People's Park (Berkeley)
Encyclopedia
People's Park in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, is a park off Telegraph Avenue
Telegraph Avenue
Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, USA, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California campus in Berkeley, California...

, bounded by Haste and Bowditch streets and Dwight Way, near the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. The park was created during the radical political activism of the late 1960s
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...

.

Today, People's Park is a free public park. Although open to all, it is mainly a daytime sanctuary for Berkeley's large homeless
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

 population who, along with others, receive meals from East Bay Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance...

. Public toilets are available, and the park offers innovative demonstration gardens, including organic community gardening beds and areas landscaped with California native plants, all of which were created by volunteer gardeners. Students use the basketball courts. A wider audience is attracted by occasional rallies, concerts, and hip-hop events conducted at the People's Stage, a wooden bandstand designed and built on the western end of the park by volunteers organized by the People's Park Council. Nearby residents, and those who try to use the park for recreation, sometimes experience conflict with the more aggressive homeless people in People's Park.

The mythology of the park is an important part of local culture. The local South Campus
Southside, Berkeley, California
Southside, also known by the older names South of Campus or South Campus, is a neighborhood in Berkeley, California. Southside is located directly south of and adjacent to the University of California, Berkeley campus...

 neighborhood was the scene of a major confrontation between student protesters and police in May 1969. A mural near the park, painted by Berkeley artist O'Brien Thiele and lawyer/artist Osha Neumann, depicts the shooting of James Rector, a student who died from shotgun wounds inflicted by the police on 15 May 1969.

History

In 1956, the Regents
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....

 of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 allocated a 2.8 acres (11,331.2 m²) plot of land containing residences for future development into student housing, parking and offices as part of the university's "Long Range Plan for Expansion." At the time, funds were lacking to buy the land, and the plan was shelved until June 1967, when the university acquired $1.3 million to take the land through the process of eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...

. After taking control of the land, neighborhood residents were evicted and demolition of the existing homes began.

By 1967, the university had altered its plan; the new plan was to build a student parking lot and a playing field on the land. Demolition of the existing residences took more than a year, and the university ran out of development funds, leaving the lot only partially cleared of demolition debris and rubble. It remained in this state for over a year, and as winter began the muddy site became derelict with abandoned cars.

On 13 April 1969, local merchants and residents held a meeting to discuss possible uses for the derelict site. Michael Delacour presented a plan for developing the under-utilized, university-owned land into a public park. This plan was approved by the attendees, but not by the university. Stew Albert
Stew Albert
Stewart Edward "Stew" Albert was an early member of the Yippies, an anti-Vietnam War political activist, and an important figure in the New Left movement of the 1960s....

, a co-founder of the Yippie Party, agreed to write an article for the local counter-culture newspaper, the Berkeley Barb
Berkeley Barb
The Berkeley Barb was a weekly underground newspaper that was published in Berkeley, California, from 1965 to 1980. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers of the late 1960s, covering such subjects as the anti-war and civil-rights movements as well as the...

, on the subject of the park, particularly to call for help from local residents.

Michael Delacour stated, "We wanted a free speech area that wasn't really controlled like Sproul Plaza
Sproul Plaza
Sproul Plaza is a major center of student activity at the University of California, Berkeley. It is divided into two sections: Upper Sproul and Lower Sproul. They are separated by 12 vertical feet and a set of stairs.-History:...

 was. It was another place to organize, another place to have a rally. The park was secondary." The university's Free Speech microphone was available to all students, with few if any restrictions on speech. The construction of the park involved many of the same people and politics as the 1964 Free Speech Movement
Free Speech Movement
The Free Speech Movement was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and...

.

On 18 April 1969, Albert's article appeared in the Berkeley Barb, and on Sunday, 20 April 1969, over 100 people arrived at the site to begin building the park. Local landscape architect Jon Read and many others contributed trees, flowers, shrubs, and sod. Free food was provided and community development of the park proceeded. Eventually, about 1,000 people became directly involved, with many more donating money and materials. The park was essentially complete by mid-May.

Frank Bardacke, a participant in the park's development, stated in a documentary film called Berkeley in the Sixties
Berkeley in the Sixties
Berkeley in the Sixties is an award-winning documentary film by Mark Kitchell. The film features Mario Savio, Todd Gitlin, Joan Baez, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Huey Newton, Allen Ginsberg, Gov. Ronald Reagan and the Grateful Dead...

, "A group of people took some corporate land, owned by the University of California, that was a parking lot and turned it into a park and then said, 'We're using the land better than you used it; it's ours'".

On 28 April 1969, Berkeley Vice Chancellor Earl Cheit released plans for a sports field to be built on the site. This plan conflicted with the plans of the People's Park activists. However, Vice Chancellor Cheit stated that he would take no action without notifying the park builders. Two days later, on April 30, he decided to allocate control over one quarter of the plot to the Park's builders. On 6 May 1969, Chancellor Heyns held a meeting with members of the People's Park committee, student representatives, and faculty from the College of Environmental Design. He set a time limit of three weeks for this group to produce a plan for the park, and he reiterated his promise that construction would not begin without prior warning.

15 May 1969 — "Bloody Thursday"

During its first three weeks, People's Park was used by both university students and local residents, and local Telegraph Avenue merchants voiced their appreciation for the community's efforts to improve the neighborhood. Objections to the expropriation of university property tended to be mild, even among school administrators.

Governor Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 had been publicly critical of university administrators for tolerating student demonstrations at the Berkeley campus, and he had received enormous popular support for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign promise to crack down on what was perceived as the generally lax attitude at California's public universities. Reagan called the Berkeley campus "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters and sex deviants." Reagan considered the creation of the park a direct leftist challenge to the property rights of the university, and he found in it an opportunity to fulfill his campaign promise.

Governor Reagan overrode Chancellor Heyns' May 6 promise that nothing would be done without warning, and on Thursday, 15 May 1969 at 4:30 a.m., he sent 300 California Highway Patrol and Berkeley police officers into People's Park. The officers cleared an 8-block area around the park while a large section of what had been planted was destroyed and an 8 feet (2.4 m) tall perimeter chain-link wire fence was installed to keep people out and to prevent the planting of more trees, grass, flowers and shrubs.

Beginning at noon, about 3,000 people appeared in Sproul Plaza
Sproul Plaza
Sproul Plaza is a major center of student activity at the University of California, Berkeley. It is divided into two sections: Upper Sproul and Lower Sproul. They are separated by 12 vertical feet and a set of stairs.-History:...

 at nearby U.C. Berkeley for a rally, the original purpose of which was to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several people spoke, then Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner (rabbi)
Michael Lerner is a political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.-Family and Education:...

 ceded the Free Speech platform to ASUC Student Body President Dan Siegel
Daniel Mark Siegel
Daniel Mark Siegel, or Dan Siegel, is a civil-rights attorney at the Oakland-based law firm, Siegel & Yee.Siegel was born and raised in New York City and on Long Island. He attended high school in New York, graduating second in his class. He attended Hamilton College in 1963-1967 majoring in...

 because students were concerned about the fencing-off and destruction of the park. Siegel said later that he never intended to precipitate a riot; however when he shouted "Let's take the park!," police turned off the sound system. This angered some people, and the crowd responded spontaneously, moving down Telegraph Avenue toward People's Park chanting "We want the park!"

Arriving in the early afternoon, the protesters were met by the remaining 159 Berkeley and university police officers assigned to guard the fenced-off park site. The protesters opened a fire hydrant, the officers fired tear gas canisters, some protesters attempted to tear down the fence, and bottles, rocks, and bricks were thrown. A major confrontation ensued between police and the crowd. Initial attempts by the police to disperse the protesters were not successful, so more officers were called in from surrounding cities. At least one car was set on fire.

Reagan's Chief of Staff, Edwin Meese III, a former district attorney from Alameda County, had established a reputation for firm opposition to those protesting the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 at the Oakland Induction Center and elsewhere. Meese assumed responsibility for the governmental response to the People's Park protest, and he called in the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, which brought the total police presence to 791 officers from various jurisdictions. Under Meese's direction, the police were permitted to use whatever methods they chose against the crowds, which had swelled to approximately 6,000 people. Officers in full riot gear (helmets, shields and gas masks) obscured their badges to avoid being identified and headed into the crowds with nightsticks
Baton (law enforcement)
A truncheon or baton is essentially a club of less than arm's length made of wood, plastic, or metal...

 swinging ."

Alameda County Sheriff's deputies used shotguns to fire "00" buckshot at people sitting on the roof at the Telegraph Repertory Cinema, fatally wounding student James Rector and permanently blinding carpenter Alan Blanchard. The University of California Police Department (UCPD) claims Rector threw steel rebar
Rebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...

 down onto the police, however according to Time Magazine, Rector was a bystander, not a protester. As the protesters retreated, the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies pursued them several blocks down Telegraph Avenue as far as Willard Junior High School at Derby Street, firing tear gas canisters and "00" buckshot into their backs as they fled.

At least 128 Berkeley residents were admitted to local hospitals for head trauma, shotgun wounds, and other serious injuries inflicted by police. The actual number of seriously wounded was likely much higher, because many of the injured did not seek treatment at local hospitals to avoid being arrested. Many more protesters and bystanders were treated for minor injuries. Local hospital logs show that 19 police officers or Alameda County Sheriff's deputies were treated for minor injuries; none were hospitalized. However, the UCPD claims that 111 police officers were injured, including one who was knifed in the chest.

The authorities initially claimed that only birdshot had been used as shotgun ammunition. When physicians provided "00" pellets removed from the wounded as evidence that buckshot had been used, Sheriff Frank Madigan
Frank Madigan
Frank Madigan was sheriff of Alameda County, CA from 1963 to 1975. Thomas Lafayette Houchins Jr. served under him during the Berkeley, CA protests. Sheriff Madigan had the Alameda County Sheriff's Department aid the University of California Police, California Highway Patrol and Berkeley Police...

 of Alameda County justified the use of shotguns loaded with lethal buckshot by stating "... the choice was essentially this: to use shotguns — because we didn't have the available manpower — or retreat and abandon the City of Berkeley to the mob." Sheriff Madigan did admit, however, that some of his deputies (many of whom were Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 veterans) had been overly aggressive in their pursuit of the protesters, acting "as though they were Viet Cong."

Governor Reagan declared a state of emergency in Berkeley and sent in 2,700 National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

 troops —. The Berkeley City Council symbolically voted 8–1 against the decision. For two weeks the streets of Berkeley were patrolled by National Guardsmen who broke up even small demonstrations with teargas. On Wednesday, 21 May 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector at Sproul Plaza on the university campus. with several thousand people attending.
During the People's Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeley's empty lots to prevent protesters from planting flowers, shrubs, or trees. Young hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

 women taunted and teased the troops, on one occasion handing out marijuana-laced brownies and lemonade spiked with LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...

. Some protesters, their faces hidden with scarves, challenged police and National Guard troops. Hundreds were arrested, and Berkeley citizens who found it necessary to venture out during curfew hours risked police harassment and beatings. Berkeley city police officers were discovered to be parking several blocks away from the Annex park, removing their badges/identification and donning grotesque Halloween type masks (ironically including pig faces) to attack citizens they found in the park annex.."

Flower Children vs.The Establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...

; these differing perspectives mirrored widespread 1960s societal tensions that tended to flow along generational lines regarding the war in Vietnam, race relations, sexual customs, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychedelic drugs and opposing interpretations of the American Dream.

In a university referendum held soon after, the U.C. Berkeley students themselves voted 12,719 to 2,175 in favor of keeping the park.

On 30 May 1969, 30,000 Berkeley citizens (out of a population of 100,000) secured a Berkeley city permit and marched without incident past barricaded People's Park to protest Governor Reagan's occupation of their city, the death of James Rector, the blinding of Alan Blanchard and the many injuries inflicted by police. Young girls slid flowers down the muzzles of bayoneted National Guard rifles, and a small airplane flew over the city trailing a banner that read, "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom."

In an address before the California Council of Growers on 7 April 1970, almost a year after "Bloody Thursday" and the death of James Rector, Governor Reagan defended his decision to use the California National Guard to quell Berkeley protests: "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement." Just a few weeks later, on 4 May 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired on protestors at Kent State University
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...

, killing four students and seriously wounding nine.

1970s

After the peaceful march in support of People's Park on 30 May 1969, the university decided to keep the 8 foot tall perimeter chain-link wire fence and maintain a 24-hour guard over the site. On 20 June, the University of California Regents voted to turn the People's Park site into a soccer field and parking lot.

In March 1971, when it seemed as though construction of the parking lot and soccer field might proceed, another People's Park protest resulted in 44 arrests.

In May 1972, an outraged crowd tore down the perimeter chain-link wire fence surrounding the People's Park site after President Nixon announced his intention to mine North Vietnam's main port. In September, the Berkeley City Council voted to lease the park site from the university. The Berkeley community proceeded to rebuild the park through user-development, mainly with donated labor and materials. Various local groups contributed to managing the park during rebuilding.

In 1979, the university tried to convert the west end of the park, which was already a no-cost parking lot, into a fee lot for students and faculty only, excluding community members. Significantly, the west end of the park was (and remains) the location of the People's Stage, a permanent bandstand that had just been erected on the edge of the lawn within the no-cost parking lot. Completed in the spring of 1979, it had been designed and constructed through user-development and voluntary community participation. This effort was coordinated by the People's Park Council, a democratic group of park advocates, and the People's Park Project/Native Plant Forum. Park users and organizers believed that the university's main purpose in attempting to convert the parking lot was the destruction of the People's Stage in order to suppress free speech and music, both in the park and in the South Campus neighborhood as a whole. It was also widely believed that the foray into the west end warned of the dispossession of the entire park for the purpose of university construction. A spontaneous protest in the fall of 1979 led to an occupation of the west end of the park that continued uninterrupted throughout December 1979. Park volunteers tore up the asphalt and heaped it up as barricades next to the sidewalks along Dwight Way and Haste Street. This confrontation led to negotiations between the university, on the one hand, and the park users and activists, on the other. The park users and activists were led by the People's Park Council, which included park organizers and occupiers, as well as other community members. The university eventually capitulated. Meanwhile, the occupiers, organizers and volunteer gardeners transformed the former parking lot into a newly cultivated organic community gardening area, which remains to this day.

People's Park Annex/Ohlone Park

A lasting outcome of the confrontation over People's Park was the establishment of "People's Park Annex" on a strip of land called the "Hearst Corridor," located adjacent to Hearst Avenue just northwest of the university campus. People's Park Annex was eventually enlarged to become the City of Berkeley's Ohlone Park
Ohlone Park
Ohlone Park is a public park in the city of Berkeley, California, United States, situated on a strip of land along the north side of Hearst Avenue between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Sacramento Street...

. At 9.8 acres (39,659.2 m²), Ohlone Park is several times larger than People's Park itself.

In the immediate aftermath of the May 1969 People's Park demonstrations, and consistent with their goal of "letting a thousand parks bloom," People's Park activists began gardening a two-block section of the Hearst Corridor, between McGee Avenue and Sacramento Avenue The Hearst Corridor was a strip of land along the north side of Hearst Avenue that had been left largely untended after the houses had been torn down to facilitate completion of an underground subway line by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District.

During the 1970s, local residents, especially George Garvin, pursued gardening and user development of this land, which became known as "People's Park Annex." Later on, additional volunteers donated time and energy to the Annex, led by David Axelrod and Charlotte Pyle, urban gardeners who were among the original organizers of the People's Park Project/Native Plant Forum. The Forum is a student and community group of gardeners and park volunteers sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) and dedicated to the principles of user development and community control.

As neighborhood and community groups stepped up their support for the preservation and development of the Annex, BART abandoned its original plan to build apartment complexes on Hearst Corridor. The City of Berkeley negotiated with BART to secure permanent above-ground rights to the entire five block strip of land, between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Sacramento Avenue. By the early 1980s, this land had become a city park comprising 9.8 acres (39,659.2 m²), which residents decided to name "Ohlone Park" in honor of the Ohlone band of native Americans who once lived there.

Today, the Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission mediates neighborhood and community feedback concerning issues of park design and the maintenance, operation, and development of Ohlone Park amenities. These amenities—which include pedestrian and bicycle paths, children's playgrounds, a dog park, basketball and volleyball courts, a softball/soccer field, toilets, picnic areas and community gardens—continue to serve the people and pets of Berkeley.

Subsequent History

The People's Café, a house trailer configured and decorated as a café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

, was mysteriously installed in People's Park one night in 1988, with no one claiming responsibility. It appeared overnight, and volunteers from the Catholic Worker Movement
Catholic Worker Movement
The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on...

 and elsewhere began serving food from it the next day, distributing approximately 100 breakfasts per day. It lasted a few months, then the university removed the trailer early one morning after an inspection by the Berkeley Health Department.

The university built sand volleyball courts at the south end of the park in 1991, which set off demonstrations. After the university police began trying to clear the park of protesters and arrested some demonstrators, riots began. Opponents saw the building of volleyball courts as yet another attempt by the university to transform the park's open space into eventual housing, parking, or other projects. They were dismantled in 1997. There had been little use by the public, and the maintenance costs were very high.

Current events

People's Park is now co-managed by the university and various community groups. During subsequent years, the 2.8 acres (11,331.2 m²) plot of land known as "People's Park" has remained a focus of controversy between the university, and disparate elements of the Berkeley community.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates
Tom Bates
Thomas H. Bates is an American politician and is currently serving as the Mayor of Berkeley, California. He previously served 20 years as a member of the California State Assembly before being termed out in 1996. Bates is married to Loni Hancock, a former mayor of Berkeley and State Assembly...

 has stated that "over time, people have come to realize that the park has not become what they had hoped it would be...I love the idea of having some kind of memorial recognition there, but right now it is not a place that a lot of people are comfortable going to." Current UC Berkeley students experience People’s Park in a much different way than did UC Berkeley students from the 1960s and 1970s. Now, during welcome orientations, freshmen students living in dormitories in the vicinity of People’s Park are warned to stay away for safety concerns, especially at night.

Dan Siegel
Daniel Mark Siegel
Daniel Mark Siegel, or Dan Siegel, is a civil-rights attorney at the Oakland-based law firm, Siegel & Yee.Siegel was born and raised in New York City and on Long Island. He attended high school in New York, graduating second in his class. He attended Hamilton College in 1963-1967 majoring in...

 has said that the park "has now become this somewhat forlorn urban park... It's a place that no longer reflects the will for independence of the campus community. I think today if the university turned off its Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

, they’d get bigger demonstrations than they would for People's Park."

In an April 2000 referendum, UC Berkeley students reaffirmed their preference for People Park remaining a park rather than having another use such as housing.

In October 2005, some park supporters attempted to rebuild the Free Box, a clothes donation box, after it had been burned down for the second time in two years by unknown vandals. They were videotaped by the university police and threatened with arrest. The supporters started rebuilding anyway, and no arrests were made, although the university police returned during the early hours of the morning and destroyed what had been built. Subsequent rebuilding attempts were also dismantled. A group of interested community members are working towards improving the children's play area.

On 8 January 2007, at his retirement ceremony celebrating 50-plus years in law enforcement, outgoing Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer
Charles Plummer (sheriff)
Charles C. Plummer served as the sheriff of Alameda County, California from 1987 to 2007. He is believed to have been the longest serving police officer in California with more than 50 years of continuous service. He is considered a "legend" by many in the law enforcement community.The Alameda...

 remained unrepentant about his role as a Berkeley police officer during the People's Park riots:
"I wish I would have hit some people harder during the riots," said Plummer, speaking of the riots in Berkeley in the late-1960s. "I regret that."


In 2007, the university hired consulting firm MKThink to assess the park, and its draft report was published in October 2007.

In a San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

article on 13 January 2008, People's Park was referred to as "a menacing hub for drug users and the homeless" and also as "perfectly safe, clean and accessible". The article quotes Irene Hegarty, UC Berkeley director of community relations, as saying, "A lot of people's attitudes about the park have changed, and we wanted (referring to the MKThink report) to take a fresh, comprehensive look at the issue," as well as Jason Colson, a park regular, as saying "I've been here at all hours of the day and night, and I don't think it's unsafe at all. I don't have any problem with the park as it is. Additionally, Arthur Fonseca, a Berkeley/East Bay Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance...

activist, was quoted in the same article as saying "Rich people are welcome here as much as poor people, but if rich people want to change the park to make poor people feel uncomfortable, that's obviously a problem."

External links

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