Thursday, September 4, 2008

And the Trees will come down...

i think we should wait until the Stanfurd game, and let everyone take a swing with an ax on that day...

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Student Athlete High Performance Center is finally cleared to go ahead - the injunction is lifted, the University has the green light to go, and, even if a further appeal is filed, by the time it is adjudicated, the building will have been built.

Today, the California Court of Appeals ruled that there was no injunction in place and therefore no automatic extension of the injunction for 20 days when the oaks protesters appealed.

I think three items had to influence the judges. First, the ruling by Judge Miller was so comprehensively in favor of the University that there was very little chance that an appeal would actually be won. Second, that the City of Berkeley, as well as a number of other plaintiffs, had dropped out, and that the only people still fighting the fight were the NIMBYs and the Tree protesters. And the Tree protestors have already been ruled against twice. And the NIMBY's are arguing clearly about something they do not care about - the safety of the Stadium. The city of Berkeley was a somewhat reasonable opponent, and would have some standing with the court. But when this became a situation of some neighbors of the University arguing about the States right to operate it's own property, it became clear to the judges that eventually it would be dismissed, and these guys were just wasting everyones time and money. And of course, finally, all of these guys know they are paid by the state, which by the way, still does not have a budget, and these judges soon will be without a paycheck, and to have these idiots causing the University to spend an additional million or so a month just must not have set well.

Anyway, who cares. The deal is done. Let's move on. There will be a little dust-up, and someone will be hurt, and the University will have to sue the individual (and, lets be fair, their parents for raising such a spoiled little brat) and that will be that.

Go Bears!!

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