okaydo said:
I've had mixed feelings, but I feel the inevitable is going to happen.
I hate that the Eshleman Hall I spent so much time in is now gone. But it had to go because it was a harrible building.
I hate that the ugly Tolman Hall that I spent so much time in will soon be gone. But it has to go.
I hate that I visit the campus as an old man, I can't go in the buildings that I spent so much time in.
While I didn't spend a lot of time at People's Park, I would consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about its history.
As a person that values history, I think it should stay. The park has connections to Reagan and The Daily Cal (for those who don't know, the Daily Cal became independent of the university after it published an editorial saying, "Take Back the Park," and the editors were fired.)
But as a realist, I realize the park will never be salvaged for positive use. So....
People can use the term "values history" as short-hand for valuing history that they approve of. People in Mississippi use the argument of valuing history to justify retaining statues of the Confederacy. I was born in Berkeley, grew up there, and graduated from Cal in 1976. The legacy of People's Park frankly glorifies people who want society to support them as they do nothing. In the halcyon days of the 70's, it wasn't cool to say that PP was an unsafe dump, but virtually all students I knew avoided it - particularly after dark. If PP had been put to good use years ago, maybe Berkeley wouldn't have devolved into a Neverland for refugees of the Woodstock Generation. And no, I'm not a Trump supporter. I, too, value history, but I don't see a point to glorifying something that never worked.
