A year ago it sorta looked like at least one good thing was going to come out of the Kelo Vs. New London supreme court ruling. Public awareness. There was quite a bit of public outrage at the decision and about the details of the case. I mean, it was appalling what the city of new london did to those residents, and people were pissed. There was a wave of proposed legislation in states all over the country, trying to reign in the powers of eminent domain unleashed by the ruling. I even remember some large bank making a public announcement that they would not consider any construction loans on projects where eminent domain was used. Well, most of that has died down. Much of the proposed legislation failed. Some states did pass laws restricting the use of eminent domain, but I’d say it was just so much posturing since none of the states actually banned private to private seizures (a few counties and cities did).
The Kelo taking was particularly disgusting for a few reasons. Many of the homes that were condemned were far from blighted, Susette Kelo’s, for instance, was a newly renovated, beautiful home. 15 of the homeowners fought the taking, which they have every right to do. They were in litigation for almost 2 years, so when they finally lost the case, they were paid a two year old market value for their homes. Anybody who’s been paying attention to real estate in this country knows that during that period, two years of appreciation can be a huge amount of money. Worst of all, the development company decided to charge them 2 years of back rent for the period of time that they fought to keep their homes, claiming that technically the homes had been acquired back then, and the money had been sitting in escrow. All for an outdated, 10 year old development plan that the city thought would bring in more tax revenue than private residences (the city is broke and desperate, and hasn’t traditionaly brought in a lot of tax revenue becuase most of it’s land is comprised of colleges, churches, hospitals, and city-owned land). Of course, Coast Guard Museums don’t bring in a single dime in tax-revenue. That’s right, part of the 90-acre development plan includes a government funded, $15 million Coast Guard Museum, which is the only part they’ve actually started on. The New London Development Company still hasn’t even secured financing for much of the remaining parcels.
Here’s a list of current ED cases. Goes to show that the supposed property rights movement didn’t accomplish much. I hate that so many of these are in California.
Here’s information about the actuall development plan involved in the Kelo case.