Under the settlement for Sanchez v. Caltrans, we expect Caltrans to preserve, tag and store all of these items for 60 days.
Exhibit P
I, and other members of our community, discovered this hazardous mound of flammable illegally dumped trash at the boundary of zone I on April 20, 2021, stacked directly against a support pillar of the freeway infrastructure. Caltrans personnel had driven back-and-forth within feet of this hazard dozens of times in their efforts to illegally evict some of our community members from zone I, a week earlier, but did nothing to remove or remediate it. I helped coordinate the efforts of our community members, with the help of dozens of housed volunteers, to completely remove this hazard from Wood Street (as seen in image on the right).
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Exhibit Q
We are establishing the Oakland Humane Commons land trust to enable members of our community to own and be stewards of private and public lands within the City of Oakland, for permanent settlement and residency, within a primarily tiny home ecovillage format, built on the principles of common law, the commons tradition, the social contract, and infrastructural design that is conducive to cooperative community, at a social density of approximately 20 living men and women per acre. Employing this model, and only 5% of the "surplus" or public land owned by the City of Oakland, or the State of California, we will be able to completely eliminate the homeless problem in Oakland in a humane manner, and in a way that is fully compliant with our National and California State Constitutions.
We are establishing the Oakland Humane Commons land trust to enable members of our community to own and be stewards of private and public lands within the City of Oakland, for permanent settlement and residency, within a primarily tiny home ecovillage format, built on the principles of common law, the commons tradition, the social contract, and infrastructural design that is conducive to cooperative community, at a social density of approximately 20 living men and women per acre. Employing this model, and only 5% of the "surplus" or public land owned by the City of Oakland, or the State of California, we will be able to completely eliminate the homeless problem in Oakland in a humane manner, and in a way that is fully compliant with our National and California State Constitutions.
Exhibit R
The First Amendment gives Americans five basic freedoms: Freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion.
My rights to free speech and free religious expression have been impaired and obstructed by Caltrans' destruction of the Art and Music Camp in July, 2022, and those rights would be even more impaired and obstructed if Caltrans follows through with their planned destruction of the Cob on Wood tiny home ecovillage on September 26, 2022. I assert my first amendment rights to free speech and free religious expression on public land, here on State of California land, upon which Caltrans is merely an operator, not an owner, and which has been appointed by we the people to maintain our freeways, not disenfranchise us from our right to "estate". Caltrans' threatened destruction of Cob on Wood is also a direct threat to my First Amendment rights to free speech and free religious expression.
If I am forcibly removed from this public land by Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, and the tacit acceptance of the City of Oakland, I will not be able to practice the following religious freedoms:
1) Fellowship around the campfire - The fire ring at Cob on Wood enables the safe and controlled enjoyment of an outdoor wood fire, where we share our stories and songs from any and all faiths and traditions, in an atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance.
2) Free expression of song and dance on the Cob on Wood music stage. Sharing of the songs I have written about my Gurus with diverse audiences, and being able to hear others sing or pass the mic to share their unique personal or religious points-of-view and musical expressions is essential to my free religious practice here on public land.
3) Every Sunday at Cob on Wood we cook and eat food together, and all are welcome to enjoy free food together. Food taking with people of any and all faiths and traditions at Cob on Wood is another essential aspect of my free religious expression on public land.
4) Caltrans claims on their notices that my property "may be destroyed" by them on September 26, 2022. This would violate Judge Orrick's orders given on August 26, 2022 in his ruling on the case of Blain, et al v. Caltrans, that our private property and shelter vehicles be preserved through an orderly process of storage and retrieval provided by the defendants. Violations of this same order have already taken place with the destruction of private property and shelter vehicles perpetrated by Caltrans on and after Monday, September 12, 2022. If Caltrans destroys my shelter vehicle, they will also be destroying my place of worship and free religious expression on public land; my shelter vehicle doubles as Temple Om Ma Da, a sacred space devoted to meditation and chanting and study of spiritual scriptures. Temple Om Ma Da is a unique sacred space devoted to equal worship of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, whom I recognize in the persons of Santosha Tantra, and Adi Da Samraj, Whose Presences are honored and served here on a daily basis. At Temple Om Ma Da we also practice the "Basket of Tolerance", which is to say that all expressions of faith in God/Goddess are welcome here, as long as they do not impair or obstruct the same rights of others.
If I am forcibly evicted by Caltrans from the Cob on Wood village, I may lose all 4 of these essential components of my free religious expression. No offer of hotel vouchers, shelter beds, or any other form of shelter offered to us by the City of Oakland or their agents, enables or allows these four essential components of my free religious expression, and thus, the actions of Caltrans have caused, and may yet cause, undue restrictions of my first amendment rights.
My rights to free speech and free religious expression have been impaired and obstructed by Caltrans' destruction of the Art and Music Camp in July, 2022, and those rights would be even more impaired and obstructed if Caltrans follows through with their planned destruction of the Cob on Wood tiny home ecovillage on September 26, 2022. I assert my first amendment rights to free speech and free religious expression on public land, here on State of California land, upon which Caltrans is merely an operator, not an owner, and which has been appointed by we the people to maintain our freeways, not disenfranchise us from our right to "estate". Caltrans' threatened destruction of Cob on Wood is also a direct threat to my First Amendment rights to free speech and free religious expression.
If I am forcibly removed from this public land by Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, and the tacit acceptance of the City of Oakland, I will not be able to practice the following religious freedoms:
1) Fellowship around the campfire - The fire ring at Cob on Wood enables the safe and controlled enjoyment of an outdoor wood fire, where we share our stories and songs from any and all faiths and traditions, in an atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance.
2) Free expression of song and dance on the Cob on Wood music stage. Sharing of the songs I have written about my Gurus with diverse audiences, and being able to hear others sing or pass the mic to share their unique personal or religious points-of-view and musical expressions is essential to my free religious practice here on public land.
3) Every Sunday at Cob on Wood we cook and eat food together, and all are welcome to enjoy free food together. Food taking with people of any and all faiths and traditions at Cob on Wood is another essential aspect of my free religious expression on public land.
4) Caltrans claims on their notices that my property "may be destroyed" by them on September 26, 2022. This would violate Judge Orrick's orders given on August 26, 2022 in his ruling on the case of Blain, et al v. Caltrans, that our private property and shelter vehicles be preserved through an orderly process of storage and retrieval provided by the defendants. Violations of this same order have already taken place with the destruction of private property and shelter vehicles perpetrated by Caltrans on and after Monday, September 12, 2022. If Caltrans destroys my shelter vehicle, they will also be destroying my place of worship and free religious expression on public land; my shelter vehicle doubles as Temple Om Ma Da, a sacred space devoted to meditation and chanting and study of spiritual scriptures. Temple Om Ma Da is a unique sacred space devoted to equal worship of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, whom I recognize in the persons of Santosha Tantra, and Adi Da Samraj, Whose Presences are honored and served here on a daily basis. At Temple Om Ma Da we also practice the "Basket of Tolerance", which is to say that all expressions of faith in God/Goddess are welcome here, as long as they do not impair or obstruct the same rights of others.
If I am forcibly evicted by Caltrans from the Cob on Wood village, I may lose all 4 of these essential components of my free religious expression. No offer of hotel vouchers, shelter beds, or any other form of shelter offered to us by the City of Oakland or their agents, enables or allows these four essential components of my free religious expression, and thus, the actions of Caltrans have caused, and may yet cause, undue restrictions of my first amendment rights.
My Spiritual Master Adi Da Samraj, inside Temple Om Ma Da.
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The Incarnation of the Divine Goddess, Santosha Tantra, inside Temple Om Ma Da.
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This is Temple Om Ma Da, my place of residence and worship. Inside is a sacred space dedicated to my Gurus Adi Da Samraj and Santosha Ma. I became a student of Adi Da in 1983, and became His formal devotee in 2001. Living on public land at the Wood Street Community enables me to have more access to the free practice of my religion, because of the tolerance of the community here, and because of the greater amount of free time I have for my spiritual practice, having found an alternative to my previous life, which was consumed with financial stress and increasing debt slavery.
On the Left - Temple Om Ma Da at the Cob on Wood Village. |
Me, installing the "sacred tree" as the center post for the Pavilion, a sacred space for assembly and sacred arts at the Wood Street Commons.
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The Pavilion and the music stage at the Wood Street Commons was burned down by convicted arsonist, David Kelley, on September 28th, 2021. The sacred tree survived the fire, and we rebuilt the Pavilion.
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The Pavilion for the Art and Music Camp, a 24 hour drop-in music camp dedicated to First Amendment free expression, as well as a sacred space for arts and culture.
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Many members of our community made use of this space, and reported how healing it was for them to be able to play the drum kit, or the grand piano, or sing, or play with other musicians, at any time of day or night.
This camp was bulldozed and destroyed by Caltrans and Burlington Northern railroad in July 2022. |
Exhibit S
