"Government exists to serve the people

[Mister Ed]

4. Much more to it than property values, I think.

White Bear Lake is a tremendous, publicly-held asset. It's by far the best recreational lake in the East Metro, and it's used freely by all. A public asset like that needs to be protected and preserved by our governmental agencies.

If it's at all practical and feasible to restore the lake at this point, then it should be restored. It's a very thorny problem, though, and I'm sure no one in government wants to own it. It may be that the only way to compel the government to address the issue is through a lawsuit. I just hope that doesn't mean that a lot of taxpayer dollars will be spent on legal costs when they could be spent serving the public.

Returning to the topic of property values, though: if your neighbors were literally under water - if, for example, their backyards were now partially flooded due to shortsighted and greedy governmental policies - then I very much hope they would sue for redress, rather than just accepting the loss.