People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group

Open Letter

To: The Chancellor, Mayor, State Legislators, the Regents and the Governor

No northern city was more affected by the great social and cultural movements of the ‘60s than Berkeley and no event in Berkeley history brought together more of the diverse forces of that era than the conflict over People’s Park in 1969. That is why the park is designated as a landmark by the City of Berkeley and the State of California and is deemed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

And that is why the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group and the undersigned call upon the University of California to work with the Berkeley community to protect and enhance People’s Park. Just as the nation preserves the great battlefields of the Civil War of the 1860s, so should it preserve places like People’s Park that commemorate the great social and cultural conflicts of the 1960s.

Instead, the university proposes to destroy the park in order to build a 17-story student housing structure. UC argues the destruction of the park is necessary to respond to its housing shortage, yet the university has identified several other possible sites for student residences. Of all the jurisdictions dealing with the Bay Area’s regional housing crisis, only UC Berkeley proposes to destroy a public park of national historic importance. UC’s development plan would also destroy the view from the park and overshadow the surrounding other distinguished local, state and national landmarks, e.g., Maybeck’s Christian Science First Church.

In destroying the park, the university is eliminating the only public open space in Berkeley’s most densely populated neighborhood. Over the past several years, UC has over-enrolled the number of students, violating its own plans and increasing the number of budget-padding out-of-state enrollees. This greatly increases the population density of the area. Doesn’t the university have a responsibility to maintain and enhance the one piece of restorative nature still open to the public in this over-crowded neighborhood?

The university argues the park is a place of great crime and violence, a claim vehemently denied by park users and their supporters. The university’s unacceptable “solution” is to displace the poor, the unhoused and other park users by paving over the park. UC has clearly allowed the park to deteriorate; however, maintaining it as well as other city parks could ensure that People’s Park could be a safe, well-used public space frequented by all.

Shouldn’t a great university, with a brilliant faculty and immensely talented students, use its resources to work with neighbors and park supporters to create an inclusive public open space welcome to all? Shouldn’t the university’s architecture faculty help design truly affordable low-income housing projects in other Berkeley locations? Such efforts would be consistent with UC’s mission of public education and service and consistent with the best values and ideals of the ‘60s.

Please join with us not just to preserve People’s Park, but to make it a place that respects and commemorates its history and celebrates and serves its diverse surrounding community.

For more background, go to www.peoplesparkhxdist.org. If you want to add your name to this statement, send name and affiliation to peoplesparkhxdist@gmail.com.

Signed:

• Annette Aalborg, DrPH, UC Berkeley; Public Health Professor, Touro University, California
• Lynn Adler, Berkeley resident since 1973
• Gael Alcock, musician, Berkeley resident
• Phil Allen, former Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commissioner
• Lee Altenberg, UC Regents Scholar and A.B. in Genetics, UC Berkeley, 1980; Theoretical Biologist and Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa
• Avram Gur Arye, retired architect
• Jurgen Aust, AICP, Expert in Land Use, Transportation, City Planning; Berkeley Resident
• David Axelrod, attorney
• Russell Bates, 47-year Berkeley resident, Berkeley Copwatch member, People’s Park Committee member
• Tom Bates, former Berkeley Mayor, State Assemblyman and Alameda County Supervisor
• Reverend Allan Bell, Director, The Silence Project, London
• Robb Benson, Food Not Bombs
• Howard Besser, retired UC Professor and 50 year Berkeley resident
• Paul Kealoha Blake, activist
• John Roosevelt Boettiger, Ph.D, psychologist and professor of human development emeritus, Hampshire College
• Andus Brandt, Berkeley architect
  
• Summer Brenner, writer, Berkeley resident
• Zelda Bronstein, Journalist and former Chair, Berkeley Planning Commission
• James Brook, poet and translator, Berkeley resident
• Mina Davis Caulfield, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., UC Berkeley; resident of Berkeley 61 year; Assoc. Prof., Anthropology and Women Studies, emerita, San Francisco State University
• James Chanin, civil rights attorney
• Sas Colby, artist, activist, resident of South Berkeley
• Alan Collins, former member of Berkeley Housing Advisory and Appeals Board
  
• Terri Compost, ecologist
• Devin Cory, born in Berkeley in 1996; my Grandmother Judy Foster’s memorial lemon tree stands in People’s Park
  
• Teah Cory, born in Berkeley in 1998; my Grandmother Judy Foster’s memorial lemon tree stands in People’s Park
  
• Tom Dalzell, author, union lawyer
• Cheryl Davila, former Berkeley City Councilmember
• Shirley Dean, former Berkeley mayor, former Berkeley City Councilmember
• Michael Delacour, People’s Park co-founder
• Carol Denney, writer, musician
• Linda Diamond, Food Not Bombs volunteer
• Tim Donnelly, Poet, AFT Local 6192
• Lesley Emmington, former President, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, former Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commissioner
• Annie Esposito, retired Community News Director at KZYX
• Laura Fantone. UC Berkeley Research Staff, Berkeley resident
• Nina Feldman, Berkeley native, local business owner since 1981
• Susan Duhan Felix, Art Ambassador City of Berkeley, former President of Berkeley Art Commission
• Isis Feral, environmentalist, labor and disability justice activist
• Helen Finkelstein, UCB alumna & Berkeley resident
• Arthur Fonseca, Picuris Pueblo Senior Services Provider.
• Alisa Foster, Berkeley resident since 1968; my 1st grade class help break cement to create Peoples Park
  
• Anne-Lise François, Associate Professor, English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
• Clifford Fred, former Berkeley Planning Commissioner
• Robin Freeman, former Berkeley Landmarks Commissioner; Chair, emeritus, Environmental Management and Technology, Merritt College; Co-Director, David R. Brower, Ronald V. Dellums Institute for Sustainable Policy and Action
  
• Paula Friedman, author and editor
• Gloria Frym, writer, professor, California College of the Arts
• Leah Garchik, journalist
• Ann Garrison, Contributing Editor Black Agenda Report, KPFA/Pacifica reporter
• Charles Gary, Spiritual Activist
• Judith Gips, UC Berkeley graduate, writer, Berkeley resident since 1975, K-12 teacher, community organizer
• Rafael Jesús González, Poet Laureate, City of Berkeley
• Emil de Guzman
• Alan Haber, Berkeley resident 1968-93, People’s Park since day 1, Ann Arbor Community Commons
• Hali Hammer, musician, activist, teacher
• Kristin Hanson, Berkeley resident and professor of English at UC Berkeley
• Chandra Hauptman, Berkeley resident, former KPFA Local Station Board & Pacifica National Board member
• Art Hazelwood, Lecturer, San Francisco Art Institute
• Robbin Henderson, UC Berkeley alumna, B.A., 1963; former Executive Director, Berkeley Art Center; Berkeley Civic Arts Commissioner
• L. Higa, legal analyst, UC Berkeley alumna, former Boalt Hall law school & UC Berkeley Southeast Asian Studies Dept. employee
• Aidan Hill, former Vice-Chair, City of Berkeley Homeless Commission
• Bill Issel, Professor of History (emeritus), San Francisco State University
• Greg Jan, historical researcher, political activist
• Susie Johnson
• Theo Jones, concerned citizen
• Thomas Jones, MD, Berkeley resident
• Sheila Jordan, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Emerita, Youth and Justice Advocate
• Persis M. Karim, Ph.D., Neda Nobari Distinguished Chair, Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University
• George Killingsworth, UCC pastor, actor, activist; Berkeley resident since 1957
• Jonathan King, editor, writer
• Ken Knabb, Berkeley resident since 1965, writer and translator
• Jack Kurzweil, Professor (Emeritus) of Electrical Engineering, San Jose State University
• Moni T. Law, J.D., Chair of Berkeley Community Safety Coalition, Cal Alum, 1982
• Paul Lee, Visiting Scholar Department of African American Studies, UC Berkeley
  
• Ying Lee, former Berkeley City Councilmember, former aide to Congressman Ron Dellums, former BUSD teacher
• Eric Leenson, co-founder La Peña Cultural Center
• Michelle LePaule, Berkeley resident
• Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor Tikkun magazine and Ph.D. in Philosophy, UC Berkeley, 1972
• Siobhan Lettow, Berkeley resident
• Murphy Levitt
• Judi Lewis, MPH, UC Berkeley
• Joe Liesner, activist
• Natalie Logusch, tenant at 1921 Walnut Street
• Thomas Luce, People’s Park Committee
• Seth Lunine, Lecturer, UCB Geography
• Bob Mandel, park co-founder, Adult Ed ESL teacher, union organizer, Mumia activist
• Amelia S. Marshall, UC Berkeley alumna, 1980; retired staff research associate/development engineer; local history author
• Gary McDole, Berkeley resident
• Dan McMullan, director, Disabled People Outside Project; former Berkeley
  Human Welfare & Community Action Commissioner
• Tom Miller, President, Green Cities Fund
• Ed Monroe, artist
• Negeene Mosaed, owner, Berkeley Community Physical Therapy
• Doug Minkler, printmaker
• Marilyn Naparst, alumna of UCB, activist, citizen of Berkeley since 1958, volunteered and worked in Berkeley Schools
• Sally Nelson, artist, activist, Berkeley resident since 1977
• Peter Neufeld, Repurposing Artist, Owner of The Store on Telegraph Avenue
  
• Osha Neumann, lawyer
  
• Gus Newport, former Berkeley Mayor, international activist
• Martin Nicolaus, Berkeley Law alumnus, Berkeley parks advocate
  
• Meave O’Connor, Wireless Radiation Education and Defense
• Becky O’Malley, journalist and editor, former City of Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commissioner
• Eliza O’Malley, Opera Singer, Artistic Director Berkeley Chamber Opera
• Cynthia Papermaster, UC Berkeley alumna, 55-year resident of Berkeley, former Berkeley PTA Council President
• Tony Platt, Distinguished Affiliated Scholar, Center for the Study of Law & Society, UC Berkeley
  
• Marcia Poole, Berkeley resident, artist
• Jim Powell, poet, MacArthur Fellow, Berkeley native
• Janette M. Reid, Berkeley resident since 1967, Cal alumna & staff retiree
• Diane Resek, Professor Emerita of Mathematics, San Francisco State University
• Justin Richardson, Landscape Architect, UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumnus
• Renee Rivera, Public Health Nurse
• Eugene E Ruyle, Cal Alumnus, 1963, Anthropology; Emeritus Professor of Anthropology Cal State Long Beach (Puvungna)
• Jos Sances, artist, activist
• Marty Schiffenbauer, Berkeley resident 54 years
• Bob Schildgen, writer
• Laura Schmidt, UCSF professor, UCB alumnus and Berkeley resident
• Maansi Shah, UC Berkeley alumnus
• Patrick Sheahan, architect
• Dan Siegel, civil rights attorney, ASUC president (1969-70)
• Gar Smith, FSM vet, author, environmental activist; former Ecology Center board member; editor emeritus, Earth Island Journal
• Harvey Smith, public historian, educator
• Margot Smith, retired social scientist, activist
• Elizabeth Starr, environmental advocate
• Zach Stewart, landscape architect for Berkeley Shorebird Park and Willard Park
• Paule Cruz Takash, Ph.D., Anthropology, UC Berkeley, 1990
• Lisa Teague, People’s Park Committee and Berkeley Outreach Coalition
• Austin Terry, archaeologist, Berkeley resident
• Daniella Thompson, writer, historian
• Maxina Ventura, mother, activist, musician
• Richard Walker, former department chair UCB Geography, professor Emeritus
• Paul Wallace, 1921 Walnut Street tenant
• Steve Wasserman, publisher, Heyday
• Michael Weber, UC Berkeley student, 1969
• Pat Welch, graphic designer
• Jane Welford, activist, gardener, grandmother
• Jane White, Berkeley resident
• Tobey M. Wiebe, Ph.D. candidate, School of Education, UC Berkeley, 1978
• Charles Wollenberg, California historian, writer
• Lope Yap, Jr., filmmaker

As of October 29, 2022, 1 p.m., 138 signatures