{"id":8713936,"date":"2023-01-12T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8713936&preview=true&preview_id=8713936"},"modified":"2023-01-13T05:26:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T13:26:27","slug":"peoples-park-protest-will-cost-uc-berkeley-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/12\/peoples-park-protest-will-cost-uc-berkeley-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"People\u2019s Park protest will cost UC Berkeley millions"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERKELEY<\/span> \u2014 Two chaotic days of destruction at People\u2019s Park<\/a> last year racked up more than $4 million in excess costs for UC Berkeley, a records request has revealed.<\/p>\n

The tense standoff erupted in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 3<\/a>, when demolition crews quickly fenced in the park and downed dozens of trees on the university-owned site three blocks south of campus, which was once a center of 1960s political protest. Over two days, protesters foiled the university\u2019s attempt to start construction on its controversial housing project for 1,100 students and 125 unhoused residents on the historic site.<\/p>\n

By the early afternoon on Aug. 3, hundreds of police officers in full riot gear had retreated amid growing pushback from protesters, leaving dozens of people free to pry apart barricades, cut gas lines and puncture tires of heavy machinery left behind \u2014 the most recent chapter of a fiery history of activism on the land.<\/p>\n

The havoc\u2019s toll includes a whopping three-quarters of a million dollars to pay for the fencing that protesters ripped out of the sidewalks around the 2.8-acre park, but the biggest cost is $2.73 million to compensate law enforcement deployed at People\u2019s Park, according to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof.<\/p>\n

The police response at the park \u2014 bounded by Telegraph Avenue, Bowditch Street, Dwight Way and Haste Street \u2014 was led by University of California Police Department officers, with help from the California Highway Patrol and California State University officers. Mogulof said that $2.73 million includes outside officers\u2019 room and board, physical security supplies and overtime for UC Berkeley police personnel.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the $312 million project, there\u2019s already wiggle room baked into the budget that the University of California Board of Regents approved in September 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BERKELEY,
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA \u2013 AUGUST 03: People\u2019s Park is seen from this drone view in Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday, August 3, 2022. Protesters tore down a fence that UC Berkeley had erected around the park early this morning after more trees were cut down to make way for student housing. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plan allocated nearly $52.8 million for contingency costs, which included \u201canticipated delays due to litigation or special considerations relating to clearing the site for construction,\u201d according to documents from the UC\u2019s Capital Strategies Committee.<\/p>\n

Mogulof, who said he was not previously aware of those funds, could not confirm if that was where the $4 million from August\u2019s protests would be sourced.<\/p>\n

So why should the greater Berkeley community care that a $312 million UC housing project \u2014 complete with a dedicated contingency fund \u2014 will swallow an additional $4 million in expenses and ballooning interest costs during years of delays?<\/p>\n

While no taxpayer dollars are at stake, Mogulof said the public should be concerned that a small group of people were able to temporarily shut down a project that has otherwise gleaned support from the Berkeley City Council and 68% of surveyed university students<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUC Berkeley is a public institution, and the public has a vested interest in the fact that the university is a good steward of the funds they receive, from the public and elsewhere,\u201d Mogulof said by phone Tuesday, adding that unforeseen expenses may put pressure on the prices students pay to live in the proposed facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese costs were incurred because of unlawful behavior, and it raises the question: Who gets to decide? At the end of the day, somebody has to pay. It\u2019s a hard pill to swallow when costs are the result of illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many activists working to preserve the park are left wondering whether UC Berkeley reflected on where they went wrong in August, given the fact that they\u2019re left with a \u201chefty price tag for nothing,\u201d according to Andrea Prichett, a member of the People\u2019s Park Council who was one of the protesters arrested for blocking the construction in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you spend $4 million and you have nothing to show for it, that\u2019s a public policy problem,\u201d Prichett said. \u201cI would like to think that they would revise their approach in future, but unfortunately they have it in their minds that they can simply roll over this portion of the community and force their will upon people. It didn\u2019t take\u00a0a public policy expert to recognize that there was going to be resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BERKELEY,
BERKELEY, CA \u2013 AUGUST 3: Police officers work to move protesters from a gate at Peoples Park on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in Berkeley, Calif. UC Berkeley plans to begin constructing housing at the site for 1,100 university students and 125 homeless residents. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Construction was approved in July by Alameda County Judge Frank Roesch, who rejected several lawsuits \u2014 filed jointly in 2021 by the Local 3299 union for UC service workers and two community groups, <\/strong>Make UC A Good Neighbor and Berkeley Citizens for a Better Plan \u2014 that argued the housing project violated the California Environmental Quality Act.<\/p>\n

Redevelopment of People\u2019s Park has remained on hold since August \u2014 at first to avoid further confrontation, but also because the university was hit with an injunction by a state appellate court. That same court appears to be on the brink of forcing\u00a0UC to abandon its current plans at People\u2019s Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In December, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco filed a tentative opinion<\/a> that the University of California failed to offer a valid reason for why it did not analyze alternative locations, well-documented noise impacts and unintended population growth while developing a plan to build desperately needed homes on the historic 2.8-acre site.<\/p>\n

Oral arguments for the case will be heard Thursday.<\/p>\n

While the battle slogs through the courts, UC Berkeley is also on the hook to pay the project\u2019s contractor delay fees, which are contractually required in order to compensate for costs that will be incurred while progress is stalled on the project.<\/p>\n

Mogulof said that bill is currently $2.6 million and will continue to climb for as long as the delay continues.<\/p>\n