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For the third time in as many months, UC Police have torn down the freebox at People’s Park. 

Volunteers erected a new steel free exchange bin on Nov. 12 after police dismantled a temporary structure to replace one damaged by fire earlier this year. Despite warnings from university officials that they would not allow a new freebox at the park, supporters were hopeful that the new box would last.  

But those hopes were dashed as police entered the park under the cover of darkness early Wednesday morning to dismantle the eight-by-four foot metal structure.  

“The freebox is probably one of the noblest and coolest ideas the city of Berkeley ever had,” said Dan McMullan, a volunteer with Friends of People’s Park, an organization that has championed for the freebox. “We could be spending more time on helping people who really need help. It’s a big waste of energy. They’re just sucking up our resources.” 

UC officials said they see it differently.  

“The box has more symbolic value than meeting a true need,” said Irene Hegarty, director of community relations for the university. “We can come up with better ways of getting clothing to the homeless.” 

According to Hegarty, clothes from the freebox end up strewn about the park and that university employees are left with the clean up. “It’s expensive and time consuming,” she said.  

But supporters like McMullan point out the success of the freebox idea in other locations around Berkeley, and say the university is not being honest about its intentions. 

“The university doesn’t want students to mix with what they consider poor people,” suggested McMullan, who said the freebox serves as an important gathering spot for many different kinds of people. 

Others agreed, including Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, whose district includes People’s Park. 

“I don’t know why they’re spending so much time and effort being antagonistic with the community,” said Worthington. “Coordinating with community members would have better results.” 

Worthington also complained about the university’s secretive way of dealing with park issues, citing their predawn raid on the freebox, the decision to cancel the park’s advisory board last year and the recent unannounced removal of two trees at the park.  

While the university has decided to reinstate the advisory board next month, observers say they’re concerned that the university will try to stack the board with appointees friendly to their positions.  

Hegarty responded to the criticism by saying she has reached out to park advocates on “three to four” occasions. “Whether we can find common ground, I don’t know, but I have offered to set up a meeting so we can talk about it,” she said. 

Even were there to be such a meeting, Hegarty said that the freebox was a “violation of the university’s rules that govern People’s Park,” adding, “There is no ambiguity about the rules. You need a permit to build any permanent structure.”  

She also said freebox advocates were given notice of the university’s intentions. 

“Police warned them that if they continued to build it would get taken out,” Hegarty said. “How long will that go on, I have no idea.” 

For their part, park advocates have vowed to reconstruct the freebox each time the university takes it down. Friends of People’s Park volunteers are also planning a variety of events to raise interest in their cause, including a freebox poetry contest and a competition to see who can build a freebox that lasts the longest. 

“People’s Park has been there for 37 years, the current chancellor for two,” quipped McMullan. “We’ll outlast them. We have more energy and we care more.”›