Ruben Lizardo

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s proposed budget for the fiscal years 2018-19 prioritizes funding for homelessness, affordable housing and a number of other city initiatives, according to an office press release issued Tuesday.

The estimated $3 billion Berkeley Global Campus project the campus had been working toward since 2014 will be suspended indefinitely in light of UC Berkeley’s budget deficit, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks announced at a meeting Thursday.

Eighteen organizations were awarded a total of $250,000 by the Berkeley campus last week to be spent on community improvement and service programs for this year.

Campus leadership and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory held a meeting Thursday to hear the concerns of the city of Richmond — represented by the Community Working Group, or CWG – regarding the development effects of the Berkeley Global Campus, or BGC.

The Berkeley Global Campus community working group shared and voted Thursday on final drafts of their recommendations for how UC Berkeley should interact with the Richmond community.

At a Thursday meeting, a housing and displacement subcommittee of the Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay Community Working Group presented recommendations to increase affordable housing options in the surrounding area of Richmond.

The project is one of four neighborhood improvement projects funded by the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund, which has supported programs since 2006 that foster links between the campus and the city.

A community working group continued an ongoing conversation with Richmond residents Thursday, discussing community benefit recommendations for the controversial Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay.

Despite not yet having broken ground, what could be Richmond’s biggest economic development has for months spurred rallies by residents and activists who view the campus’s promise of a new institution for global scholarship as potentially heralding another wave of unwelcome gentrification.

The campus Student Labor Committee crashed a closed meeting Wednesday demanding that Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sign a community benefits agreement with the city of Richmond.