Hofstede declines to comment on backroom-deal accusation

Last update: October 3, 2009 - 7:24 PM

Diane Hofstede, the Minneapolis City Council member at the heart of a lawyer's accusations of backroom dealing concerning his client's Stone Arch apartment building, said Saturday she won't comment on the issue.

Lawyer Brian Flakne accused Hofstede of meeting serially with other council members in a way that he said in a draft civil complaint violates the Open Meeting Law. He also accused her of arranging with another council member to make motions to reject an earlier version of the project, which would be in her ward.

"I don't know that I can comment, given that they have made that brief, so I think I won't comment," she said. "I don't think it's worth commenting."

The council Friday rejected an appeal by Flakne-represented developers John Wall and Steve Minn for a 79-unit apartment building near the east end of the Stone Arch Bridge on land that some neighborhood and regional plans designate as future parkland.

Mayor R.T. Rybak's office so far has not responded to inquiries about whether it will consider vetoing the council's denial of an appeal by the developers.

STEVE BRANDT

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