KarunaNews Story

Together with urbanist and writer Darrell Owens, software developer Mingwei Samuel builds and installs guerrilla benches at bus stops around the California cities of Berkeley and Oakland. In November, Owens tweeted a photo of his 64-year-old neighbor sitting on the curb at a bus stop. A month later, Samuel placed a wooden bench, based on a template from the Public Bench Project, at the stop. Eleven days later, Berkeley replaced it with an official metal one. Then Samuel and Owens teamed up to place even more benches. Of the 512 stops in Berkeley, 90% have no shelter or bench. Since 2022, advocates across California have sought to emulate then-mayor of Emeryville John Bauters, who installed seating at all bus stops in his city.