UCLA Faculty Association: Well, that didn't work out quite as planned

Friday, August 5, 2022

Well, that didn't work out quite as planned - Part 2

Aftershocks of the recent People's Park incident:*

Standoff over People’s Park could be a defining moment for Berkeley

Rachel Swan, Michael Cabanatuan, 8-4-22, San Francisco Chronicle

To any longtime resident of Berkeley, the scene at People’s Park Thursday morning might seem uncannily familiar: felled tree branches piled at the edge of the grass, a torn-down steel fence, a protest banner hanging between two damaged bulldozers. It wasn’t the first time the 2.8-acre site east of Telegraph Avenue had come to resemble a war zone, amid an ongoing standoff between UC Berkeley — which owns the park and seeks to quilt it with desperately needed housing for students and formerly homeless people — and demonstrators who claim People’s Park as a gathering space and sacred symbol of Berkeley counterculture. Debates over the park’s fate have stewed for more than 50 years, but it wasn’t until the construction crews arrived Wednesday that a dramatic change began taking shape.

In a frantic attempt to stop it, protesters ripped down the security fence around the park’s perimeter and smashed windows and mechanical components on several bulldozers and earthmovers. It was unclear Thursday when building might resume. Dan Mogulof, a spokesperson for the university, said time was running out to restart the $312 million project, which would house more than 1,100 students and 125 formerly homeless people and is part of a larger push by UC Berkeley to help address a chronic dearth of student housing. “If we want to have this building available for students to move in during the fall of 2024, we have a pressing need to get started as quickly as possible,” he said. “Our commitment to this project is unwavering.”

Similar confrontations have occurred throughout the park’s history, which began in the late 1960s when UC Berkeley took possession of the land and cleared it of homes, sparking a huge protest that culminated with “Bloody Thursday” in 1969, when sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a bystander... But the backdrop of UC Berkeley’s dire need to house its students and the Bay Area’s broader housing crisis may be shifting perceptions about the struggle. Even Berkeley City Council members who often butt heads over land use have aligned in supporting this project. “We respect the important history and the meaning of People’s Park,” Berkeley Council Member Sophie Hahn told The Chronicle. “But it’s our goal to have people housed.”

Mayor Jesse Arreguín said Berkeley’s elected officials are unified on the issue. The city committed $14 million to build one component of the project, permanent supportive housing. They hope to alleviate the signs of obvious despair that Berkeley residents see welling up in the park, including crime, encampments and drug use...

Smith said the park activists agree with university on at least one point: They all support student housing. But the activists want it built elsewhere. Say, a nearby parking structure on Ellsworth Street. The entire footprint of the project could fit there, Smith insisted. The university, however, doesn’t see that as an alternative to the People’s Park project. It already plans to build a housing project at the Ellsworth site.

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Standoff-over-People-s-Park-in-Berkeley-looks-17353117.php.

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Berkeley City Council will not discuss suspending tear gas ban after People’s Park clashes

Eliyahu Kamisher, Katie Lauer, 8-4-22, Orange County Register

Less than a day after a special City Council meeting was scheduled to consider lifting Berkeley’s ban on law enforcement’s use of tear gas and pepper spray, Mayor Jesse Arreguín abruptly canceled the meeting. The meeting would have been held a day after protesters clashed with UC police at the historic People’s Park. After the confrontation, UC Berkeley halted work on a planned student housing project there. Berkeley city police were not involved in the latest face-off at the park, which is UC property. In an interview Thursday, the mayor said he initially called the meeting because after the confrontations with protesters at People’s Park on Wednesday, city staff and police were concerned that if the tear gas ban remained, they would not be able to count on mutual aid if needed around the park.

He said there’s no promise UC police would assist if protests moved off of university property, and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office has said it would not assist Berkeley police because of the ban, maintaining that it cannot guarantee the safety of its officers without the option of using tear gas. “I think we were trying to find a way to make sure that we can get the resources we needed, but having slept on it, I came to the conclusion that it was the wrong approach and that the ban on tear gas should remain,” Arreguín said. “Ultimately, we shouldn’t be held hostage because Berkeley did the right thing and passed the policy banning tear gas.” Is there a chance the prohibitions could be reconsidered if an emergency emerges at the park in the future? “Not while I’m mayor,” Arreguín said...

Full story at https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/08/04/berkeley-mayor-cancels-council-meeting-to-consider-lifting-ban-on-tear-gas-ban-after-peoples-park-clashes/.

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