Fence not a good defense

From the San Francisco Chronicle: The University of California spent months installing a security fence at the Berkeley home of President Michael Drake earlier this year. But as protection against vandalism and racist graffiti it didn’t work very well - belying the idea that you get what you pay for. UC shelled out $341,477 for the fence, the Chronicle has learned. 

The custom-built steel structure was originally supposed to have been installed for $248,451, but by this spring the price to had grown by more than $93,000, or 37%, according to invoices obtained by the Chronicle. “The University erected a fence to ensure the safety of President Michael V. Drake, M.D. and his family after trespassers breached safeguards on multiple occasions,” said Ryan King, a university spokesperson. “Given the historic nature of the house and the need to secure the property, the university invested the funds from non-tuition and non-state funds.” King said the fence and other security improvements “will ensure that the value of the home increases when the university sells the home at a future date.”

Trouble started at the president’s home in April, 2022, a few months after UC bought the architectural gem at 2821 Claremont Blvd., designed by Julia Morgan and built in 1929. Someone scrawled “Save Rochdale” on the front of Drake’s new home on April 15, the news site Berkeleyside reported, a reference to the cooperative student housing, Rochdale Apartments, whose future is in doubt due to unfunded repair requirements.

Soon afterward, in August 2022, UC hired Emeryville-based Giampolini Courtney Masonry Restoration to build a 144-foot long, 6-foot tall fence to protect the president’s home, records show. The home became such a magnet for protests and demonstrations during the 40-day UC student worker strike that ended on Dec. 23 that the owners of a nearby property posted a sign that said, “ATTENTION: This house does not belong to the president of UC Berkeley [sic]. Please do not disturb.” (Drake is the president of the UC system. Chancellor Carol Christ heads UC Berkeley.) By then, work on the new fence was already under way.

Giampolini’s price rose by 24% in January, when the builders told UC that they needed a $60,222 retaining wall. From there, the price rose another 11% in April, when the builders charged UC $32,802 for “coordination delays” and additional work caused by “wet dirt.” But the luxury fence did little to keep out vandals. 

On May 15 this year, after the barrier was completed, people found a way around it and spray-painted racist slurs and profanity on the home, referencing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (For security reasons, the university declined to discuss the breaches.) UC initiated a hate-crimes investigation but has not revealed its outcome. Drake is the UC system’s first Black president.

...Last month, Drake sought approval from the regents to purchase a new house in Piedmont for nearly $13 million. ...But as with the fence, the high price tag was no guarantee of security, and the regents said no... 

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/uc-spent-630k-failed-security-fence-18431689.php.