If it were a commercial with city officials walking out on citizens because pizza is ready, perhaps it would be amusing.
But this is the real thing.
Garden City’s mayor didn't let seven residents facing evictions address the council on Monday night because he didn't want to delay a pizza party after the meeting, Christine MacDonald writes in The Detroit News
The meeting was to swear in new officials, Mayor Randy Walker explains, and those events don't usually include public comment.
“It’s a happy occasion,” Walker says. “We had food waiting. We had pizza coming out of the oven at 7:45.”
Well, not all were happy. Tarek Baydoun, a lawyer for the homeowners, plans to file a complaint to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office alleging a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act, The News says.
The attorney may have a legit gripe.
Leonard Niehoff, a University of Michigan law professor and Detroit News attorney, told the paper that the law requires some public comment opportunities at public meetings.
The controversy arose because Garden City, like several suburbs, acquired tax-foreclosed homes from Wayne County this summer before they were offered on public auction. The homes were then sold to a developer who plans to flip them for profit, forcing evictions of longtime homeowners, with the goal of preventing blight and discouraging absentee landlords.
