NON F-Body - Eminent domain

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Do you believe in a citizens right to own property? If yes, this will piss you off. Go to http://www.boortz.com/nealznuz.htm and read from "DRAW THE LINE IN ALABASTER" down. This is just wrong.

We have a developer locally who is buying up $250,000 houses, leveling them, and building $700,000-$900,000 house on the lot because it is in a very good school district. I hope he doesn't get wind of being able to do that. I could see them wanting to do this with my house.

[N20LT4Bird]

Similiar situatuation in Syracuse, NY. Destiny USA is building a "Super Mall/ resort" and has abused eminent domain. It makes me very angry when our constitutional right get trampled. I will pass that article along!

[markd79ta]

Originally posted by N20LT4Bird
It makes me very angry when our constitutional right get trampled.

Constitutional rights, at this point, are an illusion. The constitution is very much a fluid document that will be subverted whenever it an interest group "especially the environmental lobby" or their influence on government necessitates throwing property rights aside for a "so-called" public good. A very good friend of mine in Washington state spent several years working for the Pacific Legal Foundation which is a nonprofit organization that specializes in fronting legal challenges with regard to takings issues. He now has his own practice. "Just compensation" is also an illusion. Counties take property by regulation or zoning for "open space" rendering the property valueless and never paying a single cent, but the owner is left loosing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. The worst horror story he told me was a case of his where an elderly couple saved their whole life and bought a piece of land for their retirement home, and when they went to get their permit, the county declared the land necessary for open space so that they could not build their dream home. The couple hundred thousand dollars lost was a big deal to them, but the property could not be sold for peanuts. My friend won the case, and the couple was compensated, but most people don't have the resources to challenge the government. However, we do need to support the nonprofit organizations who fight these causes.

[N20LT4Bird]

Especially since among those that they are fighting are those that wish to take away our right to enjoy our cars. Especially those of us who own older cars.