Here’s the info on tonight’s special meeting of the Berkeley City Council.

To: mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us, lmaio@ci.berkeley.ca.us, dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us, manderson@ci.berkeley.ca.us, lcapitelli@ci.berkeley.ca.us, olds@ci.berkeley.ca.us, kworthington@ci.berkeley.ca.us, gwozniak@ci.berkeley.ca.us

I sketched out an email response this morning to go to the City Council-people. I might also submit this to BDP and see if they print it. Here’s what I wrote:

I love Berkeley. Berkeley has been good to my family and I’d like to think I’ve been good to it. My dad moved there in the 60s. My mom in the 70s. I was born at Alta Bates, as were my brother and sister. My brother, sister, and I have all lived in Berkeley for years at different times. My wife lived in Berkeley. As did her mother and father decades back.

So, you can imagine my frustration at seeing Berkeley’s current condition. Roads, falling apart. The downtown, crumbling. Businesses, fleeing. Education system, in shambles. These are tough times for us all, but I trust the Berkeley City Council to work on behalf of all Berkleyans to solve the problems that they all face.

It is important to focus city resources on important problems and not focus them on lesser important problems. I speak, in specific, about the Cal gymnasium project. And look, I don’t know too much about the Court case. It is very confusing; I’m no lawyer. My vague understanding is that, going in, all the Council could accomplish was a delay. Just a delay.

What I do know strongly is that the Council could help return Berkeley to one of the finest cities in our country. We could be the leaders in the modern environmental movement. Berkeley’s potential is unlimited. But when Berkeley is facing all these massive problems, the Council needs to efficiently distribute its resources to biggest problems first. Is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payer money for a judge to tell us that Cal had it right 98% of the time the most efficient means of spending Berkeley’s limited tax-payer resources? I might not know a lot about the court case, but I know the answer to that question is a resounding no.

And is spending hundreds of thousands more to lose at another Court level, the most prudent distribution of city resources? I again feel strongly the answer is no. This is not about saving 40 lovely trees. This is not about protecting a sacred grove. This is about ensuring limited city resources focus on Berkeley’s biggest problems first. I call on the City Council to use its tax-payer money to work to put stores back on Shattuck street, to fix potholes all across Berkeley, to improve facilities at all levels of the Berkeley public school system.

Council, I call on you to end this lawsuit by not joining in any appeal. Please, focus city resources where they matter most. We all love Berkeley, let’s get to fixing it. Let’s make Berkeley the utopia, we all know it can be. Let’s return Berkeley to its prior glory!

It is a bit long, but I sort of originally conceived of it as a BDP reader commentary. We’ll see if they accept it. I threw in some tree-sitter buzz words to make it more likely. I think this is a reasonable response from people who might not be anti-tree-sitter. Feel free to use it in your emails, if you so desire.

Some dude ranks Tedford the 10th best head coach in the country:

You know that guy who always calls the money play in Madden? The play you can never stop no matter what you do, so you end up with a controller shaped hole in your wall? Tedford is the real life version of him.

His offenses have always produced, and his QBs have always gone on to absolutely shitty careers in the NFL. Why? Because they are products of a system, the same way Tech QBs are. Nobody realizes it because Cal and Oregon had strong running games under Tedford, and they almost never ran any shotgun stuff. It doesn’t look like other stat padding offenses, so it must not be.

The offense is very similar to Gary Barnett’s, using powerful single back sets to run the ball, and passing off of that action. He’ll often put both WRs on the same side of a two TE formation, meaning he can both block 7 man fronts and easily flood any zone coverage you run with an 8 man front. Why more teams don’t do this I don’t know, but it’s an relatively easy offense for a QB to run, to the point where Akili Smith is going in the top 3 in the draft.

Applying that formula to a moribund Cal program and bringing them to national prominence earns Tedford a mention with the elite.

Urban Meyer is 1st. Other PAC-10 coaches on the list are Dennis Erickson at 8 and What’s His Face at 2.

here, with the over/under for our Bears at 8, giving +105 to the over and -125 to the under.

For the less seedy among us, that means that if you’re taking the over, you’d bet 100 to win 105, and if you’re taking the under, you have to bet 125 to win 100, so it seems as if they’re expecting our team to be below 8 wins. I think it’ll be close, but that’s why they set it at 8.

credit Wizard of Odds:

California -7 over Michigan State

Go Bears.

Nate #1 QB

And wearing #6?

I had forgotten/never realized this in the first place, but when the As are working to build their Fremont ballpark, they have to do a lot of the same stuff Cal is doing.

That link is from the original moves to build in Fremont.

On November 8, 2007 the A’s submitted an application for a Community Specific Plan. This application allows the City to begin the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process, including the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the proposed project. During the EIR review, there will be opportunities for public hearings and comment to the Planning Commission and City Council.

The cost of preparing the EIR is paid by the A’s, with the City of Fremont serving as the lead agency in its preparation. Starting the CEQA process does not guarantee that the project will be approved by the City.

I am not sure exactly where they are in the process now. Either way, I really hope Berkeley decides to sue the As now and maybe the tree-sitters can move down to Fremont to stop the As. And if they are no trees on the property there, let’s go plant some quick!

man, playing at Wazzu for our second game of the season is going to be interesting… any idea how they are ‘sposed to be this year?