I took a couple days to digest the news that a judge is blocking construction on the new athletic center. After reading many articles, blog postings, and chat room comments, I think the situation is less bleak than I had initially thought.
I am certainly no legal expert, but it seems that this is a temporary set back. That the judge looking through the merits of the case saw that more research could be done to assess safety concerns. After more due diligence is done, it seems as though the construction will go forward. But again, I know nothing about how these legal things actually work.
I was more interested in the reaction from Cal football fans. They ranged from sober to enraged to one, half jokingingly (I think), urging fans to bum rush the tree sitters with chain saws. All were understandable reactions.
While I love Cal Football, one things I always liked about going to UC Berkeley was the "hippies" or "environmental fringe groups" that littered the campus with their far from center thoughts and ideas. And before the comments sections get bombed with comments about my lack of Cal football passion, I am not saying they are right. I just agree with the idea that everyone has a right to voice their opinion.
Yes, we need this new construction to start to maintain a great athletic program. (And I say athletic program because while football is at the centerpiece, all Cal athletes will benefit from the new center.) But this small protest by a fringe group is exactly why Berkeley is what it is and adds to the rich experience that is Cal.
I believe that common sense will prevail and the new center will be built. Some alteration probably will occur and there will be delays. But like Coach Tedford, I am 100% commited to this program and have confidence that this is a minor setback.
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"I just agree with the idea that everyone has a right to voice their opinion."
Well so do I buddy, only they don't let us voice our opinions, they shut us out and try to shame us into compliance!
Where do your loyalties really lie? I hate to sound like Bush, but your either with us or against us! Hey I 'liked' the hippies too, but they are now my main enemy! Them along with the rich land owners who fund the hippies!
Seek truth and justice my friend, not old nostalgias... I trust you will do the right thing.
Berkeley. Tragedy, farce, and comedy, all done up with the nice aroma of patchouli and days-old trash.
Is anyone truly surprised by this? I mean, really?
If there is one thing the EnviroKooks are quite adept at, it is judge shopping. It looks to me like they got themselves a good one, who will probably have the ability and the authority to keep this training center project bollixed up for the long term.
The university has no choice but to appeal, and to do so vigorously.
If taken at its logical conclusion, this decision bodes very badly for any kind of retrofit project on The Crack House. This project was stopped merely because it was adjacent to the Hayward Fault - IOW, pretty much the entire Kal campus will fit under that criterion (the trees involved were planted after the stadium was constructed, and are a side issue, IMHO).
The NIMBY phenomenon has been pressed and formed by the Berkeley folks into BANANA - “build absolutely nothing, anywhere near anything.”
If it turns out the Rai-Duhs decide to bunk in with the 49ers in Santa Clara, perhaps Kal could get a decent rental rate at the Mausoleum.
I agree that the athletic center is vital to the program and the school. I agree that it would be nice to get this done in 9 months like a school across the bay.
I am just more optimistic than most that this is a legal speed bump. Perhaps not grounded in legal truth, but it keeps me sane for now.
If it becomes more, then, I will redirect my anger toward the "hippies".
"small protest by a fringe group is exactly why Berkeley is what it is and adds to the rich experience that is Cal."
sweet jesus man! this is what is BAD about Berkeley, not great about berkeley.
Yeah I have to agree, they do nothing good. They hurt mankind with their oppresion of the majority and they need to be stoped! Berkeley totaly sucks in my opinion!
1) Take one cordless drill and make long and wide diameter hole in the tree trunk, preferably pointing down at 45 degrees. Fill hole with salt; Plug hole with bark, mud or anything else to hand.
OR
2) Purchase 1lb of Sodium Chlorate and mix with sugar. Bury that near the tree and watch the sucker die.
OR
3) Spray the leaves with high concentration of urea/nitrogen (fertilizer) on a sunny day. Nitrogen will burn it.
OR
4) To kill a tree without removing it you can just girdle it: remove the bark in a band all the way around the trunk. It could possibly survive if the cambium manages to stay alive, so you may want to scrub/scrape the band after you remove the bark.
I will say this, you better pray none of us fall when and if we do come out of the trees. I can assure you that with our lawyers, if any of us should fall, we will sue your school for every penny of that 125 million needed to build the center. You saw how we were able to Judge shop in the injunction trial. Just imagine what kind of Judge we could get in a personal injury suit against the school. Come to think of it, we all might fall out of our trees, and rest assured we would blame it on your unjust University. See if they never came up with this stupid plan in the fist place, none of us would have to be in these precious beautiful trees. Say goodbye to your football dreams. We are getting more supporters everyday, and though we still number in the very few, our voices are louder and better organized than yours! And you say we smoke pot, please, you guys are sorry…
I thought by giving a moderate view on the stadium situation we could talk about solutions rather than name calling.
More than anything I want to see the Athletic Center built and Cal football remain a top level program for eternity.
I think the comments so far are well intentioned but it just seems that the two camps become more entrenched in my way or no way.
My prediction: UCB wins in court, begins construction and takes some measures to appease the opposition.
We have a great leader behind us who is brave and knows what to do. You are wrong, you will not get to build the new center, I can promise you that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXeSJvxSz4&feature=PlayList&p=D97BB4921A65B7ED&index=11
What are you guys, a cult? Will your "Great Leader" at some point encourage you to donate all your possessions and move to Nicaragua? What a joke. The university planted those trees on its own property, will replace any that are removed with more trees, and you are breaking the law and hindering a project that will make a lot of kids and university personnel safer. You are a public nuisance.
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