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.
The battle over the right to access People’s Park in Berkeley began over 50 years ago, but it never really ended. Now, UC Berkeley plans to develop the
Ethan Lejano/Staff
Chancellor Carol Christ alleged in a campuswide email Monday that People s Park is an area consisting of often violent criminal activity, which is often focused toward the park s visitors. In response to the email, the Suitcase Clinic expressed concerns surrounding the potential for crime to worsen as displaced houseless people are subjected to harassment outside of the park.
Last Updated February 26, 2021
Protestors tear down fence erected by UC Berkeley at People s Park
FacebookTwitterEmail
A protester holds up signs during a protester in People s Park in Berkeley, Calif. on Jan 29, 2021 to oppose UC Berkeley s plans to turn People’s Park into student housing.Margaret Cullen / Special to SFGATE
Up to 100 people gathered at People s Park Friday afternoon to protest a 16-story student housing complex UC Berkeley is planning to build on the block-square plot of land just off Telegraph Avenue.
A mix of students and old-timers rallied in an effort to save the green space that was born amid the political activism of the 1960s. They carried signs reading Stop Predatory Capitalism and shouted, Whose park? People s park! Whose park? Our park.
People’s Park partially closed for temporary soil testing
Daniel Kim/Staff
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies has blocked off different parts of People’s Park in order to conduct geotechnical investigations as part of preparations to build student and supportive housing. The soil and safety testing will be conducted over the next three weeks.
In preparation for plans to build student and supportive housing, UC Berkeley Capital Strategies, which oversees campus development, temporarily closed sections of People’s Park on Tuesday for soil and safety testing.
Over the next three weeks, different parts of the park will be blocked off for geotechnical investigation, a term for soil and ground testing conducted by developers to optimize their designs for seismic safety, according to UC Berkeley Capital Strategies spokesperson Kyle Gibson. These tests are part of the environmental review for plans to construct more undergraduate student housing and permanent supportive housing in Peop