People’s Park, Berkeley, California – Community, History, Trees, Green Space, Free Speech, Social Justice, Civil Rights, Gardens, Music, Art, Style, Freebox, Recreation, Ecology, Education, Sports
People’s Park Palooza!
Saturday, September 4, 2021, 6 pm
People’s Park, Berkeley
Performances by: Maya Songbird, QINGQI, Easydoesiiit, UNPOP, Perhapsy
Free admission with recommended donations of $5-10 or $10-20
Masks required.
Vendors from 3ofwands Collective.
@theweirdestmaya, @perhapsymusic, @allhailtheqing, @easydoesiiit, @unpop.ca, @3ofwandscollective
Last Friday two lawsuits were filed in Alameda County Superior Court against UC Berkeley and the UC Regents. Two community groups and AFSCME Local 3299 are challenging the impact of growth plans of the university. Previously another filing was done on the Berkeley City Council’s violations of the Brown Act, in formulating and adopting the City’s recent secret “settlement agreement” with the University of California.
The evening’s panel will discuss both legal and community organizing actions to stop implementation of UCB’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), a plan that seeks to destroy People’s Park and other irreplaceable neighborhood and community assets in Berkeley.
Panelists include historians, preservationists and activists – Charles Wollenberg, Lesley Emmington, Carol Denney, Joe Liesner and Harvey Smith.
The exhibit includes photographs, art work, posters and memorabilia from over 50 years of spirited community involvement in preserving the irreplaceable open space of the park.
People’s Park is at the center of sixteen other officially recognized city landmarks, which collectively are a de facto historic district. They represent the heritage of the 1960s and the larger theme of a century of town/gown relationships. Berkeley became a major target of the New Right conservative backlash with Ronald Reagan promising to “clean up the mess in Berkeley.”
UC’s plans also threaten three historic buildings, including a rent-controlled apartment building, in another project funded by an anti-rent control developer.
The university has exceeded its agreed enrollment limits, creating enormous housing displacement throughout the city. The university has responded to years of state budget austerity by monetizing its public assets in a corporate-like growth that has also become a drain on city resources.
UCB proposes to cover People’s Park with a 17-story concrete monolith, probably to be erected by a private housing firm that will profit from student occupants. This would destroy both a historical and cultural legacy and much needed open space when reasonable alternatives are available.
If Berkeley all but invented the sixties, surely the city and its university should be able to commemorate that decade by preserving People’s Park as the heart and soul of a vital historic district.
Presentation by People’s Park Historic District
Friday, August 27, 2021, 6–9 pm
Canessa Gallery
708 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
Masks and Covid vaccination required.
For more information, contact Harvey Smith at 510-684-0414.
Sponsored by the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group.
Wear all Black
Meet at People’s Park
Masks Required
Wednesday, August 25, 2021, 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM
In a lawsuit claiming the nearly total inadequacy of the University of California’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on its 2021 Long Range Development Plan and Housing Project #1 and Housing Project #2 (LRDP) a team of lawyers representing Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) are seeking to void approval of the LRDP and the EIR, and thereby stop all activities proposed in that LRDP. This legal action is of great importance to supporters of People’s Park since it would mean significant delays for any attempts to destroy the Park by erecting three buildings on that beloved site. It would also keep our friends at 1921 Walnut Street in their rent controlled homes for the time being.
The lead attorney in this suit, Thomas Lippe, has prevailed in two California Environmental Quality Act cases against the University of California and, because his most recent victory against UC concerned plans to build on Upper Hearst, Mr Lippe is very familiar with the 2021 LRDP. This suit wast filed on August 20, 2021 in the Superior Court of California in and for the county of Alameda.
It describes the nearly total failure of the EIR for the 2021 LEDP to adequately either describe or address the environmental effects caused by the program or projects proposed in the LRDP. Among its contentions are that the EIR fails to make required findings, fails to propose and evaluate adequate mitigation measures, fails to respond in good faith to the public comments received in response to the draft EIR, and fails to lawfully assess the LRDP’s effects on traffic, noise, air pollution, population and housing, parks and recreation, or historic and cultural resources.
This site will post any response from UC or upcoming court dates as they are announced.
— joe liesner, secretary People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
Donate to Lawsuit at:
People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
P.O. Box 1234
Berkeley, CA 94701-1234
More information at peoplesparkhxdist.org
Full text PDF:
Make UC A Good Neighbor, et al., v The Regents – LRDP Petition.pdf
We are happy to present two new artist feature videos about Berkeley artist and long-time friend of People’s Park, Ed Monroe, produced by Abdul Guidoum, Alicia Perkins, and Fernando Ramos.
Ed Monroe: Berkeley, California street artist. Film by Abdul Guidoum
Ed Monroe Documentary on the wonderful artist, Ed Monroe, of Berkeley, California. — UC Berkeley 2014, Alicia Perkins, Fernando Ramos
3:30 PM food provided by: food not bombs
4:00 PM community meeting
5:00 PM build your own pasta bowl
6:00 PM movie screening: COMING TO AMERICA 2
DEFEND PEOPLE’S PARK, BERKELEY — GIVE US THE PARK
Led by Rosey Stephens
Every Thursday afternoon at the Park from 2–4 pm
Please fill this form out if you are interested in attending art classes at the park! >
Art classes will be led by Rosey, a founder and longtime resident of People’s Park. The classes are free and we’ll provide a basic supply kit (including pencils, charcoal, paper, a drawing board, erasers, and potentially some other goodies) to anyone who can’t afford or access their own supplies, no questions asked. We’ll meet every Thursday afternoon at the Park from 2–4pm, which includes a 30 minute lecture section where we’ll observe and learn techniques, a 30 minute lab section where we’ll practice specific techniques, and an hour-long workshop section where we’ll practice putting all our skills together. You can attend every class to gradually develop your art skills, or just drop in when you feel like it!
We welcome people of any age, skill level, ability, race, and gender. Come out and join the People’s Park community! <3
All classes will be outdoors and social-distanced. We ask all participants to double mask and avoid sharing supplies. The first class will be Thursday 03/11.
Please email junenelsonx@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Please fill this form out if you are interested in attending art classes at the park! >
January 29, 2021 — A large rally, mostly University of California, Berkeley students, and many Berkeley residents, all advocates of People’s Park, gathered at the park on Friday afternoon and delivered a set of rousing speeches, eloquent, educational, historical, spanning generations, inspiring in their ideals and vitality. Social justice was a key theme. The Park had about a third of it’s area blocked off with chain link fence for weeks and students and park users were outraged at the ongoing attempts of UC Berkeley to take away a large part of the historical and living park, a landmark of social justice and people power. The park is a significant and valuable cultural resource, hosting many concerts, social gatherings, educational and recreational activities, sports, community gardening, diverse groves of trees and plants, charitable outreach, and more throughout the year. The park is a creative collaboration of students, faculty, and residents of Berkeley, living and breathing the oxygen of ideas in a public open green space.
At the conclusion of the speeches on behalf of protecting the park from unwanted development, an unexpected and brilliant spontaneous outpouring of action was suddenly engaged and the crowd took to dismantling the chain link fence, efficiently taking it down, and carrying a number of the fence sections in a rousing parade down Telegraph Avenue, chanting, “Whose park? People’s Park!”. The fencing and protest signs were deposited on the steps of the Sproul Hall administration building as a strong message to the University to stop any development of buildings in People’s Park.
The next morning, trucks were seen taking away the fencing from the park. The people, from all walks of life, made a strong statement, once again, in defense of the Park and the park community, and will continue to work to enhance the People’s Park and bring people together to learn and share in the public space in collaboration with nature’s healing power.
Below are are a few photos and videos from the fence removal part of the event. If there are videos or transcripts of the excellent speeches, this site would be happy to post them here. Please contact: greg@imaja.com.
More photos and video at :
Instagram: @peoplesparkberkeley
Tag photos with #peoplesparkberkeley
The precious People’s Park, open space and community gathering place, is at imminent risk of destruction in January 2021. A huge part of the park has been shut down with chain link fence and survellience lights at night. The perpetrators of the chain link fence attack, connected with opportunistic profiteers from the University, developers, construction industry, and others, are clearly using the inclement weather and pandemic situation to attack the precious open space and gathering place of People’s Park with the least amount of pushback from the many users of the park. Numerous houseless people are camped in or beside the park during the pandemic and stormy wet winter weather, with numerous outside organizations and individuals helping park people to get by in decency, given the dire situation.
I remember years ago, my dear friend C and I visited the park in a winter rain. She was a medical student at the time, and we were really enjoying the open space, a relief for our stressed times. It was around the time I grew a bed of astounding 13-foot tall corn in the West side community garden beds of People’s Park. We climbed the great low branches and enjoyed the brisk air and wet colors. It was like today when I visited People’s Park, lush white Cala lilies happily growing into the cool showers.
To think that this park, the historical People’s Park, this vibrant community gathering place, People’s Park, the collective treasure chest of memories of people with vision, People Park, to think that this park could be reduced or damaged or eliminated by the University and it’s cohorts in development, construction and real estate, breaks our hearts. We’ve worked hard to garden, to tend the trees, to fill the air with music, dance and art, history and community, in this public space. To lose this green space would be a tragic loss, caused by destructive profiteering forces.
The pathological, toxic roads and numerous parked cars are an indicator of how deluded our society has become. People spend so much time on computer or television screens, partly because the environment outside their own doors is so absurdly destroyed to make way for cars and parking spots, and not for people. We want to go to a park to escape the visual and noise pollution of cars everywhere, a public gathering place where we could enjoy gardens, music, sports, a picnic in the sun. How can it be that Berkeley might lose another park, People’s Park?
I hope all parties involved in any development consider the social value of the special open space in People’s Park, a real direct tangible value to people in the neighborhood, throughout town, and for students, a value that brings people together from all walks of life, and work to protect that open space, the open public culture, and the history. There are several other effective solutions for building student housing, affordable housing, or other structures in many parts of Berkeley, so let us protect this precious remaining open space.
— Greg Jalbert, January 27, 2021
Stand in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors in preventing displacement. Fences are being built to prevent people from using People’s Park.
Instagram: @peoplesparkberkeley
Tag photos with #peoplesparkberkeley
Text SAVETHEPARK to 81257
Poster:
Join the Discussion Group and Facebook groups for People’s Park and get the latest news, participate, and support this wonderful community resource. Connect here on the Contact page >
Photos of People’s Park areas enclosed by chain link fence, January 27, 2021. Stop the theft of People’s Park open community green space!
