People's Park Development On Hold
- William Fulton
- Aug 1, 2022
- 4 min read
In the latest skirmish between the UC Berkeley and resident groups in the city, an Alameda County judge ruled that the university can move forward with a student housing project in People’s Park, the site of an infamous confrontation between student protesters and police in 1969. But two days later a state appellate court stayed the judge’s ruling until at least October.
After Judge Frank Loesch made issued his written ruling August 2, UC officials immediately began clearing People’s Park, leading to a series of protests. But on August 4, Justice Teri Jackson of the First District Court of Appeal, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, issued a stay blocking “all construction and further demolition, tree-cutting, and landscape alteration activities” unless health and safety issues are involved and also denied UC permission to build a security fence.
The case involves many of the same players as the recent Berkeley enrollment case – including the same plaintiffs’ lawyer, Thomas N. Lippe – and made many similar arguments, arguing that UC’s environmental documents do not consider capping or reducing enrollment as an alternative and that the university should have considered alternative sites.
People’s Park is a 2.8-acre off Telegraph Avenue along Dwight Way that UC originally purchased via eminent domain in 1967. The site was originally slated for student housing and other purposes, including a sports field, but in 1969 local residents essentially appropriated the site as a park. In May 1969, a protest on campus moved to the park and protesters argued vocally to keep the park from further development. Law enforcement officials responded by seeking to disperse the crowd but at least one person was killed in the melee.
Recently, People’s Park has been occupied by a large number of homeless people living there. UC’s plan for the park calls for 1,100 student housing units, more than 100 supportive living units, and the retention of 1.7 acres of the site’s 2.8 acres as a park. Earlier this year, UC officials began relocating homeless residents to nearby apartments and clearing the site.