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Letter from Dieter Müller-Greven, a People’s Park supporter from 1972

Dear friends of the Berkeley People’s Park,

Coming from Germany in 1972, hitch-hiking across the USA to SF, I heard about Berkeley People’s park, about the history from 1969, which was still fresh in 1972 and helped to defend the People’s Park in May 1972. I still remember vividly the demonstration on Telegraph Ave and helped tear down the fence at People’s Park.

Now I hear the UCB is still trying to occupy this historic place. Let me know if I can help in any way, may just tell you about the memories of Johnny’s Soup Kitchen on Telegraph Ave or when we blocked the streets to Oakland harbor with cars from junk yards to prevent the aircraft carrier from getting supplies so it couldn’t go to Viet Nam to bomb dikes to drown people, or about hiring a helicopter to coordinate the demonstration by FM radio from the air, or just from the all night drum players in front of the student union building, etc.

Maybe there is a historic archive about this half century lasting fight for the park.

I wish you all good luck to keep this place in the hands of the people and turn it into a historic monument, with just grass and trees, benches and playgrounds. No concrete, no houses.

Take care,
Dieter Müller-Greven

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A Statement on Behalf of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation

Greetings Relatives,

On behalf of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, I have asked for this statement to be read tonight as tribal members and leadership are all at a ceremony and cannot be with you.

Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation have made this land, currently called Berkeley, our home for thousands of years before colonization. Before the thought of private land ownership was a concept in this land, this land was taken care of by our ancestors. There was an abundance here. Imagine a few hundred years ago, there was no concept of hunger or homelessness, and you could drink fresh water out of “strawberry creek”. Our way of life was disrupted because people came to this land with the thought of “lording” over the land, rather than being in relationship to it. The foreign ideology of private land ownership has caused great harm to the land, waters, animals, plants, and people. Greed of making money and covering everything in concrete and asphalt, takes away the sacredness of the land to people living in the confines of urban areas. The ability to have a small group of humans displace others in a time of worldwide pandemic, with the ever-increasing cost of living, food shortages on the brink and the continuous desensitized ability to look at homelessness goes against everything that we have been traditionally taught about being human beings.

Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation stands with Defend Peoples Park, the People’s Park Council and all who dream and seek to create a new way of life, one in which we remember what our responsibilities are to the earth, water, air and each other.

Corrina Gould
Spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation
July 27, 2022

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On People’s Park, Democracy, and Politics

by Memory
Saturday, June 25, 2022, 5:46 PM

Berkeley city council-member Rigel Robinson released a recent article championing the UC’s proposed redevelopment project on People’s Park. This article was accompanied with a statement from council-member Lori Droste’s legislative assistant. The statement compared People’s Park activists to the January 6th insurrectionists.

PART 1:

(https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/23/opinion-how-berkeley-is-housing-the-people-of-peoples-park)

Berkeley council-member Rigel Robinson released an article centered around the need to redevelop People’s Park for support programs and housing. He praises the UC and city council (including himself) for this grand act of charity. However he doesn’t make a strong case as to why these services have to be built on People’s Park. The buildings of UC’s Anna Head complex (directly one block north from People’s Park) are falling apart. They are unsafe, and costly to maintain. Over the past 2 years, this complex has had 4 fires. Why couldn’t this site be razed, and replaced with the proposed new housing complexes? Why not tear down the UC’s Crossroads cafe, and replace it with a dorm? Why not introduce a new dorm in the core part of campus? Could the supportive housing project be built at the eastern edge of Ohlone Park, across the street from the North Berkeley senior center. This would place the building closer to BART, the library, city college and other civic services. (Ohlone Park is significantly larger than People’s Park. A building would fit there with less impact). These are just a few examples to show other other options exist.

This redevelopment project is politically tied to the conquering of People’s Park. It is not a case of the government acting purely for the sake of the greater social good. This development project is conditional to once-and-for-all stamping out a hub of social rebellion and social experimentation. The city could have built a new supportive housing and services hub on the former Telegraph Avenue location of C.I.L. (Center for Independent Living). It was a perfect opportunity the city passed on. Now the location is market-rate housing. The city didn’t care about supportive housing then, because it didn’t achieve the same political goal that building on People’s Park achieves.

The council-member refers to People’s Park as a “a gathering place for [the] unhoused”. Opponents of maintaining People’s Park as a 2.8 acre open space in South Berkeley, often will insinuate (or outright say) that the only people who use the park are homeless. This is factually untrue. Pre-pandemic, the majority of people who visited the park were not unhoused. The park was a refuge for houseless people, but most people who came to the park had places to stay at night. Most of these people came to the park for social reasons, to garden, to play chess, to use the basketball hoops (often students), to grab a free meal (Food Not Bombs), or to vibe (sativa, indica or hybrid). It is a fact that when the pandemic hit, the population shifted more towards the unhoused, as the park became a place where activists and service providers could coordinate mutual aid response for the unhoused. However, pre-pandemic the park was more economically and socially diverse.

Rigel calls People’s Park an “ungoverned space”. There is a truth to this, but the council-member fails to criticize the institutions who walked away from their responsibilities to manage park operations. Robinson seems to place the blame on activists and park preservationists. A decade ago, the UC disbanded the People’s Park Community Relations commission. There was a promise to reinstate the board, with new members and a new focus on community partnership; it was never reinstated. The UC’s main presence in the park is it’s police department, not it’s College of Natural Resources, nor the school of social welfare.

The UC Police had no real oversight, which resulted in systemically abusive behavior that drove a rift between park advocates and the university. Officers would humiliate people with mental-health disabilities. UC police would sporadically harass people handing out food. The department would actively intimidate people who dared to tend to the garden. More egregious behavior by UC police officers over the decades has included: excessive use of force, physical abuse, and at least one known case of an officer with substance-abuse issues shaking down people for drugs.

The city is also responsible for People’s Park being an “ungoverned space”. The city used to lease the park, and co-manage the park with the university. The city broke any commitment it had to People’s Park. There was at one point, many years ago, a plan for the UC to sell People’s Park to the city for one single dollar. However, the state government doesn’t permit any piece of university land to be sold for below market value. The state would not make an exception for People’s Park.

Rigel also wrote: “Changing anything at the park has been a political third rail… for decades”. The only changes that the UC attempted to make to the park did not include input from the People’s Park community. This lack of communication, and lack of community partnership lead to tensions. Most infamously, in 1991 the university had a plan to tear down the free-speech and concert stage, and replace a large swath of the open field with 2 sand-volleyball courts. This was not a concept developed though community discussions. When people protested the changes, UC police shot at people with wood slugs and rubber bullets — an action which only escalated tension. After being erected, the sand-volley ball courts weren’t even used, and the UC itself took them down. (Ironically, the UC would 20+ years later tear down another sand-volleyball court on the north side of campus. This court was popularly used by students and faculty.)

A little over a decade ago, the university once again proposed tearing down the People’s Park stage. A new stage was proposed, but the UC stipulated that the park community could not rebuild it. The old stage was built and donated by activists. The UC wanted the new stage to fully be university property. The new stage would also be more restricted in terms of use. As in 1991, the university made the mistake of not collaborating in a community partnership. The old stage remains.

Rigel says that park has been “frozen in time” since the park protests of 1969 and 1972. That is completely untrue. In 1974, an organic gardening course was created by university students. That same year, a project was started to plant California native species. In 1979 the first iteration of the stage was built, and a vegetable garden on the west end of the park was established. In 1984, the slide and swings were brought into the park. In 1989 the Catholic Workers brought in a trailer to serve as a cafe, which later was towed away by UC police. In 1991, Food Not Bombs began delivering food into the park. In subsequent years in the later 90s, the 2000s and the 2010s, planter boxes and garden beds have come and gone, various plants swapped in and out by various gardeners. More benches were created. There’s been concerts held by various organizations, including UC student groups.

Part II:

(https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/23/opinion-how-berkeley-is-housing-the-people-of-peoples-park#comment-5896527980)

Eric Panzer is the is the legislative assistant of Berkeley council member Lori Droste. He attached a statement to Robinson’s article. He asserts that advocacy for preserving the openness of People’s Park is anti-democratic. He makes an insulting, and ridiculous comparison between Park activists and the January 6th insurrectionists.

The UC is not a democratic institution. For decades, there has been a call to democratize the UC regents. In 1993, the Committee for a Responsible University proposed that half the UC regents should be chosen by California voters through electoral process. The Presidency of the UC is not democratic. When criticism was raised about former Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano (who had no experience in the field of higher education) being chosen as UC President, there was no direct democratic action available to stop her appointment. Likewise, the respective chancellors of the different UC campuses are not democratically elected.

Any comparison to People’s Park advocates and the January 6 insurrectionists is insulting and stupid. The Jan 6th insurrection was planned in part by the Proud Boys. While founded in the state of New York, the Proud Boys came to prominence during a series of rallies known as the Battles of Berkeley. During one of these rallies, the Proud Boys marched from Sproul Plaza down to People’s Park for the purposes of threatening people there. The advocates of People’s Park were in direct opposition to the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer, and the Alt-Right in general.

To follow Panzer’s argument, any protest against any government agency or institution, is tantamount to insurrection and advocacy for fascist dictatorship. Any past or future protest against the University of California, according to Panzer, is treason. The Memorial Oak Grove protest, the Occupy Cal encampment at Sproul Plaza, or any of the numerous building sit-ins that occurred in the 2010s were all acts of conservative fascism by Panzer’s definition. The only true progressive act is to not protest against authority.

The redevelopment of People’s Park is being challenged in court. In part, that is why the UC hasn’t sent in the riot police to shut down the park. Access to the courts is part of the democratic process, and a fundamental freedom. As for direct action on the ground, that too is part of democracy. People have the right to assembly, and the right to take a stand. The UC itself set rules on engaging protest encampments, after the police violence against Occupy Cal. It remains to be seen if the UC follows their own regulations, or if they shut down the park with a burst of extreme violence.

Lori Droste’s assistant wrote: “the Park’s supposed boosters foisted a policy of malignant neglect upon the Park”. This is a dishonest assessment. The neglect has come from the university, the city and the state government. Park advocates for years been the people trying to keep the park from falling apart. They have maintained the plants, and other aspects of the park infrastructure and amenities. They have demanded that the sick, the downtrodden and the destitute be given assistance by the government. It is the government that has ignored these pleas for years, only now to respond on the condition that People’s Park be redeveloped. This bargain is manipulative, dishonest, and uses the needy as pawns in a political game for the purpose of greatly disrupt activism in Berkeley and on campus.

Part III (Conclusion):

The debate is being presented as a false dichotomy. Either the redevelopment plan goes through, or the park’s current conditional state is maintained. In truth, there are other options. Housing and supportive services can be built elsewhere, and there can be a commitment to improving the park through community partnerships and mutual communication.

Another option is compromise, for those who are willing to explore such a path. Perhaps the supportive housing and a service center gets built on People’s Park, and the dorm gets built elsewhere. This puts a new building on site, but leaves more of the open space available for gardening and recreation.

Park advocates aren’t happy with houseless people needing to find refuge in the park. Park advocates aren’t happy with people with ailments going untreated. Yet, Robinson and Panzer are presenting a fallacy that advocates are fighting for this to be the status quo. They insinuate that people are advocating for the continued suffering of others. Their arguments are disgusting at their core, and don’t reflect the type of mutual aid and advocacy that activists in People’s Park have had to offer out of compassion and necessity.

( This article was originally published on IndyBay.org : https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/06/25/18850696.php )

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Max Ventura, Leon Rosselson, The World Turned Upside Down, aka The Diggers Song, A Mural, and People’s Park

Max, Ingrid, People's Park bathroom mural - April 13, 2019
Max, Ingrid, People’s Park bathroom mural – April 13, 2019

Leading up to the 50th anniversary of People’s Park, in 2019, Max Ventura wrote to Leon Rosselson to let him know that in spite of UC’s continual threats for half a century, we’re still here holding down The Commons. Max had sung his song, The World Turned Upside Down, aka The Diggers Song, on the Free Speech Stage since 1986. What follows is the interchange between them in 2019. While the one quote from him was so inspiring, Greg suggested that we share the whole interchange about the history of the making of the mural bearing the words to his song, The World Turned Upside Down. It is based on The Diggers in England in 1649, and some of Gerrard Winstanley’s words. The Diggers’ history and Leon’s song is such an important part of People’s Park History.
 
On 15 Apr 2019, at 06:05, Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net wrote:

Dear Leon,

We now are celebrating our 50 year anniversary of People’s Park in Berkeley, California.
We met at Down Home Music some years ago and I brought you a copy of our book in which the mural is featured. I continue to sing the Diggers Song as I have sung out there since 1986. It became our instant anthem all those decades ago and people begged meto paint up the lyrics. So one anniversary I did so on the sides of the concrete bricks leading to the men’s bathroom entrance. It took over 7 hours (I don’t recommend painting on concrete without proper brushes, at very least, unless in an emergency which it seemed this was!

Some years later as it had faded, people asked me to repaint them so I spent another anniversary concert day repainting. Sore arms. It was no easier the second time, and once again it was with perhaps the worst possible brushes since I had not planned ahead to redo that day. Emergency! though… so I made do.

Then some years after that when there had been just a bit too much chaotic graffiti on that big wall between the bathroom entrances, we decided a new mural would be a good idea and some of the park dwellers said it was getting too hard to read the tiny and faded lyrics and they wanted them big and bold so a local park supporter and artist did some initial sketching to lay out my ideas and a park dweller who’s an artist, and I, further planned the mural. He started painting the background and hills, and I painted the banners and spent (ouch!) another long day painting lyrics onto the banners during another anniversary concert and then holding the ladder while Terri Compost painted up the park history above. It’s been I don’t know how many years and there has been little graffiti and some of what’s been added is interactive right on the banners. Living art.

People’s Park is 50 years of User-development and I just wanted to share, once again, how important your song has been to the people living in, and visiting the park, and that is obvious as this has been one of the longest-lasting mural up there.

So thanks for being part of People’s Park, a model for our world. Messy sometimes, but a vision we have helped nurture and which lives on in spite of the University aggressively attacking the park and the people of the park many times over the half century.

Just this Jan. they came in 5 am one morning and decimated over 40 healthy trees. They say they plan to build housing for students but that was what was there 50 years ago, before they razed the beautiful old houses and apartments on that block. So our response? We’ve been planting other trees and they keep threatening to down those, also. And so it goes, and we remind “the public” that, it’s never been about providing housing, but about silencing free speech and sanitizing the area to please wealthy parents sending their children from the suburbs.

So we are on to our next 50 years. We had our first of two anniversary concerts yesterday and the second is the 28th. In between we have nearly daily events. I’m attaching a flyer for one I’ve coordinated, and at which I shall speak. If you go to www.peoplespark.org you can see the schedule of events. Lots of inspiration.

Sincerely,
Max Ventura

Subject: Re: photos in front of people’s park bathroom mural
Date: 2019-04-21 03:26
From: leon rosselson
To: Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net

Dear Max,

Thank you so much for your email, the photos and all the information about the happenings in People’s Park. I’m touched and feel honoured that you have given so much of your time and worked so hard to give the lyrics of my song a new life on this beautiful mural. This is my 60th year of singing and writing and one of my most treasured moments in all that time was to visit People’s Park and see the mural when I was in Berkeley in 2011. I am unlikely to visit again but I have the book, so thank you.

Good luck for the next 50 years. What you are all doing is a bright spot of hope in these bleak times.

Leon Rosselson

On 26 Apr 2019, at 00:15, Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net wrote:

Hello again,

We’ve had such a great almost 2 weeks of celebrations already, have a few more workshops and other events, and have our second concert all day Sunday.

At our People’s Park Committee meeting Sunday, people wanted me to ask you whether we could put this onto our website (we’d say, of course, that this is from you, writer of The World Turned Upside Down). The website is www.peoplespark.org:

Re: May we put this quote from you on the People’s Park website?

“This is my 60th year of singing and writing and one of my most treasured moments in all that time was to visit People’s Park and see the mural when I was in Berkeley in 2011. I am unlikely to visit again but I have the book, so thank you.

Good luck for the next 50 years. What you are all doing is a bright spot of hope in these bleak times.”

From leon rosselson

To: Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net
Date: 2019-04-26 10:01

By all means, Max. It is sincerely meant.

Leon

Added in 2021 as we are about to celebrate 52 years, enjoying the student and community uprising end of January where UC’s fences once again were torn down, and then were marched down Telegraph Avenue to be deposited on the steps of Sproul Hall:

While I was painting the lyrics on the mural so many years ago, my three children painted over the faded tiny lyrics on the edges of the concrete block wall at the bathroom entrance. They painted veggies and this kid art also has been left alone for everyone to enjoy. Even their names survive on the bottom painting of the bunch. Attached is a photo of Ingrid by those veggies paintings from so long ago, and there is one of Ingrid and me in front of the mural in 2019.

— Max Ventura

Ingrid, People's Park bathroom tiles - April 13, 2019
Ingrid, People’s Park bathroom tiles – April 13, 2019
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People’s Park and Neighborhood Groups Challenge UC’s 2021 LRDP

In a lawsuit claiming the nearly total inadequacy of the University of California’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on its 2021 Long Range Development Plan and Housing Project #1 and Housing Project #2 (LRDP) a team of lawyers representing Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) are seeking to void approval of the LRDP and the EIR, and thereby stop all activities proposed in that LRDP. This legal action is of great importance to supporters of People’s Park since it would mean significant delays for any attempts to destroy the Park by erecting three buildings on that beloved site. It would also keep our friends at 1921 Walnut Street in their rent controlled homes for the time being.

The lead attorney in this suit, Thomas Lippe, has prevailed in two California Environmental Quality Act cases against the University of California and, because his most recent victory against UC concerned plans to build on Upper Hearst, Mr Lippe is very familiar with the 2021 LRDP. This suit wast filed on August 20, 2021 in the Superior Court of California in and for the county of Alameda.

It describes the nearly total failure of the EIR for the 2021 LEDP to adequately either describe or address the environmental effects caused by the program or projects proposed in the LRDP. Among its contentions are that the EIR fails to make required findings, fails to propose and evaluate adequate mitigation measures, fails to respond in good faith to the public comments received in response to the draft EIR, and fails to lawfully assess the LRDP’s effects on traffic, noise, air pollution, population and housing, parks and recreation, or historic and cultural resources.

This site will post any response from UC or upcoming court dates as they are announced.

— joe liesner, secretary People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group

Donate to Lawsuit at:
People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
P.O. Box 1234
Berkeley, CA 94701-1234

More information at peoplesparkhxdist.org

Full text PDF:
Make UC A Good Neighbor, et al., v The Regents – LRDP Petition.pdf

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Email action for People’s Park: Contact Berkeley City Council

Hey all,
The folks at 1921 Walnut are urging everyone to bombard the Mayor and City Council with emails regarding the possible settlement of the City’s lawsuit against UC. Please share widely.

BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL NEEDS TO ACT NOW

UC Berkeley wants to demolish the rent-controlled building at 1921 Walnut St./displace the long standing community there and destroy our public space at People’s Park. If this is allowed to happen, UC will be able to DEMOLISH ANY RENT CONTROLLED BUILDING or PARK IN BERKELEY. This would raise rents for everyone and destroy historic spaces that we all enjoy.

Berkeley Mayor Arreguín and City Council can stop them!

How? City of Berkeley is in a settlement negotiation with UC. City of Berkeley needs to withhold any settlement unless UC agrees to SAVE 1921 WALNUT and DEFEND PEOPLE’S PARK

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

CALL TO ACTION: EMAIL, CALL and TWEET at Mayor Arreguín and your City Councilmember AND SUPPORTERS OF PEOPLE’S PARK

More information

University of California released its new 2021 Long Range Development Plan. This plan includes:

  • demolishing 1921 Walnut St and evicting tenants
  • destroying People’s Park
  • building 8.1 million sq. ft. of new campus facilities (equivalent to 6 Salesforce towers)
  • adding 14,750 new students (44% above the current 2005 plan)
  • adding 3,500 new employees and 3,000 new parking spaces
  • adding 800,000 sq. ft. of new facilities in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone-California’s most dangerous fire zone

WE HAVE TO CONTROL THIS EXPANSION, SAVE 1921 WALNUT and DEFEND PEOPLE’S PARK. TELL THE CITY COUNCIL and MAYOR!

Contact them now prior to their settlement decision with UC. Make sure the City of Berkeley stands up for Berkeley tenants and our historic open spaces!

(district, name, Twitter handle, phone number)

Mayor: Jesse Arreguín @JesseArreguin (510) 981-7100

District 1: Rashi Kesarwani @RashiKesarwani (510) 981-7110

District 2: Terry Taplin @TaplinTerry (510) 981-7120

District 3: Ben Bartlett @benbartlettberk (510) 981-7130

District 4: Kate Harrison @KateHarrisonD4 (510) 981-7140

District 5: Sophie Hahn @SophieHahnBerk (510) 981-7150

District 6: Susan Wengraf (510) 981-7160

District 7: Rigel Robinson @RigelRobinson (510) 981-7170

District 8: Lori Droste @loridroste (510) 981-7180

Write to council@cityofberkeley.info to send an email to the Mayor and all Council members.

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Demand of People’s Park Council Regarding Status and Protection of the Park

Introduction

On behalf of the people of Berkeley and the claimant People’s Park Council, Attorney at Law David L. Axelrod has delivered the Demand of People’s Park Council Regarding Status and Protection of the Park to Carol T. Christ, Office of Chancellor, University of California Administration, Hon. Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, and Hon. Michael V. Drake, M.D., President, University of California.

Download the full

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Alert: Berkeley park community open space at risk of destruction, January 2021

Save People’s Park: Protect this precious Berkeley open space from developer profiteering

An update and appeal to Berkeley and the University of California, Berkeley

The precious People’s Park, open space and community gathering place, is at imminent risk of destruction in January 2021. A huge part of the park has been shut down with chain link fence and survellience lights at night. The perpetrators of the chain link fence attack, connected with opportunistic profiteers from the University, developers, construction industry, and others,  are clearly using the inclement weather and pandemic situation to attack the precious open space and gathering place of People’s Park with the least amount of pushback from the many users of the park. Numerous houseless people are camped in or beside the park during the pandemic and stormy wet winter weather, with numerous outside organizations and individuals helping park people to get by in decency, given the dire situation.

I remember years ago, my dear friend C and I visited the park in a winter rain. She was a medical student at the time, and we were really enjoying the open space, a relief for our stressed times. It was around the time I grew a bed of astounding 13-foot tall corn in the West side community garden beds of People’s Park. We climbed the great low branches and enjoyed the brisk air and wet colors. It was like today when I visited People’s Park, lush white Cala lilies happily growing into the cool showers.

To think that this park, the historical People’s Park, this vibrant community gathering place, People’s Park, the collective treasure chest of memories of people with vision, People Park, to think that this park could be reduced or damaged or eliminated by the University and it’s cohorts in development, construction and real estate, breaks our hearts. We’ve worked hard to garden, to tend the trees, to fill the air with music, dance and art, history and community, in this public space. To lose this green space would be a tragic loss, caused by destructive profiteering forces. 

The pathological, toxic roads and numerous parked cars are an indicator of how deluded our society has become. People spend so much time on computer or television screens, partly because the environment outside their own doors is so absurdly destroyed to make way for cars and parking spots, and not for people. We want to go to a park to escape the visual and noise pollution of cars everywhere, a public gathering place where we could enjoy gardens, music, sports, a picnic in the sun. How can it be that Berkeley might lose another park, People’s Park? 

I hope all parties involved in any development consider the social value of the special open space in People’s Park, a real direct tangible value to people in the neighborhood, throughout town, and for students, a value that brings people together from all walks of life, and work to protect that open space, the open public culture, and the history. There are several other effective solutions for building student housing, affordable housing, or other structures in many parts of Berkeley, so let us protect this precious remaining open space.

— Greg Jalbert, January 27, 2021

Rally to Save People’s Park

Friday, 3 PM, January 29, 2021

Stand in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors in preventing displacement. Fences are being built to prevent people from using People’s Park.

  • Bring your own signs if possible
  • Food provided by Food Not Bombs
  • Meeting held afterwards

Instagram: @peoplesparkberkeley
Tag photos with #peoplesparkberkeley
Text SAVETHEPARK to 81257

Poster:

Get Involved

Join the Discussion Group and Facebook groups for People’s Park and get the latest news, participate, and support this wonderful community resource. Connect here on the Contact page >

Photos of People’s Park areas enclosed by chain link fence, January 27, 2021. Stop the theft of People’s Park open community green space!

Chain link fence at People’s Park, South East corner, January 27, 2021
Chain link fence at People’s Park, South East corner, January 27, 2021
Chain link fence at People’s Park, North side, January 27, 2021
Chain link fence at People’s Park, North side, January 27, 2021
Chain link fence at People’s Park, looking North East, January 27, 2021
Chain link fence at People’s Park, looking North East, January 27, 2021
Save People’s Park: Protect this precious Berkeley open space from developer profiteering
Save People’s Park: Protect this precious Berkeley open space from developer profiteering
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People’s Park Committee’s comments on UC’s Long Range Development Plan Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report

You can read UC’s NOP here: https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.edu/resources-notices/public-notices

April 27th Scoping session can be heard here: https://lrdp.berkeley.edu/scoping-meeting

People’s Park Committee’s submitted comments are here:
PEOPLE’S PARK COMMITTEE SCOPING COMMENTS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR UC BERKELEY LONG RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN UPDATE AND HOUSING PROJECTS AT PEOPLE’S PARK AND HILL CAMPUS 4/27/20

1. LRDP Update must not be a programmatic EIR that automatically gives the green light to future projects not explicitly listed in the EIR. All future projects must continue to be subject to public input under CEQA.

2. The NOP claims 200 meetings and events with stakeholder groups and the public, but not all stakeholders were contacted. Houseless residents of the park weren’t included. There was a 1/24/20 invitation-only meeting, at the Christian Science church by the park. Little effort was made to invite community groups like the People’s Park Committee, Food Not Bombs, Suitcase Clinic, or others who provide resources at the park so few of the park community were able to participate. Except one town hall on the LRDP in April 2019, no public meetings about this process were held. Two public meetings in February and March 2020, were limited to Project #2 at People’s Park, and didn’t include other plans to be discussed in this EIR. Which stakeholders were invited to the other 196 meetings, and what parts of the LRDP Update did they cover?

3. The NOP insists on necessity of expansion of facilities and university population, even though Berkeley has sued UC for exceeding the agreed-upon number of students to be admitted. The number of beds planned for students and non-university affiliated people are vague, talking about construction ‘up to’ a certain number, without any minimum commitment. No mention of students who are homeless now, in need of housing, let alone non-university park residents. And no specifics about nonprofits who are supposed to develop and manage the housing projects proposed at People’s Park. Who are these nonprofits, what is their proposed role, and what financial and other benefits would they derive from this project?

4. UC used the excuse of ‘deferred maintenance’, a concept mentioned in the NOP, to destroy the forested area of People’s Park as well as trees all over campus, and the excuse of ‘wildfire management’ to deforest other areas in the East Bay hills, and use pesticides, long targeting the Hill Campus area. Even mature, tall redwoods are planned for demolition by UC in the Hill Campus. UC repeatedly has been taken to court by community members seeking to defend the Hill Campus forest. UC insists that since these forested areas are not state or federal forest, it’s not necessary to discuss the impact of converting that forest to non-forest use, and because there may not be a formal habitat conservation plan, no habitat conservation activities are necessary in the project areas covered in the EIR, even though many animals, including falcons and hawks, utilize them as habitat.

5. The EIR is supposed to cover historic resources, and preserve historic legacy, and as such People’s Park, a City of Berkeley Historic Landmark, must be preserved as a park, not replaced with buildings. The NOP refers to creating multi-purpose spaces, but People’s Park already has multiple purposes and uses for humans and wildlife, which these plans would eliminate.

** THESE COMMENTS ARE SUBMITTED BY THE PEOPLE’S PARK COMMITTEE,
including Russell Bates, Lisa Teague, Jessie Mcginley, Michael Delacour, Max Ventura, Erick Morales, Andrea Prichett, Aidan Hill, Paul Prosseda, Ivar Diehl, Siobhan Lettow, Dawn Goldwasser, Tom Luce, Hali Hammer, Sheila Mitra-Sarkar, Charles Gary

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Letter to Chancellor Christ, University of California – March 25, 2020

Office of the Chancellor University of California, Berkeley
200 California Hall #1500 Berkeley, CA 94702

Dear Chancellor Christ,

Since sheltering in place is currently the best way to limit spread of the Covid-19 virus, we are asking that you adopt the CDC recommendations and suspend enforcement of anti-camping type laws for now. Since you already have unhoused students and community members camping in the park, it would be in the public interest for you to work to help them to be safe or at least as safe as can be under the current circumstances. We believe that extra vigilance regarding conditions in the park is required at this time. It is NOT acceptable to ignore conditions or simply use the current crisis as a pretense for closing the park.

Everyday, this very fragile population struggles to survive, but now they have seen their access to businesses, social services, food, public restrooms and even spare change evaporate. Of course, they are spending more time in People’s Park. However, the dangerous, unsanitary conditions that U.C. has imposed on the park by lack of maintenance endanger everybody. Fortunately, a few local Mutual Aid volunteers provided some toilet paper and supplies over the weekend; supplies which UC is more than capable of providing.

The UC is not doing enough to help park users reduce their exposure to the virus. The highly used bathrooms are rarely cleaned or disinfected and toilet paper is often scarce. Simple hand washing is extremely difficult to do because of the ridiculously small (less than 2 inch long) “faucets” that do not allow users even to place their hands under a flow of water. Soap is not provided and paper towels are non-existent. The risk of spreading the virus throughout this community is huge and it is the responsibility of the university to direct the resources needed to be at least a responsible property owner if not a responsible, moral resident of our community.

Evictions have been suspended in California for the time being so we do not expect that the numbers of actual campers will increase. All we are asking is for the University of California to do its part in a time of crisis for those currently camped. The fact is that for years, the People’s Park community has been tragically underserved by the University. While we acknowledge and are glad that there is now a social worker assigned to support people in the park, we believe that more must be done.

We demand the following:

  1. Utilize People’s Park as an emergency outdoor shelter for the duration of the shelter in place order. As CDC recommends, DO NOT remove encampments or threaten park users with citations for lodging. Facilitate healthy conditions for unhoused people in the park during this crisis.
  2. Provide 24 hour access to the restrooms.
  3. Provide regular cleanings of the restrooms. With such high usage, bathrooms need to be cleaned and disinfected SEVERAL times each day.
  4. Supply the restrooms with soap, toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
  5. Repair the faucets in the restrooms so that people can actually wash their hands. The current “faucets” are approximately 2 inches long and do not protrude enough from the wall to enable CDC recommended hand washing practices.
  6. Provide access to water for drinking. There are already spigots and hoses. Ensure that water is accessible and turned on.
  7. Allow Food Not Bombs to serve food to residents of the park who have extremely limited access to food and are already reporting hunger and scarcity in the Telegraph Avenue area. Order police not to interfere with these efforts and do what you can to support the orderly delivery of food and efforts by the community to feed people in a low risk manner.

Sincerely,

Jackie Barshak (DSA San Francisco chapter*)

Russell Bates (People’s Park Committee, member*)

Barbara Brust (Consider the Homeless*)

boona cheema (Berkeley Mental Health Commissioner*)

Isis Feral (Coalition to Defend East Bay Forests, member*)

Arthur Fonseca (Picuris Pueblo Senior Center Service Provider)

Charles Gary (Community Services United Board member*)

Judith Gips (People’s Park Committee, member*)

Hali D. Hammer (People’s Park Committee, member*)

Aidan Hill (Vice-Chair City of Berkeley Homeless Commission*)

Greg Jalbert (friend of People’s Park for 20 years*)

Joe Liesner (Food Not Bombs*)

Thomas Lord
Dr. James McFadden (UC Berkeley Research Physicist)

National Lawyers Guild- San Francisco

Peyton Provenzano (Berkeley Copwatch and PhD student at Berkeley Law*)

Erick Morales (People’s Park Committee, member*)

Andrea Prichett (Berkeley Copwatch*)

Paul Prosseda (People’s Park Committee*)

Lisa Teague (People’s Park Committee, member*)

Max Ventura (People’s Park Committee, member*)

dress wedding (Food Not Bombs, member*, Harborside Cannabis Dispensary co-founder)

* Organizations listed for identification only

Cc: Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Berkeley City Council

Paul Buddenhagen, Deputy City Manager