Monday, March 12, 2007

Nicollet Island NIMBY Lawsuit Dismissed; Yuppie Neighbors Filed in the Wrong Court

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The lawsuit filed by the newly-arrived neighbors of historic DeLaSalle High School contesting permission granted by the City of Minneapolis for the construction of its first athletic field adjacent to the school was dismissed by the court for lack of jurisdiction.
A Hennepin County District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that tried to stop DeLaSalle High School from building an athletic field on historic Nicollet Island in Minneapolis.

Last week, Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum dismissed claims made by several groups, including Friends of the Riverfront, a group of homeowners and users of parks on the island. Claims in the suit against the city of Minneapolis, the Park Board and City Council President Barbara Johnson -- a DeLaSalle board member -- also were dismissed.

"We're very pleased with the decision," said Brother Michael Collins, DeLaSalle's president and chief executive officer. "Our reasons, however, are consistent with what has motivated us for the last century: the education and formation of city kids." Groundbreaking plans are not yet final, Collins said.

Chris Steller of Friends of the Riverfront said Rosenbaum told the parties that her court didn't have jurisdiction and didn't address the merits of the claim StarTribune

One wonders how these sophisticated connoisseurs of the good life secluded from noise and outsiders could have made such a grievous legal error. I suppose they will continue their tantrum and cost the City of Minneapolis and the school more money in their attempt to keep their seclusion.

Go Islanders!

4 comments:

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Good! I'm glad the suit was dismissed but, I agree, the Islanders are not going to just walk away.

I'll wait for you to start getting hate mail on this issue again, Ray.

Sanctus Belle said...

I sure hope DeLaSalle has been reformed. When I was a cheerleader in high school in the late 80's at another Mpls area private school, we cheered at a sporting event there. I was shocked that the students at that time were allowed to smoke in the bathrooms! The school had even supplied huge ashtrays for them. We went to many, many schools and DeLaSalle was the only one I ever saw this in. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Sanctus Belle: I knew some people who went to De La Salle in the 80's when I was in public high school in Minneapolis. Several of them ended up at DLS because they had been kicked out of the public school system. DLS used to be known as one of the schools the kids who could not cut it ended up at.

I don't know if that's still the case.

Anonymous said...

Two facts I see differently: The proposed stadium would not be DeLaSalle's first athletic field. They have an athletic field now, with a regulation football gridiron on it, and have had it since 1984, when they expanded their field onto a blocklong 20-foot strip of the public right-of-way. Also in the 1940s they had a much bigger field after tearing down apartment houses, which they have since built over part of.

Also, the seclusion of the island will be greater, not less, if one of its few roads is closed. Those opposing DeLaSalle's expansion the public to continue to be able to use its roads to explore the island.