for about 1,100 of its students at the 3-acre People’s Park. While university officials said the project would bring much needed housing to its students, opponents wanted the university to preserve the park and build elsewhere. The park was founded in 1969 as part of the free speech and civil rights movement when community organizers banded together to take back a site the state and university seized under eminent domain.
The appeals court’s decision prompted Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, whose district includes Berkeley, to author the legislation. “California will not allow NIMBYism to take hold, blocking critically needed housing for years and even decades,” Newsom said in a statement about the new law. NIMBY refers to a movement known as “not in my backyard.”