[ravinraven]

I just read on BOORTZ that Wal-Mart appears to be behind a land grab in Alabaster, Ala and another in Denver, Colorado. The way this theft works is to have the city fathers/mothers condemn your property under the eminent domain [arrogant domain] laws and then sell it to a private group such as Wal-Mart because they claim to be able to produce more tax money from it than you are paying.

This action is a direct infraction of your constitutional rights to your property. It is unconstitutional to grab private land for anything other than public need such as highways.

Any public official who tries to rip off private land for resale to private groups should immediately go on trial for his/her life. If this corrupt mess we call a government won't do that, then there should be a group formed that will do just that.

Does anyone have any direct knowledge of the aforementioned land grabs or any others. Is there a web site where these atrosities and their perpetrators are listed?

rr

[Baba Louie]

http://www.castlecoalition.org/whats_new/

Quite common really. Sad but true. Another piece of legislation based on "Good Intent" with potential to assist the community gone awry due to... political greed.

There was/is a real doozy of a fight here in Las Vegas concerning the SW corner of Fremont and Las Vegas Blvd (what an address for a Casino,right?) where the City did the E.D. thing and then sold the new found property (appraised for a pittance) to the Casino cartel running the "Fremont Street Experience" allowing them to put up a parking garage. The City also closed Fremont Street and used public funds earmarked for "Parks and Recreation" to assist these Casino Owners in developing the FSE and then have the gall to charge admission for things like New Years Eve.

Oh, eventually a judge over-ruled the corner lot part, but the offer to the injured property owners was again, a pittance

Do a Yahoo search for "Eminent Domain", read and weep.

Adios

[Bigjake]

happens all the time, and on both levels. as of right now a turnpike interchange is going up down the street from me, in the middle of a corn field. there is nothing in my little town deserving of an interchange when we have one 2 miles west of here and 4 miles further east, but what do i the peon know. basicly, one of my good friends was screwed out of his land by our local gov't so they could waste more tax money on an interchange to no-where. am i suprised? not really.

[C.R.Sam]

Been goin on in many places for years.


Sam

[Quartus]

Costco is a VERY bad abuser in this regard. First I'd heard of Wally World doing it, but I'm not surprised.


This got started by a SCOTUS decision a while back (70s? 80s?) that greatly expanded the definition of "public use" or whatever the legal phrase is.

[Jeff White]

Believe it or not, the can't do this in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Illinois any longer. The State Supreme Court recently ruled that these public/private development enterprises that have been formed to encourage economic growth can not use eminent domain. A long court case over the seizure of some land in Metro-East for a parking lot for a race track settled the issue.

Jeff

[benewton]

Has it occurred to anyone that we have rifles for a reason?

[simonBarsinister]

small victory.... http://www.wral.com/news/2514761/detail.html

[Standing Wolf]

Aristocratic prerogatives, of course. Commoners need not apply.

[jimpeel]

Even Donald Trump was unable to stand up to those who called his move for what it was. Read HERE (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200105/NAT20010524a.html) to see an article which addresses the ongoing fight that people are starting to wage against these laws; and the effects on those too frightened or intimidated to fight.

[Baba Louie]

The politics involved here are at the lowest level, usually City or County Council with maybe a Town Board thrown in as well. Common folk who know the agenda item and show up in force, having duly notified the local TV and Newspaper media types can really make the Council squirm, unless you have a Mayor/Council like LV who limit any con side discussion to 3 minutes max and then order the council chambers cleared if the brou-ha-ha gets out of hand.

The tricky part is when this type of item is placed in the front end "Non-Public Hearing" portion of a council meeting (usually after a "Planning Commission" has given prior approval... gotta remember that each City/County Council member appoints her/his own Planning Commissioner) which can really suck if the fix is in.

Kinda reminds ya of High School Student Council meetings where the Stuco President's friends get to do all the cool things. In fact, they're quite often the same people, just a few years older.

Some people plan, some people are planned on.

The World Trade Center towers were handled in this fashion in NYC, if I recall correctly (and I do)

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/981531/posts

Them what has the gold... makes the rules.

Adios

[ravinraven]

Good Morning!

Thanks, folks, for shaking me awake on this arrogant domain thing. The YAHOO site is worth a read. We had better all get educated on this topic.

Oddly, a friend of mine about 25 years ago, wrote an opinion column [weekly] for one of the local papers called "While You Slept" [Until they ED's him out of his home and gave the land to a grocery store chain]. I just now remembered that his house and business were stolen and transferred to private parties.

And that title was sure correct. We've been sleeping too long. Time to hit the boards a-runnin'.

Maybe we've already missed the bus!

ravin raven

[foghornl]

My grandmother's nearly life-long home in Memphis, TN was "Eminent Domain-ed" over 40 years ago. (For those of you familiar with Memphis, of 40+ years back, the street was Forrest Ave, near Overton Park & Zoo.)

Interstate 40 in Mid-Town Memphis is still not complete

[Chuck Dye]

benewton,

Just what role for rifles, or any other firearms, do you see in these eminent domain abuses or any other disputes with government?

[Molon Labe]

Has it occurred to anyone that we have rifles for a reason?
Rifles are easy to acquire. Courage, on the other hand...

[Molon Labe]

Just what role for rifles, or any other firearms, do you see in these eminent domain abuses or any other disputes with government?
None if the E.D. proceeds in a lawful and constitutional manner.

[hammer4nc]

For posterity, here's a reference link that talks about E.D. abuses, as a subset of property rights "takings" that have been committed by governments for years.

Link:http://www.enterpriseeconomy.com/resources/bycategory/news/T11.2/

As others have pointed out, this is quite common. It's been practiced by government bodies from the tiniest town council to the United Nations (world body). Unfortunately, land use cases are boring unless you're directly affected. Difficult to muster popular support.

"60 minutes" did a piece on eminent domain last week. Included was a case in the Phoenix area, the city wanted to condemn a tire/brake business who had been there 30 years, and sell it to an "Ace Hardware Store" (part of a larger redevelopment plan). Another example, town in Ohio wanting to condemn an entire neighborhood to replace it with upscale condos. A third example was condemning an entire block in downtown NYC, so "The New York Times" could build a new office. Absolutely appalling, but widespread.

A key element of these thefts, is a legal finding that an existing structure is "blighted". Completely undefined, and had become a haven for corrupt crooks. In the Ohio case, the neighborhood was declared "blighted", because they lacked central AC, attached 2-car garages, or 2 bathrooms. In reality, it was an older well kept neighborhood, AC wasn't needed because of the proximity to Lake Erie.

[Langenator]

Another minor victory-I saw in The State newspaper here in Columbia a few weeks ago that a court told the state of South Carolina that they couldn't ED a piece of land along the Savannah River to build what would be a privately operated port facility. Not sure of the exact date or if it was a state or federal court.

[longeyes]

Wong-mart grabbing land? It can't happen here!

Seems to me I remember reading about the Texas Rangers pulling this
a few years back...:D