Judge gives St. Paul deadline to produce Summit Ave. bikeway records
An opponent of a planned 4.7-mile bikeway along St. Paul’s historic Summit Avenue filed an injunction against the city last March, arguing that no work should move forward until the city releases copies of thousands of internal emails, text messages and planning documents.
City officials have maintained for months they’ve done just that, though bikeway opponent Robert Cattanach has argued that the city’s review of its own records was incomplete.
On Dec. 21, Ramsey County District Court judge Patrick Diamond issued a 28-page order calling for the city to fully comply with Cattanach’s information requests within 45 days, which would put the deadline in early February.
Among the issues considered by Diamond, a drop-down menu on the city’s online information portal allows users to make information requests of particular city departments, such as St. Paul Public Works or St. Paul Parks and Recreation, but that does not necessarily trigger a keyword search within all city offices.
Cattanach, in his legal filings, objected “to the city’s practice of limiting the scope of its search for documents to a single or small number of city departments.”
Diamond largely agreed, noting that while the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act requires a responsible government body to “exercise judgment as to where and how to look for data responsive to the request, throughout the government entity,” the city had failed to show that most searches were conducted outside of the pre-determined city departments.
While searches roping in other departments occurred only “on exceptional occasions,” the judge wrote, “the city has steadfastly maintained that a limited, departmental response is sufficient.”
Following hours of public testimony for and against the curb-protected bikeway project, the St. Paul City Council approved the Summit Avenue bikeway by a vote of 6-1 last May.
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