Our say: Lame-duck council clears desks, leaves big problems behind

THE LAME-DUCK City Council, with five of its eight members about to depart, cleared off its desks in a marathon session Monday night. But it left the underlying issues of growth for its successor, which will be sworn in next week.

With hardly a murmur, the council unanimously agreed to lease the city-owned Market House to a private management company for 20 years - terminating an issue that roiled city politics for much of the year and generated plenty of election-year bile.

Ideally, we would have preferred to see the newly elected aldermen get a chance to review this issue before signing the city up for a two-decade...