[silverleaf]

99.9% of eminent domain is not exercised by any force except a buy out

As trump correctly points out almost every highway and commercial development came about because government or business purchased the land and benefited the original owner

The exceptional cases get a lot of publicity because they are exceptional

[Dr. Sivana]

As trump correctly points out almost every highway and commercial development came about because government or business purchased the land and benefited the original owner

Eminent Domain in CT has been abused before Kelo. Besides the government seizing a property to sell/give to another private entity, the state/municipality liked to give 25% below true market value--that is, market value minus the lawyer fees if you want to tie everything up for five years in order to get full market value.

In my old city of Rockford, Illinois, Eminnt Domain was threatened against a small time Mexican grocery store operator on South Main Street. The city thought it would improve the neihborhood by putting in a IGA big box supermarket, and was willing to give crazy incentives. The Mexican store owner sold for something like $105,000. The big box store went up, lost money for two years even with the incentives, and closed down. Eventually someone opened it up against as a Mexican grocery. There was no eminent domain, but the threat of eminent domain put the original property owner in an adverse condition.