A dire housing shortage crushed People’s Park, and the ideals it represented
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It’s been 20 months since the leaders of the University of California’s original campus launched an extraordinary incursion on their own property — deploying dozens of trucks and hundreds of police officers to take control of storied People’s Park.
After more than half a century of fighting over the counterculture landmark, the university finally recaptured the 2.8-acre property three blocks south of the U.C. Berkeley campus. Construction crews cemented the park’s demise last month, “topping out” a massive dormitory on land once filled with scruffy grass, trees, a hodgepodge of tents for the homeless and a makeshift stage.
After more than half a century of fighting over the counterculture landmark, the university finally recaptured the 2.8-acre property three blocks south of the U.C. Berkeley campus. Construction crews cemented the park’s demise last month, “topping out” a massive dormitory on land once filled with scruffy grass, trees, a hodgepodge of tents for the homeless and a makeshift stage.