Gavin Newsom Takes Aim at ‘People’s Park’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is asking the California Supreme Court to allow the University of California Berkeley to build student housing and homeless housing on People’s Park, a historic legacy of the 1960s.

Over a half century ago, left-wing activists in the heyday of the Berkeley counterculture movement protested the development of the land.

After deadly clashes with law enforcement, sent by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan to quell protests, the park was created and allowed to persist in a somewhat unkempt state, though the land is still owned by UC Berkeley. In recent years, like other California parks, it has often been occupied by the homeless.

The university wants to develop the park, but activists continue to defend it. That puts Newsom in the unlikely position of “The Man,” attempting to wipe out a green space that has long symbolized utopian populism.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to let UC Berkeley take over the historic People’s Park and build housing there for more than 1,000 students and 100 homeless people, challenging a lower-court decision that the university had failed to consider alternative housing sites or the impact on local residents of noise from students’ parties.

…

The 2.8-acre site, three blocks south of campus and just off Telegraph Avenue, was acquired in 1967 by the university, which bought out the owners of homes on the property and tore down their buildings to make room for dormitories.

Students opposed to the plan planted a garden and named the land People’s Park, but Gov. Ronald Reagan sent in police to remove the plants and build a fence. During a violent protest in May 1969, officers fatally shot one man and wounded others. But the protesters ultimately prevailed, and it is still a park.

Activists continue to hold meetings and rallies to save the park from development. Newsom’s office blames “a few wealthy Berkeley homeowners” for fomenting opposition to the university’s housing and construction plan.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.