Rochester City Attorney Terry Adkins stopped at the KROC-AM studio Wednesday morning for his regular monthly appearance on the Rochester Today show with Tracy McCray and Andy Brownell.

Adkins explained the gas utility franchise fee issue that has been the topic of discussion by the Rochester City Council over the past couple months. While he didn't offer an opinion on whether it should be imposed, Adkins says the basis of the proposed fee is that Minnesota Energy Resources uses public property for its natural gas distribution network, noting Charter Communications pays a fee for its use of city owned facilities to distribute its Internet, TV and phone services, and local taxi companies pay franchise fees for using public roadways for their business.

The prosecution of the organizers of the recent protest at the Mall of America was also a topic of Wednesday's show. Adkins, who indicated he is both a colleague and friend of the Bloomington City Attorney, says the filing of charges against the members of the group Black Lives Matter represents a uniform application of the law. He says the Twin Cities suburb has a history of prosecuting cases involving demonstrations staged at the Mall of America by a variety of groups and declining to charge the Black Lives Matter organizers would be an unequal application of the law.

He notes the Minnesota Supreme Court previously ruled the giant retail complex is private property, despite the public subsidies that helped develop the site,  in a case involving a protest that was staged by an animal-rights group years ago.

Click on the play button below to listen to the entire show.

 

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