Activists are occupying People’s Park in resistance as plans emerge that UC Berkeley may soon fence off the park with shipping containers and barbed wire.
Although an ongoing state Supreme Court case bars construction at the site, the university can erect fencing around the park in the meantime.
People’s Park activists began a vigil and occupation on Monday night in preparation for the university’s expected action, and fired off texts to a community alert system to rally a response after activists heard about the plans from multiple sources.
The university’s contractor, Webcor, filed a public works permit with the city requesting 44 temporary parking spaces for storage containers in the 2500 block of Haste Street, 2400 block of Bowditch Street and the 2500 block of Dwight Way between Jan. 4 and March 14.
Activists have also been circulating plans for the park since mid-December that show at least 50 shipping containers around the perimeter of the park, with barbed wire reinforcements. The plan indicates contractors would be on site for utility staking work in December, which park activists confirmed, and says additional work could happen in the first week of January. Berkeleyside has not independently verified the site plans.
UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof declined to comment on the utility permit or the fencing.
The move is the university’s latest step toward closing the historic park and building a 1,100-bed student housing project. UC Berkeley says it also intends to build supportive housing at the park for formerly homeless residents, but those plans are in limbo after the affordable housing developer, Resources for Community Development, walked away from the contract in May.
People’s Park activists got word of the university’s plans to make changes at the park in December and began preparing for possible resistance over the last month. UC Berkeley’s winter break started Dec. 15, and most Cal students will return to school next Tuesday.
Activists believe UC Berkeley planned its latest action in the first week of January to avoid a large protest response like the one in August 2022, when the university made its first attempt to build on People’s Park after an Alameda County Superior Court judge cleared the way for construction to start.
The university called in about 100 UCPD officers in riot gear and mutual aid officers from the California Highway Patrol to initiate construction at the park on Aug. 3, 2022. They were met with a 12-hour standoff and large protests, with demonstrators tearing down fences and vandalizing construction equipment. Two days later, a court order halted the construction.
Mogulof did not address a question regarding law enforcement presence at the park this week, saying, “We are not in the business of commenting on every new round of speculation about the site.”
Meanwhile, dining services will be operating 24-hour food service for hundreds of law enforcement officers at university cafes for one week beginning Wednesday night, according to a university employee.
The employee of eight years, who spoke with Berkeleyside on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Cal Dining workers were made aware of a large catering event in early-to-mid December.
This week, they said managers learned they would be serving 800 police officers beginning at 11 p.m. Wednesday. This will increase to 1,400 officers for breakfast and lunch service on Thursday morning, according to the employee.
The employee said Cal Dining has never operated a 24-hour food service of this scale.
Mogulof declined to comment on the food service or confirm whether it’s connected to operations at People’s Park.
Case moving through Supreme Court
The case, moving through the state Supreme Court, is not scheduled for oral arguments this month.
Plaintiffs in the case — Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic Advocacy District — say Cal should have considered alternate sites for the student housing project. The university’s current argument rejects a precedent set by the appeals court in February, which said student noise at the planned dorms could violate the state’s environmental law.
The university has support from the city of Berkeley, state officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed a bill in September that could ease the path to building student housing. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have received support from longtime residents, student groups, and most recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
There are still several unhoused people living in the park. According to Mogulof, 21 of 25 people sleeping in the park at the end of November accepted housing offers at the Quality Inn. Mogulof said the city and university entered into a $1 million lease for the hotel, operated by Dorothy Day House, to house people temporarily.
Several who accepted the offers appear to still reside in the park, according to people who frequent the park.
Mayor Jesse Arreguín says no plans to repeal tear gas ban for Berkeley police
Activists and local officials are raising alarm that a large law enforcement response may accompany the university’s fencing plans.
People’s Park is UC Berkeley property, and overseen by UC police. Although Berkeley police are barred by a city ordinance from using tear gas, UCPD’s use of force policy allows for its use. Berkeley police may respond to the scene if a public safety response spills into city streets, or if UC police make a mutual aid request to other agencies, and it expires.
Councilmember Kate Harrison sent an open letter to UC Berkeley’s administration Sunday urging UCPD and mutual aid agencies to adopt the city’s policies limiting the use of “less-lethal” weapons and strategies, such as tear gas, pepper spray, smoke, Long-Range Acoustic Devices, batons, rubber bullets, launched projectiles and corralling.
Mayor Jesse Arreguín told Berkeleyside on Monday that he isn’t aware of any proposals to repeal the city’s ban on tear gas, which Arreguín also chose against altering in August 2022.
Harrison said she supports Cal’s plan to build housing but rebukes any “brutal, heavy handed police action” required to make it a reality.
“This would directly contravene the planned acknowledgment of the critical history of the Park in the civil rights, free speech and open space movements, which placement on the National Register enshrines,” Harrison wrote.
Councilmember Rigel Robinson, who oversees the Southside neighborhood, said in a statement late Wednesday evening that he supports student housing construction at the park, but protesters’ rights should be protected.
He said he wasn’t aware of any details regarding the possible scale of law enforcement presence at the site prior to reading Berkeleyside’s reporting, and said he has no information on the timing of the action.
“I have communicated to campus leadership at every opportunity my ardent opposition to use of excessive force against nonviolent protesters,” he wrote. “This project must represent a step forward for People’s Park and for Berkeley, not a repeat of the state violence that has shaped our history. Our residents’ First Amendment rights must be protected.”
This story was updated after publication.
