The power of eminent domain can be intimidating and overwhelming to the typical property owner. The government comes in with their full power saying we will take your property and this is what we will offer. And you have to take it. If not, we have the right to have people with guns to force you to accept the deal. The Mafia is more subtle than this.
So new laws like the ones signed in Missouri this week empower the landowner. And you know the laws are effective. When city planners and government officials scream and cry about how it will be disastrous for the community, things are moving in the right direction. Because these government functionaries are losing power to create deals and opportunities to help their developer friends and benefactors. And they lose power. And that is a very, very good thing.
“It’s David against Goliath,” said (John Scorse, the Galena, Kan., resident who owns, manages or leases more than 1,500 acres of land in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
On Thursday, Scorse was present when Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed into law restrictions on the use of eminent domain. Scorse believes the new law will help shift the balance to landowners when challenges arise over eminent domain.
“It’s a positive move forward,” he said. “This law is starting to level, or at least give our judicial system an opportunity to help ensure fairness.”
Scorse had earlier testified before the Missouri Task Force on Eminent Domain formed by the governor last year.
“It is a good step,” said Steve Anderson, coordinator of the Castle Coalition with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which tracks eminent-domain issues and legislation. “It is really good for farmers.”
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Editorial
Fighting Goliath
Monday, August 20, 2007
Every once in a great while, government, as a land-grabbing Goliath, gets thumped by the most diminutive David, especially when the former fails to follow its own policies.
That may cost Philadelphia damages, plus the plaintiffs' legal fees.
It began when Ed and Debbie Munoz, in pursuit of the American dream, put up their New Jersey home and borrowed $1 million to buy a grocery and garden center in Juniata Park. Afterward the couple learned — secondhand through customers — that their business was in the footprint of a planned housing development.
For more than two years, the Munozes sought answers from the city but said they received none. In 2004, with declining sales — allegedly because of government's imminent land grab — and Ed Munoz's declining health, the couple declared bankruptcy. The city picked up the property at a sheriff's sale.
The Munozes went to court.
City officials said it wasn't clear through 2004 whether the Munozes' lot would be needed. Yet an April 2003 letter from the developer asked the city's Redevelopment Authority to acquire the property.
Even the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reportedly warned city officials in 2005 that Philadelphia violated federal relocation law.
So, all's well that ends well? Not quite. Goliath plans an appeal.
Here's hoping these Davids, and all the other Davids facing similar battles for their rights, won't give up the fight.
Note:
The first apeal was won, possible one more to go.