Homes of UC workers tied to project were vandalized

At least seven houses damaged, university says

BERKELEY >> The homes of seven UC officials and employees were vandalized in what university police believe were targeted attacks related to the People’s Park development.

At least seven homes across Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco were vandalized the night of March 4 into the next morning, including one where a brick was thrown into the window of a dwelling, according to UC Berkeley. Other vandalism included broken car windows, slashed tires and what police say were “highly threatening, hateful graffiti.” Words such as “A murderer lives here,” and “If you’ll try it, we’ll riot” were written on the homes.

UC said there were no reported injuries, but employees were “rattled” from the attacks in the middle of the night, some when the employees’ children were home. The damage since has been repaired and cleaned.

UC police believe the homes targeted were of those UC employees connected to the proposed construction project at People’s Park, which includes a 1,200-student residence hall, as well as 75 to 125 affordable apartments for homeless people or low-income residents, complete with onsite services. The university maintains it is in dire need of more student housing; UC Berkeley houses fewer students than any other campus in the UC system.

But some people targeted were not directly related to the project itself — one was a neighbor of an employee, according to the university.

The controversial construction has caused a recent uptick in the resistance movement geared toward protecting homeless people who currently live at People’s Park and preserving the park as is. Some current UC Berkeley students recently organized an occupy movement at the park, along with rallies, protests and weekly meetings with longtime activists on how to beautify the park. The 2.8-acre People’s Park is located on Haste Street, blocks from the UC Berkeley campus but still on campus-owned property.

Some of the recent activism started after the university put up fencing as a safety measure while testing soil as part of the planning phases of the People’s Park development.

On Jan. 29, a group of 200 students and community activists gathered at the park, tore down fencing the university had put up and placed the pieces symbolically in front of an administration building on campus.

The attacks on UC employees’ homes last week come on the heels of the first report of vandalism to a home Feb. 23, in which an unidentified UC employee had a derogatory word written on his home, along with the anarchist symbol. That occurred one day after UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ made an announcement about the People’s Park project, calling the site a “unique opportunity for a win-winwin-win.” The site would provide housing for students, permanent housing for low-income members of the community, renewed open space and a commemoration honoring the park’s past, she said.

“We deeply appreciate and share the concern so many of you have for unhoused people in our community, and that concern is at the heart of all that we currently do — and will continue to do — to meet the needs of unhoused people,” Christ said in the update.

The public review period for the People’s Park environmental report opened Monday and runs through April 21. People can review and comment on the university’s Long Range Development Plan and Housing Project No. 1 and No. 2, online at capital-strategies. berkeley.edu, which includes the proposed project for People’s Park.

People’s Park is a historic site for anti-war activism; several protests occurred there in the late 1960s and 1970s. Back then, the university similarly had plans to build student housing on the site, but protests caused them to retreat. A group called the People’s Park Committee has worked to protect the park ever since.

The committee is concerned about the preservation of People’s Park, and “its inherent environmental, expressive, cultural, community, social, historical, horticultural and botanical values,” according to a cease-and-desist letter it sent the chancellor last month.

The park has turned into a place of homeless encampments, drug dealing and crime. Most recently, UC police are investigating an attack at the park over the weekend.

“We deeply appreciate and share the concern so many of you have for unhoused people in our community, and that concern is at the heart of all that we currently do — and will continue to do — to meet the needs of unhoused people.”

— Carol Christ, UC Berkeley chancellor