Courting Liberty

The Supreme Court announced that it will hear a First Amendment challenge to Minnesota’s sweeping, speech-stifling restrictions on what can be worn while voting. Represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, concerned residents like Andy Cilek are targeting the state’s unconstitutional prohibition on wearing anything to the polls that might be interpreted as even slightly ideological, even if it has no relation to any candidate, ballot measure, or political party. The case challenges a Minnesota law that forbids voters from wearing any “political badge, political button, or other political insignia.” Officials have interpreted this open-ended language to cover messages that merely express a general social or philosophical outlook. As the government itself noted at oral argument, Minnesota’s broad political apparel ban encompasses any shirt with the logo of the Chamber of Commerce or the AFL-CIO. In this week's episode of PLF's Courting Liberty podcast, hear from case attorney Wen Fa and client Andy Cilek as they break down the importance and gravity of their fight for free speech.

In a bitterly disappointing decision, Judge Beth Andrus granted Seattle’s motion to dismiss our clients’ First Amendment challenge to the city’s democracy-voucher program. Judge Andrus held that forcing property owners to pay for private residents’ campaign contributions does not burden property owners’ speech rights. Seattle’s new “democracy voucher” program flouts the First Amendment by forcing property owners, through a new tax, to subsidize other people’s political campaign donations and fund candidates not of their choosing. During each local election cycle, Seattle residents are each entitled to four $25 vouchers, which they can contribute to candidates for city council and city attorney. Candidates must abide by spending limits, among other mandates, to be eligible. The program will eventually be extended to the mayor’s race. Funding comes from a new property tax levied specifically for this program. In this week's episode of PLF's Courting Liberty podcast, hear from case attorney Ethan Blevins about this decision and how First Amendment rights include both the right to speak and the right not to speak.

“We were blindsided by the city,” said PLF client David Garrett. “You deserve at least a phone call or letter from the government—and an opportunity for a hearing—before it sends over a bulldozer. The city’s failure to contact us was simply outrageous.” When David and Lourdes Garrett purchased a neglected townhouse from the City of New Orleans in 2015, they had plans to renovate it and rent it out. But they never had a chance. Approximately four months after the acquisition, the City demolished the building. It provided the Garretts with no prior notice, hearing, or opportunity to repair. Hear from David Garrett as he details his constitutional challenge to these abuses of their fundamental property rights and due process rights.

Book Passage, a renowned Bay Area bookseller, filed a constitutional lawsuit in May against onerous new state restrictions that made it extremely risky, if not impossible, for stores to sell autographed books or host author events, like the more than 700 book signings hosted by Book Passage each year. After PLF and Book Passage owner Bill Petrocelli filed suit, California has now rescinded the state’s onerous “certificate of authenticity” requirement for the sale of autographed books. Hear directly from Bill and case attorney Anastasia Boden about the impact of this victory for freedom, common sense, and Bill's right to be an upstanding small business owner.

Hear directly from PLF client Kaiden Johnson and his mother, Miranda Lynch, as they explain their willingness to fight for the right that school athletics can’t turn kids away based on their sex. Kaiden Johnson is a 15-year-old sophomore male student at Superior High School of Superior, Wisconsin. Kaiden has danced competitively for eight years, and a year ago successfully competed for Superior High’s varsity dance team. Because the city of Superior borders Minnesota, Superior High’s athletics teams primarily compete against five Minnesota high schools located in the Duluth, Minnesota metropolitan area; Superior High and these Minnesota schools, along with one other Wisconsin high school, comprise the Lake Superior Conference, a division of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). At a Lake Superior Conference dance competition held this past December, Kaiden was prohibited from competing with his team based on his sex. MSHSL officials in charge of the competition forced Superior High’s dance team to comply with the league’s designation of dance as a female-only sport, consequently prohibiting Kaiden from competing due to his sex.

Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys Jonathan Wood and Damien Schiff have a conversation with Collin Callahan about the Utah prairie dog, a rare species of rodent found in Southwestern Utah. For decades, federal Endangered Species Act regulations have forbidden state biologists from doing what is best for the species and local residents from doing things that most of us take for granted in our own communities.

PLF's Vice President for Litigation Jim Burling hosts a discussion with PLF President and CEO Steven D. Anderson about the dawn of an exciting new time at Pacific Legal Foundation. Jim and Steven set the table for an expanded vision of PLF's future of fighting for Americans rights nationwide and affecting change that will reverberate throughout the Country and make Pacific Legal Foundation forever synonymous with defending liberty and justice for all.

PLF's Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Brian Hodges about the city of Seattle's new money making scheme that is certain to effect all Seattle taxpayers. The City of Seattle enacted an income tax targeting those making in excess of $250,000 per year with a 2.25% tax rate, setting a 0% rate for everyone else. Sold as a “wealth tax,” the City’s income tax aims to punish achievement and success, while threatening poor and middle class families who could fall subject to new city, county, and state taxes if Seattle’s actions go unchallenged. In a complaint filed on behalf of several Seattle residents, PLF argues that the City knowingly violated the law and is attempting to subvert its citizens’ rights by seeking to exclude ‘income’ from the state constitutional protections for property.

Collin Callahan hosts an insightful discussion with PLF D.C. Center Executive Director Todd Gaziano and PLF Attorney Jonathan Wood about the conclusion of an extensive, public review of national monuments by Department of Interior and Secretary Zinke. The agency has not disclosed its recommendations for individual monuments, which will be made public after the President reviews them. But the report leaves no doubt that past Antiquities Act abuse has been a serious problem and that President Trump has the authority to modify existing monument boundaries, including significant reductions in size if necessary or appropriate to comply with the text and purpose of the Act.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads a discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Tony Francois about how Duarte Nursery, its president John Duarte, and Pacific Legal Foundation and their co-counsel have agreed to a settlement with the United States in the federal government’s nearly five-year enforcement action over Duarte’s routine action of plowing its property to plant wheat in late 2012. Under the agreement, Duarte would admit no liability, pay the government $330,000 in a civil penalty, purchase $770,000 worth of vernal pool mitigation credits, and perform additional work on the site of the plowing.

PLF Director of Communications Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Attorney Oliver Dunford and Kirk Wilbur, Director of Government Relations with the California Cattlemen's Association about how Federal officials illegally ignored the economic impacts on small businesses, landowners, agriculture, and local governments last year when they set aside 1.8-million acres in Central and Northern California as “critical habitat” for the Yosemite toad and two yellow-legged frog species in the Sierra Nevada. A lawsuit filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service challenges these sweeping habitat designations because the agency did not comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). That statute requires comprehensive economic analysis before new federal rules can be imposed that could significantly affect small business and small government entities. PLF filed the challenge on behalf of three statewide organizations with members who are affected by the habitat designations — the California Cattlemen’s Association, California Farm Bureau Federation, and California Wool Growers Association.

PLF Attorney Jonathan Wood hosts a discussion with PLFs D.C. Center Executive Director Todd Gaziano and Robert Alt of The Buckeye Institute to discuss how PLF and like-minded organizations are suggesting how President Trump and the current administration can use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) more aggressively to overturn burdensome regulations. Many have said that the window to use the CRA to undo regulations has closed. However, a coalition of liberty-minded public policy and legal organizations have joined forces to challenge that notion. PLF recently launched a revamped Red Tape Rollback website and is advocating an expanded use of the Congressional Review Act — potentially paving the way for hundreds of rules to be reconsidered.

Pacific Legal Foundation's Harold Johnson talks with Nancy Speed of the American Federation of Aviculture, Inc. (AFA) and PLF Attorney Christina Martin about the potential delisting of the Golden Conure, a bird bred to be pets. In 2014, the American Federation of Aviculture, Inc. (AFA), filed a petition to delist the golden conure (Guaruba guarouba), also known as the golden parakeet (Aratinga guarouba), which the Service classified as endangered in 1976. The golden conure is native to Brazil, but some members of the AFA own and breed these birds. The AFA wants the bird delisted because, under current regulations, an owner must get a take permit from the Service to move or sell the bird, which increases the cost and difficulty of breeding these birds. The AFA’s petition relied partly on scholarly estimates that the population of the bird has grown from 1,000-2,500 when it was listed to 10,000-20,000.

PLF's Creative Director Brian Feulner joins client and turkey farmer Willie Benedetti and PLF attorney Jeremy Talcott from Benedetti's Ranch in Marin County to discuss how the County’s new forced-farming mandate denies building permits to landowners in the coastal agricultural zone UNLESS they agree to personally engage in farming or ranching. PLF’s lawsuit challenges the coercive requirement as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, because it unconstitutionally deprives Willie of his liberty to engage in the career of his choosing. The requirement is also challenged under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, because it amounts to an unreasonable dictate with no tie to any public need created by any development project application.

Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Attorney Christina Martin and Reginald Hill, a Church Deacon at Wayside Church. Several small property owners, including Reginald, are turning to the Supreme Court for help after they were victimized by Michigan’s abusive foreclosure law. Their appeal—a petition for certiorari — asks the justices to review and strike down the Michigan General Property Tax Act, which allows local government to sell people’s property for delinquent taxes, and hoard any extra profits for itself.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson speaks with PLF Attorney Ethan Blevins and client Mark Elster about how PLF and Mark are fighting back against forcing Seattle property owners, through a new tax, to subsidize other people’s political campaign donations and fund candidates not of their choosing. The first of its kind in the country, Seattle’s voucher program was enacted in 2015 as Initiative 122. During each local election cycle, Seattle residents are each entitled to four $25 vouchers, which they can contribute to candidates for city council and city attorney. Candidates must abide by spending limits, among other mandates, to be eligible. The program will eventually be extended to the mayor’s race. Funding comes from a new property tax levied specifically for this program.

PLF Vice President of Litigation Jim Burling interviews PLF General Counsel John Groen, President and CEO Steven Anderson, and client Donna Murr about the recent Supreme Court decision in Murr v. St. Croix County and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court delivered an adverse ruling for property rights in the case of Murr v. State of Wisconsin and St. Croix County, with the majority failing to recognize the constitutional violation that government imposed on the Murr family.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Mark Miller about how officials at Vero Beach High School and the Indian River County School Board have finally withdrawn all punishment of student J.P. Krause – a rising senior whom they unlawfully penalized for the “offense” of delivering a tongue-in-cheek speech in his successful candidacy for student body president. Vero Beach High School withdrew their order disqualifying him from serving in the post that he won by a landslide. On June 19 they announced that they will also rescind their finding that his harmless, humorous speech somehow violated the school’s anti-harassment policy.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads an impassioned discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Mark Miller and PLF client J.P. Krause about how Vero Beach High School has trampled on J.P.'s First Amendment rights. PLF has sent a formal letter to officials with Vero Beach High School, calling on them to rescind their unwarranted and unconstitutional punishment of PLF’s client, J.P. Krause, for the “offense” of delivering a harmless, tongue-in-cheek speech as a candidate for student body president.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads a discussion with PLF Attorney Anastasia Boden and PLF Client John Loudon about how PLF is fighting a California law that allows unions to block certain contributions by contractors to industry associations that the unions don’t like. Previously, in lieu of paying the full prevailing wage (i.e., an amount reflecting unionized wage levels), contractors on state projects could donate to organizations with a mission of advancing the building industry. But under SB 954, such contributions are allowed only 1) if the business is unionized or agrees to play by union rules on a given project; and 2) if the union formally approves of the donation.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson is joined by PLF Attorney Wen Fa and PLF Client Andy Cilek to discuss how The Supreme Court is being asked to review Minnesota's speech-stifling restrictions on voter apparel. The law tramples free speech rights by forbidding voters from wearing anything to the polls that might be interpreted as even slightly political or ideological, even if it has no relation to any candidate, ballot measure, or political party.

PLF Attorney Jonathan Wood leads a discussion with PLF D.C. Center Executive Director Todd Gaziano and PLF Attorney Jeffrey McCoy on the Congressional Review Act and how the opportunity to use the act to effect positive change is crucially important. In recent weeks, many have said that the window to use the CRA to undo regulations has closed. However, a coalition of liberty-minded public policy and legal organizations have joined forces to challenge that notion. PLF recently launched a revamped Red Tape Rollback website and is advocating an expanded use of the Congressional Review Act — potentially paving the way for hundreds of rules to be reconsidered.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads a discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Tony Francois about how PLF client and Duarte Nursery co-owner John Duarte's due process rights are being plowed under by the feds. The outcome of this case against the Duarte family has major implications not only for Duarte Nursery, but for farmers across the United States.

PLF Senior Attorney Joshua Thompson hosts an in-depth conversation with PLF client and Book Passage bookstore owner Bill Petrocelli and PLF Attorney Anastasia Boden on how California’s newly expanded autograph law which formerly applied only to sports memorabilia — now applies to sellers of any signed commodity worth over $5, including books. In response to this, PLF and Book Passage have filed a constitutional lawsuit against the onerous new state restrictions that will make it extremely risky, if not impossible, for stores to sell autographed books or host author events, like the more than 700 book signings hosted by Book Passage each year.

PLF's D.C. Center Attorney Jonathan Wood hosts a special podcast discussion from Washington D.C. on how Pacific Legal Foundation is stepping up to defend the Congressional Review Act. Joining Wood for the discussion and analysis are PLF D.C. Center Executive Director and Senior Fellow in Constitutional Law Todd Gaziano and PLF Attorney Oliver Dunford. PLF has moved to intervene against a federal lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity — which claims, astonishingly, that Congress and the president violate the Constitution when they pass a law that rescinds a bureaucracy’s regulation. As PLF argues, CBD’s lawsuit seeks to turn the Constitution on its head, placing unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats above Congress. Under our Constitution, administrative agencies only have power that Congress chooses to delegate to them. Congress is free to limit its delegation of power as it sees fit.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads a candid discussion with PLF's Executive Vice President and General Counsel John Groen and PLF Client Jennifer Lynch about the May 4th California Supreme Court hearing on PLF's challenge to the California Coastal Commission’s attack on some Encinitas residents’ right to protect their oceanfront homes from storms and erosion. The Lynch's troubles date back to December, 2010, when a severe storm and erosion destroyed their seawall and the lower portion of their long-existing stairway that led from their homes down to the beach. The City of Encinitas gave Lynch and Frick permission to rebuild the seawall and the stairway. But the Coastal Commission balked, and refused to affirm that approval. Instead, the commission attached a condition that the seawall permit would expire in 20 years, forcing the homeowners to apply again or tear out the seawall.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson hosts a conversation with PLF Attorney Anastasia Boden on PLF's Economic Liberty Project. PLF believes it is the right of every person to earn an honest living and compete freely without unreasonable government interference. The Economic Liberty Project is dedicated to challenging irrational and anti-competitive occupational licensing laws which exist not to protect the public, but serve only to protect discrete interest groups from competition.

PLF Senior Attorney Joshua Thompson hosts a special discussion with PLF Client Adam Mueller, a fifth generation butter maker at Minerva Dairy. Ohio-based Minerva Dairy, America’s oldest family-owned cheese and butter dairy, sued Wisconsin over its newly enforced ban on the sale of ungraded butter. As the lawsuit argues, the ban is an unjustified, anti-competitive restriction that protects large Wisconsin-based dairies, while blocking 123-year-old Minerva Dairy from selling its artisanal butters to Dairy State consumers, as well as freezing out most other dairies across the country.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Atlantic Center Attorney Christina Martin about how federal officials have missed their legal deadline for acting on a petition to remove the golden parakeet from Endangered Species Act coverage. Therefore, PLF is serving notice on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the agency will be sued if the foot-dragging continues.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson leads a discussion with PLF Senior Attorney Damien Schiff and renowned Colorado-based wildlife biologist Dr. Rob Roy Ramey about the delisting petition submitted by PLF calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from Endangered Species Act coverage. The petition is based on new scientific findings confirming that the mouse, far from being “threatened,” is not meaningfully different from other populations of jumping mice with healthy populations in a number of parts of North America.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson interviews PLF Northwest Center Attorney Ethan Blevins and PLF Client MariLyn Yim about PLF's challenging of Seattle’s new mandate forcing landlords to rent to the first qualified person who applies for a unit. By denying owners the freedom to choose among qualified applicants and to exercise nondiscriminatory discretion about who will live in their units, the “first in time” rule violates state constitutional protections for property rights.

PLF's D.C. Center Executive Director Todd Gaziano hosts a special, post Supreme Court oral argument round table discussion with PLF's Executive Vice President and General Counsel John Groen, PLF's President and CEO Steven Anderson, and PLF client Donna Murr. On March 20, 2017, the historic property rights case of Murr v. State of Wisconsin and St. Croix County was argued at the Supreme Court. The Murrs would like to sell the vacant parcel, to fund repairs to their family cabin which sits on an adjacent parcel that their parents bought several years earlier. But government officials — imposing regulations enacted after both parcels were purchased — have forbidden them from selling or making any productive use of the vacant investment parcel.

Director of Litigation at Pacific Legal Foundation, Jim Burling, interviews General Counsel at PLF, John Groen, about what it takes to present an argument in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Groen's upcoming case is Murr v. Wisconsin and St. Croix County and will be heard on March 20, 2017 in Washington D.C.

Pacific Legal Foundation's Harold Johnson interviews PLF attorney Jonathan Wood and Beth Casoni of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. Casoni is one Wood's several clients in the fishing industry that is challenging the Obama Administrations use of the Antiquities Act to designate vast swaths of ocean as a national monument.

PLF Attorney Jonathan Wood, Executive Director of PLF's DC Center Todd Gaziano and Senior Attorney Tony Francois dive into the Congressional Review Act in this podcast brought to you by the Pacific Legal Foundation. For more information about the Pacific Legal Foundation project, visit www.redtaperollback.com.

PLF's Director of Communications Harold Johnson speaks with PLF Senior Attorney Damien Schiff, Kirk Wilbur of the California Cattlemen's Association and Kathy DeForest, a rancher in Modoc County California, about the California's endangered species listing of the Gray Wolf.

Pacific Legal Foundation's Harold Johnson interviews Managing Attorney for PLF’s Atlantic Center in Florida, Mark Miller, and his client Jim Iwanicki, engineer manager for the Marquette County Road Commission in Marquette County, Michigan. PLF joined with Marquette County officials in appealing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s unjustified veto of local road project, CR-595, that is vital for community safety and environmental health.

PLF Director of Litigation Jim Burling, interviews client Donna Murr, PLF General Counsel John Groen and PLF Attorney Dave Breemer about Murr's case which will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 20, 2017.

President Trump has announced the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. PLF attorneys Todd Gaziano, Mark Miller and Tony Francois discuss the nominee and highlight some of his qualifications for the nation's highest court.

It's school choice week! PLF attorney's Joshua Thompson and Wencong Fa talk about PLF's involvement in school choice through our donor-supported litigation nationwide. School choice embodies the simple proposition that parents know the best school for their children. By injecting choice and competition into the traditional public school monopoly, parents, students, teachers, schools, and taxpayers are better off.

PLF's Harold Johnson, PLF principal attorney Reed Hopper and Director of Litigation Jim Burling discuss PLF's WOTUS case being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Specifically the question raised is which court get's to hear if the waters of the United States rule is appropriate or not. In the case that the High Court accepted — National Association of Manufacturers v. U.S. Department of Defense — the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals adopted a restrictive approach to judicial relief, allowing only federal courts of appeals to hear WOTUS challenges.

Pacific Legal Foundation's Harold Johnson interviews PLF attorney Christina Martin and Lisa Moore, the President of Save Crystal River, about how the US Fish and Wildlife Service is dragging their feet on down listing Florida's West Indian Manatee. After a population comeback the USFWS advised the manatee be delisted to "threatened" in 2007. The classification has yet to become official.

Director of Litigation at Pacific Legal Foundation, Jim Burling, talks with PLF attorney's Larry Salzman and David Breemer about how PLF will take on property rights in 2017. Salzman also touches on economic liberty issues and Burling gives an update on environmental affairs. All three guests discuss their thoughts on what the PLF fight will look like under a new President.

Director of Litigation at Pacific Legal Foundation, Jim Burling, interviews PLF General counsel John Groen, Principal Attorney Reed Hopper, and PLF's President Steven Anderson about 2016 highlights and what to look forward to in 2017. PLF attorneys and clients have declared victory in several important cases in 2016. Going toe-to-toe against powerful bureaucracies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, PLF has drawn on the bravery of our clients and the financial muscle of our donors to defend Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights.

PLF's Harold Johnson interviews PLF Staff Attorney Anastasia Boden about a brief that was filed in the Oregon Supreme Court on behalf of her client David Hansen. Hansen, an architectural designer working on getting his architecture license in Oregon, created some marketing drawings that were meant to help a property development company attract retailers to developments. The drawings were not "plans" and couldn't be used for construction. However, Hansen and his partner were fined $10,000 each for purportedly practicing architecture without a license.

PLF's Chief Communications Officer Robert Krauter interviews Todd Gaziano, Executive Director of PLF’s DC Center, and PLF attorney Jonathan Wood about the Antiquities Act and what it means for National Monuments throughout the state. The Antiquities Act is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from public lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features. The Act has been used, and abused, over a hundred times since its passage.

PLF Principal Attorney Joshua Thompson gives an update about his case, White v. VICC, involving a young black student that was denied attending his school of choice because of the color of his skin. Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, La,Shikea White's lawsuit targets race-based restrictions that prohibit African-American students who reside in St. Louis County from transferring to public schools in the City of St. Louis, while allowing students who are not African-American to make such transfers.

​Harold Johnson of Pacific Legal Foundation interviews PLF Senior Staff Attorney Anthony Francois and PLF's Public Outreach Coordinator Ashley Indrieri about PLF's new environmental education campaign to stop starving farms and wildlife.

Pacific Legal Foundation's Harold Johnson interviews PLF Attorney Caleb Trotter and his client Peggy Fontenot about her challenge in Fontenot v. Pruitt. Peggy, a renowned American Indian artist and a member of a state-recognized tribe, cannot market her beaded jewelry, photographs and other art as “Indian Made” in Oklahoma because state law prohibits anyone other than a member of a federally recognized tribe from marketing their art as “Indian Made.” PLF argues that the Oklahoma law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the Commerce and Due Process clauses.

Pacific Legal Foundation's John Groen, Todd Gaziano, Jim Burling and Tony Francois talk about the administrative state, it's history, and reflect on how some of PLF's recent wins have affected it. We have seen a disturbing and dangerous trend of government agencies creating their own rules and acting as judge and jury. Our podcast discussion describes how PLF intends to build upon the existing precedents that strengthen judicial review of administrative agency decisions, and specifically to expand access to federal courts for all Americans confronting arbitrary and abusive agency actions.

Harold Johnson interviews PLF Principal Attorney Brian Hodges about a case out of West Hollywood where the city demanded a roughly $540,000 fee to be used for “affordable housing” as a condition of a couple’s building permits. Shelah and Jonathan Lehrer-Graiwer thought they could help meet the housing demand in West Hollywood when they purchased two adjacent homes in the early 2000s, with a dream of building 11 condos on the lots. The city even praised the “superior architectural design” of the project, and noted that it would provide “11 families with a high quality living environment” while “helping the city achieve its share of the regional housing need.” The city then slapped them with a fee that would be roughly one third of the project’s total income.