The city of Cincinnati is trying to make room for a new road into the Good Samaritan Hospital and has decided to take a property from Emma Dimasi, an eighty year old lady who has lived in the house since 1959.

This actually would not be bad, eminent domain was created to take land for roads. So this is a good one, well hold on one second. The state also passed a one year moratorium stopping all eminent domain seizures that would benefit private development, and the hospital is a private corporation. But still the process continues and poor Emma could be out of her house by next Saturday.

The taking of Dimasi’s house is a routine and long-accepted use of eminent domain for a city like Cincinnati, which has filed 21 such court actions for road projects since 2003.
But Dimasi argues that private economic development – not public transportation – is driving the road project.
That’s because Good Samaritan Hospital is contributing $1.28 million toward the project, which would give the hospital more room to grow as it continues a $122 million expansion. Under its agreement with the city, the hospital also stands to get whatever land is left over after road construction for $1.
The case is the first to test an Ohio law banning for one year the use of eminent domain for economic development if the property will ultimately end up in the hands of another private owner. And it’s a prime example of what critics say is a legal system that stacks the deck against property owners. via The Enquirer

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