An attorney said to me last week that if there has been this much silence from the city AND the defendant it is likely they are in mediation to settle.
Some would argue the city has legal standing in what they are doing, and on some level they do, but some would also argue that the constitutional and federal rights of the defendant is a much stronger case.
What would a possible settlement look like?
I don’t know, because to be honest with you I have never had to deal with such a thing, and I haven’t combed through every detail of the case.
In the simplest terms the city will probably allow him to finish the house and not demolish it, because as Judge Lange stated that would be a total waste, or as someone stated to me, tearing down the house would be the ultimate dick move by the city.
I don’t think the city has many other options.
COUNTY COMMISSIONS AND CITY COUNCIL HAVE BECOME DEFERRAL QUEENS!
The heck with the rubber stamps these bodies have, they have exchanged them for unexpected vacations and deferrals. Have you noticed lately that when the Lincoln and Minnehaha Commissions as well as the Sioux Falls City Council have to make an important decision one of the members will skip the meeting for a ‘scheduled’ vacation or they end up deferring it.
I wonder if any of them realize that when you put off an important decision it makes that ultimate final decision much harder for the public to swallow. Look at Pettigrew neighborhood. Past mayors, councils, officers and administrators have failed to make a dent over the past 30 years and the problem has gotten worse and the mayor calling 20% of the residents in Pettigrew alcoholics doesn’t help the situation.
As I have told councilors and mayors for the past 20 years, if you can’t do the job or are afraid to the job please resign so we can replace you with someone that can. I will agree that personal attacks that are unwarranted towards elected officials is unacceptable, but attacking your competence has always been free game. This has nothing to do with the character of those supposed leaders, it has to do with their courage, or the lack of.
We live in a time when our local city government has a propensity to tear down new homes, yet, they can’t fix the siding on their own events center. Which is more obvious to most and looks more awful? You would think it’s the ones that are being knocked down, but instead it’s the one which remains standing. But then again we build steel and glass Ceausescu monuments at the foot of our local famed cascade, but yet, where are the street cleaners in this town? We drive our streets everyday and pay property taxes for our homes that potentially have a curb appeal, but how often do we go downtown, or to the Falls? Our local city government is working for someone, but it’s not the citizens, rather, it’s those who live in big homes who are confident that their’s will not be torn down. And if there is any sweeping, well, it’s merely under the rug.
“I mistakenly built a nest in an Ash tree a few years ago, and well, I think you know what happened”…
Nah, I think they are just trying to find a compromise, an agreement that works for both parties, the CiTY v Property Holder. Lets remember, the property holder owns pretty much that entire block along that street. I really do not think the city wants to tear down the house, it simply wants to find an agreement between all parties.