(Written by kencraw)

Scout has their daily court hearing article up.

Day 2 seems to have gone much better for the University than day 1. Each of the matters discussed the University seemed to have the upper hand and the City’s complaint was weak at best, grasping at straws on average. Are they really arguing that because the Regents approved the project financially, with the caveat that an EIR must be completed and approved, before the EIR was finalized/approved, the whole thing should be thrown out? That’s the type of crummy argument I’ve been expecting to hear from these idiots.

I was also glad to see that all of their complaints about not recirculating the EIR after data was added was entirely focused on the seismic data. I was concerned that other additional info was added that may have more teeth to it. Since the additions were additions that the judge specifically asked for and confirmed with the original EIR stated, I’m pretty hopeful that this won’t trip up the University’s case.

Finally, “you guys have a sub-committee that approves EIR and that’s not… um… fair?” argument is also ridiculous. Every governmental entity in the country, INCLUDING THE CITY OF BERKELEY, has a sub-committee for their building approvals.

So all in all, this was a much better day in court than the first, not that the City needs anything but one good day in court to win their case… although I’ve always felt it helps to have the bad news as early as possible.

Finally, as expected, this hearing is going to drag on longer than every originally hoped. It looks like next Tuesday is the earliest it’ll complete. With that long of a hearing, it’s going to take the judge a while to brief all of the data and make a decision.