The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that UC Berkeley can proceed with its controversial plan to build high-rise student housing on the site of the famous People’s Park, just south of the college campus.
one of Unanimous opinion The court in the case, written by Chief Judge Patricia Guerriero, reversed the appellate court’s ruling and dismissed the lawsuit filed by opponents of the development, writing: “In short, as effectively acknowledged by all parties, this lawsuit poses no impediment to the development of the People’s Park housing project.”
“We are pleased and relieved that the Supreme Court’s decision allows the campus to resume construction at People’s Park,” UC Berkeley officials said in a prepared statement. “The housing components of the project are desperately needed by our students and homeless people, and the entire community will benefit from the fact that more than 60% of the 2.8-acre site will be revitalized as open park space.”
Details on the construction timeline will be released in the coming weeks, the statement said.
A small group of park supporters — who had held a morning vigil outside the cordoned-off green area awaiting the decision — reacted with dismay when one of their members read out the ruling from his phone.
“It’s not looking good for the home team, y’all,” the worker said upon seeing the decision. “Everybody take a deep breath.”
When the main points were read, the group shouted, “Boo.” “Shame!”
The decision marks the decisive final chapter in a land-use saga that began when activists seized the plot during 1960s protests and built a park with their own hands, putting down grass and planting flowers. That marked the start of a 55-year experiment in utopian ideals — and the harsh realities that sometimes follow them.
Located right off Telegraph Avenue, the park was founded in 1969 after free speech radicals seized the property from the University of California, leading to weeks of tense confrontations between activists and law enforcement. The idea was that it would be a sanctuary, a symbol of freedom and creativity, just a few blocks from the hustle and bustle of graduate housing, restaurants, bars, and bookstores that make up the heart of Berkeley’s southern section.
“It was a place where people who were cultural or creative or unusual could show up and exist in the community,” Berkeley resident Andrea Pritchett, who sits on the People’s Park Council advocacy group, said in an interview earlier this year. “The point was that if you wanted to organize a group, you sat in the shade of the trees and organized.”
“A place where all good things can flourish,” said Steve Wasserman, publisher of Heyday Books, who helped develop the park as a teenager and decades later published a history on the event’s 50th anniversary
For many, it was a Berkeley institution, where generations of students and community members picnicked, drank, organized to end apartheid and police brutality, and communed with the moon in the nude, among other activities.
But in recent years, it has become a haven for the homeless and a hotspot for drugs, rats and crime. University officials said parents have complained that the chaotic and sometimes dangerous space has been allowed to remain just a block away from the Haste Avenue dormitory complex.
And outside the park’s green boundaries, Berkeley’s housing crisis has become even more acute. With rents rising around the city and students looking for affordable units, the university has faced enormous pressure to build new housing. Campus officials said last year Berkeley is only able to provide housing to 23% of its students, the lowest share among the UC system’s 10 campuses. The lack of on-campus housing forces many students to live in shared spaces, commute long distances, or live out of their cars.
And in a city long known for its progressive politics — and that was once decidedly anti-growth — many leaders have come out in favor of housing construction.
“I am pleased with the state Supreme Court’s simple decision to allow the construction of much-needed student housing, supportive housing and open space at People’s Park,” Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin said in a statement. “This decision is a win-win that will benefit our community and the next generation of students.”
Meanwhile, university officials never gave up their intentions on the university-owned land.
However, every time he tried to develop it, he faced Fierce resistance,
In the 1990s, the university built volleyball courts, leading one activist to take up arms and break into the campus home of then-Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien. The intruder was shot and killed by police. In his backpack was a note: “We are willing to die for this piece of land. Are you?”
Carole Christ became chancellor in 2017 and promised to double the number of student housing beds within a decade. She made it clear that she thinks the park — long a controversial “third rail” that campus leaders have avoided — is a good location for a new dormitory.
Plans were developed to build a huge dormitory complex with space for 1,100 students and a separate building with permanent supportive housing for 125 homeless people. About 60% of the property would remain green space, with commemorative exhibitions about the park’s history.
Opponents — a much-Berkeley coalition of park idealists and anti-development NIMBYS — opposed the development, claiming the university did not do enough to study alternative sites. They filed a lawsuit, claiming the university’s environmental impact report on the project was inadequate.
In 2023, a state appellate court sided with university opponents, ruling that the California Environmental Quality Act requires developers to analyze and mitigate a project’s potential “social noise” — in this case noise generated by students who might drink, shout and have loud “unruly parties.”
UC Berkeley deployed hundreds of law enforcement officers in early January in an effort to secure People’s Park and clear the way for construction workers to cordon off the site.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
According to UC attorneys, the decision is the first time a court has said that the behavior of a particular group of people moving into a neighborhood because of a housing development should be evaluated.
The university appealed this legal decision to the state Supreme Court and also approached the Legislature. passed a lawThe bill, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, is aimed at making it easier for universities to build housing and fend off lawsuits from residents who raise concerns about noise.
This legislation would become an important factor in the High Court’s deliberations.
“We conclude that, based on the new law, none of Good Neighbor’s claims have merit and we accordingly reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision,” the opinion stated. “We hold that the new law applies to both the People’s Park housing project and the development plan, and that the EIR is not inadequate for failing to study the potential noise from future students at UC Berkeley in connection with this project.”
While the court was deliberating, UC Berkeley made another attempt to take back control of People’s Park.
In the early morning hours of January 4, while many students were on winter break, a large contingent of law enforcement officers Gathered in the park, The activists and camps were removed in an hours-long operation. Work crews chased them down, destroyed trees and greenery, and cordoned off the space by double-stacking heavy metal cargo containers around the entire park’s perimeter.
Since early January, People’s Park has been surrounded by a wall of double cargo containers.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
That imposing perimeter — with some shipping containers now covered in colorful graffiti — remained in place throughout the spring, as many student activists focused their energies on a pro-Palestine camp on the steps of Sproul Plaza.
As news of the People’s Park decision spread on Thursday, the number of people vigilant outside the park swelled, some of them wearing kaffiyeh scarves.
Enrique Marisol, 23, a recent UC Berkeley graduate, said the coalition is steadfast in its fight to preserve People’s Park for the community.
“People are going to protest. There’s no way people can see construction equipment going through these gates and not do something about it,” Marisol said. “There’s no concrete plan, but I’m sure people will take to the streets.”
