[Formula WS6]

Well I don't have any links for the info since I am on dial up right now and its slow enough as it is.

The supreme court has just ruled that city and county governments can take your land and turn it over to private land developers if the new development or business will increase tax revenue. The case that was before the Supreme court involved a group of families in New London, Conn. that have old victorian homes on the river and they are working class folk. A developer wants their land for plush condos and exclusive health clubs. Now the law says the city can take that land from these people. the city was already trying to do this but the people were fighting the ruling obviously. These people have now lost their homes because they were not rich and did not have fancy homes or contribute lots of tax revenue compared to what will be there.

land investments or property investments are now dead as well. if you have prime realstate even if its been in the family for 100 years and a company or big developer wants it but doesnt want to pay your price they can steal it from you legally now. chances are a big developer will be chummy with the local government and a big corporation you know will pull out the stops with their high priced lawyers to get the land as cheaply as possible. it happens everywhere all the time. walmart does it a lot. so now your land which was worth a chunk of change will be taken from you for next to nothing since the governments idea of fair market value will not be anywhere near what its trully worth, and thats if they even give you anything. if they condem it as blight they wont have to pay you. they will claim its unsafe for living.

so those of you that live in nice areas and pay lots in property taxes have some simpathy on us working folk. nothing wrong what so ever with having money and a nice house or property, its just that chances are this law will not affect you. you already pay a lot in taxes and revenue compared to someone who has a small plot and simple house with a view at most going for it. these are the people that will be hurt the most by this ruling.

the only way to fight against this ruling is to make sure your local officials do not agree with emminent domain. they are the only ones who can seize the land and force the land owners to sell or leave. if they don't side with the developers and corporation then your safe. if they do the law now says you lose and you have to leave. there is no fighting it anymore.

only two links i do have are for a couple of organizations that fight emminent domain. if anyone is interested here ya go.

www.ij.org
www.castlecoalition.com i think. try .org if it doesnt work.

ok rant off. if this type of crap keeps up i think ill need to find a new country to live in. maybe the dollar will go far there and i can build my own race course. you are all welcome to come and race if you can get the car there.

[Absolut Speed]

A few of you know I'm an asst city manager, and have undergrad and grad degrees in local gov't admin. Since I heard about the case, I really hoped the City would lose, despite the economic advantage it poses to cities. I think there's a horrible breach of trust at the local level, and that the ruling is a horrifying trampling of personal property rights. On top of that, it jeopardizes the future use of eminent domain when there is a clear and justified cause to use it.

I don't want to turn this too political, but I think it's important to note which justices supported the ruling: Stevens, Ginsburg, Souter, Breyer and Kennedy (what the AP deemded in the article, "the court's liberal wing.") Then, remember it is the President who appoints justices with the senate's consent and remember that during presidential elections.