After decades of conflict and legal dispute over the fate of People’s Park, UC Berkeley quietly began the construction of its controversial housing development there last week. The first phase of construction is focused on site preparation and landscaping efforts, according to a campus press release. Contractors and crews hired by the university cleared the area of existing structures and fixtures while also performing earthwork and ground grading procedures. What once was a nearly 3-acre green space famed for its folk art, protests and role in the free speech movement is now a leveled-off dirt lot, still surrounded by the shipping container barriers that were put up in January after police cleared anti-development demonstrators from the park. In the coming years, crews will build a dormitory with capacity for more than 1,000 students and a supportive housing facility for dozens of low-income and formerly unhoused residents.
