Posted on 09/18/2007 7:33:45 AM PDT by SmithL
After months of tree-sitting, Native American healing ceremonies, dueling seismic reports and jeers from Cal football fans, the fate of the Memorial Stadium oak grove heads to the courthouse this week.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge will hear arguments Wednesday and Thursday on UC Berkeley's plan to remove about two-thirds of the oaks, redwoods, laurels and other trees next to the stadium to build a state-of-the-art sports training center for its football team - currently ranked No. 6 in the nation - and 13 other varsity sports.
The city of Berkeley, a neighborhood group and the California Oak Foundation, representing about a dozen protesters who've been dwelling in the trees since December, have filed suit to stop the project, saying it poses a safety hazard because it would sit on traces of the Hayward Fault.
The university says the $125 million center skirts the fault by several feet and would meet the highest seismic safety standards. They also say the center would provide safe quarters for the 350 or so athletes, coaches and administrators who use Memorial Stadium daily.
As for the trees, the university said it would plant three trees, including one mature tree, for every tree that would be chopped down. Only two or three of the 140 trees in the grove predate the stadium, which was built in 1923.
The tree-sitters say the grove is a tranquil oasis that's home to Ohlone Indian remains and the last coast live oak woodland in the Berkeley flatlands.
But no matter what the judge decides, one key issue remains to be addressed: Can Memorial Stadium be seismically refitted?
That depends on how much the hallowed, crumbling building is worth.
The Alquist-Priolo Act, the 1972 state seismic law that prohibits new buildings on earthquake faults, also limits repair work...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The university needs one of these. Just grab the tree with it, shake it and the nuts fall out ready to be harvested.
Does it harvest these types of nuts also?
PULL! (Bang!) till all tree-sitters leave.
wow.... These people are psycotic, with about the same grasp of reality as a rabid dog. They belong in a mental institution for their own safety.
I loved it when Kirk Herbstreit asked Brent Mussberger what the toilet paper was for in the tree.
That was classic.
This looks and reads like the “man in the street” interviews from the Onion.
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