Save the Parks

Save the Parks is an initiative to preserve the essence of Solano and Orchard Parks as Graduate Student Family-Friendly Housing.

Mission Statement: The Save the Parks Now Committee condemns the Parks redevelopment plan as it stands and insists on the following demands:

· Rebuild Solano and Orchard Parks on the same sites;

· Maintain the current community ethic

Petition: 'Save the Parks' released a petition which can be signed here

Communication Efforts At the UC Student-Workers' Bargaining Session Meeting, parents and children living in Orchard and Solano Parks attended to voice the need for affordable housing to be guaranteed to UC student-workers (including Teaching Assistants, Readers, and Tutors) and their families. Teaching Assistants' yearly income is around $17,000 a year, which is considered very low income for Davis.

On February 20th, a group of concerned graduate students delivered a Letter to Chancellor Katehi: Parks Family Housing Letter to Katehi.pdf. On March 5th they met with Chancellor Katehi, a group of administrators of UC Davis Student Housing, and administrative members of the third-party developer-Real Estate Services-to present information about the necessity of including graduate student needs and voices in the redevelopment project. The chancellor and these administrators were given a one-page document summarizing the needs of affordable graduate student housing and its impact on underrepresented groups.

On March 13th and 15th, UC administration responded by hosting two townhall sessions intended to explain the planned redevelopment of Orchard Park to concerned residents of Orchard and Solano Park. Videos of the meetings are available: http://www.housing.ucdavis.edu/current/parks-forum.asp. Following the meetings, the University announced that they were pausing redevelopment planning for the Parks. However, they later emailed Orchard Park residents to announce that though the redevelopment plans were on hold, demolition would continue on schedule.