Will people really feel bad for her if she shakes and falls?

aw, crap.

TwistNHook had to go home or something. He’ll be back shortly.

I liked the old one. it had more comments, anyway. IM NOT IN THE BAY AREA RIGHT NOW! WHATIS IT SAYING ON KRON????

Dumpster Muffin is shaking her box almost threatening to fall or jump. The KRON reporters are beffudled though one anchor said the UC is at fault because they should have dealt with it earlier.

someone that doesn’t mind busting the knee caps of dainty ice skaters to get things done. Lets send tonya to deal with the hippies.

Time to go home. What a wonderfully wasted day.

Preesh!

...nothin’ but stumps. sweet dreams, all!

I’ll check back in an hour

This is great, I leave for over an hour only to come back and see there is no new news. I did see that almost all Bay Area news channels opened their five o’clock news hour covering this story, yet they didn’t have any news on the ruling either!

I just caught part of KRONs thing. They said the ruling came out and the people were cheering.

REGISTER OF ACTIONS SAYS HTIS:

06/18/08 Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Petitions for Writ of Mandate. Filed

NOTHING IS UP TO SEE IT TOHUGH!!!

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7.

says the university lost on a number of counts

if Miller is asking just for the plans to be updated and thus the construction is delayed… but allowed to continue once the enviro plans are updated.

If you get in, look at Page 3 where it say sIntro. Ive gotten that far, but it seems to me that Berkeley won on that. I cant C+P, BUT its basically says we are in compliance with most of the shit. A few exceptions. I havent read what the exceptions are yet, though.

is that they won on whether AP applies to the project.

P129

The court shall retain jurisdiction over those proceedings, by way of return to peremptory writ, until it has determined that Respondents have complied with CEQA and Arquist-Priolo.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

/S/

Giant, Slow Bitch.

Two deadlines:

June 24 for Writ of Mandate and proposed judgment by Petitioners

June 27 for Objections by us.

Im not smart enough to know what the Writ of Mandate is. But thats the next deadline. June 24.

It also looks like the Panoramic folks didn’t read the decision

Whoa, how can the PHA say they “Won”...??

Based on what I’m reading, we comply with regulations and are not in violation to AP except for a few “exceptions”... we are required to value those specific improvements… refile and continue!

This is not a win for the PHA, its a delay!! I’m not going to kill myself after all.

On page 126, it says that the EIR’s statement of project objectives is legal and valid. Sounds good to me!

...the athletics press conference, i mean. ‘tis a complex ruling, don’t rely on gentle hippies for their interpretation. the trees are doomed.

writ of mandate
(mandamus) n. a court order to a government agency, including another court, to follow the law by correcting its prior actions or ceasing illegal acts.

i’ve got such a huge fucking headache right now…but have you guys read page 116? does this mean the trees can come down?

Seems to me this is rather favorable. They’re basically saying everything regarding the trees, the project plan, the historical impact, etc. is good (even highly praised) and the only issue is with the earthquake laws… and the plan can be amended/updated to comply.

Looks good to me!

Also says the SAHPC is separate from CMS.

FUCK I MADE PLANS TO GO RUNNING AT 630 WITH A FRIEND. AND NOW I SEE HIM DRIVING UP. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

ok, Ill be back later, hopefully you guys will have figured it out.

I haven’t read it yet, but what I’m hearing from you guys is that the trees lost, the PHA & COB got a delay. Right?

I’m so fucking sick of this states damn Judiciary. Anytime you try to build anything the preservationists bankrupt you first with all the fucking legal paperwork. The lawyers get richer, the hippies get more weed, and the student athletes continue to train in peril! FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Pretty soon you won’t even be able to build hospitals! I swear I might just move to Alaska!

They need to get the fuck out of our damn trees already. Damn attention whores.

@ CaliSeth: Forget that, I’m gonna go hang out with Hawaii.

court finds that the SAHPC is a separate building from the Stadium, but that several parts of the project constitute additions to the stadium, namely:

- a grade beam along the west wall
- alterations to existing staircases
- alterations consisting of ground floor slab penetrations required to install telecommunications eqpt for the SAHPC

IS THAT THE INJUNCTION IS STILL IN PLACE. Look at all the fucking news sites: “Judge Says Oak Grove Can Stay.” “Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiffs.”

Also says the University adequately took into account biological and archaeological impact. Suck it Save the Oaks.

And on top of everything else, Joe Blanton is sucking it up in Arizona tonight!

but that shouldn’t be surprising. plaintiffs seem to have taken a shotgun approach to arguments against this project, and, unsurprisingly, very few of them seem to stick.

if you guys are interested I can probably write something up late tonight/early tomorrow. let me know.

I just don’t get how the Panoramic Hill folks thought they won on most fronts. Can they read?

UC Berkeley’s plan to build a state-of-the-art athletic training center next to Memorial Stadium violates a state law that prohibits new construction on earthquake faults, a judge ruled tonight.

The university had argued that the plan – which prompted a group of protesters to occupy a grove of trees outside the stadium for the past 18 months – does not violate the Alquist-Priolo Act because the facility would be a separate structure that does not touch any fault lines.

But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller ruled that the proposed training center is an alteration of the stadium, which straddles the Hayward Fault.

“We are ecstatic,” said Stephan Volker, attorney for the California Oak Foundation, one of three groups that filed suit to stop the project in December 2006. “We believe this project is now dead.”

University officials said they were preparing a response.

The City of Berkeley, Panoramic Hill neighborhood group, along with the Oak Foundation, filed lawsuits in December 2006 to stop the project, claiming it would bring thousands more people to one of the most congested, seismically unsafe parts of town.

The 75,000-seat stadium, a crumbling Beaux-Arts bowl on the National Register of Historic Places, is only accessible by a two-lane road on the east side of campus.

The California Oak Foundation, representing several dozen tree-sitters and their supporters, also argued that the university should spare the 100 or so oaks, redwoods, laurels and other trees slated for removal. The university offered to plant three trees for every one that’s removed, but Volker said young trees are not adequate replacement for mature trees.

The first tree-sitters clambered into the oaks and redwoods on Dec. 2, 2006, as 75,000 football fans filed past to attend the Big Game against Stanford. About two dozen protesters have rotated in and out of the trees since then, occasionally tussling with police, campus security and hostile football fans. In all, campus police have made about 100 arrests and issued more than 200 citations.

The university took several steps to remove the tree-sitters, including obtaining a court order, erecting a pair of fences to encumber the delivery of food and removal of waste, and periodically removing the protesters’ backpacks, guitars, blankets and other gear.

The 142,000-square-foot athletic facility would house offices, conference rooms, locker rooms and training facilities for 13 varsity sports, including football.

The ruling is that the athletic center is NOT part of the stadium which IS on the fault. Only the beam, staircase etc are part of the stadium… so…

IF {
Additions > 50%(Stadium value) = new plans
OR
Additions < 50%(Stadium value) = total victory

The only thing under discussion from now on is the additions (beam, staircase etc), and the value of the stadium….not the athletic center… the athletic center is completely off the table now.

I’m going to sleep happy tonight.

and the new lighting proposed for phase II. i don’t think it’s significant, but it looks like another change that has to be made

I’m super cereal. That’s why god programmed “delete” into Word.

UC is not required to value all three phases of the project before construction begins… the Hill association wanted a valuation of all three phases, but the judge ruled that they are not required to do so.

This means that the Hill association’s attempt to present a huge ticket price such that any future 50% calculation would hit the AP limits has failed.

This is somewhat of a moot point anyway b/c the athletic center is not part of the stadium. The judge says the athletic center has been proven NOT to be on the fault… an has thrown out any other enviro studies that says otherwise.

Still, another minor victory there.

Miller also rules that the 4 prior cases that the plaintiff’s cite to back up their various arguments is not applicable to this case and gives lengthy reasons why.

Kleist vs Glendale (1976) – OUT!
Sundstrom vs Mendocino (1988) – OUT!
Planning and Conservation League vs Dept of Water (2000) – OUT!
Vedanta vs California Quarter (2000) – OUT!

This is significant because not only did Miller throw ALL of them out of the window, but these where the best cases that the plaintiffs had… so any appeal or subsequent case will find it impossible to use these cases again.. they’ll have to find other cases or use their 2nd choices.

Ok, Iron Horse trail is conquered and I’m back to find out ragnarok, danzig, and many others are making me HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

I cannot believe all the minor things the Hill people are wasting our time with… like the meaning of the word “approve” or weather to invalidate the EIR because the UC made minor changes and did not circulate to the public…

Oh MY GOD… I can almost feel how pissed Miller is in the text because the Hill people are nit-picking on mindless and frivolous things.

Anyway, Miller has ruled in our favor on the meaning of “approve” and has ruled in our favor that the UC determines the timing of the documentation and NOT the public… and finally, she rules that:

UC did NOT need to recirculate the EIR because the additions were too minor. Jesus, I can’t believe we’re even arguing about this minor crap!

Miller rules in our favor that the EIR did indeed take into account the biological impacts of the tree removal, so the EIR is valid on that count.

Plus Miller rules that removing the trees won’t have a significant biological impact because…. DUH… there’s not enough vegetation there to begin with!!! (that’s what she basically says!). Miller says that the grove has “cultural” value, but not biological value.

One thing though… it looks like we will have to plant 3 trees to replace each one knocked down anyway because its part of the biological impact “mitigation” feature that we outline in the EIR.

Big win for us, small win for the Hill people b/c we’ll have to plant those new trees.

Can I just give a big FUCK YOU to the media for giving us those 20 minutes of like “WE LOST ON MULTIPLE FRONT OH NOES!” based mostly off of the PHA guys inanities. I got all these calls and emails and texts and shit that were suicidal. And then we actually start to read the text and find out that, stunningly, the media might not be correct.

wow!

Uh oh.

Miller rules that there have been enough evidence in the past that archeological material can be found on the site, so the UC must retain on staff archeologists to look out for “unique” finds (she states that no “common” finds apply here)... and if found the UC must use “best practices” to either avoid disturbing them or stop construction. Ug.

Miller does, however, reject running wolf’s claims that the site is the burial ground for HIS PARTICULAR TRIBE. She also says the EIR cannot be invalidated due to lack of archeological impact studies… because they were sufficient in the EIR.

Regardless, I see potential problems here… the only redeeming factor is that the UC gets to hire the archeologists.

Miller rules in our favor that the UC is not deliberately splitting up the project into 7 different pieces to minimize the environmental impact… she says they are all linked and there’s not deliberate “splitting to minimize impact”.

Miller also rules that the EIR is detailed enough (this was a big point of contention). The Hill people are arguing that the plans are not “detailed enough”...Miller goes on for several pages to basically say, “are you F-ing kidding me?... have you f-ing read this huge thing???”

She also throws out the case, “City of Santee vs County of San Diego” because it argues the timing of the construction is uncertain… and she retorts… “The court fails to see the analogy between this case and the City of Santee” or basically, “What the F* have you guys been smoking, this isn’t even close!”

p.68-74

Wow, so I wasted 15 bucks on rum to drown my sorrows, and now it seems like victory? Man, I’m going to take a few more shots and really post my feelings here with my great friends at CGB. I’m still a little edgy though, perhaps I am in a drunken stupor and am merely imagining this, because about an hour ago it was as if all hope was gone. Twist, as in house counsel you need to step up , J/K, J/k!!! You’re a great lawyer!

In the draft we describe the SAHPC as an “addition” and in the final draft we change it to be separate. (Wow, I didn’t know this).

The Hill people were arguing that this shows that it’s an “addition”. But Miller argues that in all substantive ways, the actual description of the project has remained constant and that the SAHPC is a separate building, and that “addition” in context was referring to the “vicinity” of the project.

p.75-76

By the way I still want to kick a hippie in the face.

I really can’t believe the SF Comical! I used to call it comical because I really hated it and basically thought it was a joke. Now it truly is funny, though this issue isn’t funny at all. Hmm.

p.76-79 is mindless nit-picking that is ruled our way. Holy crap this is a waste of tax payer dollars!!!

Hills argue that “virtually no attention and no serious analysis” is given to geological safety… to which Miller retorts…”EIR contains a 25-page chapter devoted exclusively to the discussion of geology, seismicity and soils.”...she ten describes the other chapters that are devoted to geological impact… basically saying, “have you guys even read this f-ing thing?... jesus!!”

p.79-85

One thing the EIR does admit is that earthquakes cannot be quantified accurately and that “impact is considers significant and unavoidable.” <- i wonder if the Hills will attack this later because Miller rules that the UC has agreed that the stadium is basically dangerous and must hold off any more games until its safe. I wonder if we can be held to this pact. But regardless, the EIR address these impacts well, so cannot be invalidated.

p-82

More of the same…Hills say its not addressed, Miller retorts by saying, “have you read that 24-page chapter that fully describes it??” Miller also concludes the plans will make the stadium even more safe!!

This is getting tedious… the Hills are bringing up shit they know they won’t win on… why?... just to make the court ruling longer… and Miller is starting to get annoyed.

p.86-88

Oh my God, the Comical already has a new article out saying how this merely delays the stadium. What kind of a newspaper are they running over there? They wrote an article earlier saying the project was DEAD! Don’t they have lawyers on the payroll?

Oh, and if you ever see an article by Carrolyn Jones you already know it will be heavily biased in favor of the hippies. She really hates football and male sports in general. Little does she know the girls soccer team, I believe, have to change in their cars.

Another win for us… Hills wanted to delay the project by forcing us to write a separate “Historic Structure Report”... but Miller says that a document the UC already submitted was good enough to cover it and that it was VERY well researched (she kinda gets pissed here), “Over the course of eleven months, the DRC discussed the CMS project [with the Historic Preservation Office] six times.”

88-93

Five “alternatives”

1) No Projects alternative – basically if you do nothing, or “null” scenario, required but not meaningful.

2) Projects with no parking alternative – no parking under Maxwell field – Miller does not address this. Don’t know why.

3) Reduced size alternative – reducing SAHPC, parking, stadium, pressbox etc…Miller accepts the negative aesthetic and fund raising reasons. ALTERNATIVE REJECTED.

4) “Berkeley alternative” – 2241 and 2243 College ave, 2223 Fulton – Miller argues these locations create more problems and that building regulations will kill the project unless you reduce the size of the SAHPC to the point where its less useful. ALTERNATIVE REJECTED.

5) “Albany alternative” – Moving it to Golden Gate fields. – Miller argues it’s too far.. DUH… ALTERNATIVE REJECTED.

EIR describes 14 reasons that that all 5 alternatives are not feasible under legally acceptable reasons… Miller is accepting 13 of those 14 reasons… and also saying the alternatives were “legitimate” and not set up as straw men to knock down… and also rejects Hill other semantic arguments.

93-113

Let’s hear it for Danzig! Awesome comments, keep them coming!

Much appreciated,
CBKWit

Love it Danzig! You’re almost done! Great JOB!

Re-hashing all the same points as the EIR above… but this time for a document called “The Regent’s Findings”... Regardless, Miller rules in our favor. Accepting that when the Regents made conclusions, they were not leaving anything out. All the same arguments repeated except for one new one…the lights:

Lights – Miller rules that adding permanent lights to the stadium does not impact “the historical significance of the stadium”...so this addition is ok…Rules against the Hills.

REALLY?... the Hills are trying to stop this project by arguing that adding lights to a football stadium takes away from the “historical significance?”... REALLY??? JESUS!! No wonder Miller is getting annoyed.

p.113-127

Hills bring up 4 objections and Miller is accepting only one of them. The “Diesko” document only explains changes to the design AFTER Dec2006… the court will wait for another document explaining changes BEFORE Dec2006. Don’t know if this is a big deal, but sounds rather minor. <- this does leave a “TBA” issue that I hope the UC addresses.

The other 3 objections are overruled.

The court is also retaining control over this case until the “To do” list is completed… meaning Miller will still be the one making the final judgments… YES!!!
There’s no “summary” section here. It just ends abruptly.

p.127-129

HOPE:
Folks, from what I read, Miller is pissed that the Hills are bringing up shit issues that are total time-sucks and seems rather annoyed… if she does all the follow up on this case, I think the remaining judgments will go in our favor.

Next court case -> Stadium valuation and valuation of the beam, staircase etc. But one thing is for sure, the SAHPC is good to go. How much can a “beam” cost anyway?

DISCLAIMER: I don’t know shit, so all this can change by tomorrow when a real lawyer reads it.

Just called and complained directly to KRON 4 about this outrageous article, http://www.kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=8522000&nav=menu130_2 , At first the guy tried to brush me off, but with my usual determination I set him straight! They said they would fix it by 11 PM. They better!

Check out this picture from the chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/06/18/MNH111BB50.DTL&o=3 , in it that monster Carolyne Jones calls the grove “sacred.” Seriously, check out the captions!

shoot, that link doesn’t work. let me see here…

Well I can’t get the direct picture to work, but if you go to this page, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/18/MNH111BB50.DTL , and click on the pictures, try reading the captions. This is so crazy. The media is totally loving the hippies. Thank God for CGB!

ok this is the last time i try this, you may need to click and paste this entire link,

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/18/MNH111BB50.DTL

cool, thanks!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3481916/Ruling

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/18_stadium-prelim.shtml

...he’s the go to guy on this case…
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=166&f=1419&t=2588184#s=166&f=1419&t=2595092

Looks good to me if the beam is really worth $250K and the stadium is valued as a “commercial property”... Everything I’ve wrote so far looks good.

I wonder how the Hills will counter this time?

You guys rock. And so does everyone on here today and tonight. Sleep well knowing that justice will prevail.

Special flash request from the Oaks Arrestees Defense Committee:

“UC has stepped up their attacks on the Oaks Treesitters and their
allies.
At least 3 people have been arrested already, and UCPD has threatened
all those outside with arrest for aiding and abetting.

As more sitters and supporters are arrested, we will need money to pay
for bails, fines, and other court costs. Please, visit:

http://www.oaksarrestees.org

and click on the “Donate” button to make a contribution through PayPal.

We need your help now! Please donate whatever you can – bail bonds and
legal expenses are very pricey.

http://www.oaksarrestees.org

Thank you,
Tristan Bunner
Oaks Arrestees Defense Committee”