
God speaks to us about ‘our story’ through aspects of other stories known to us, that he highlights, in order to show us who and where we are in this scripted play we call “Life.”
Already in reporting on the recent drama involving our unhappy neighbor and the Robbinsdale City Council I have referenced the movies Braveheart and The Castle. Two other movies I was recently prompted to view, the Outlaw King and Roma have also been used by Father to inform our story.
A biblical story that has proved central to this heavenly commentary is that of Esther whose drama is portrayed in the movie we watched last night, “One Night With The King.’
This past week I had the opportunity to meet with the king of Robbinsdale. Our mayor’s name is Regan. It is an Irish name meaning “King’s heir”. I didn’t do an overnight with him, but we did have a friendly cup of coffee together at Hy Vee : -)
I wrote previously about how at our last meeting with the City Council they seemed impacted by what I said and sang, and by the groundswell of support for us from our neighbors. (There were over 60 voiced their support by letter, petition or verbal testimony at a prior Public Hearing)
The City staff were subsequently instructed by the Council to find a way to accommodate our wholesome and healing ‘way of life’ at The Big Green House. A few weeks ago we were disappointed to receive a letter from the City bureaucrat asking us to pay still more money and jump through still more hoops!
You’ll remember how in Esther’s story King Ahasuerus was unable to sleep and called for ‘the books of records’ to be opened and read. Therein he discovered something that was pivotal in the story of the deliverance of God’s people.
Well since that Council meeting, a lawyer friend of ours took it upon himself to open and read ‘the book’ of the City Code.
As a result I presented the Mayor at our meeting with an extensive legal memorandum from our friend. This is a part of that memo:
“We have reviewed the Robbinsdale City Council’s determination that the Kyles have violated the City’s “single family” occupancy ordinance.
In our view, if the City chose to enforce its decision, the decision will not withstand judicial scrutiny. This is because the grievance at issue is purely private and the City’s ordinances do not allow the City to enforce its ordinances for purely private grievances—the ordinances expressly require public, community harm as a condition to enforcement;
Apparently overlooked by the City in its decision and debate is the fact that section 425.07 of the Robbinsdale City Ordinances requires that the City’s enforce its property management code “exclusively for the purpose of promoting public, as opposed to private, welfare”:
425.07. Discrimination and privacy. The PMC is to be enforced exclusively for the purpose of promoting public, as opposed to private, welfare. Except as may be specifically provided herein or incidental to the enforcement hereof, the PMC is not intended to interfere with personal privacy or with private legal rights and liabilities, including without limitation landlord/tenant and lessor/lessee relationships. In enacting and enforcing the PMC, the City neither expressly nor by implication assumes any obligations or liabilities respecting such private rights or disputes, including those which involve or arise out of the non-conformity of any premises in the City to the provisions of the PMC.
Robbins. Ord. § 425.07 (emphasis supplied).
Section 425.07 clearly prohibits the City from employing its police enforcement power to protect purely private interests.
We have listened to the recording of the neighbor’s testimony and complaints to the City’s Planning Commission. The neighbor complains of: (1) children walking on her newly planted grass and picking flowers in her yard; (2) children’s soccer balls rolling into her chives and raspberries; (3) Kyle residents walking on the pathway on the side of the Kyles house and on the Kyle property to enter the Kyle property from the back; (4) an unspecific and vague noise and traffic complaint that was not shared by any other neighbor who testified, is not corroborated by City Police Chief who lives on the other side of the Kyles, and is not affirmed by any of the 38 neighbors who signed the petition supporting the Kyles. In the public record that would be presented to a court, there is therefore no evidence that Kyles’ use of their home has caused any public, community harm.
Because the grievances in the record are purely private concerns—concerns that do not involve the community or other neighbors—section 425.07 prohibits the City from taking any enforcement action even if the Kyles are in technical violation of the single family rules. Section 425.07 expressly prohibits what the Kyles’ neighbor appears to be attempting to do here—using and abusing the City and its police power to enforce a private grievance.
Please note, we find the neighbor’s concerns to be sincere. And the reality is that her sincere complaints will not withstand a dispassionate application of the law. If the new neighbor desires to resolve her grievances through a lawsuit, a sober and sane court will inform her that her best route would be to politely knock on the Kyles’ door and ask that the children in the house stay off of her lawn. She will have no success bringing her own lawsuit against the Kyles and if she does she will likely end up paying the Kyle’s attorneys fees for the reasons cited below.”
The Mayor assured me he would have the City lawyers review the memorandum and get back to us.
All the stories cited above, Braveheart, The Castle, The Outlaw King, and Roma, speak to our calling in The House to provide physical, emotional and spiritual shelter for those who are most vulnerable in our society and are doing their best to live legally and responsibly in this broken world.
We have several friends who are also currently engaged in court proceedings over issues of justice where authorities have failed to protect the weak and the innocent but aided and abetted ongoing bullying and abuse.
I believe the discovery of this ordinance presents the leadership of the City of Robbinsdale with an opportunity to take a stand for godly governance in the service of all it’s people in order that what has been described by a professional suicide councillor as the ‘life saving’ work here, can continue.
It remains to be seen, if like King Ahaseurus, they will rise to occasion.
P.S. The photo above ? Our Joy to the World Grandkids band at our neighborhood Christmas party!
P.P.S. The photo below ? Lead by Grace in “Angels we have heard on high” …..after which one of the older residents exclaimed, “That is the song the choir was singing the night my mother crossed over!”
IMMANUEL! Surely God and his angels are with us!
