Here are key events and dates in the nearly two-year legal (and moral) battle to save Antietam Lake:
6/13/05 - By a 4-3 vote, City Council adopted Resolution No. 54-2005 authorizing the appointment of a negotiating committee to "conclude final negotiations and prepare for execution an Option Agreement and any other final documents and agreements necessary to implement the public/private partnership between the City of Reading and M.B. Investments relating to the Antietam Lake Property".
11/28/05 - By the same 4-3 vote, City Council passed Resolution No. 109-2005 authorizing and approving the Option Agreement with M.B. Investments.
11/29/05 - M.B. executed the Option Agreement and presented it to Mayor McMahon for his signature. The Mayor refuses to sign, citing the City Charter, which requires the transfer of city-owned property to be by ordinance (subject to the Mayor's veto), and not by a council resolution.
12/08/05 - M.B. and Councilmen Spencer, Figueroa, Schorn and Sterner filed a petition for a writ of mandamus requesting the court to order the Mayor to sign the Option Agreement.
12/27/05 - A hearing was held on the mandamus petition.
12/30/05 - Judge Jeffrey Schmehl (Berks County Court of Common Pleas) issued an order denying plaintiff's motion for mandamus.
1/05/06 - M.B. and the councilmen appealed to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Schmehl's denial of their mandamus petition.
7/28/06 - The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania denied the appeal of M.B. and the councilmen.
8/28/06 - M.B. and the councilmen filed their Petition for Allowance of Appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
3/01/07 - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied the Petition for Allowance of Appeal.
3/03/07 - Mascaro's attorney announced that the litigation would no longer be pursued.
