Three new Highland Park City Council members who were elected to bring fresh ideas to the financially struggling city have found themselves stuck in a virtual loop of mayoral vetoes, internal pushback, and insults.
On Monday, they finally had enough and walked out of a council meeting, leaving the other two elected members without a quorum to proceed.
“This is crazy,” Councilman Khursheed Ash-Shafii, one of the three members who walked out, tells Metro Times. “You can’t make this shit up. Steven King is one of the most talented people in the world, and even he couldn’t make this up.”
Much of the conflict began when the trio tried to amend what they say is a problematic, unlawful cannabis ordinance that fails to ensure community benefits, gives sole authority to the clerk to dole out licenses, and exposes the city to costly litigation.
The ordinance led to several lawsuits against the city after the previous council passed it in 2020.
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