Saturday, June 25, 2005
Eminent Domain
The Supreme Court's decision to allow the Eminent Domain ruling to be used to transfer property from individual property owners to other private parties and corporations to "serve the public interest" is a travesty. Using this logic, any property could be transferred by government edict to another owner if it was thought (by someone) that such transfer would serve the public interest (whatever that's determined to be). Let's see... Bill Gates' house would make a great community recreation center or library, so we can start there. George Bush's ranch would make a wonderful Boy's Ranch, and that would certainly serve the public interest, so let's turn that over to some government agency or corporation, too. I'm sure many properties, all over the country, could be better used to "serve the public interest" under new ownership... or at least it could be so argued in any court of law. Where do you think this will this lead?
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One of the Supremes who voted in favor of this had just such an action brought against him by a concerned citizen hoping to establish a gift store at the justice's residence thereby stimulating the local economy. It didn't fly, however, so the first test of this new law seemed to go in favor of the home owner. No telling what might have happened if the home owner in question wasn't a SCOTUS member, though.:-)
Los Angeles used a pubic domain law such as this to garner land for what would become Dodger Stadium in a neighborhood called Chavez Ravine. At the time, the only people seemingly upset by this were residents. Today, that once thriving neighborhood has been replaced by a mediocre baseball team - c'est la vie, apres nous le deluge. Bro.Dave
Ha! Yeah, that's a big "I Told You So," ain't it? Didn't take long, either. I heard there was a second SCOTUS member whose house is being targeted the same way, for some other purpose. I wonder how many of these are going on that we don't even hear about? Egads. Maybe I DON'T want to know, either. What an awful idea this was.
Super Subsidies for Wal-Mart
The City of Newport razed nearly one-hundred , mostly middle-class homes in the Cote Brilliante Neighborhood. The Reason? Blight! City officials argued that nearly ten percent of the homes in the neighborhood were vacant. Remarkably, the ten percent vacancy rate was actually below the citywide average of 10.9 percent. (according to census data) Another reason the city argued the area was blighted was from poorly maintained streets. I still can’t rationalize why crumbling public streets have anything to do with the homeowners. If the streets were a problem the city should have repaired them, since it‘s their responsibility. The city is merely stealing from those with less and giving to those with more.
As Newport officials become further and further emboldened by their new doctrine of economic development they now seek to finalize one of the most absurd subsidies that would make even the airline industry jealous. The latest scheme includes sticking a Super Wal-mart in the 55-acre Cote Brilliante tract that was, until a couple of years ago a thriving, working-class neighborhood.
First, the city absorbed all the costs of property acquisition, demolition, and related legal fees. The acquisition and demolition cost the city roughly $9 million. Not to mention legal fees resulting from long drawn out battles over the use of eminent domain in the acquisition of real estate. The City also issued $90 million in industrial revenue bonds to the sites second developer in nearly 3 years. The original developer and the city abandoned their deal stating the cities impatience in acquiring the property. (Due process, who needs it anyways?) Not to mention the lost real estate, and school taxes that were once generated by the 100 homes that used to occupy the property. As is customary with industrial revenue bonds, the city will hold the title on the property, thus exempting Super Wal-Mart from property and school taxes.
According to Forbes.com, 5 of the 10 richest people in American are heirs of the Wal-Mart empire. The city officials have said to hell with the thirty percent of families and children that live below poverty in Newport. This is no surprise from a administration that contends tenants of a 202 unit public housing complex are too poor to live on the riverfront.
I can hear city officials scrambling now….”Well, Wal-Mart will bring jobs to Newport.” Yes, they will. The kinds of jobs that keep hardworking individuals forever in poverty. The average full-time employee at Wal-Mart lives below the poverty level. The company’s decision to pay meager wages has left taxpayers to foot the healthcare costs and provide public assistance for nearly half of its workers Wal-Mart has also been found in violation of federal child labor laws. There are currently several major lawsuits against the company. One in which could play out to be the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in history and another class-action lawsuit that claims Wal-Mart employs sweatshop labor, the latter has plaintiffs from four continents I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear about Cote Brilliante and Wal-Mart. What kind of city administrators would make unfair, and financially unsound development deals to get human rights abusers and robber barons to build a new store in their city? Those who are unfit for office, and make me ashamed to be a Democrat in Newport.
Hi!
Thank you for the thoughtful and well-informed contribution!
What a classic and diabolical example of blatant "corporatism"... the policy of putting "public" (read: big business) interests ahead of individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Democrats have been trampling on the rights of the little guy in the name of public interest for a long time, so these examples you've given aren't much of a surprise to me. Even though they claim to represent the "common man," their fundamental premise leans to the left - to a bigger Federal government, more programs, and, as an inevitable consequence, less personal freedom and fewer individual responsibilities. "Don't worry, your government will take care of everything." I can't imagine how they fail to perceive the rather blatant contradiction between their implied support of "freedom" and their committment to big government programs and the attendant loss of individual freedoms is beyond me, but there you have it.
And the Republicans... well, their train has completely jumped the tracks. Though one of the core principles of their platform has historically been to minimize the Federal government's size and bureaucracy, and ensure more individual freedoms and responsibilities, their actions in the past several decades show clearly that their stated antipathy for big government (stated, but certainly not practiced) somehow doesn't extend to big business - they've come down time and again on the side of the corporations as opposed to individuals. Personal rights have been sacrificed on the altar of capitalism and greed. They've also somehow become enamored of their self-perceived responsibility to establish, nurture and enforce a proper moral paradigm for our nation, an endeavor which not only violates their professed committment to personal freedom, but launches the Grand Old Party right into the realm of fascism. How incongruous.
So, sadly, neither party will really stand up and fight for the individual rights we're supposed to have as sovereign citizens of a sovereign nation. Both have sold our Constitutional freedoms to the economy and the corporations that control it. Profit has become the God of government, and we're paying the price in countless ways. In this day and age I'd be ashamed to be either a Democrat OR a Republican!
I think we need an entirely new paradigm.
In Newport the voting was 2 Republicans, One Democrat in favor of eminent domain abuse. 1 Democrat Against. The other Republican on Commission was unable to vote because the city of Newport is involved in another land grab which her family is defending its property.
I wrote the other blog entry and just thought I would stop back and update it.
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