{"id":503105,"date":"2026-10-21T06:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T06:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503105\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T06:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T06:54:20","slug":"district-7-candidate-aidan-hill-wants-a-southside-with-space-for-everyone-city-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503105\/","title":{"rendered":"District 7 candidate Aidan Hill wants a Southside with space for everyone | City Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southside was shattered.\u00a0That\u2019s what many of its residents have to say about the controversial sweep<\/a>\u00a0of People\u2019s Park in early 2024.<\/p>\n

Former residents of the park and those who used it as a place of community have said the sweep left lingering wounds. Addressing those wounds is central to Aidan Hill\u2019s campaign for the District 7 seat of the Berkeley City Council this November.<\/p>\n

Hill, a Berkeley resident of 10 years and a UC Berkeley alum, said in an interview that they are running to represent everyone in the district \u2014 students and permanent residents alike \u2014 and to fight for community-oriented spaces within District 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a students-versus-residents kind of thing, and that\u2019s why this got destroyed, because they believe that students would benefit more (from) not having a park,\u201d Hill said in an interview Friday, standing at the corner of People\u2019s Park on Haste Street. \u201cI want this to be a welcoming city for everyone, regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill had just finished distributing food at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street as part of their work with East Bay Food Not Bombs.<\/p>\n

About 20 people were in line for food that day, mostly older residents of the district, some former residents of People\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re without a park in this community,\u201d said one of those former park residents, Natalie Noel. \u201cThere\u2019s not community space. I\u2019ve never seen so few parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noel added that she thought Hill was a \u201cgreat fit\u201d for the district because they could bridge the gap between its older and younger residents.<\/p>\n

Concerns like Noel\u2019s have played a central role in Hill\u2019s campaign, alongside affordability and improved city services.<\/p>\n

Hill thinks the plans for a car-free Telegraph Avenue pursued by the city and Hill\u2019s opponent Syrak Micael will not work. They have proposed an alternative renovation to parts of Bowditch Street to prioritize pedestrian and bicycle traffic and provide public green spaces. If actualized, that plan could mean more public space on Southside, right next to People\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

Hill has also advocated for a city inventory of open and public spaces in Southside to allow for better planning in the incredibly dense district.<\/p>\n

To address Southside\u2019s rising cost of living, especially regarding rent, Hill has called for more affordable housing and proposed greater services for evicted residents.<\/p>\n

In their interview, they also raised concerns about future climate catastrophe and the risks of AI, although Hill described themself as an AI optimist. Parts of Hill\u2019s campaign platforms, laid out in exacting detail on their website and partly written in the first person, were flagged by AI detector Pangram as 100% AI-generated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pangram claims that, on average, for every 10,000 pieces of human-written text, one will be incorrectly flagged as AI-generated \u2014 a false positive rate of less than 0.01%. However, the software can still produce false results.<\/p>\n

Hill has acknowledged using AI to edit and prepare campaign materials, and their website discloses possible AI use. They noted that \u201cusing AI is just a tool,\u201d and they are excited about the possible intersection of AI and nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen some YouTubers hook up machines to trees, and based off of certain movements or certain sounds, it will create a storyline for that tree,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Hill has positioned themself as the antiestablishment candidate in the race, facing years of \u201csuccession politics.\u201d They face off in the race against incumbent-endorsed Micael, who has won a slew of endorsements from groups on campus and in the city.<\/p>\n

If elected, Micael would inherit from incumbent Cecilia Lunaparra a political dynasty of students and recent UC Berkeley graduates who have won the District 7 seat in the last three elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to give people the chance to make a decision like this. We\u2019re force-fed who to vote for, how to wear our styles, everything is chosen for us and this election\u2019s no different,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThere are people with money who want to see certain people in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against those odds, Hill\u2019s campaign has worked to knock on doors and call voters across the district, while also attending events such as Friday\u2019s food distribution. Hill has also attacked<\/a> Micael for a vote he made in favor of funding People\u2019s Park affordable housing while on the city\u2019s Housing Advisory Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hill, who described themself as a \u201cdescendent of Mario Savio,\u201d is a frequent sight in public comment at City Council meetings. They have previously run for both Mayor of Berkeley and for District 7 multiple times.<\/p>\n

Micael has led<\/a>\u00a0Hill in endorsements and support from campus groups. Hill, however, said they have made efforts to win students in Southside, who account for a supermajority of its residents, although the district has historically low voter turnout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In their interview, Hill objected to the idea that their main base of support lies in the district\u2019s older, permanent residents. \u201cIt\u2019s always been about everyone,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Later, they added:<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I just want people to be able to get along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southside was shattered.\u00a0That\u2019s what many of its residents have to say about the controversial sweep\u00a0of People\u2019s Park in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2007,110271,13775,187703,5302,156456,194671,143,145,144,173625,11650,5293,110273,5294,13774,149,2278],"class_list":["post-503105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-ai","tag-aidan-hill","tag-cecilia-lunaparra","tag-east-bay-food-not-bombs","tag-haste-street","tag-mario-savio","tag-natalie-noel","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-pangram","tag-peoples-park","tag-southside","tag-syrak-micael","tag-telegraph","tag-telegraph-avenue","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}