Posted on

Update on legal action to protect People’s Park, July 21, 2022

The First Appellate Court with the help of the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group has just taken down another of University of California’s (UC) attempts to take the park. On Friday, UC had asked Judge Roesch for permission to erect a fence around the park and Roesch denied them, saying I’Il see you both in court on July 29, 2022.

Well, UC was back with another complaint on Saturday demanding an expedited rehearing or Motion to Remand and saying they were improperly denied their request for a bond to cover increased construction cost incurred by the stay.

Today the First Appellate court said: NO REHEARING OR REMAND, and NO BOND. Their order instructed our team to file a response to UC Motion to Remand by August 3rd. We may see that response sooner than August 3rd. Remember the trial on the merits is July 29, 2022.

Letter from David L. Axelrod, Attorney for the Petitioners

July 21, 2022

To:
The PEOPLE,
PEOPLE’S PARK COUNCIL,
MAKE UC A GOOD NEIGHBOR, and
People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group

Blurb – For Immediate Release

Re: Make UC a Good Neighbor, et al. v. City of Berkeley, et al., and U.C.

The above-referenced case started out as a Petition in Alameda Superior Court by People’s Park advocacy groups for a Writ of Mandate against Berkeley City Council, the Mayor, and the City itself, for violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act by the City’s adoption of a secret sell-out agreement with the University of California (UC) in violation of applicable California open-meeting laws.

Soon thereafter, the Court, by Judge Frank Roesch, expanded the action to include the University of California (UC), and later permitted or encouraged causes of action against UC for breach of contractual agreements with People’s Park representatives, namely the People’s Park Council and People’s Park Project/ Native Plant Forum.

As of today, July 21, 2022, in ruling on the City’s Demurrer, Judge Roesch has thrown out the Petition against the City, while the Complaint against UC remains intact. In doing so, Judge Roesch declined to enforce Berkeley’s Measure N, and also concluding that Berkeley’s Measure L does not apply to People’s Park. On behalf of the Petitioners, we argued that the City Respondents have violated Measure N by surrendering to UC, rather than upholding applicable laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Measure L, which expressly applies to all “vacant public land . . . used de facto as open space . . .,” whether or not owned by the City.

Judge Roesch also ruled that the Petitioners had failed to file a government claim within six (6) months of the City’s wrongful act. On behalf of the Petitioners, we argued that The Government Claims Statute does not apply to our Petition for Writ of Mandamus, which simply seeks a stay, declaratory judgment, and other equitable relief, rather than being a claim for monetary damages resulting from foreseeable losses that have not yet actually occurred.

Judge Roesch also ruled in favor of a Motion to Strike large segments of the amended Petition, even though the Motion had been untimely filed five (5) days after the deadline approved in a Stipulation of the parties and an Order of the Court.

Robert Perlmutter, attorney for the City, tried to keep the City in the case as a “real party in interest,” but the Court denied this request. Accordingly, the City Respondents are now totally excluded from this case.

The only question is whether to appeal now, based upon the dismissal of all causes of action against the City entities, or to appeal after final judgment is entered in the case in chief. The only remaining now is the Defendant UC. This lawsuit, like People’s Park itself, appears to be hanging by a thread at this time.

As requested by the Petitioners, Judge Roesch did properly take Judicial Notice of the Stay Order issued by the Court of Appeal in a closely-related CEQA case, temporarily preventing destruction of the Park by UC. But he also stated that the Order was “irrelevant” to the Demurrer. Perhaps a similar order, but broader and longer lasting, can be sought in what is the newly revamped and evolved iteration of our case at law aiming to save the Park.
May 1000 parks bloom!!

For Plants and Peace,

DAVID L. AXELROD,
Attorney for the Petitioners,
PEOPLE’S PARK COUNCIL,
MAKE UC A GOOD NEIGHBOR, and
People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group

Posted on

Interview with Harvey Smith, public historian, educator, People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group

Harvey Smith, author of the book Berkeley and the New Deal, was interviewed by Mitch Jeserich on the KPFA Letters & Politics program on July 13, 2022, and this informative podcast recording has fascinating history, and a detailed update on the current efforts to protect People’s Park.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kpfa-letters-and-politics/id406769844?mt=2

1 hour

Posted on

On People’s Park, Democracy, and Politics

by Memory
Saturday, June 25, 2022, 5:46 PM

Berkeley city council-member Rigel Robinson released a recent article championing the UC’s proposed redevelopment project on People’s Park. This article was accompanied with a statement from council-member Lori Droste’s legislative assistant. The statement compared People’s Park activists to the January 6th insurrectionists.

PART 1:

(https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/23/opinion-how-berkeley-is-housing-the-people-of-peoples-park)

Berkeley council-member Rigel Robinson released an article centered around the need to redevelop People’s Park for support programs and housing. He praises the UC and city council (including himself) for this grand act of charity. However he doesn’t make a strong case as to why these services have to be built on People’s Park. The buildings of UC’s Anna Head complex (directly one block north from People’s Park) are falling apart. They are unsafe, and costly to maintain. Over the past 2 years, this complex has had 4 fires. Why couldn’t this site be razed, and replaced with the proposed new housing complexes? Why not tear down the UC’s Crossroads cafe, and replace it with a dorm? Why not introduce a new dorm in the core part of campus? Could the supportive housing project be built at the eastern edge of Ohlone Park, across the street from the North Berkeley senior center. This would place the building closer to BART, the library, city college and other civic services. (Ohlone Park is significantly larger than People’s Park. A building would fit there with less impact). These are just a few examples to show other other options exist.

This redevelopment project is politically tied to the conquering of People’s Park. It is not a case of the government acting purely for the sake of the greater social good. This development project is conditional to once-and-for-all stamping out a hub of social rebellion and social experimentation. The city could have built a new supportive housing and services hub on the former Telegraph Avenue location of C.I.L. (Center for Independent Living). It was a perfect opportunity the city passed on. Now the location is market-rate housing. The city didn’t care about supportive housing then, because it didn’t achieve the same political goal that building on People’s Park achieves.

The council-member refers to People’s Park as a “a gathering place for [the] unhoused”. Opponents of maintaining People’s Park as a 2.8 acre open space in South Berkeley, often will insinuate (or outright say) that the only people who use the park are homeless. This is factually untrue. Pre-pandemic, the majority of people who visited the park were not unhoused. The park was a refuge for houseless people, but most people who came to the park had places to stay at night. Most of these people came to the park for social reasons, to garden, to play chess, to use the basketball hoops (often students), to grab a free meal (Food Not Bombs), or to vibe (sativa, indica or hybrid). It is a fact that when the pandemic hit, the population shifted more towards the unhoused, as the park became a place where activists and service providers could coordinate mutual aid response for the unhoused. However, pre-pandemic the park was more economically and socially diverse.

Rigel calls People’s Park an “ungoverned space”. There is a truth to this, but the council-member fails to criticize the institutions who walked away from their responsibilities to manage park operations. Robinson seems to place the blame on activists and park preservationists. A decade ago, the UC disbanded the People’s Park Community Relations commission. There was a promise to reinstate the board, with new members and a new focus on community partnership; it was never reinstated. The UC’s main presence in the park is it’s police department, not it’s College of Natural Resources, nor the school of social welfare.

The UC Police had no real oversight, which resulted in systemically abusive behavior that drove a rift between park advocates and the university. Officers would humiliate people with mental-health disabilities. UC police would sporadically harass people handing out food. The department would actively intimidate people who dared to tend to the garden. More egregious behavior by UC police officers over the decades has included: excessive use of force, physical abuse, and at least one known case of an officer with substance-abuse issues shaking down people for drugs.

The city is also responsible for People’s Park being an “ungoverned space”. The city used to lease the park, and co-manage the park with the university. The city broke any commitment it had to People’s Park. There was at one point, many years ago, a plan for the UC to sell People’s Park to the city for one single dollar. However, the state government doesn’t permit any piece of university land to be sold for below market value. The state would not make an exception for People’s Park.

Rigel also wrote: “Changing anything at the park has been a political third rail… for decades”. The only changes that the UC attempted to make to the park did not include input from the People’s Park community. This lack of communication, and lack of community partnership lead to tensions. Most infamously, in 1991 the university had a plan to tear down the free-speech and concert stage, and replace a large swath of the open field with 2 sand-volleyball courts. This was not a concept developed though community discussions. When people protested the changes, UC police shot at people with wood slugs and rubber bullets — an action which only escalated tension. After being erected, the sand-volley ball courts weren’t even used, and the UC itself took them down. (Ironically, the UC would 20+ years later tear down another sand-volleyball court on the north side of campus. This court was popularly used by students and faculty.)

A little over a decade ago, the university once again proposed tearing down the People’s Park stage. A new stage was proposed, but the UC stipulated that the park community could not rebuild it. The old stage was built and donated by activists. The UC wanted the new stage to fully be university property. The new stage would also be more restricted in terms of use. As in 1991, the university made the mistake of not collaborating in a community partnership. The old stage remains.

Rigel says that park has been “frozen in time” since the park protests of 1969 and 1972. That is completely untrue. In 1974, an organic gardening course was created by university students. That same year, a project was started to plant California native species. In 1979 the first iteration of the stage was built, and a vegetable garden on the west end of the park was established. In 1984, the slide and swings were brought into the park. In 1989 the Catholic Workers brought in a trailer to serve as a cafe, which later was towed away by UC police. In 1991, Food Not Bombs began delivering food into the park. In subsequent years in the later 90s, the 2000s and the 2010s, planter boxes and garden beds have come and gone, various plants swapped in and out by various gardeners. More benches were created. There’s been concerts held by various organizations, including UC student groups.

Part II:

(https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/23/opinion-how-berkeley-is-housing-the-people-of-peoples-park#comment-5896527980)

Eric Panzer is the is the legislative assistant of Berkeley council member Lori Droste. He attached a statement to Robinson’s article. He asserts that advocacy for preserving the openness of People’s Park is anti-democratic. He makes an insulting, and ridiculous comparison between Park activists and the January 6th insurrectionists.

The UC is not a democratic institution. For decades, there has been a call to democratize the UC regents. In 1993, the Committee for a Responsible University proposed that half the UC regents should be chosen by California voters through electoral process. The Presidency of the UC is not democratic. When criticism was raised about former Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano (who had no experience in the field of higher education) being chosen as UC President, there was no direct democratic action available to stop her appointment. Likewise, the respective chancellors of the different UC campuses are not democratically elected.

Any comparison to People’s Park advocates and the January 6 insurrectionists is insulting and stupid. The Jan 6th insurrection was planned in part by the Proud Boys. While founded in the state of New York, the Proud Boys came to prominence during a series of rallies known as the Battles of Berkeley. During one of these rallies, the Proud Boys marched from Sproul Plaza down to People’s Park for the purposes of threatening people there. The advocates of People’s Park were in direct opposition to the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer, and the Alt-Right in general.

To follow Panzer’s argument, any protest against any government agency or institution, is tantamount to insurrection and advocacy for fascist dictatorship. Any past or future protest against the University of California, according to Panzer, is treason. The Memorial Oak Grove protest, the Occupy Cal encampment at Sproul Plaza, or any of the numerous building sit-ins that occurred in the 2010s were all acts of conservative fascism by Panzer’s definition. The only true progressive act is to not protest against authority.

The redevelopment of People’s Park is being challenged in court. In part, that is why the UC hasn’t sent in the riot police to shut down the park. Access to the courts is part of the democratic process, and a fundamental freedom. As for direct action on the ground, that too is part of democracy. People have the right to assembly, and the right to take a stand. The UC itself set rules on engaging protest encampments, after the police violence against Occupy Cal. It remains to be seen if the UC follows their own regulations, or if they shut down the park with a burst of extreme violence.

Lori Droste’s assistant wrote: “the Park’s supposed boosters foisted a policy of malignant neglect upon the Park”. This is a dishonest assessment. The neglect has come from the university, the city and the state government. Park advocates for years been the people trying to keep the park from falling apart. They have maintained the plants, and other aspects of the park infrastructure and amenities. They have demanded that the sick, the downtrodden and the destitute be given assistance by the government. It is the government that has ignored these pleas for years, only now to respond on the condition that People’s Park be redeveloped. This bargain is manipulative, dishonest, and uses the needy as pawns in a political game for the purpose of greatly disrupt activism in Berkeley and on campus.

Part III (Conclusion):

The debate is being presented as a false dichotomy. Either the redevelopment plan goes through, or the park’s current conditional state is maintained. In truth, there are other options. Housing and supportive services can be built elsewhere, and there can be a commitment to improving the park through community partnerships and mutual communication.

Another option is compromise, for those who are willing to explore such a path. Perhaps the supportive housing and a service center gets built on People’s Park, and the dorm gets built elsewhere. This puts a new building on site, but leaves more of the open space available for gardening and recreation.

Park advocates aren’t happy with houseless people needing to find refuge in the park. Park advocates aren’t happy with people with ailments going untreated. Yet, Robinson and Panzer are presenting a fallacy that advocates are fighting for this to be the status quo. They insinuate that people are advocating for the continued suffering of others. Their arguments are disgusting at their core, and don’t reflect the type of mutual aid and advocacy that activists in People’s Park have had to offer out of compassion and necessity.

( This article was originally published on IndyBay.org : https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/06/25/18850696.php )

Posted on

Woodchips and Logs Alert: Take Action to Save People’s Park

From the People’s Park Council, June 16, 2022

Hi all,

We need you to call and email about the dramatic fire danger UC has created in the park over the past weeks.

Logs and Woodchips in People’s Park – photo Elana Auerbach

See below for more photos…

They started with many smaller piles of wood chips on the east side, as people were moving to The Rodeway Inn. Eventually those were mostly spread out by park users.

But then UC started dumping piles of wood chips in the grassy areas of the park, dumpload after dumpload, some mounds about 8 feet high and about as wide. Then the logs of formerly healthy, life-giving trees. We’ve had various counts of how many but around 60 or more is a reasonable count for now.

Monday and Tuesday 2 representatives from the City Manager’s office were out aggressively pressuring people to leave the park in the afternoon, including people who do not sleep in the park but hang out there.

Max from the People’s Park Council asked Okeya Vance Dozier how the city was involved in the dumping of flammable materials all over the park. Okeya said it is the UC doing this. So Okeya was asked the purpose of covering the lawn and was told it is to keep people from being able to put out tents. So this clarifies that the city has contact with UC and is being updated, and the city has aggressively pressured people to leave, threatening that they’d lose all their belongings if they did not submit to having them taken away. Indeed, UC has trashed tents and bedding, and personal belongings of many over the weeks. Meanwhile, while UC and the city was pressuring people to go to The Rodeway, telling them they’d have 18 months there, and services, the moment they were there they were being threatened with eviction after 3 months.

Monday and Tuesday this week UC covered many areas with logs. They’re strewn about.

Max has written detailed emails and made calls to different city fire department emails and phone numbers as well as the City Council saying the fire department and city need to stop this massive fire danger, especially as the weather forecast says to expect days with 77 degrees coming up.

The concern is spontaneous combustion and even though activists have been continuing to spread many of the chips from the more recent dumps (June 9, on), there remain massive piles which threaten not only the park and its flora and fauna, but the entire neighborhood as now there are so many wood chips in many areas of the park.

Some immediate actions you can take:

Tell people you know and get it onto Social Media. We’ll try to get some photos of the carnage up onto the website peoplespark.org as soon as that can happen. But people can go and take their own photos and send to people if we don’t get them up right away.

  • Email fire@cityofberkeley.org and call 510-981-3473
  • Email council@cityofberkeley.org
  • Email manager@cityofberkeley.info, and call 510-981-7000 ovance-dozier@cityofberkeley.org and jjacobs@cityofberkeley.org from that office
  • Email chancellor@berkeley.edu and call Carol Christ: 510-642-7464
  • Email regentsoffice@ucop.edu
  • Let us know if you emailed or called… info@peoplespark.org and if you got this info from a friend and would like to be added to our announcements list, please let us know
  • If you use a cell phone, add yourself to the bulldozer alert by texting
    SAVETHEPARK to 74121 and text your friends to do the same
  • Bring out a rake, gloves, a wheelbarrow, and friends to spread more of the wood chips so there is less probability of spontaneous combustion of the massive piles which are left. Make it a party and post photos to your Social Media
  • The evening weather has been so pleasant. Come out to the park and enjoy it. This evening wouldn’t be a moment too soon. Bring your guitar, your singing buddies, and get up on the Free Speech stage to do your thing. Remember Joni Mitchell’s song with the lines, “They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot. With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Then there’s the line about putting all the trees in a tree museum (a bit like UC’s claim in the EIR that, they would be moving out oldest, biggest trees. Good luck with that)
  • Now that those trees are dead, sure would be nice if someone with good equipment were to come out and make some of these logs into more benches and tables. Anyone know any wood sculptors who’d want to beautify the park with their art? We’ve also heard rumblings about many uses for the logs in defense of the park

** Our People’s Park tradition, from the inception, has been to take UC’s destruction and heal and support the park and its residents. They destroy, we beautify and think of ways to help do good for the neighborhood from building bathrooms, to getting rid of the offensive volleyball courts to leave the grassy area free for frisbee, picnics, dancing, hula hooping, musical circles. We reused the old-growth redwood UC had used for extra offense in building those unwanted courts, and over years also built picnic tables and benches, have done plumbing repairs when UC has not, have gardened, and as UC has always come in to destroy trees and other plants we respond by planting more and always, we put on anniversary and many other concerts and shows, workshops, rallies, and we help coordinate mutual aid. When we squatted a long-vacant UC-owned brownshingle rooming house across from Rochdale (Berkeley Student Co-op), UC’s response was to bulldoze it. Our response to that? We created another People’s Park annex, a lovely garden which survived at least a year before they demolished that, too.

Let 1000 Parks Bloom!

Keep your eyes and ears open, and we look forward to seeing you in the park.

People’s Park Council

Posted on

Project Roomkey – An Independent Review of Abode Services and the Rodeway Inn, Berkeley, California

A new report has been released, and is a comprehensive analysis of the living conditions and grievances of unhoused residents currently and formerly occupying the “Rodeway Inn” hotel.

This is the introduction, and the full report can be downloaded here:
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Project-Roomkey-Review-of-Abode-and-Rodeway-v.1.3.pdf

The Rodeway Inn is located at 1461 University Ave. In Berkeley California. The age of the building is unknown at this time. Rodeway Inn is currently operated under “Project Roomkey” a series of transitional living facilities whose program offers individual or shared rooms to chronically homeless individuals for a limited time until permanent supportive housing can be secured.

Project Roomkey is a program initially funded by the State Of California through intermediaries such as Alameda County. However, since 2020 most if not all funding is provided by The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In its current form the Rodeway Inn Project Roomkey program is managed by local non-profit and contractor “Abode Services”. Abode operates several hotel and alternative shelter programs in the area as well as offering other homelessness services including outreach and housing case management in Alameda County. While Abode is currently contracted through Project Roomkey, recent developments (including a consent calendar item introduced at a recent Berkeley City Council meeting*) have shown that in coming months the Rodeway Inn program will be financed by the City Of Berkeley and UC Berkeley respectfully.

“Where Do We Go Berkeley”(WDWG) is a non-profit advocacy group based in Berkeley CA. WDWG has been in contact with the Rodeway Residents in question for over 3 years in several collaborative and supportive capacities. WDWG was instrumental in ensuring the placement of most residents by coordinating with “Lifelong Medical Street Medicine Team” who managed hotel referrals during the eviction of “Seabreeze” and “Ashby Shellmound” encampments. It is for this reason that WDWG carries the responsibility of ensuring that all who entered this Project Roomkey site are allowed the same rights and respect that any housed individual would be entitled to.

Almost immediately after unhoused residents from the I-80 Corridor were placed at Rodeway Inn, WDWG began receiving numerous complaints of misconduct and mistreatment regarding Abode staff. WDWG is bound by its mission statement and organizing documents to take each complaint it receives seriously and to attempt negotiation and advocacy for remedies that would be satisfactory to the complaining party. To that extent, WDWG feels ignoring or dismissing complaints would make them complicit and liable for any injury that may occur to their clientele during participation in a program such as “Roomkey”.

Contained in this report is a series of findings and recommendations. Some findings are based on declarations made by Rodeway Inn residents while others were witnessed directly by members of Where Do We Go Berkeley. Because of the discrimination inherent in homelessness issues, WDWG is inclined to believe allegations made by residents unless clear evidence can be provided that shows otherwise. While not all allegations have been submitted to Abode through their official grievance policy, most if not all issues have been expressed to staff and management at various times.

Project Roomkey – An Independent Review of Abode Services and the Rodeway Inn, Berkeley, California
Where Do We Go Berkeley
Telephone: 510-570-8026
Email: wheredowegoberk@gmail.com
Web: www.wheredowegoberk.org

Download the report:
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Project-Roomkey-Review-of-Abode-and-Rodeway-v.1.3.pdf

Posted on

The Ever-Expanding University of California: Property Claims and the Battle Over People’s Park

The Ever-Expanding University of California: Property Claims and the Battle Over People’s Park (PDF)

Download:
Newer version with images:
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Ever-Expanding-U.-of-California-Property-Claims-and-the-Battle-Over-Peoples-Park-Pamphlet-v4.pdf

Older text-only version:
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Ever-Expanding-University_-Property-Claims-and-the-Battle-Over-Peoples-Park-2.pdf

Posted on

Let’s Stroll Along Derby Creek in People’s Park

Imagine the beauty of the sun on sparkling water of Derby Creek running through a wooded glade in People’s Park. This can become reality as we all get involved in caring for our precious open space in Berkeley.

Derby Creek in People's Park color map
Derby Creek in People’s Park color map
Derby Creek in People’s Park pencil sketch

This very detailed and informative report looks the process of daylighting Derby Creek in People’s Park, restoring a beautiful riparian Berkeley habitat with native plants and flowing water and the restorative power of nature in our neighborhood and town.

Report to the University of California and the People’s Park Community Advisory Board on the Feasibility of Restoring Derby Creek at People’s Park, Berkeley, California

Submitted by: Wolfe Mason Associates, Inc. in association with Waterways Restoration Institute. June 20, 1998
https://peoplespark.org/images/derbycreek1998.pdf
(69 pages, 29 MB, PDF)

Contact People’s Park if you would like to be involved in or want to support this project: e-mail: info@peoplespark.org.

Posted on

Bathroom faucets and public health needs an upgrade at People’s Park

The city didn’t even bring in porta potties until I believe it was July and their handwashing stations, not only at People’s Park, but at Civic Center Park, most often have no water or soap, or paper towels. The city never brought in Sharps containers, and in their recent propaganda, UC refers back to there being a Sharps slot at the bathrooms, but during 2020 the bathrooms often were not opened until later in the day, and sometimes not at all, and no one was in the office so there was no way for the container to be checked or replaced. The Berkeley Free Clinic provided Sharps containers that were placed in the porta potties loose in spite of our calls for the city to strap them onto the outsides to increase the probability that more people would use them.

Months ago, the porta potties were moved to Dwight Way so now users, if they don’t see Sharps containers in the porta potties will 1) throw on the floor of the porta potties; 2) throw needles into the toilet making it hard for upkeep; 3) throw them on the ground outside. Do we think a user is going to walk across the park to place needles into the slot at the bathrooms? I don’t.

So the city and UC have had plenty of information shared by me on behalf of the group, and Sheila who spread information widely.

In this video, I went into detail about how the sinks, certainly, are inaccessible, but the lack of any reasonable upkeep of the bathrooms over the years makes using the bathrooms actually not truly accessible for people in wheelchairs or using walkers. Most often there is no toilet paper and there certainly are no seat covers. It’s disgusting. Soap? Not for years except when volunteers provide it, and their soap dispensers are too high for accessibility anyway. The hand blow dryer is too high but in reality often is broken down for long periods anyway. Locks on the bathroom stall doors are not able to be used by many with disabilities affecting hand and finger use while there are perfectly well-known options that allow for flipping a handle over.

UC and the city have failed the most vulnerable in the Berkeley, and UC has taken a park which was created for everyone’s benefit and made sure the bathrooms are not accessible to those who may have the most challenging needs in a bathroom setting. This in a city which was central to the beginnings of the Independent Living Movement and the creation of the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Shameful.

–– Maxina Ventura

Posted on

Max Ventura, Leon Rosselson, The World Turned Upside Down, aka The Diggers Song, A Mural, and People’s Park

Max, Ingrid, People's Park bathroom mural - April 13, 2019
Max, Ingrid, People’s Park bathroom mural – April 13, 2019

Leading up to the 50th anniversary of People’s Park, in 2019, Max Ventura wrote to Leon Rosselson to let him know that in spite of UC’s continual threats for half a century, we’re still here holding down The Commons. Max had sung his song, The World Turned Upside Down, aka The Diggers Song, on the Free Speech Stage since 1986. What follows is the interchange between them in 2019. While the one quote from him was so inspiring, Greg suggested that we share the whole interchange about the history of the making of the mural bearing the words to his song, The World Turned Upside Down. It is based on The Diggers in England in 1649, and some of Gerrard Winstanley’s words. The Diggers’ history and Leon’s song is such an important part of People’s Park History.
 
On 15 Apr 2019, at 06:05, Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net wrote:

Dear Leon,

We now are celebrating our 50 year anniversary of People’s Park in Berkeley, California.
We met at Down Home Music some years ago and I brought you a copy of our book in which the mural is featured. I continue to sing the Diggers Song as I have sung out there since 1986. It became our instant anthem all those decades ago and people begged meto paint up the lyrics. So one anniversary I did so on the sides of the concrete bricks leading to the men’s bathroom entrance. It took over 7 hours (I don’t recommend painting on concrete without proper brushes, at very least, unless in an emergency which it seemed this was!

Some years later as it had faded, people asked me to repaint them so I spent another anniversary concert day repainting. Sore arms. It was no easier the second time, and once again it was with perhaps the worst possible brushes since I had not planned ahead to redo that day. Emergency! though… so I made do.

Then some years after that when there had been just a bit too much chaotic graffiti on that big wall between the bathroom entrances, we decided a new mural would be a good idea and some of the park dwellers said it was getting too hard to read the tiny and faded lyrics and they wanted them big and bold so a local park supporter and artist did some initial sketching to lay out my ideas and a park dweller who’s an artist, and I, further planned the mural. He started painting the background and hills, and I painted the banners and spent (ouch!) another long day painting lyrics onto the banners during another anniversary concert and then holding the ladder while Terri Compost painted up the park history above. It’s been I don’t know how many years and there has been little graffiti and some of what’s been added is interactive right on the banners. Living art.

People’s Park is 50 years of User-development and I just wanted to share, once again, how important your song has been to the people living in, and visiting the park, and that is obvious as this has been one of the longest-lasting mural up there.

So thanks for being part of People’s Park, a model for our world. Messy sometimes, but a vision we have helped nurture and which lives on in spite of the University aggressively attacking the park and the people of the park many times over the half century.

Just this Jan. they came in 5 am one morning and decimated over 40 healthy trees. They say they plan to build housing for students but that was what was there 50 years ago, before they razed the beautiful old houses and apartments on that block. So our response? We’ve been planting other trees and they keep threatening to down those, also. And so it goes, and we remind “the public” that, it’s never been about providing housing, but about silencing free speech and sanitizing the area to please wealthy parents sending their children from the suburbs.

So we are on to our next 50 years. We had our first of two anniversary concerts yesterday and the second is the 28th. In between we have nearly daily events. I’m attaching a flyer for one I’ve coordinated, and at which I shall speak. If you go to www.peoplespark.org you can see the schedule of events. Lots of inspiration.

Sincerely,
Max Ventura

Subject: Re: photos in front of people’s park bathroom mural
Date: 2019-04-21 03:26
From: leon rosselson
To: Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net

Dear Max,

Thank you so much for your email, the photos and all the information about the happenings in People’s Park. I’m touched and feel honoured that you have given so much of your time and worked so hard to give the lyrics of my song a new life on this beautiful mural. This is my 60th year of singing and writing and one of my most treasured moments in all that time was to visit People’s Park and see the mural when I was in Berkeley in 2011. I am unlikely to visit again but I have the book, so thank you.

Good luck for the next 50 years. What you are all doing is a bright spot of hope in these bleak times.

Leon Rosselson

On 26 Apr 2019, at 00:15, Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net wrote:

Hello again,

We’ve had such a great almost 2 weeks of celebrations already, have a few more workshops and other events, and have our second concert all day Sunday.

At our People’s Park Committee meeting Sunday, people wanted me to ask you whether we could put this onto our website (we’d say, of course, that this is from you, writer of The World Turned Upside Down). The website is www.peoplespark.org:

Re: May we put this quote from you on the People’s Park website?

“This is my 60th year of singing and writing and one of my most treasured moments in all that time was to visit People’s Park and see the mural when I was in Berkeley in 2011. I am unlikely to visit again but I have the book, so thank you.

Good luck for the next 50 years. What you are all doing is a bright spot of hope in these bleak times.”

From leon rosselson

To: Max Ventura beneficialbug@sonic.net
Date: 2019-04-26 10:01

By all means, Max. It is sincerely meant.

Leon

Added in 2021 as we are about to celebrate 52 years, enjoying the student and community uprising end of January where UC’s fences once again were torn down, and then were marched down Telegraph Avenue to be deposited on the steps of Sproul Hall:

While I was painting the lyrics on the mural so many years ago, my three children painted over the faded tiny lyrics on the edges of the concrete block wall at the bathroom entrance. They painted veggies and this kid art also has been left alone for everyone to enjoy. Even their names survive on the bottom painting of the bunch. Attached is a photo of Ingrid by those veggies paintings from so long ago, and there is one of Ingrid and me in front of the mural in 2019.

— Max Ventura

Ingrid, People's Park bathroom tiles - April 13, 2019
Ingrid, People’s Park bathroom tiles – April 13, 2019
Posted on

People’s Park and Neighborhood Groups Challenge UC’s 2021 LRDP

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