The Future of People’s Park

In the 1960s, students organized a Free Speech movement to resist the University of California, Berkeley, to counter administrative bans on flyering on the campus. 53 years later, there is a new battle brewing over Peoples Park with its community advocating for civic space and the University offering housing projects. As tensions grow between the City’s establishment and Park protesters, many people are caught in the middle trying to navigate college, Covid-19, and Berkeley’s unaffordable housing crisis.

One of the greatest challenges facing the Peoples Park community is that UC Berkeley and the Berkeley City Council have agreed on the development. In fact, they have already allocated over $325 million dollars to displace the homeless encampments to the Rodeway Inn and build “over 1,100” beds for students and “formerly unhoused people.”

But, there are growing concerns about adding more students to Berkeley. The Save Berkeley’s Neighborhood group sued UC Berkeley for over enrolling students, but the Supreme Court decision in their favor was nullified by the California Legislature. The UC Regents then bought a $6.5 million dollar home in Berkeley for its president while thousands of students sleep on the streets during the summer months. These groups argue that the more students we have in Berkeley, the more open space we need to protect them, and that Peoples Park is the only green space available in the neighborhood outside of UC Berkeley’s main campus.

As tensions grow between the City’s establishment and the Anarchists of Peoples Park, thousands of students, businesses, and passersby will be caught in the middle of a potential war brewing in the Southside community, echoing the 1960’s invasion of the National Guard which changed Berkeley’s history forever.

What is the quality of life like at the Rodeway Inn?

What brought you to Peoples Park and why do you fight for it? and

Is there a sustainable future possible for Peoples Park?

Join the Green Party of Alameda County for a roundtable discussion with Peoples Park activists where we ask these questions and more during our monthly Green Sunday.