Make the Park Better
by Sennet Williams, November 2018
Here is the campaign I would suggest:
Make alliances with student groups concerned about the housing shortage like CalPIRG and others for this solution.
1: change the language MAKE THE PARK BETTER, rather than “save the park,” because a lot of people are unhappy with the way the park is now.
2: change the name to “Tree-people’s park”.
2a: The park can be a showcase for FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING by GROWING MORE TREES.
2b: It should NOT be part of campus. Make it state property for a tree park or city property.
3: point that it would be silly for student housing because the students do not want to surrounded by people spanging all the time, which would be the case under the proposed “plan.”
4: The proposed “plan” would make traffic/parking a lot worse on southside because students have friends and they drive her to pickup, drop off or visit.
5: The city has already asked U.C. to stop expanding in Berkeley.
6: All Cal’s new construction should be at Cal’s Richmond “field station” that has plenty of land and vacant buildings. Most of the suggested new housing will already be at Richmond.
7: For students to live in Richmond there will be a new rail transit system which is ALREADY PLANNED to be built, but it is still being kept secret from the media for legal reasons. But the plan is to start building it from Richmond to Cal. ASAP.
8: The most likely rail system, with offices at Cal’s RIchmond property is called CYBERTRAN.com, and it will solve the parking shortage because it is so much better than driving, Berkeley AND U.C will stop wasting huge fortunes building parking garages, and students will not need autos to get to class.
More immediately AC Transit is the problem for changing bus routes and not having enough buses, and that is why most students do not like to ride the bus and want to live near campus.
* Line 51 should be restored to one route instead of being split in two. (the major route to dorms, needed to reduce traffic)
* Line 6 should have the same route to campus 24 hours instead of shutting down at midnight. I believe “line 41” was 24 hours.
With these changes, many thousands of students will be happier to rent rooms in other towns with lower rent.
Btw, I have been a professional developer and I have a LONG history with Cal, but I am probably leaving the state for months very soon, possibly for years so that is why am sharing this info now.
Anyway, anyone can contact me: sennetwilliams@yahoo.com