Arts & Events

Occupy Your Merchant Association

By Carol Denney
Wednesday December 12, 2012 - 05:03:00 PM

Sick of having merchant associations run target-the-homeless campaigns under the guise of creating a “welcoming” downtown? Feel like singing? At noon on Sunday, December 16th at the BART plaza (Shattuck @ Center, Berkeley) we’re going to have an anti-Downtown Berkeley Association Christmas caroling gathering - songbooks provided- for about half an hour. Dickens Fair attire optional, instruments welcome, and here's a sample: 



(to the tune of Joy to the World)

guess who’s in charge of this whole town
it is the DBA!
they run the city council
they run the police department
they’ll run you out of town
they’ll run you out of town
if you have no money just get out of town

guess who’s in charge of your civil rights
it is the DBA!
you’d better hope they like you
‘cause otherwise they’ll bite you
they’ll run you out of town
they’ll run you out of town
if you have no money just get out of town

guess who’s in charge of public streets
it is the DBA!
if you put up a poster
you will not win a toaster
they’ll run you out of town
they’ll run you out of town
if you have no money just get out of town

guess who’s in charge of elections
it is the DBA!
except for Measure S
they lose a few I guess, but
they’ll run you out of town
they’ll run you out of town
if you have no money just get out of town

(to the tune of oh Christmas Tree)

oh, DBA, oh DBA
what happened to your conscience
oh, DBA, oh DBA
what happened to your conscience
you chase the poor at Christmastime
for simply asking for a dime
oh, DBA, oh DBA
what happened to your conscience

oh, DBA, oh DBA
you’re just a bunch of bullies
oh, DBA, oh DBA
you’re just a bunch of bullies
we need to eat we need to sit
and sometimes even take a shit
oh DBA, oh DBA
you’re just a bunch of bullies

oh DBA, oh DBA
you spend a lot of money
oh DBA, oh DBA
you spend a lot of money
a little bit on Christmas lights
a lot destroying human rights
oh DBA, oh DBA
you spend a lot of money

oh DBA, oh DBA
we wish we had your budget
oh DBA, oh DBA
we wish we had your budget
for all you’ve spent getting nothing done
we probably could house everyone
oh DBA, oh DBA
we wish we had your budget

(to the tune of Oh, Come All Ye Faithful)

what’s wrong with our county
and our city council
why are there entire families
out on the street?
why do our planners
only build for rich people?
they keep on building condos
they keep on building condos
they keep on building condos
that we can’t afford

why do these merchants
let themselves be harnessed
for fascist agendas of
the DBA?
real estate interests are
driving the agenda
of chasing round the homeless
of chasing round the homeless
of chasing round the homeless
all over town

no correlation
exists between panhandlers
and depressed effects on the
economy
our public spaces
should belong to all of us
let’s take back public spaces
let’s take back public spaces
let’s take back public spaces
and our civil rights

(to the tune of Away in a Manger)

away in a dumpster
with no place to go
the young, poor and homeless
just try to lay low
the stupid Ambassadors
chase them around
the same here in Berkeley
as every damn town

what’s wrong with our city
that won’t house the poor
why won’t they build low
cost housing anymore?
our dumb politicians
don’t return our calls
developers have most of
them by the balls

just follow the money
you’ll see what we mean
these green shirts aren’t here
just to keep the streets clean
Ambassador fascists
are DBA staff
the rich get well treated
the poor get the shaft

(to the tune of The First Noel)

the DBA doesn’t represent me
but it wants to control
everything that we see
public streets and public space
public benches downtown
you can’t hang out in public
if a green shirt’s around
DBA, DBA, DBA, DBA
why is this town run by the DBA?

if you look like you have dough
then they welcome you in
if you’re poor then they’ll sweep you
right into the bin
they tried hard to make a crime
out of just sitting down
out of panhandling too
and just hanging around
DBA, DBA, DBA, DBA
why is this town run by the DBA?

politicians really suck
when they scapegoat the poor
instead of putting vacancy fees
on empty stores
we kicked Measure S butt
and we will not back down
these Ambassadors need to get
run out of town