Ché Café digs in its heels, lawyers up

The attorney who helped stopped the removal of the seals from Children’s Pool in La Jolla, has signed on to halt the removal of live music and healthy food from the Ché Café, UCSD’s 34-year-old music showcase and organic food co-op.

On August 26, the collective that operates the Ché Café sent out a press release that spelled out what recently retained attorney Bryan Pease will be doing to prevent the UCSD administration from evicting the collective, a support group devoted to the Ché Café, including present and past UCSD students.

The release states that UCSD administration has shut off the natural gas and blocked a grant that would have upgraded kitchen equipment, but that, “...the collective continues to provide healthy vegan food to its guests utilizing the limited resources it now has.”

An illegal detainer (eviction notice) was served this week.

Pease says he suspects the appeal process he is launching would allow the Ché to stay open for an additional two or three months. But if he is successful, and the eviction is rescinded, he suspects the Ché would return to business as usual. He says worst case could mean the eviction stands, and there would probably be no live shows after September.

On behalf of the collective, Pease filed a lawsuit that challenges the eviction on the basis that “...the university colluded with key members of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) to secretly push through a flawed resolution ‘decertifying’ the collective so the university could bypass the space agreement negotiated in 2006.”

The legal challenge is twofold: On September 3 Pease will appear in Superior Court to seek to “quash” the served eviction notice based on improper service. He says he will initially appear at 1:30 p.m. in Judge Gary Kreep’s Department Seven but has filed a challenge to move the proceeding out of Kreep’s courtroom and into another department that day.

Pease says he will also pursue a temporary restraining order the following week to block any further proceeding until a “legitimate GSA hearing and vote can take place regarding Ché’s certification.”

Pease says that the UCSD administration “engineered” a hearing where only 25 of the 100 or so GSA members were in attendance. That hearing supported closing the Ché Café. “All we want is to have proper notice and let people know. No one had an opportunity to speak. The administration based their decision [to evict] on what the GSA recommended, but I don’t think the GSA would recommend closing the Ché Café with proper notice and proper input.”

Pease explained to the Reader what he thinks is the core reason behind the UCSD administration’s desire to snuff the Ché.

“It boils down to the Price Center being way too over budget. They are trying to get rid of the Ché Café, which is not a profit center for the school, and shift whatever extra income they can over to the Price Center, which is way over budget and is not cash-flow-positive.”

Pease is a vegan and a member of the board of directors of the Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market cooperative. He was sought out by the Ché but has “given them a discount rate... Whole Foods is healthy but you have to pay almost your whole paycheck to get your food there. A co-operative is a good model to provide healthy food to many people.”

The collective’s release says that over 11,000 Ché supporters have signed an online petition in support of the Ché and that emails and letters have “poured into the university... Several fundraiser are being planned." To read comments from supporters, show your support, and/or donate to the Ché, visit gofundme.com/b4hda8 or thechecafe.blogspot.com/ or checafe.ucsd.edu/