Court ruling will allow student housing at UC Berkeley’s People’s Park, a counterculture landmark

A California Supreme Court ruling will allow the University of California to build new student housing at Berkeley’s historic People’s Park. The court on Thursday has ruled that a new law enacted last year invalidates the claims by two local organizations that sued the school, saying that more students living in downtown Berkeley would add noise pollution to an already dense area. The project set off years of protests over the landmark that is a touchstone of counterculture.