Yeah, Nice Ring Sire. I Think I'll Pass...

So we’ve talked with you HERE about the recent uptick in legal maneuvering taking place on and around Pine Avenue and focused on the continuing spat over Comp Plan compliance and parking. We wish we could tell you it is looking positive but we would be lying. While there are new possibilities for civil discourse and thoughtful resolution, some old habits die hard and it isn't pretty.

To recap, Bob and Nicky Hunt sued the city in December over PAR’s 308 Pine Avenue plan being approved but only, of course, after PAR had sued the city because its 308 plan had been denied but before Eugene Aubry swooped in to save the day and cast the deciding vote for approval PAR’s second time around. Got that? Take a breath because we’re just getting started.

Some question the wisdom of the Hunts filing suit on a theory, density calculations in the ROR, that has previously been rejected by another state agency, particularly when other theories remain untested for whatever reason. However, without muddying up an already technically legal snarl, think of it as the old apples and oranges thing. The previous Department of Community Affairs ruling has no bearing on the issues to be tried in the Hunt's 308 Pine lawsuit and the process by which a determination was made there contrasts starkly with the procedural rigors of state court. And remember, highly qualified, experienced and respected experts on both sides of the Comp Plan battle have rendered opinions upon which the respective camps have reasonably hung their hats, so to claim either side's position is "frivolous" simply ignores the reality of legal process and frankly is frivolous in itself. If the parties will just stick to the issues, stay away from the noise of non-substantive finger pointing and withered history and litigate with an eye to obtaining a reasoned and supportable decision, perhaps much of the consternation surrounding the Comp Plan will lift. That would be a good thing for Anna Maria.

The Nally’s lawsuit over the approval of 216 Pine Avenue has been chugging along vigorously since last March and was a few days away from a potential summary judgment ruling from the Judge when PAR jumped in to say, in so many words, “Wait a minute. It’s our building, we deserve to fight the Nally’s too!” And the Judge said something like “Fine, welcome back to my courtroom.” PAR’s incentive is obvious: if the city loses, their building could go bye-bye. Not a good thing for PAR.

So, the summary judgment hearing got pushed back a few weeks and you’d think PAR would immediately start to prepare for that, you know? Important stuff, right? Sit down with the city since their interests are aligned, compare notes, come up with a legal argument as to why the city and PAR are right and the Nallys are wrong. Substantive stuff like case law and statutes and evidence, the sort of things a judge needs to see and hear so he can say “Okay, you win, they lose.” So now you’re thinking “Well, how does that work if PAR is suing the city over two other properties on the same issues?” Good question and just another reason for them to be spending valuable time enriching their lawyers by focusing on productive and substantive issues and getting to a reasoned and just community-minded result.

That’s what PAR says they want, right? To be constructive? To seek just solutions? To “care about their community,” as the Mayor has praised?

Uh, wrong.

No, instead PAR and its lawyers spent the waning days of 2010 preparing a 55 page meandering, substantively bankrupt and legally baseless waste of paper that does nothing but pour salt in old wounds, wounds that had just begun to heal. Why? Because they can, one supposes. Because it’s their pattern. Because this is a war they intend to win at all costs regardless of their smiling public faces and endearing platitudes.

The Motion to Dismiss and For Sanctions filed by PAR on December 30th contains not one scintilla of argument supporting why the city (and thus PAR) has properly interpreted the Comp Plan. Not one basis upon which 216 Pine was appropriately approved. Fifty-five pages and nothing, nada, zilch.

In fact the first portion of the motion merely asks the judge to dismiss the whole thing outright, something to which PAR’s lawyers know very well they are not entitled. An intervening party cannot file a motion to dismiss so late in the game. Period. It’s simply another legal snipe hunt, a waste of the judge’s time and a waste of your tax dollars having your City Attorney wade through more PAR misdirection instead of being allowed to target substantive issues. But what’s new there, huh?

The rest of the 55 pages is a sad and wilted regurgitation of the whole email fiasco/recall mess. No, really, it is. There is nothing new, nothing constructive, nothing that seeks resolution or community or that kumbaya attitude they have said is the “feeling and tune of the day.” Just more pitiful “Poor us, they were mean to us, they don’t like us, they ganged up on us, we are the victims” whiny blather. Don’t Cry For Me Pine Avenue…

The fact that PAR seeks “sanctions” through a convoluted and distorted manipulation of facts and law from private citizens, most all of whom have no litigious association with 216 Pine whatsoever, is one thing, but the bald audacity of claiming to be a victim is so, well, so PAR. I mean, come on. You spend a year following, intimidating and threatening residents, shopkeepers, volunteers and public servants, hiring an ex-con to wallow in your mud, to front your muckraking and litigation and now to be your press spokesperson; a year of video-taping and court reporting every public meeting of two or more officials, suing the city not once but twice then elbowing into a third lawsuit to delay a day of reckoning; and all the while proactively paying what has to be hundreds of thousands of dollars for platoons of lawyers, “paralegals” and consultants to descend on every commission and committee meeting since the end of 2009, and you want to cry “victim”? Did they steal your candy too?

In its motion for sanctions PAR complains it has been caused:

...unnecessary delay, economic disadvantage, and substantial attorneys (sic) fees and costs to defend against the multiple actions… (emphasis added).

Pardon me but that's simply bullshit. The only “actions” in which PAR is named are actions brought by PAR itself. PAR has never been a defendant. Ever. PAR has never been sued, never been served with process and has never been made to defend a single lawsuit, action or claim. The only legal proceedings, save the Nally suit, PAR is or has ever been involved in have been instigated, investigated, filed, funded and prosecuted aggressively by PAR itself. And, ten months after it was filed, they jumped into the Nally suit for purely selfish reasons: they want their building to stand and their actions in that case thus far have been, quite obviously, anything but “defensive.” PAR is the predator not the prey.

It may be true PAR is not solely responsible for starting this war, there is enough blame and ill-advised lunacy to go around, but they have methodically, enthusiastically and cynically escalated it beyond any sense of reason and reality. Why? Because they can. After all, they admit that when they were “maligned” and “called out” on their “own island” they “prepared to litigate” their detractors “into a very big crack.” Which they did and, as we see now, continue to do. How civic minded. How very kumbaya. How did we get so “lucky” Mayor Selby? Victims. Hmph.

Bonner Joy can call for an end to the “hate” (while, in typical fashion, simultaneously trashing the classiest most talented guy she ever published, go figure), and we’re all for that, but this isn’t about that. This is about what’s right. This is about integrity, what’s honorable and laudable. So, go ahead PAR, build your buildings and meander your sidewalks. Work the system and massage the politics and squeeze the votes you need from those willing to sacrifice values and principles to park your vision of Pine Avenue on top of its soul simply because you command that it to be so. You may not have the Comp Plan or the support from a majority of citizens but you have the resources and you have the power and you have the influence not to care. You also have the will. Good for you. Welcome to Bedford Falls. You must be proud.

But stop the intimidation and senseless frat boy bravado. You want to play king? Go ahead. Have at it. We get it. Just don’t expect us to kiss your ring. All the kneeling stools are taken anyway.

And, oh yeah, shut up about it. Decide what to do and go do it, just stop whining about how much it hurts when you’re the one clamping the vise.

It’s all just so useless, really.

Stay informed

Bill Yanger