UC Village
Encyclopedia
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. It is located within the city limits of Albany
Albany, California
Albany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 18,539 at the 2010 census.-History:In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their community...
about two miles away from the main Berkeley campus, at an elevation of 26 feet (8 m). It was previously known as Albany Village. It is also commonly referred to as The Village.
The village was constructed on the Gill Tract, a marshy area at the foot of Codornices
Codornices Creek
Codornices Creek , long, is one of the principal creeks which runs out of the Berkeley Hills in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. In its upper stretch, it passes entirely within the city limits of Berkeley, and marks the city limit with the adjacent city of Albany in...
and Marin Creek
Marin Creek
Marin Creek is a creek tributary of Codornices Creek in northwestern Alameda County, California. The lower stretch of Marin Creek is also known as Village Creek.-Overview:...
s. It began as a federal housing project for some of the thousands of workers who came to the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
to work in various war industries during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, especially the Kaiser Shipyards
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...
in nearby Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
. It originally extended across the city limits demarcated by Codornices Creek into an adjacent neighborhood of Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
as far south as Camelia Street, but after the war ended and the village was acquired by the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, the Berkeley section was demolished and replaced by various industrial buildings.
During the war, the Key System
Key System
The Key System was a privately owned company which provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when the system was sold to a newly formed public...
constructed a massive wooden trestle through and over the heart of the village and the nearby Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
railroad's mainline for the Shipyard Railway
Shipyard Railway
The Shipyard Railway was an electric railroad line, rapidly constructed during World War II to transport workers to and from the Kaiser Shipyards located in the city of Richmond, California....
to Kaiser Shipyards
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...
. It was quickly dismantled at the end of the war.
History
The original units at UC Village, which resembled barrackBarrack
Barrack or Barracks may refer to:*Barracks, military housing*Barrack *Barracks communism, political term*A misspelling of the name of Barack Obama...
s, opened in the 1940s and 1960s. They housed many U.S. Navy sailors while wars occurred. After the wars, many workers at the shipyards at Mare Island
Mare Island
Mare Island is a peninsula in the United States alongside the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the east side of San Pablo Bay. Mare Island is considered a peninsula because no full...
and Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
lived in the units. The University of California Berkeley acquired the units in 1956. In 1998 the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
board of regents approved a plan to replace the older student housing at UC Village with new units. Marty Takimoto, the director of communications and marketing for UC Berkeley's residential and student services department, said that mold, lead paint, proximity to the water table, and proximity to the bay were reasons why the university chose to demolish the old housing.
Around 2000 282 new units were about to open. The scheduled occupancy of all of those new units was to occur in 2001.
The new buildings had a total of 582 units. Between July 2006 and October 2007 half of the units had been occupied by families. Completion was scheduled to end near October 2007.
In September, 2007, most of the oldest remaining World War II era buildings were demolished.
Geography
University Village, a 77 acres (31.2 ha) complex, is located in the City of AlbanyAlbany, California
Albany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 18,539 at the 2010 census.-History:In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their community...
, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of the main campus. The development is bordered by Buchanan Street, United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
research and office facilities, and Ocean View Elementary School to the north. In other directions, University Village is bordered by railroad tracks of Union Pacific to the west, California Route 123 (San Pablo Avenue) to the east, and Cordonices Creek to the south.
The complex has 974 units.
Recreation
The complex has recreational facilities intended for families and children. The complex has an after-school recreational center for children, baseball fields, a family resource center, a playground, and soccer (football) fields.Education
Children residing on the development attend schools within the Albany Unified School DistrictAlbany Unified School District
-History:Beginning in 2002-2003 the school district established an open door policy allowing non-Albany residents to attend Albany USD schools. By 2007 the district had so many new in-district students that it began to put limitations on out of district transfers....
.. The local elementary school is Ocean View School, although student placement at the school is not guaranteed. In 2005 Julie Valdez, the principal of Ocean View Elementary, said that she was not sure how many students at Ocean View came from UC Village, but she estimated that it was approximately 30% of her school's enrolment. University Village residents are zoned to Albany Middle School and Albany High School
Albany High School (Albany, California)
Albany High School is a comprehensive secondary school located in Albany, California. Educating students in grades 9–12, the school has an enrollment of 1293 students. The school mascot is a cougar and the school colors are red and white...
. The Albany Children's Center, a preschool program from the school district, also serves the village.
When the reconstruction at UC Village began in 1998, the number of students from UC Village going to Albany USD schools decreased since fewer units were available. In 2000 Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research Inc. predicted that the Albany Unified School District's enrollment would increase by 266 students within the next several years because of the impending completion of 282 UC Village units, a small post-1996 increase of births, and turnover of housing unit occupancy at UC Village to younger families. Around 2007 several of UC Village's housing units had been replaced, and, together with a change in the local population toward younger families, this led to a surge of enrollment within the district's school population.
Living
Due to the proximity of the University Village to the railroad, the Village suffers from the noise pollution of trains honking loudly at all hours.See also
- UC Berkeley student housingUC Berkeley student housingHousing at the University of California, Berkeley consists of student housing facilities run by the office of Residential and Student Service Programs...
- Student Family Housing - Problem & Solution (video documentary)