Interesting discussion on People's Park on Indybay. The gist: there's an ongoing struggle between the Activist/Leftist types who love the park as an expression of freedom and idealism, and the Crack Cocaine types who love the park as a place to get High. The latter are winning.

I want to tear People's Park down and build beautiful, beautiful Housing, of course. It's a numerical cost/benefits thing, I figure. If we build housing, we'll have living space for thousands of my fellow students, many of whom will go on to make Cal a more wonderful thing. It may clean Telegraph up somewhat. The cost to this new housing will be losing a park that no students ever use.

The Park has only two values: Nostalgic value, which has little relevance to anybody under 30, and a metaphoric power center for Activism. The latter is the main reason its removal would be bitterly fought: it's a center of strength for a large part of the Bay Area. A totem. A symbol. A living place of a certain ideology that encapsulates the Cause.

But all I can see is a rundown park with 'Cocaine Queens' accerbating crime in my town and perpetuating a housing crisis.


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