To those in positions of authority on this matter, 

We, the undersigned, residents, home, and business owners of Berkeley Southside, Telegraph avenue, UC students, staff and faculty, and other community members within but not limited to voting districts 7, 8, and 4:

Do officially petition the City of Berkeley, especially District 7 city council representative Cecilia Lunaparra and District 8 city council representative Mark Humbert, to call for University of California, Berkeley to immediately remove the 17ft wall comprised of 160 shipping containers on the public easement equipped with security cameras surrounding 2556 Haste St., Berkeley, 94704 (People's Park). The agreement between the University of California and the City of Berkeley calls this wall an “extraordinary obstruction”, yet claims there is no need for an environmental review. And second, for the immediate end of APEX private security guards from patrolling streets in Districts 7 and 8. The following non-comprehensive list of shared concerns explains why this request must be answered urgently: 

1. The wall creates a traffic danger.
Neighbors and Organizations such as Walk Bike Berkeley and Telegraph for People have expressed concerns about the narrowing of the roads, which put pedestrians and cyclists at increased risk of vehicular violence. The 17ft wall creates blindspots, especially on the Dwight and Hillegass intersection, where speeding vehicles do not have a stop sign at the crosswalk. 

Additionally, making a left turn onto Dwight from Bowditch is now a dangerous maneuver, as drivers cannot see around the corner where oncoming traffic from Dwight has no stop. This has led to multiple incidents of near-collisions and pedestrians being nearly hit by cars who could not see them coming. Many bikers also travel with their small children onboard. 

2. The wall has reduced public parking spaces and sidewalks 
UC Berkeley has paid the city $128,000 and counting to take over 44 parking spaces, multiple of which were unpaid spots, for their wall of 160 storage containers in the 2500 block of Haste Street, 2400 block of Bowditch Street and the 2500 block of Dwight Way. This decision was made without any community consultation yet has a tremendous impact upon the surrounding neighborhood. The shipping container wall has left the neighborhood with a frustrating lack of walking OR parking space, a burden for all but especially for low income community members. 

Additionally, the wall is on public easement, blocking vital pedestrian access to Telegraph Ave, one of Berkeley’s most critical commercial districts, which has recorded some of the highest foot traffic in the East Bay, with 18,000 pedestrians per hour during peak hours. 

The city refused to work with community requests for a walkway to be added along the north side of the site on Haste Street, demonstrating that the city prioritizes vehicle pathways at the expense of pedestrian and cyclist safety. Given the current setup, people continue to walk in the bike lane on Bowditch and in the street on Haste. Ignoring this reality only leads to a higher possibility of vehicular homicide in Southside. 

3. The wall is a “dystopian” eye-sore with illegal razor wire
The 17ft wall constructed around People’s Park with used shipping containers has been repeatedly described as “dystopian”, and an “eye-sore” by both neighborhood residents and visitors. More than 30 housing units have their front windows now facing a 17 foot rusting border wall, and dozens more look down onto it from their balconies. The continued presence of this wall will undoubtedly decrease property values. 

The wall is constructed exactly the same as the makeshift US/Mexico border wall in Arizona, and parts of the apartheid border wall in Palestine, including razor wire, creating a jarring visual from all angles. Razor wire is in violation of the City of Berkeley municipal code 23.304.080. 

4. The wall creates an earthquake safety concern
On April 6, Berkeley experienced a 3.35 magnitude earthquake, during which neighbors living near the wall reported rumbling and creaking coming from it. At multiple points, the shipping containers which make up the wall are balanced on unattached metal, pieces of wood, and hastley poured concrete to level them out. If a larger earthquake were to occur, there is valid concern that the wall may fall or otherwise fail because of its precarious construction. 

5. APEX security guards are harassing Berkeleyians without repercussion
APEX Security hires ex-military and ex-police, and describes their employees as “specially trained law enforcement professionals”. Our community does not need or want militarized private employees operating in our neighborhoods and loitering on our public sidewalks.

The APEX guards, who are primarily male, have harassed community members, mostly nonmale, repeatedly from their first days in the neighborhood. They take pictures and videos on their phones of community members walking on public streets without consent. No one knows what they do with these photos or where they are being stored. 

Because these guards do not have to share their name or badge numbers, it is difficult to hold them accountable for their actions, especially as the University of California, Berkeley has not provided a way to report their misconduct. 

The following is a non-conclusive list of examples of harassment by APEX guards:

On January 10 and 11 2024, APEX guards attempted to intimidate journalists from BlackZebra and StreetSpirit covering the unannounced closure of People’s Park. 
On February 11 2024, APEX called the police and claimed they were “being cornered” by a group of elders and kids painting with non-permanent paint on the border wall; one of the guards, who still works there, threatened a person recording their behavior. 
On May 3 2024, APEX guards took photos of a neighbor's car then knocked on their window, waking them up, and proceeded to attempt to question them for falling asleep in their car outside their apartment. On June 7 2024, APEX again was spotted taking photos of their car and a police report was filed. 
On June 6 2024, two male APEX guards followed a Black mother and her child up Haste past Bowditch while they were walking home. This is a pattern of behavior that this single mother and her child have been subjected to repeatedly by male APEX guards.
On June 8 2024, a group of at least 3 APEX employees surrounded a man and aimed multiple flashlights on strobe mode in his face. These strobe effects are dangerous and can induce seizures. APEX then called the police and made false claims of vandalizing. 
On June 9 2024, a group of at least 5 APEX guards surrounded the same man and attempted to illegally search and seize his bags of chalk, a temporary art medium, which he was using to draw on a PUBLIC sidewalk adjacent to the wall.

The UC Berkeley Student Advocate’s Office has reported multiple complaints by students regarding abuse by APEX security. These are a few examples:

“The security officers have constantly surveyed me, a brown female, from my walks to and from campus. Officers have made snarky comments about my appearance. Moreover, they have followed me to my apartment and have failed to do so discreetly, making me extremely uncomfortable.” 
 “I feel uncomfortable being watched walk across the street to and from my own house because I am being stared at by 24/7 security.”  
 “More security around Southside has not made it feel safer, just made it feel more of a police zone where I’m not feeling welcome and is not improving the state of the community at all.” 

The fact finding committee formed by the UC Berkeley ASUC and GA stated: “The Chancellor’s Cabinet has maintained that these individuals can be reported to the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD), while OPHD has maintained that they cannot take cases against APEX or Allied Services, because they are contracted employees.”

6. APEX as a company is involved with the brutalization of student protestors 
Students at UCLA and USC have documented that APEX guards have repeatedly physically assaulted and verbally accosted them while participating in non-violent protest. Similarly, APEX guards were deployed to stand on the balcony of the MLK Student Union building on UC Berkeley campus to surveil the Free Palestine encampment. In an act of blatant Islamophobia, the number of guards on the balcony consistently increased from 4 to at least 8, once even 14 guards, watching from above during the evening prayers held on Sproul Plaza. The City of Berkeley should bar APEX from its operations in District 7 and 8 and the UC should immediately end their contacts with APEX security for these reasons. 

With urgency,

Concerned citizens