Public Comment
Experts Discover Plenty of Room to Build on Berkeley Campus!
[Satire]
"We're so relieved," expressed one Southside resident upon hearing about on-campus opportunities for housing. Many neighbors had worried about the threat to People's Park's important provision of open space in one of the most dense neighborhoods in the Bay Area, not to mention its city landmark status. "We really didn't want to revisit the street battles of long ago."
The Botanical Garden, for instance, has 34 acres of open space compared to People's Park's lonely 2.8, and could harbor more than one building, even several stories, of student, faculty, or general housing without disturbing the wonderful living museum comprising the gardens.
And that's not all! The Chancellor's Esplanade is a green expanse between Tolman Hall and the chancellor's residence "shaded by towering Italian stone pine trees" which currently serves as a popular spot for ceremonies and could easily situate a small apartment building on its acreage without disturbing the surrounding landscape.
But there's more! The Crescent or Springer Gateway area, built in 1964, has even more acreage than People's Park, and could easily situatelow-rise, convenient-to-BART student housing while preserving both the view and the pedestrian walkways. The Eucalyptus Grove is even bigger; just as Chancellor Christ is suggesting a portion of People's Park could remain open space, perhaps enough for a ping-pong table or two, a portion of the Eucalyptus Grove could be preserved in honor of the days when open space and nature mattered.
The Faculty Glade, the Memorial Glade, and Observatory Hill add another five to six acres which, which careful construction, without disturbing the creek or natural elements could situate landscape-friendly, convenient housing for dozens of people, taking the pressure off the larger community's housing stock.
And then there's the Wickson Natural Area which, with care, could situate more than one apartment building without disturbing the glorious stand of coast redwoods and the 1881 gingko tree.
That's over 50 acres of building possibilities even leaving all of the sports fields undisturbed, while most architects recognize that at least some of those fields could be re-situated underground or on the rooftops of buildings which could contribute both housing and other types of spaces - without having to resort to threatening our parks.
"It's a miracle," agreed several southside neighbors. "Thank heavens for the informative campus maps which revealed all of this available space."
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Botanical Garden 34 (acres)
Edwards Track Stadium / Goldman Field
Redwood Grove (Botanical Garden)
Strawberry Canyon Recreational Area
