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PRESS RELEASE: Farewell, Carol Christ

For Immediate Release
July 23, 2024

Contact: Harvey Smith, peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com, 510-684-0414

Many fluff pieces have been celebrating the tenure of Carol Christ as chancellor of UC Berkeley, particularly extolling her fundraising prowess. However, there is a dark side to her seven years at the helm, chief among them her obsession with People’s Park, which according to a former Berkeley mayor began decades ago.

Obviously the relationship between UC and People’s Park over its long history has not been an easy one; it has veered from uneasy accommodation to outright antagonism. However, there were times when a positive future for the park could have been assured as an internationally-recognized asset to Berkeley and the university.

According to former UCB Vice Chancellor for Real Estate, Bob Lalanne, who left his position in 2016, building on People’s Park was off the table, and in fact there were proposals considered to improve it and make it more inviting for the entire community. This was reversed when Carol Christ took the helm in 2017, and as statements indicate it became her vanity project. A recent L.A. Times article stated she “is proud of her relentless efforts to build housing at Berkeley’s iconic People’s Park.” She also repeated in the article some of the misinformation that she and her PR flak Dan Mogulof have been spewing about the park. Early this year she also told the Times that the park’s “redevelopment” will go down as “one of the most important things I’ve done.”

Besides the misinformation, Christ and Mogulof have committed major acts of omission, never mentioning the park’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places and its recognition by the country’s leading preservation organization, the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Likewise the anti-environmental act of destroying a park with its many redwoods, oaks and other trees brings to mind the attitude of Ronald Reagan who stated, “If you’ve seen one redwood tree, you’ve seen them all.”

Carol Christ will go down in the annals of history arm-in-arm with Ronald Reagan, who formulated the original attack on the park, the invasion of Berkeley by the National Guard, and the killing and maiming perpetrated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

People’s Park was created after the Civil Rights and Free Speech Movements in the midst of the Vietnam Anti-War movement and preceded the first Earth Day. It is tied to and symbolizes all these movements. We can only wonder what possessed Chancellor Christ to recently speak in conversation about Free Speech with Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush’s Secretary of State, champion of the Iraq War and accused war criminal. Was this another snub to the history of the park?

Park supporters have outlived the tenure of Christ as chancellor, but the UC machine will keep moving to acquire more property in Berkeley with disregard for our city’s historic properties and the housing displacement caused by its increasing enrollment.

People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, the People’s Park Committee, and many others have pointed out why the People’s Park construction project is an avoidable bad idea. Those many reasons will not be repeated here, but it is clear that the project was never about housing but about destroying the park and its historic legacy. If constructed on an alternative site, it would be nearly completed by now.

The inappropriate location of the project and the resultant delays have wasted millions of dollars of public funds due to increasing construction costs, legal and police costs, and the shipping container wall with razor wire. This money could have been better spent in so many ways, chief among them increasing the budget for returning the Native American remains and artifacts hoarded by Cal and legally mandated by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act passed by Congress over thirty years ago.

We are not alone in our criticism of UC corporate-like expansion and its façade of social concern. Book length critiques can be found in Tony Platt’s The Scandal of Cal and Christopher Newfield’s The Great Mistake. Likewise Davarian Baldwin’s book In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower analyzes universities’ growth, resulting gentrification, policing, and monetization schemes.

We honor fact-based research and support social justice. We think of these as values that should be associated with UC Berkeley. Therefore, it is disappointing in the extreme when UC Berkeley behaves like a greedy and abusive corporation without a conscience, but with a big budget for public relations and legal representation.

Long Live People’s Park!

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Response to Chancellor Lyons from People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group

July 9, 2024

Dear Chancellor Lyons:

We are disappointed that you will not meet with us. Your predecessor also never deemed it necessary to meet with those who support the preservation of People’s Park. Because she was not able to achieve total destruction of the park before she left her position, you will inherit that distinction. We do not know how aware you are of the background that led us to this point, but we’d like to explain that like the Free Speech Movement and other controversial issues at Cal, the battle for People’s Park will not disappear once the heavy equipment rolls onto the site.

Despite the misstatements by Dan Mogulof regarding the “strong support” manufactured for the project, our Open Letter, which the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group began circulating in 2021, stands in stark contrast. Many have signed on since, and many other supporters have joined in the effort to protect People’s Park. The nearly 150 signatures on the Open Letter include Berkeley residents, UCB professors, three former Berkeley mayors, three former Berkeley city councilmembers, many former Berkeley commissioners, Cal alumni and students, attorneys, architects, historians and many others who are concerned about the threatened destruction of People’s Park.

Additionally, several student groups support preservation of People’s Park – Pay Your Workers Campaign, Historic Preservation Club, Cal ACLU, and Suitcase Clinic. Add to that, two resolutions from the ASUC opposing destruction of the park, the Berkeley Faculty Association’s questioning of the project, and the many editorials in support of the park in the Daily Cal. Support has also come from the country’s leading preservation organization – The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

These park advocates are clearly not the profile of “privileged NIMBY neighbors” claimed by the UC administration. They have all recognized a particularly bad plan when so many viable alternative sites for student housing are available. UC has given the community the false choice of having either a park or a dorm when we can have both.

Respecting the State Supreme Court decision is difficult if one understands that AB 1307 undercut park proponents’ win in the State Court of Appeal. AB 1307 was nothing more than a sweetheart, backroom deal concocted by Assemblyperson Buffy Wicks. She had absolutely no contact with the plaintiffs in the court case or with any park proponents in the district she purportedly represents. There were no legislative committee hearings that aired arguments on the bill, pro and con. The bill can only be described as a piece of special interest legislation with the special interest being none other than UC.

This outcome is disappointing because the nonprofit, community-based organizations were only asking for a public process under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Court of Appeal clearly saw that UC pursued a private process in determining it had no alternative other than to build on People’s Park. Our groups hired legal representation at great expense to advocate for transparency from UC. We played by the rules, and when UC did not like the outcome, it got the rules changed.

This begs the question – Is the project about student housing or about destroying the park? This is particularly evident when the millions of wasted dollars of public funds are considered due to delays, legal and police costs, and the shipping container wall with razor wire.

In order to meet its housing goal, UCB has claimed that it wants to build as much student housing as soon as possible. However, as an indication of its outrageously poor planning to reach the goal, UCB chose People’s Park as Housing Project #2 and then admitted early on that it would certainly experience delays due to the controversial nature of the project. Anchor House, Housing Project # 1, is nearly completed. If any of the many alternative sites had been chosen for Housing Project #2, it would likewise be nearly complete.

Cal touts that 1.7 acres of the park would remain open space after development. However, the increasingly densely populated Southside needs probably at least three times the acreage of People’s Park to meet urban green space standards at the international, national, state or city level. Stripping much-needed open space from students and the community is particularly perverse because it is unnecessary. We also know that beyond the ever-growing borders of the Cal campus there is still a “Berkeley community.”

Cal states it has “secured housing vouchers from the City of Berkeley for this project” neglecting to explain that housing vouchers come from the federal Housing and Urban Development voucher program. Vouchers would only be available if UC completed an environmental impact report in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, a requirement UC refused for its original supportive housing project. Since UC has destroyed a site on the National Register of Historic Places, this will likely be a major deterrent for any potential nonprofit housing developer.

Not only are the proposed buildings out-of-keeping with the area, they overshadow a National Landmark (Bernard Maybeck’s First Church), a building by famed architect Julia Morgan, the Anna Head complex by the founding member of Berkeley’s Ratcliff architectural dynasty, and many other historic structures that surround People’s Park.

The university claims to honor the historic importance of the park but does so by destroying a place that is an official city landmark, recognized by the State Historic Resources Commission. And People’s Park is also listed on the federal government’s National Register of Historic Places as a site of such national importance that it’s worthy of preservation. So UC’s idea of honoring this historic place is to destroy it.

Chancellor Lyon, inviting us to give “input and ideas regarding planning” for commemoration of the park would make us complicit in UC’s perpetration of the death and wounding of park protectors, the tremendous waste of millions of dollars in delays due to inappropriate siting of the project, and the delay of the construction of much needed student and supportive housing .

Many who consider themselves part of the Cal family honor fact-based research and support social justice. We think of these values as having been strengthened by experiences at Berkeley. Therefore, it pains most Cal-affiliated people when UC Berkeley behaves like a greedy and abusive corporation without a conscience, but with a big budget for public relations and legal representation.

Obviously corporations can make expensive miscalculations, e.g., Ford’s Edsel. UC campuses likewise have made costly planning errors, e.g., UCSB’s “Dormzilla.” However, both of these mistakes were recognized and the projects were terminated. Harm only comes when a bad decision is stubbornly sustained at the cost of institutional integrity.

Yes, this project has been well underway due to Carol Christ’s efforts, but you will inherit the mantle of the person who implemented it. If any of these details are unclear or need further elaboration, we would be happy to explain. We understand you delegating to Dan Mogulof a reply to our request for a meeting. However, we would deeply appreciate a personal reply to the critical issues raised in this letter.

Sincerely,

Harvey Smith, BA ’67, MPH, ’84, UC Berkeley
President, People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com, 510-684-0414

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People’s Park Last Stand? The Struggle Continues! Save the Heart and Soul of Berkeley – Panel Discussion, June 19, 2024

The Struggle Continues! Save The Park!
PANEL DISCUSSION
June 19, 2024, 7pm
1939 Addison Street, Berkeley

Featured Speakers Include:
Jovanka Beckles – State Senate Candidate
Joe Liesner – People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
Margot Smith – State Assembly Candidate
Moni Law – Affordable Housing and Police Accountability Activist
Jonah Gottlieb – office of District 7 Councilmember Lunaparra
Aidan Hill – Longtime People’s Park Gardener

Video of the Panel Discussion
https://fb.watch/sQvoIa2bEY/?mibextid=cr9u03

This event is available in person and via Zoom link
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81963341496
Meeting ID: 819 6334 1496

Join us for a panel discussion and community meeting to confront the impending UC destruction of Berkeley’s most iconic landmark. Speakers will expose state manipulation of the housing market, suppression of information about the archeological significance of People’s Park, collusion of elected leaders in the theft of the land and discuss the legally required and urgent need for open space in the Southside area.

People’s Park supporters cry “Foul!” in response to the California State Supreme Court’s recent ruling to allow the University of California (UC) to destroy the park. We pledge to continue the fight to save it.

Native American site of significance: People’s Park sits in Huichin, the name given the land by indigenous inhabitants of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan (local Ohlone nation). Derby Creek, which ran through the Park site, was filled in and culverted about 1901. The creek’s location suggests that an indigenous village was located in this area, and that significantly more recent remains or artifacts could be found during excavation. This would be grounds for another California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenge to UC’s construction plan. Many have suggested UC cede the Park to the Sogorea Te Land Trust as part of rematriation of lands lost to settler colonialism. UC “owns” the most real estate in California, all stolen from indigenous peoples. Adding insult to injury, after decades of struggling to fulfill commitments to more easterly native peoples, the US government refused to recognize any tribes in California so it would not have to provide any previously promised benefits, minimal as they were.

Desperately needed open space: Although the park has served as a place of last resort for unhoused and poor people, what the community desperately needs is open park space. Reducing People’s Park violates Berkeley’s Measure L, passed in 1986, which requires preservation and maintenance of the public parks and open space which exist in Berkeley, and acquisition of more open space in neighborhoods having less than the minimum amount of open space relative to population. People’s Park is the only public green space in the densely populated Council District 7, often referred to as Southside. It has served as refuge for many immigrants, starting with African-Americans in the 60’s and 70’s.

Historical Legacy: People’s Park was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 24, 2022, recognized in the letter of designation “as nationally significant for its association with student protests and countercultural activities during the 1960s.” In addition to this over half-century legacy of political and cultural events, the historical, architectural and environmental assets of this irreplaceable open space include a bio system of flora and fauna and a surround of highly significant architecture. Despite this, the current University administration remains intent on destroying the Park as one more part of making Berkeley unlivable for most.

Corrupt decision: UC has tried to avoid or undermine the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process for its proposed People’s Park housing project. When noise impact was identified as a likely disqualifier, it sought and won a special exception via having the Legislature amend CEQA to allow UC to proceed. UC is making profit from student housing while there is NO actual low-income housing to help the displaced people. There are over 3,000 vacant units in Berkeley, many held off-market for speculation. And hundreds of dorm rooms are vacant due to the high price. UC plans to increase enrollment by 20,000 students over the next decade, with no agreement from the City or its residents, who will suffer most.

People’s Park Community
We Ain’t Going Anywhere!

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PRESS RELEASE: Delay in Revealing Potential Findings of Native American Significance in the Vicinity of People’s Park

For Immediate Release
May 12, 2024

Contact: Harvey Smith, peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com, 510-684-0414

People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group and Make UC A Good Neighbor submitted on April 29, 2024 a Public Records Act (PRA) request to UC Berkeley due to the recent registration of a Native American site adjacent to People’s Park (listed on the National Register of Historic Places). UCB hasn’t disclosed any of the information about this site. Results of any subsequent investigation, subsequent discussions, or writings about it within UCB have not been shared with the public. 

In response to the PRA request on May 7, 2024, UC Berkeley acknowledged it was holding responsive documents, but did not plan to produce this potentially highly significant information for 10 weeks. 

There is urgency in the request because UCB is awaiting a State Supreme Court decision that could come at any day allowing initiation of construction at People’s Park. Before any construction begins at the park, the nature of the Native American site must be determined by appropriate and thorough archeological investigative techniques and testing.

Within the immediate vicinity of People’s Park, the Native American site was recently registered at the California Historical Resources Information System’s Northwest Information Center (NWIC). The site location is said to be within about one block from People’s Park, deemed to be sizable and significant, containing important habitation and dating evidence not found in any other Berkeley site. 

There may be other Native American sites, including burials, close to People’s Park that have records submitted and are awaiting assignment numbers at the NWIC.  

The potential that the People’s Parks site holds cultural remains and information not found in any other Berkeley site is most credible. The open landscape of the park affords a unique opportunity to explore not only the potential for on-site and immediate resources, including burial sites, adjacent to a flowing creek (Derby Creek), but also an opportunity to incorporate, predict, and understand the wider area. The site could be vitally important to understanding the Ohlone history in Berkeley and the East Bay.  

Finding a native site near the park wouldn’t prevent the university’s needed housing project from being built, since there are several alternative university-owned sites, including one just a block and a half from the park, on which the project could be located.

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Supreme Court Oral Argument April 3, 2024 – Session One – Make UC A Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California, S279242

Supreme Court Oral Argument April 3, 2024 – Session One, Apr 3, 2024

This is a recording of the oral argument for Make UC a Good Neighbor et al. v. The Regents of the University of California et al. (Resources for Community Development et al., Real Parties in Interest), S279242.
Heard by the Supreme Court of California on April 3, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA.

Make UC A Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California, S279242. (A165451; 88 Cal.App.5th 656, mod. 88 Cal.App.5th 1293a; Alameda County Superior Court; RG21110142.)

Petition for review after the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment in a civil action.

This case presents the following issues:

  1. Does the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) (CEQA) require public agencies to consider as an environmental impact the increased social noise generated by student parties that a student housing project might bring to a community?
  2. Under CEQA, when a lead agency has identified potential sites for future development and redevelopment in a programmatic planning document, is the agency required to revisit alternative locations for a proposed site-specific project within the program?

Supreme Court Oral Argument April 3, 2024
NEWS RELEASE: Video/Photos: Make UC a Good Neighbor v. The Regents of the University of California

The California Supreme Court today heard the case during oral argument in Los Angeles.
By Merrill Balassone, April 03, 2024

https://supreme.courts.ca.gov/news-and-events/videophotos-make-uc-good-neighbor-v-regents-university-california

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PRESS RELEASE – People’s Park Teach-In at UC Berkeley on February 26, 2024

For Immediate Release
Contact: Harvey Smith, peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com, 510-684-0414

“What’s Going On?”

A Teach-In on People’s Park

7-9 p.m., Monday, February 26, 2024
Maud Fife Room – 315 Wheeler Hall, UCB

People’s Park is currently barricaded by stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire and guarded round-the-clock, following a midnight raid in early January by combined police forces from UC, CSU, Alameda County, San Francisco City and County and the California State Highway Patrol, organized by the UC Berkeley administration. Why? “The existing legal issues will inevitably be resolved, so we are taking this necessary step now to minimize the possibilities of conflict and confrontation, and of disruption for the public and our students, when we are cleared to resume construction,” said Chancellor Carol Christ (The Berkeleyan, January 16, 2024). Like others in the flood of official campus public relations communications with which students, faculty and staff have been inundated since the Chancellor’s 2017 announcement of plans to build student housing on the park, this response falls short of explaining why there is such fear of “conflict and confrontation” and such strong opposition to these plans, even from students whose interests the plans are supposed to serve.

For a broader range of perspectives on what was and is going on at People’s Park, Teach-Ins have been organized by UC Berkeley students (January 24) and by community groups (February 4). Please join us for the next one. There will be ample time for Q and A. Fiat Lux!

Presenters:

  • Harvey Smith, organizer of the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group and project advisor for The Living New Deal, UC Berkeley Department of Geography
  • Tom Dalzell, labor lawyer and author of The Battle for People’s Park, Berkeley 1969
  • Tony Platt, author of The Scandal of Cal: Land Grabs, White Supremacy and Miseducation at UC Berkeley and affiliated scholar at Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Law and Society
  • Steve Wasserman, publisher of Heyday Books and park activist since 1969
  • Sylvia T, recent UC Berkeley graduate, independent archival researcher and People’s Park defender
  • Sara Pech, Historic Preservation Club, a UC Berkeley student group
  • Representatives from the Suitcase Clinic, a UC Berkeley student group

Moderator:

  • Kristin Hanson, Professor of English, UC Berkeley

Please note that although masking is no longer required on campus it is much appreciated.

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Press Release: Wicks legislation may kill Berkeley low income housing project

Press Release: Wicks legislation may kill Berkeley low income housing project
Date: August 23, 2023

For Immediate Release

Contact: Harvey Smith, People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, 510-684-0414, peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com

State Assembly Member Buffy Wicks (D, East Bay), a vocal backer of housing for the poor and unhoused, has introduced a bill that may likely kill a supportive housing project for the homeless proposed by UC Berkeley on People’s Park, a federally recognized historic site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Federal law generally bans the use of Federal funds on housing projects proposed on National Historic sites unless the developer submits to an extensive Federal review, including consideration of alternative sites. UC Berkeley has declined to participate in this process, so HUD has determined at this time that federal funds would not be available for the project

Harvey Smith, president of the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, said
“We have urged UC to use an alternative site, just one block away, that would accommodate both the student housing and the supportive housing, and which would be eligible for Federal funding with no need for a Federal review. This would be a win-win solution for the university and the community.”

The university’s Project #2 plans to construct about 1000 units of student housing and more than 100 units of supportive housing for low income people in Berkeley’s People’s Park, site of one of the major social, political, and cultural conflicts of the 1960s. The park, owned by the university, has remained public open space since 1972.

Construction is currently blocked by a California State Appeals Court decision in a lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who favor building the project on a more appropriate university owned site. The court required the university to seriously consider more than a dozen alternative properties, and the university has appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court. The non-profit chosen by the university to build the supportive housing has dropped out of the project and no replacement developer has been named. Generally, long term supportive housing projects require a significant level of Federal funding

Wicks’ bill, AB1307, attempts to allow the university to build the project in People’s Park without considering alternatives. The park is an official historical landmark, recognized by both the Berkeley City and California State governments. It is also on the National Register of Historic Places, a list established by federal law to designate sites of such national historical importance that they deserve preservation.

Supporters of Peoples Park have urged UC to move the project to the decrepit Channing parking structure, a 1.7 acre university property located just one block west of the park. It’s now occupied by a sixty-year-old parking structure that must be taken down for seismic reasons. The university has designated the site for eventual student housing but has no specific project or designated funding for that purpose.

Harvey Smith said, “We urge Wicks to drop her amendment and urge the university to build the project in an appropriate alternative location. This would assure the construction of both much-needed student and supportive housing. And it would preserve an invaluable historic resource, consistent with federal preservation policy. Finally it would also preserve the only public open space in Berkeley’s most densely populated neighborhood.”

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People’s Park 54th Anniversary, music, speakers, green space gathering, Sunday, April 23, 2023, 11 AM to 7 PM

People's Park 54th Anniversary poster illustration of people gathering to celebrate the park

People’s Park 54th Anniversary
(in memory of Michael Delacour)
Sunday, April 23, 2023, 11 AM to 7 PM

Climate Event, Yukon Hannibal and Drummers, Welcome by Eddie and talk about Michael, Jordan Huez, Speakers, Hali Hammer and Randy Berge, Max Ventura, dress, and George Franklin, Marika Sage, Speakers, Moth Morgue, Speakers – Aidan Hill, Cheryl Davila, others, Driftwood Dave duo, Speakers – Alan Haber, Odile Hugonot, others, Evelie Delfino Såles Posch, Carol Denney, Speakers, Afterthought, Andrea Mallis, astrologer, FiLTHMiLK, Speakers – Russell Bates and others, Andrea Prichett group, Speakers, Jazmin, Speakers, Gurschach, Closing

11:00-12:00: Climate Event
12:00-12:30: Yukon Hannibal and Drummers
12:30-12:40: Welcome by Eddie and talk about Michael
12:40-12:55: Jordan Huez
12:55-1:10: Speakers
1:10-1:25: Evelie Delfino Såles Posch
1:25-1:35: Max Ventura, dress, and George Franklin
1:35-1:50: Marika Sage
1:50-2:05: Speakers
2:05-2:20: Moth Morgue
2:20-2:35: Speakers – Aidan Hill, Cheryl Davila, others
2:35-2:50: Driftwood Dave duo
2:50-3:05: Speakers – Alan Haber, Odile Hugonot, others
3:05-3:20: Hali Hammer and Randy Berge
3:20-3:35: Carol Denney
3:35-3:50: Speakers
3:50-4:05: Afterthought
4:05-4:15: Andrea Mallis, astrologer
4:15-4:45: FiLTHMiLK
4:45-5:00: Speakers – Russ and others
5:00-5:15: Andrea Prichett group
5:15-5:30: Speakers
5:30-6:00: Jazmin
6:00-6:15: Speakers
6:15-6:45: Gurschach
6:45-7:00: Closing

Download posters:

Poster (color) 54th Anniversary People’s Park, 2023, version 2
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/poster-54th-Anniversary-PeoplesPark-colorV2.jpg

Poster (black & white) 54th Anniversary People’s Park, 2023, version 2
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/poster-54th-Anniversary-PeoplesPark-bwV2.jpg

Please also come this related event:

Broad Community Meeting to Save the Park

We hope to see people from many organizations as we work toward long term stewardship and maintenance of the park in perpetuity. This is to build an inclusive community wide planning and working group to revitalize our park and to create a commons for all.

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1–4 PM
Community Meeting Room in Berkeley Central Library
2090 Kittredge Street, Berkeley, CA 94704

54th Anniversary Celebration: We are Peoples Park! Berkeley, CA

Posted by People's Park Community on Sunday, April 23, 2023
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Appeals Court Decision, February 24, 2023

Congratulations People’s Park Supporters!!!

The Appeals Court issued their final decision today. We won the most important point in the case for the continuation of the Park. The court’s order, attached below, finds that UC’s Environmental Impact Report did not adequately analyze feasible alternative sites for Housing Project #2. Therefore, as stated in the Disposition on page 44, our claim that UC needs to look more carefully at other places to build Housing Project #2 is upheld and the case goes back to the trial court. Our current understanding is that the trial court (judge Roesch) will give instructions to UC as to how it can comply with this appeals court decision. In later days we will get a fuller understanding of what those instructions will look like. One possibility could be that UC will write another EIR with a more complete analysis of other places to build. Most importantly no construction can take place at People’s Park now or until this decision is final. After this is final either side can take additional legal steps that will delay construction even further. Because we are all interested in the timeline of future developments I include the information below from the lawyer.

Upcoming deadlines:

  • Last day to file Petition for Rehearing in Court of Appeal: 3/13/23
  • Opinion Final: 3/26/23
  • Last day to file Petition for Review in Supreme Court: 4/5/23

Appeals Court Decision, February 24, 2023:
https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Appeals-Court-Decision-February-24-2023.pdf

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Legal Update on People’s Park – January 12, 2023

On January 12, 2023 the Court of Appeal heard Oral Arguments on the CEQA case of Make UC a Good Neighbor and People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group VS the Regents of the University of California. There were not any points in the arguments of either side that were different than the briefs and supporting letters that had previously been submitted by the parties. The attorney/justices interaction was very interesting. The entire 82 minute hearing is at:

https://jcc.granicus.com/player/clip/3368?view_id=41&redirect=true&h=e8920a278fccbe9f40ea13a15f093f12

For us interested in preserving People’s Park as an open space in perpetuity the hearing is very reassuring. The UC lawyer tried to gain traction for their contention that the “revitalization” (read destruction) of the park was always the core goal of Housing Project #2 and therefore the Environmental Impact Report had no obligation to analyze other alternate sites for that housing because only by building on People’s Park could the project revitalize the park. Justice Burns was especially unaccepting of this claim and interrupted and contradicted their lawyer continuously. In short, it would be very surprising if we don’t win on the alternative site issue, which would mean the EIR has to be redone.

The other meaningful exchange was about the issue of noise. Our contention that Housing Project #2 would have a significant negative impact on noise levels in the neighborhood because of the common occurrence of student parties is being critiqued as a “social” impact as opposed to an environmental impact. UC claims that the burden of predicting, analyzing and mitigating for these kinds of social noise is discriminatory and that it will delay or stop new building projects. Even the Chief Justice Terri Jackson asked about the possibility of a new building for a church being made to analyze the effect of tambourine shaking.

Our lawyer made the point that noise is noise. He also made the point that the fair argument standard should be applied. Finally he noted that anti-discrimination law is an established means by which any environmental impact can be evaluated.

This question of whether social impacts should be included in CEQA suits is complex and can be looked at from many angles. It seem to be the way developers and their political allies are going to attempt to weaken or throw out CEQA.