Posted on 12/21/2006 8:42:35 AM PST by Graybeard58
NEW LONDON -- The woman at the center of a national battle over property rights has sent some not-so-joyous tidings to people involved in taking her house to make way for private development.
Susette Kelo's holiday cards feature a snowy image of her pink house and a message that reads, in part, "Your houses, your homes, your family, your friends. May they live in misery that never ends. I curse you all. May you rot in hell. To each of you I send this spell."
The cards were conceived and produced by a friend of Kelo's and sent to city officials and members of New London's development agency.
Kelo said she also considered sending the cards to five U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled in June 2005 that New London had the right to take homes in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood to make way for a riverfront project slated to include condominiums, a hotel and office space.
On Wednesday, after news accounts carried details about the cards, Kelo apologized in a statement released by the Institute for Justice, which represented the homeowners in their legal battle.
"My card was meant as much in humor as it was in frustration," she said in the statement. "What I wrote shouldn't be taken as my literal wish for anyone. I'm heartbroken that this will be my last Christmas in Fort Trumbull and what I wrote rose out of that fact, but the bottom line is, it was over the top."
Kelo, one of the last holdouts, earlier this year accepted a $442,155 settlement, more than $300,000 above the appraised value of her home in 2000. Her pink cottage will be moved elsewhere in the city. She has until June 15 to move.
"It's amazing anyone could be so vindictive when they've made so much money," said Gail Schwenker-Mayer, a supporter of the development project who received one of the cards.
New London Development Corp. member Reid Burdick said he put the card on his mantel with his other Christmas greetings.
"I think the poor woman has gone around the bend," he said. "I haven't gotten any mail from her in years. I still feel bad for Susette. The sorry part of this is that the things she's angry about were not done to be mean-spirited toward her personally."
Fellow NLDC member George Milne, a former top executive at Pfizer Inc., called the card "immensely childish."
"It's sort of sad she elected to do this," Milne said. "We were trying to do things for the city. It was nothing personal."
Kelo, a nurse who handles lead paint and lead poisoning cases for the city of New London, said the card was her idea.
"This all could have been solved and ended many years ago," she said. "They didn't have to do what they did to us, and I will never forget. These people can think what they want of me. I will never, ever forget what they did."
Amazing that this could happen in America.
Yes, however, the gov't may not view the private entity as all that private since it is a legal person incorporated or doing business under the laws of the state. Such legal persons may own property, but oddly, they may also be owned. It may be that the gov't used the legal person to further its own goals. Fact is, we aren't taught the full meanings of 'public' and 'private' in the public schools. Not even approximately close.
For those of you who think she made an obscene profit. Ask this...would the developer SELL the property back for the same amount of money...Don't think so.
that's exactly my point. if she were getting shafted on the deal or even just breaking even this would be a different story. but she's getting over 3x the value of her house, if someone came and offered me triple the value of my house, i'd be laughing all the way to the bank.
besides, with the court case and the national recognition, this woman should be able to get a book deal, maybe a movie deal, and very probably enough recognition to get herself a public office- which if she's as strong in her convictions as she seems to be, she should try so she can make sure this doesn't happen again.
As a test of how this woman is being unreasonable, I have a proposal.
Everyone involved in this taking should have their home (or homes) ordered to be "taken" by the government. They would be "compensated" with a typical lowball appraisal amount, and have to fight for 5 years or more to get fair monetary compensation, but must still lose their property.
Then we can ask them how much they enjoyed the experience. If they are bitter, we can point out that they ended up with much more than the appraised value, so they should be happy.
She ought to make about $2 million a year on this crusade for as long as it takes or hell freezes over, whichever comes first.
If I were still working at EB and living there, I would be so angry I'd join right in with the ousted residents. I'd have to contain myself from shouting down the gov reptiles in courts and their sheep who support them.
Kind of too bad I missed out on the fun.
Fellow NLDC member George Milne, a former top executive at Pfizer Inc., called the card "immensely childish."
Yeah, she had something I wanted and she wouldn't give it to me. She's being selfish.
She may not have meant what her card said, but I do.
$442,155 settlement, more than $300,000 above the appraised value of her home in 2000.
Wow! Does everyone get this winfall? Please come take my house. Currently worth 300,000 dollars, they can take it for 600,000 no problem. I always thought the owners got screwed. This does not bother me as much as it used to.
""It's sort of sad she elected to do this," Milne said. "We were trying to do things for the city. It was nothing personal.""
nothing personal about taking someones home so a business could pay off these elected officials.
10 yrs from now they'll be saying nothing personal when they start putting down the old and infirm.
Those jerkoffs. Let's see what happens when they have their own family homestead ripped away against their will, where they have had their Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations over the years. This pisses me off. I don't care if they gave her a million bucks.
That never happens in our aristocracy.
But, we do not know the FMV in 2006. The appraisal was from 2000.
Do you not understand that she just plain didn't want to leave? She has the right of REFUSAL! (Well, not anymore, but by nature, she does.)
Is everything just money to you?
People decide what's worthwhile to them. To her, I guess, losing her location, having to move everything, her memories, etc, were worth more than what they gave her.
THAT is the bottom line!
She was FORCED OUT - even if (thankfully) she got money and a move of her same house, she didn't want to DO it!
After all, what did we ever do to her? I mean, other than steal her home right out from under her feet, that is.
I don't ordinarily like eminent domain, but it seems that she did get a fair deal -- an amount well above the appraised value, plus the house is going to be picked up and moved. I'd feel differently if the developers and the city tried to low ball her, but maybe I just can't see what she's so bitter about.
In a free society, property is worth what the seller is willing to sell to a willing buyer not what a third person declares.
My brother and I want to buy your house. I offer twice the appraised value, but back up my offer with the force of law through eminent domain. My brother is willing to pay more. You are compelled to sell to me, at the offered price, despite the fact that the market value of the house may be as much as three or four times the "appraised value".
Oh - one other thing... You don't want to sell at all. You love the house, love the location, and don't want to move again for the rest of your life.
Still feeling good about the deal?
This case is nothing more than government-backed theft, regardless of the dollars that changed hands. The developer was unwilling or unable to make an offer that Kelo would accept. So he got the government to steal her property, paying what he wanted to pay - which is much less than the true worth of the land, unless he's an idiot developer.
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