Editor’s note: This article is the first part of a three-part series on People’s Park and campus’s proposed development of it.
Since February, UC Berkeley students have occupied People’s Park in protest of campus plans to build a multi-story student housing and supportive housing complex on the site, marking the latest in a decadeslong struggle to preserve the 2.8-acre parcel of land as a public open space and a piece of Berkeley history.
Park advocates and the UC system have collided over the space for nearly as long as the park itself has been around. After purchasing the space in 1967 with the express purpose of developing the land, the university was met with opposition when about 200 people turned up one Sunday in April of 1969 to lay down soil and plant grass over the muddy lot in the south campus neighborhood.
UC Botanical Garden. Photo, taken on March 31, 2017 by Kate Mountain
FLOWERS & FRIENDS Since you’ve been spending more time outdoors, you may be curious about the lifeforms you see buzzing and flying around flowers. In this after-school event for the UC Botanical Garden, you’ll learn about the beautiful life of flowers, which are a part of the plant specifically designed for pollinator friends. Throughout this Zoom session, you’ll learn about flowers around the globe, the anatomy of a flower, and the many different pollinating animals that enjoy flowers like bees, butterflies, honey possums, and bats. The UC Botanical Garden is hosting this free nature appreciation event in honor of Earth Day week, which starts next Tuesday. Learn about the wonderful world of flowers and their pollinator friends. The program is geared towards a youth audience. Tuesday, April 20. 3-3:45 p.m. Free.