Extra

Response to UC Berkeley's People's Park Development Update

Thomas Lord
Tuesday May 21, 2019 - 03:54:00 PM

These criminals must be stopped. Their deceit should not be allowed to stand.

Lizardo glosses over, here, the fact that (like Blackwell Hall), the student housing they hope to build will be privately developed and operated for profit. In other words, they plan a theft of public land and a perpetual gouging of students.

The not-for-profit component Lizardo mentions -- "supportive housing" -- will apparently be by a conventional non-profit developer using low income tax credits. That is a slippery way of saying that the supportive housing will ALSO be a theft of public land to provide perpetual private profit (to the tax credit bond holders and lenders). 

The University has land on which it could break ground quickly and build housing quickly -- for example the northwest and southwest parking lots on Clark Kerr. Another example - and if the University really wants to combat crime they could do worse than starting here - they can raze and build more than two Blackwell-size buildings on the site of the parking structure between Channing and Haste, and between Ellsworth and Dana (the lot with the tennis courts on a slab above). 

There are other sites, as well.  

The University is attacking the Park for no other reason than that it has been their long term goal to do so. They want to harm people and they are going to rip off the public wealth to do it. 

The University has homeless students and could, at any time, put up emergency shelters for their students on, for example, Clark Kerr. They don't. They are not trying to help students. They are trying to hurt people and to exploit public land for private gain.