Opinion

UC Berkeley’s latest long range development plan has been much criticized, and rightly so, by Berkeley’s civic responsibles. City officials have prepared a cogent criticism of the university’s plans, both disclosed and undisclosed, which is about to be taken up this week by UC’s Board of Regents. If past performance is any indication of future behavior, the Regents are unlikely to give the city much consideration. In the past, they have arrogantly asserted their right under the state constitution to do as they please, and there’s no reason to think they’ll change now. Chains are being rattled, lawsuits are being threatened, and it might all make some difference, but since the city has a history of backing down in confrontations with the mighty U, the Regents are probably not very worried. -more-

Democracy in action can be pretty disappointing. It hardly seems like four years ago that a few hardy souls from greater Berkeley rounded up our raggedy old winter clothes and jumped on a Southwest flight to Washington to protest George W. Bush’s usurpation of the presidency when he’d clearly lost the 2000 election. While we were there, we thought we were making a brave showing with our clever banners, even though the weather was abominable. Much to our chagrin, when we got home we discovered that no one who’d been watching the televised inauguration had seen us, or even heard about the protest. When we saw Fahrenheit 9-11 this year, many in the theater were surprised to see the 2000 inaugural protest footage which Michael Moore included, since it never made it to home TV. -more-