We are back with Kelo v. New London. Not only did that SCOTUS Ruling increase the power of Government vis-a-via the People, it opened up a path for bureaucratic planners to play with the property of citizens with no consequences to themselves. Here is one report on the current situation. To quote from that blog post:
In 2005, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Kelo v. New London, using the powers of eminent domain to seize property from one private owner and hand it over to another private owner -- a developer who promised more than 3,000 new jobs and $1.2 million in tax revenue.Sadly, at the end of the day there was not 3,000 new jobs and the tax revenue didn't happen. But, the local taxpayers got to (1) pay for taking the properties and (2) pay for taking the case to the US Supreme Court.
So, we have 91 acres of New London waterfront being used as a dumping ground for the debris of Hurricane Irene. At least the area is now being put to use.
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
How does this compare to Lowell's taking of the Appleton Mills from the Lichoulas family to hand over to Trinity Financial? My understanding is the precedent used to be the property had to be dilapidated before it could be taken to give to another private interest...but that's a fine line.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: Downtown Lowell was originally assembled much like Walt Disney World: A series of shell corporations were established to buy out all the family farms at market rate, as the investors new if the farmers got word of the actual plans, they would demand a fortune. There were a few hold-outs who got wise and got very, very well compensated for their few acres of rocky ground.