Lisa Goodman is a Minneapolis city council member. A few years back her efforts to deny a development in her ward caused the developer to sue the city under a variety of theories.
The issue may seem boring to most people, but it is pretty important. Most of the decisions made by city councils involve land use--what can be built where. City councils have tremendous power and discretion over these matters.
Residents and businesses have a right to expect fairness from their city. They have a right to be heard, and have their request fairly considered.
A Minneapolis developer felt he had been given an unfair shake, and sued. This isn't that rare or remarkable.
What is remarkable is that the Minnesota district court issued a scathing decision faulting Ms. Goodman for being unfair. Minneapolis appealed; and in May of this year the Court of Appeals upheld the decision against Minneapolis.
The Court of Appeals ordered that Minneapolis reconsider the development proposal becuase its original decision was tainted by Ms. Goodman. The Court held that the orginial decision was "arbitrary and capricious."
That's pretty big news as developers rarely win development challenges. And, it is even more rare that our courts will scold an elected official.
What makes this even more interesting is what the Strib said about this decision--almost nothing. And, its editorial board, which is a frequent critic of GOP elected officials, said absolutely nothing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
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