When is your property not yours?

MS NBC ^ | 05.15.03

[Coleus]

When is your property not yours?

When the government wants to, it can condemn perfectly good homes, for any reason

May 15 — Jim and Joanne Saleet are fighting to hold onto their home in Lakewood, Ohio, which the government wants to bulldoze to make way for a commercial development. Click "Play" to watch Fred Francis' report for "NBC Nightly News."

By Fred Francis
NBC NEWS

LAKEWOOD, Ohio, May 15 —  Jim and Joanne Saleet feel as though they are being forced out of their home of 38 years. The culprit is the city of Lakewood, which is preparing to condemn it to make way for a retail mall and luxury condominium units that would bring in more tax dollars. The city’s pretext is that the house is “blighted” because it does not have a two-car attached garage. The move is also perfectly legal, even though the condemnation would primarily benefit a private developer.

THE CITY is proceeding under a centuries-old provision of the law called “eminent domain,” which says private property can be taken for “public use.”

       Eminent domain procedures are intended to let governments build needed services like bridges, roads and schools, but the Supreme Court has approved them even if the land ends up in private hands.
       “That is the bottom line, is tax base,” acknowledged Madeline Cain, Lakewood’s mayor. “But this is also about quality of life. This is about making sure we also have a vibrant and attractive community.”
       Homeowners and mom-and-pop businesspeople ask where in the American Dream it says that they must give up their lives and homes so the government can improve the tax base.
       Nationwide, 10,000 businesses and homeowners have been told to make way for private development, according to the Institute for Justice, a Libertarian organization that is leading the fight against the use of eminent domain for private development. Most of the cases are in California, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and Ohio, it said.
       “In most of the eminent domain cases going on now, cities want richer neighbors and bigger businesses instead of middle-income neighbors and small businesses,” said Dana Berliner, a lawyer for the institute.

PLAIN-OUT STEALING’
       To William Minnich of Harlem, N.Y., who could be forced to abandon the woodworking business his father built 75 years ago, “when you are forced to sell something you do not want to sell, that’s stealing. That’s plain-out stealing.”
       “I’m forced into retirement, in effect,” Minnich said. “I don’t really know where I’m going to go.”
       After a six-year battle that he said had cost him a half-million dollars, Minnich has run out of options.
       But the Saleets and 40 of their neighbors in Lakewood’s West End neighborhood promise to put up a fight, even though the city has offered them $35.5 million in public financing to cover the “just compensation” called for in the Constitution.
       “I’m stating our home is not for sale,” Jim Saleet said. “If our home isn’t safe, nobody’s home is safe.”

[fqued]

What does the constitution say?

You cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

also, if the gummint taketh away your property (barring its use in a crime), it must give just compensation.

so . . . your property is yours, unless the gummint wants it, follows procedures, and pays you justly for it. (Here in Colorado, that compensation can exceed the actual sale value of the land, since it is based on the highest and best use of the land).

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

The city’s pretext is that the house is “blighted” because it does not have a two-car attached garage.

Bullsplatter thats theft ANYWAY you slice it

[bigfootbob]

Only takes 3 years here in the Soviet of Washington of not paying property taxes before the forclosure process begins.

[billbears]

“That is the bottom line, is tax base,” acknowledged Madeline Cain, Lakewood’s mayor. “But this is also about quality of life. This is about making sure we also have a vibrant and attractive community.”

Sounds just like Cary to me. That fine 'town' of folk has done more damage to this county in the name of growth than my worst nightmare. I know an old church that while not in Cary's city limits had to conform to Cary standards because it is already expected within 10 years, it will be a part of Cary. Actually had to move the church back extra because Cary's plans are for turning an old two lane country blacktop into a four lane

People no longer have control over their own land as they used to. Ain't Amerika great?!?

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The government owns all real estate. You rent it from the county with payment of your property taxes. If you stop paying, you are evicted. I owe nothing on my property but taxes but I only remain here until I stop paying my taxes.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

property

[Orange1998]

In a property tax state no one ownes real estate "free and clear". You have the right to use it provided the property taxes are paid every year. In Houston, it amounts to 3% of the property value. But I still think America is the best place in the world.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[FourPeas]

No property that is taxed is yours. If you don't pay the assessed taxes they will take it away and if you defend it they will shoot you dead.

This bears repeating.

[Ditter]

What if you have a valuable piece of property & you want to sell but the gov steps in & makes it worthless. I am talking about wetlands. Any piece of property that has a low spot that doesn't drain well can be named a wetland & it can't be developed. That could ruin your whole day too.

[Coleus]

funny, I put "property" in the search before I posted this and nothing came up for the month of may. Why are the May articles listed in the Middle of the page?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/search?m=any;o=score;s=property

[dljordan]

Amen brother! The gubmint is just renting it to you.

[thatsnotnice]

“I’m stating our home is not for sale,” Jim Saleet said. “If our home isn’t safe, nobody’s home is safe.”

Yeah. IMO, he’s holding out for more than they’re going to pay. He’s going to lose too, just watch.

I was about 14 when I started to purchase land in a proposed development called “Whitetail Ridge” between Livingston and Woodville (TX).

At some point they drilled a test (gas) well somewhere and started approaching property owners for permission to set up gas wells on their property. They approached the people that had property on the road first. Evidently they declined. Then they approached people that owned property off the road (me).

You can slant-drill certain things, like a gas bubble, and you can build roads. That is the way it worked out. I only ended up getting about $1,200/mo, but then again I was 16+ (still in high school) and could get it sitting on my butt doing nothing. Plus I got as much free, un-metered gas as I could use. I milked that until I was 28. I don’t know what they do out there now.

The land was $58/acre when I bought it and I sold the entire (ended up being 122 acres) lot for 30K when I left in 1991.

I understand that it doesn't have anything to do with this article, but sometimes you have to take the money and run.

The "We won't sell" mantra means somebody hasn't coughed up enough money, IMO. They'll find another way.

[Eala]

What does the constitution say?

Today? Last year? Next year? As long as we have courts with the power to tell us what it says "today" (it's a "living document," doncha know), it doesn't say anything at all and so anything goes.

[teeman8r]

i am currently fighting such a battle.... the state of maryland says i can't stack pallets on my property cause they are within a 100 foot buffer of a wetland... i say what wetland, the drainage ditch? they say that drainage ditch is a wetland of special state concern... the state likes westnile virus and malaria... and i am still battling... the state says i should sell tickets cause people will pay to see the wildflowers.... i say, the state owes me for caring for their wetland if that is the case... over 78,000 dollars according to the value they put on it...
i will bill them this week and see what happens...

[secretagent]

Welfare for the well connected.

[longtermmemmory]

Whe have a hospital district that systematically depreciated the property around the hospital. when the wanted to expand, the just compensation value reflected the systematic depreciation.