Citizens Unite: People’s Park

On January 4th, hundreds of law enforcement officers surrounded People’s Park in Berkeley, removing activists and homeless people to make way for a wall of shipping containers that would later surround the site. UC Berkeley’s $312 million student housing project had begun. 

The conflict between People’s Park and UC Berkeley dates back more than 50 years. In 1967, the school used eminent domain to bulldoze houses that resided on the plot of land, claiming that it planned to build dorms there. The construction stalled for more than a year, with the rubble sitting unused. 

In April of 1969, a newspaper called the Berkeley Barb published an article inviting the residents of the city to gather on the plot of land. Community members and activists came together to make the dirt into a beautiful area by planting trees, flowers, setting up cookouts and rolling out sod. Play structures were added and the park became a popular spot for parties and cookouts. Shortly thereafter, in May of 1969, UC Berkeley tore up much of what the community had built, setting up an 8-foot chain link fence to keep the public out. Peri Danton, a long-time Berkeley resident and one of the original people who helped to make the park, recalls how this event transformed People’s Park from an ordinary public space into a call for action. 

“There was a march in Berkeley in connection with this that had 35,000 people. This was after the university had gone in and torn out the park and put in a chain link fence,” Danton said. “The governor of the state of California sent 2700 members of the National Guard and they declared martial law and Berkeley with curfew. . .It was really… It was a crazy time.”

The protests continued well into the 80s and 90s, and the park unfortunately became a drug use hotspot and a sea of living tents. Danton believes that neglect from the city and university also had a role in the downfall of the Park.

“The city, at one point, perhaps had the opportunity to make it into a city park to take it over from the university. The new university never wanted to let go of it. And the city never really wanted to spend the money to make it into a park. So it was never a city park. The university I think chose to neglect it,” Danton said.

The fight between UC Berkeley and community activists is still on-going, with some residents believing that the Park should remain open space while others think that the university needs the student housing. Danton, however, has his own unique opinion. Although he wishes the dorms wouldn’t have to be built on People’s Park, he believes that the opportunity for the Park has passed.

“I wish that [the park] could be open space. I wish it could be cleaned up and made into a public park that families and children would want to use in that neighborhood. But, I’m afraid that I think that opportunity has passed,” He concluded.