As the city’s November elections draw nearer, District 7 candidate Aidan Hill has accused incumbent Berkeley City Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra and her endorsed successor Syrak Micael of supporting development that Hill said has destroyed parts of Southside.

In a video posted to Instagram, Hill accused Lunaparra of allowing construction near restaurant El Trompudo, alleging the work may disrupt its operations. In another, Hill accused Micael of supporting the People’s Park development by voting to recommend continued funding for its permanent supportive housing component.

“Where is Cecilia Lunaparra? Why isn’t she here right now?” Hill asked while standing outside of El Trompudo, where construction at nearby 2449 Dwight Way has shut off part of the street and the sidewalk. “She said she was in favor of building on People’s Park. She said she is in favor of destroying all of Telegraph Avenue.”

The construction at 2449 Dwight Way will replace a four-story building badly damaged in a 2015 fire with an eight-story, mixed-use housing project.

Eric Galindo, who co-owns El Trompudo with his father, said the restaurant’s business dropped roughly 50% when construction began shortly after it opened May 15.

Galindo worries that, while the apartments might bring more customers when completed, they also might cause his landlord to raise rent.

“We’re not making any money yet — we’re losing money. We’re hoping that when the students come back, that helps out,” Galindo said. “It might be a good thing, but will we survive?”

Galindo said he had not reached out to Councilmember Lunaparra about their struggles.

In an interview, Hill said they supported rebuilding the fire-damaged building but criticized how the city handled the project. Hill said officials should have better communicated with El Trompudo before construction began or offered grants to businesses affected by the work.

“It got burned down. It is a corner building. It is something that has a lot of value for the community as a whole,” Hill said. “I was never against the development there. What I was against was that development occurred as soon as El Trompudo opened up, so that’s a coordinating issue first and foremost.”

Hill also acknowledged that some of the rhetoric in their campaign video was exaggerated.

“It’s hyperbolic, destroying all of Telegraph Avenue, but she has agreed to do a car-free telegraph proposal which would greatly impact the streets of Telegraph Avenue and the businesses,” Hill said.

While Hill’s criticism of the Dwight Way project focused on how construction is managed, their criticism of Micael centered on People’s Park.

The city’s Housing Advisory Commission voted in November 2025 to recommend that the City Council allocate more than $14 million for affordable housing at People’s Park. Micael, who was appointed to the commission by Lunaparra, voted in favor of the recommendation.

“That vote made him an active participant in keeping the Park enclosed and destroying it as a freely accessible public space,” Hill wrote in their Instagram caption.

Both Micael and Lunaparra rejected Hill’s characterization, saying they had opposed the development on the park from the outset.

“This was not a vote between whether or not to build on the Park — it was a vote to ensure that the development, which had already begun, had affordable units,” Micael wrote in a statement.

Lunaparra said her office works with residents, local businesses and city staff to minimize the impacts of development while continuing to support new housing.

“So, to answer the question “where is Cecilia Lunaparra?”: I am in City Hall with my colleagues and city staff working to create new policies and improve city processes,” she wrote in an email statement. “I am on the streets of Southside.”

Hill, who said People’s Park had played a pivotal role during their time living in Berkeley, said they did not accept Micael’s explanation that the vote simply sought to preserve affordable housing in a project that was already underway.

“I don’t accept that as a valid answer. It’s a contradiction to me,” Hill said.