 Tear down your wall! University, move those goddamn containers immediately! On February 8, 2024, the former residents and community supporters of People's Park hosted an open mic to protest the university's announcement of building new student apartments at the location where the park once stood. The university created barricade around the park using shipping containers, blocking people in the area from accessing it. The university has so many things to make that park terrible for everyone. They love to spread the propaganda that it's a nasty place, it's a dirty place, it's full of addicts as if that's a bad thing. How does the number one public university in the country take the local park, turn off electricity, turn off water? This decision has not only impacted the former residents, but also the neighbors in the district 7. We're not able to freely get to their homes unless they had ID that gave their address. Some people are new to the building have not yet changed their driver's license to reflect their their new ID. They were having to carry around a bill to prove that they lived. This is kind of overreach and serious, serious overreach. The unclear response of city and university administration coupled with alleged police volatility has only added to the confusions around in the process and the lives of former residents and supporters of the park. I got beat up by the cops in 2022 on August 3rd. I had an 11 inch bruise on my leg. It's all documented and publicly available. The university has ignored and gaslit me when I've tried to bring it up. Carol Chris told me no police brutality happened but I'll ask the chief about it and there's been no follow-up since then. Speakers call on students to pay attention to the situation where they live and emphasize the importance of their cooperation as residents of Berkeley in preserving the community and history of People's Park. If you look at this table here people have been coming up and writing down all of the things that we need here. A lack of infrastructure. We don't have a grocery store in Southside. We don't have 24-7 public bathrooms. We don't have a laundry mat. We don't have green space. We don't have a warming center. We don't have benches on the streets. I mean people have had to install gorilla benches on all of the AC transit stops around the neighborhood that God forbid a poor person sit on the bench or fall asleep on the bench. It's hard to differentiate sometimes between the needs of the community that's here year-round and those of the students. It's very clear that the university and the city officials and administration don't actually give a shit about the things they claim to care about. If anyone who's in leadership with the ASUC is out there listening we really need some accountability to the student body for the level of militarization and police brutality that has been used against students. Students please reach out to the chancellor find out what districts you live in and vote. This is Yoko Furukawa from CalTV News. Thank you for watching.