Court temporarily prohibits UC Berkeley from demolition, tree clearing at People's Park
People's Park dispute escalates in Berkeley
New controversy is brewing over Berkeley People's Park. UC Berkeley is in the process of removing people who sleep at the park as they offer them transitional housing. The university plans to use the land for student housing. A group of activists say they plan on occupying the park in solidarity with those experiencing homelessness.
BERKELEY, Calif. - UC Berkeley is temporarily prohibited from moving forward with plans for demolition at People's Park to make way for student housing after a stay was granted by the California Court of Appeals.
"All construction, demolition, tree clearing, or other landscape alteration activities at People's Park in Berkeley, California, are temporarily stayed," the court ruled on Friday.
Earlier this month, we reported the university was in the process of relocating homeless people who sleep in the park to transitional housing in Berkeley.
Cal was set to begin building student housing this summer.
The park has been the site of many protests during the 1960s and was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places.
UC Berkeley wants to turn one-third of the park into 1,000 units of student or faculty housing.
Representatives with Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group said a suit filed by them and Make UC A Good Neighbor, "seeks to force UC to study and to implement alternative sites for student housing, thereby preserving People’s Park."
MORE: People's Park dispute over homeless-resident relocations escalates in Berkeley
The group is opposed to housing being built at the proposed site and said the university has identified numerous other sites that are more appropriate. They also question the seismic safety of building housing on the site of People's Park.
According to the University a social worker and the city’s homeless response team are at the park on a daily basis. They identified 64 regular residents of the park, 40 of which have already been placed in transitional housing at a hotel.