People’s Park in Berkeley, California is a parcel of land owned by the University of California, Berkeley. Located east of Telegraph Avenue and bound by Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, People’s Park was a symbol during the radical political activism of the late 1960s.[3][4][5][6] Formerly a park, the site is now under construction for new university student housing and homeless supportive housing.[7]
While the land is owned by the University of California, People’s Park was de facto established as a public park on April 20, 1969, by local activists.[8] On May 13, University Chancellor Roger W. Heyns announced plans to construct a soccer field on the site, leading to a confrontation two days later between protesters and police on May 15.[9] Known as “Bloody Thursday”, police used tear gas and opened fire on the protesters to quell the riot, resulting notably in the death of James Rector.[9] In 1984, the city of Berkeley declared it a historical and cultural landmark.[10]
In 2018, the university published a plan to build 1,100 new units of student housing and 125 units of supportive housing for homeless people on the site, but a small contingent of activists delayed those plans through opposition including protests,[11][12] lawsuits,[13][14] sabotage of construction equipment,[15] and trespassing on the site.[16] The housing plans were backed by the Berkeley City Council, Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley’s California Assembly representative Buffy Wicks and California Governor Gavin Newsom, and a majority of UC Berkeley students.[17]
Pending a judgment in a legal challenge to the university’s housing plan, the park was closed off in early January 2024, when construction workers and police surrounded the park with a 17-foot high wall of shipping containers to prevent trespassing.[18] On June 6, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the university’s favor, allowing construction to proceed.[19][20][21] Consequently, construction officially started on July 22.[22]
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I remember working with Food Not Bombs and passing out bowls of hot stew and home baked bread in that park. I’m curious as to how many unhoused people they’ll actually accommodate in the new buildings. Also what services will be available to them? UC Berkeley has a history of whitewashing their development projects.
Archive link https://archive.fo/YB1cz