Free Republic

Jury to York County: Highpoint land worth $17.25 million A York jury awards a Lancaster developer an additional $10 million for his former property. Daily Record/Sunday News Article Last Updated: 07/17/2008 07:35:36 AM EDT LATEST TRIAL UPDATES 3:33 p.m. -- Jury returns with a verdict. The jury decided the county should have paid a Lancaster developer $17.25 million as fair market value for his Lower Windsor Township land, when it seized it for a park. Peter Alecxih has received $7.5 million for the land so far. County solicitor Mike Flannelly said the county has 30 days to appeal, and it...

Local toll road activist Terri Hall, the Spring Branch home schooling mom who's campaign against toll roads made her WOAI's San Antonian of the Year for 2007,. is taking her populist campaign nationwide. Hall is among the speakers for Saturday's 'Freedom March,' in Washington DC, organized by supporters of former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, and designed to keep alive his message of smaller government and vigilance against encroaching government power. "They wanted someone to speak about the Trans Texas Corridor, and what's happening here, and the eminent domain abuses, and how all these toll roads are tied to corporate...

Raleigh, N.C. — The City Council voted Tuesday to begin condemnation proceedings to gain control of a piece of downtown property for the proposed City Plaza.

Governor Vetoes Eminent Domain Legislation Override Sought as Lawmakers Enter Final Day of Session Governor Minner has vetoed legislation which would have placed tight restrictions on when a government could resort to the use of eminent domain to confiscate property. Legislation passed in the General Assembly last week would have kept a government from using eminent domain to promote economic development. Businesses near the Wilmington riverfront have been concerned that the city wants to take their property to keep development moving forward. Some of those property owners will be on hand to urge lawmakers to override the Governor's veto. Lawmakers...

CONFER: Protecting property rights By Bob Confer The Tonawanda News When our founding fathers penned the Declaration of Independence they noted we are endowed with unalienable rights which include “…Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Happiness was used as an all-inclusive term, but it had its basis in the property rights of the individual. This focus was borrowed from the writings of British philosopher John Locke who emphasized life, health, liberty, and property rights in writings that appeared over a century before the Declaration. Recognizing Locke’s influence on our nation’s principles is the key to understanding just exactly what...

Supreme Court Denies Eminent Domain Petition From Owners & Tenants Facing Property Seizures for Atlantic Yards 11 Property Owners and Tenants Will Take Their Case to NY State Court To Challenge the Improper Use of Eminent Domain Under New York State Law BROOKLYN, NY--The United States Supreme Court denied the petition to grant a hearing (cert petition) to eleven property owners and tenants who asked the court to hear their appeal on the Second Circuit Court’s dismissal of their challenge to the use of eminent domain for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The petition...

Global Intrigue + More Will Escalate Food Prices Drastically: What Will A Loaf Of Bread Cost Next Year? RFFM.org Guest Commentary by Joyce Morrison The mere thought of a food shortage in America is unthinkable…or is it? Headlines read, “Planting season weather perplexing for farmers.” “Weather may cut yields,” “Further spike in food costs feared due to floods,” “Food shortages,” -- these are headlines preparing us for the fact we will no longer have the cheapest, safest food in the world. All spring the breadbasket of America has been deluged with floods, wind storms, tornados, heavy rain and hail. Illinois...

Texas farmers and ranchers are hoping that the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) recent announcement to make use of existing roadways in its plan for Interstate 69 is a positive sign when it comes to the ongoing battles with the Trans-Texas Corridor. “We are glad to see that TxDOT is beginning to listen to what so many members of our organization have said for the past four years,� said Kenneth Dierschke, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. Some 28,000 Texans — many of whom are members of the state’s largest farm organization — aired grievances during public meetings held at...

A land rush may soon be on in Colorado, and the prospectors could be home-rule cities seeking property outside their boundaries. At least that's how we read one possible outcome of Monday's state Supreme Court decision letting Telluride use eminent domain to seize 600 acres of private property sitting outside the town limits. The opinion distorts the straightforward language in the state constitution regarding the relationship between home-rule cities and the state. And in the process, the court has enabled those cities to condemn land in nearby counties or non-home-rule towns, with state lawmakers powerless to stop them. Using this...

California voters' approval this week of a ballot measure that restricts government from taking single-family homes for the benefit of other private owners is likely to have little impact on future projects, Bay Area redevelopment agency officials said Wednesday. Prop. 99 was a counterproposal to another eminent domain measure on Tuesday's ballot, Prop. 98, which was backed by landlord groups that also sought to eliminate rent control in the state. Voters rejected Prop. 98 by 61-39 percent, while 62.5 percent of voters approved Prop. 99 and 37.5 percent rejected it. Jim Morales, general counsel for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency,...

Proponents of Prop. 98 Respond to Election Outcome Vow to Work on Legislative Solution to End Eminent Domain Abuse Sacramento, CA - Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, issued the following statement on the outcome of the Election. "Since the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision in 2005 more than 40 states have passed reforms that would prohibit government from profiting by seizing private property and giving it to politically connected developers. Prop. 98 was the only measure on the ballot that addressed the Kelo decision by providing comprehensive protections to all private property and...

The June ballot is bringing rent control back into the spotlight. Proposition 98 would protect all Californians from abuses of eminent domain and phase out rent control. Proposition 99 is a decoy measure which would override Proposition 98 if it attracted more votes, written by beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse, that the Legislative Analyst concluded involved so little reform that it “is not likely to significantly alter current land acquisition practices.” Proposition 99 offers precious little protection. It wouldn’t protect farmland, churches, businesses or rental properties from eminent domain abuse. It wouldn’t restrict the almost unlimited purposes for which eminent...

Protecting Californians from eminent domain abuses headlines our June ballot. There are two Propositions--98 and 99--that address the issue. However, both are portrayed as real reform by backers and as misleading scams by opponents, making it hard for voters to sort through the assertions. Given both propositions’ backers claim they intend to rein in government eminent domain abuses at the expense of property owners, the best approach is to ask which “reforms” would be most effective at restricting them. If the intent is to limit abuses, would we want to protect owners of all property—homes, farms, churches, businesses and rental...

Sleight-of-hand relies heavily on misdirection and distraction. The Proposition 99 campaign tries the same trick on voters, attempting to get Californians to look only where it wants, while ignoring the most important issues in eminent domain reform. Proposition 99 was crafted because Proposition 98 had qualified for the ballot with a good chance of winning, backed by many documented abuses of emotionally appealing “little guys” steamrollered by the politically powerful—i.e., to defend the beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse against real reform. 99 does nothing to restrict eminent domain to justifiable public uses. It “protects” only owner-occupied primary residences, while undermining...

In the battle over two state propositions on Tuesday's ballot that would restrict government seizure of private property, nearly a majority of California voters support the more limited Proposition 99 while giving thumbs down to Proposition 98, which would abolish rent control, according to a Field Poll released today. A survey of 660 likely voters conducted May 17-26 found 48 percent favoring Prop. 99, with 30 percent opposed and 22 percent undecided, according to the poll results. Those supporting Prop. 98 stood at 33 percent, with 43 percent opposed and 24 percent undecided. Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said he'd...

Both would load up the state constitution to attack a problem that just doesn't exist - It's back. Yet another initiative – Proposition 98 – is on the ballot masquerading as "eminent domain" reform and trying to scare people with the prospect that their homes might be "taken" by the government.Yet Proposition 98 is really about a sweeping agenda to lard up the California Constitution to end forever the ability of local governments to enact rent control or affordable housing ordinances, to set rules that set liquor store hours or to require developers to pay fees to build schools.In Sacramento,...

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Connecticut city's right to seize through eminent domain the waterfront homes of long-time residents for private development. The court held that, like the construction of schools and roads, economic development itself constitutes a "public use" under the Fifth Amendment. Both liberals and conservatives were outraged. As dissenting Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, "The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory." Some 40 states responded by passing...

The U.S. Supreme Court created a huge political backlash when it ruled that local governments could use eminent domain to seize private property and transfer it to other private owners for "economic development." Since the Kelo ruling in 2005, 42 states have enacted limitations on eminent domain — not always effective ones. But like lawmakers in many other states, some California officials are trying to block real eminent domain reform. On June 3, Californians will vote on Proposition 99, a ballot initiative sponsored by groups representing cities, counties, redevelopment agencies and other pro-condemnation interests. It purports to protect property rights...

Both sides allege tainted funds in duel over Propositions 98, 99. In the June 3 ballot showdown over governments' power to take private property, both sides agree on one thing: Their opponents rely on tainted money that reveals their true motives.One side gets much of its money from landlords and mobile home park owners that stand to benefit from Proposition 98's ban on rent control.The other side opposes Proposition 98 and supports a far less restrictive initiative, Proposition 99. Much of its campaign money comes from local government groups that resist major curbs on their use of eminent domain. Both...

Taylor-area residents Dan and Margaret Byfield hope to become the Trans-Texas Corridor’s worst nightmare. The married couple head up two land rights organizations, the American Land Foundation and Stewards of the Range, that aim to keep rural communities from having land encroached upon by state and federal agencies through eminent domain. Both organizations operate across the U.S., in Wyoming, California, Colorado, South Dakota and Nebraska, but their current main goal is to challenge TxDOT in hopes of completely eliminating proposals for the quarter-mile wide superhighway. Currently they offer advice to residents of small towns and rural communities on how to...

Thirty years ago, when Howard Jarvis drove Proposition 13 to a lopsided victory at the California polls, the old curmudgeon expended a fair amount of invective trying to prove that he was a real populist and not just a running dog for the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association. He was in fact employed by the apartment owners and his campaign was based there. But his argument was borne out by the fact that his shrewd direct mail campaign generated many thousands of small contributions from elderly homeowners fearful that they'd lose those homes to escalating property taxes. Many became members...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Barbara Gonzel has lived in a two-bedroom duplex in northwest Los Angeles for 13 years, protected from the region's soaring housing costs by the city's rent-control ordinance. That could change, and Gonzel could find herself paying hundreds of dollars more in monthly rent, if voters approve one of two property rights initiatives on the June 3 primary election ballot. One of the measures, Proposition 98, is supported by landlords and business owners and contains a provision that would phase out local rent-control ordinances for apartments, duplexes and mobile home parks. It also would eliminate tenant-protection rules that...

Hundreds are expected to descend on San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza today to protest a June ballot measure that would end rent control across the state and, many argue, would push thousands of people from their homes through evictions or rising prices. But the measure's backers say rent control is a failure and that approval by voters ultimately would mean more apartments and lower rents. Proposition 98 was written as a restriction on eminent domain that would prohibit the government from taking property for the benefit of a private party. Opponents say it would do far more: define "private" and...

Last week's story about the uncertainties endured by people who live in or near the route of the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor prompted many messages of support. But I wish there had been room in the story to quote Steve Huber, a University of Houston law professor who spoke at a January meeting in Bellville on the project. Huber opposed the corridor plan without taking the position — adopted, for instance, by U.S. Rep. John Culberson toward rail on Richmond — that the people most directly affected deserve the most consideration when a route is chosen. "My position carefully avoided the sort...

The View - Yes on Prop. 98/No on Prop. 99 - The Battle to Restore Private Property Rights Since California has failed to join more than 40 states in reforming its eminent domain statutes, a diverse group of business, farm and taxpayer organizations have taken a leading role in restoring private property protections for California business property by qualifying Proposition 98, the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act, for the June 2008 ballot. It is well documented that business owners are the most common victims of eminent domain abuse because of local governments' appetite for sales tax revenue to...

Big Government types and Prop 99 All you really need to know about the two eminent domain propositions on the June 3 ballot, 98 and 99, is that Proposition 99 is being touted by politicians and other government types as the real solution to government intrusion on private property ownership. Among them are the usual suspects, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, both of whom believe in Big Government, and both of whom describe Proposition 98 as a hindrance to solving such state problems as water quality and supply. Feinstein, in a release at the end...

Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?...

A Boulder County District Court judge charged with revisiting a controversial land dispute should not consider "outrageous" claims that Richard McLean and Edith Stevens lied to win their case, according to the couple's attorney. In court documents submitted Tuesday, Boulder attorney Kim Hult responded pointedly to accusations made by Don and Susie Kirlin that their neighbors fabricated a path across their Hardscrabble Drive vacant lot. The thin dirt trail, which has come to be known as "Edie's Path," was a critical piece of evidence that in part led Judge James C. Klein last fall to award about a third of...

Adverse possession law set to change. Beginning July 1, people hoping to use "adverse possession" to take control of another person's land had better be prepared to pay for it... The bill, which garnered wide bipartisan support among state lawmakers, requires that an adverse possessor believe in "good faith" that the land is actually his or her own. It also raises the burden of proof in an adverse-possession case and gives judges the power to make plaintiffs payfor any land they are awarded. Witwer on Friday said the bill is a victory for property owners. "This will make it harder...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Friday that he will oppose an initiative on the June 3 ballot to restrict governments' ability to use eminent domain to seize property. Schwarzenegger said he was opposing Proposition 98 in part because it might block the building of water projects crucial to farmers and residential users. "Eminent domain is an issue worth addressing," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "However Proposition 98 would undermine California's ability to improve our infrastructure, including our water delivery and storage." ... Proposition 98 bans the use of eminent domain to transfer property to a private party, and would phase...

Once in a while, almost by accident, the California Legislature sets aside pettiness and venality and does the right thing. It happened last week, although you won't find any official record, when legislation that would have changed a city's redevelopment powers in ways that could lead to widespread abuse was quietly killed without a committee hearing. Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, dropped the bill that the City of Industry was promoting after getting an earful of complaints from other local governments, especially Los Angeles County, and redevelopment reformers. Redevelopment, for those who aren't familiar with it, is the process by...

Editorial: Prop. 98 protects private property rights June election is coming: Vote yes on Prop. 98, for real eminent-domain reform, and no on Prop. 99, which is designed to stop such reform. The campaigns for Propositions 98 and 99 on the June 3 ballot are getting heated, and it would be no surprise if most California voters are confused by the two eminent domain-related measures. As often occurs in political campaigns, one side or the other misrepresents the purpose of its initiative. For instance, Prop. 99's supporters claim that the measure will stop eminent domain abuses that have become well...

Beijing (AFP) April 14, 2008 Chinese authorities uncovered 31,700 cases of illegal land grabs in four months in a crackdown on one of the major factors behind rising social unrest across the country, state media reported on Monday. The unlawful land grabs were discovered between September 15 last year and January 15, and led to 2,864 people being punished, Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Pu of the Ministry of Land and Resources as saying. Land illegally seized amounted to 224,000 hectares (553,000 acres) in total, according to Xinhua, nearly 60 percent of which was used before getting government approval. The...

The City of Long Beach is advertising for planning consultants to carry out their plans. Will they be hired if there is some danger that the consultant will say "We have studied the situation carefully and we believe the city should not impose zoning restrictions on property owners and their uses of the land. Nor do we believe that eminent domain is justified." Would such a consultant be considered or hired?...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

For Peyton Gilbert, the battle over the Trans-Texas Corridor is reminiscent of the moment in 1836 when Lt. Col. William Travis drew a line in the sand at the Alamo and invited those willing to fight thousands of Mexican soldiers to step across. "That line in the sand is the Trans-Texas Corridor, and it's a threat to our sovereignty again, just like at the Alamo," said Gilbert, 14, who is from Whitehouse, near Tyler. Gilbert was among a large crowd of people who marched down Congress Avenue to the Capitol on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against the proposed highway-rail-utility corridor...

One of the most important Constitutional questions in the history of our Republic might be decided over a few acres of rat infested railroad yards in Brooklyn and a handful of doughty home owners who like living nearby. The question is whether the Constitution permits a developer to seize the property of the few residents continuing to live in the footprint of the proposed Atlantic Yards development near downtown Brooklyn. The question is now pending before the Supreme Court of the United States because, as our Joseph Goldstein reported yesterday at Page 1, more than a dozen plaintiffs, including three...

Hollywood - A state appeals court has decided to support the city's controversial attempt to take a family's downtown property and use it for private development. The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled 3-0 to overturn a Broward judge's 2006 ruling that said the city cannot take the Mach family's business property and give it to a powerful developer, according to the decision released Wednesday. The Mach family has owned the 2,900-square-foot building on Harrison Street since 1972. The building houses the family's hair salon and several other businesses. The city's downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has been fighting since 2005...

FORT WORTH -- The Trans-Texas Corridor is now so controversial, merely uttering the words in most political circles is taboo. "We're calling it a 'regional loop' because you can't say 'Trans-Texas Corridor' in the state of Texas anymore," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "The Trans-Texas Corridor is a lightning rod," he told visiting state representatives this week while explaining how the corridor would connect to regional highways by 2030. Opposition to the proposed construction of a $184 billion network of toll roads during the next 50 years is so strong statewide that...

A war of words continues in a high-profile Boulder land case, with each side accusing the other of lying. In January, Don and Susie Kirlin appealed an October ruling by Boulder County District Court Judge James C. Klein that awarded a third of their million-dollar lot to neighbors Richard McLean and Edith Stevens, based on the squatter's-rights law of "adverse possession." The Kirlins at the same time filed a request with the Colorado Court of Appeals to send the case back to the district court level to hear additional evidence, alleging their neighbors fabricated evidence to win their case. After...

The Associated Press reports that the Chinese Communist regime currently in power sentenced an opponent of land grabs from farmers to five years imprisonment and subjected him to electric shocks from police baton when his family scuffled with police.

A serene landscape of oaks, grassy swales and lazy creeks in Citrus Heights provides an unlikely backdrop for a nasty statewide battle over one of the last bastions of affordable housing.Two years ago, many of the residents of Lakeview Village Mobile Home Park fought for a local ordinance that would cap rents in the 500-home Citrus Heights park as new owners imposed a steep increase.They lost. Now a statewide initiative on the June ballot would make it impossible for Citrus Heights, or any other jurisdiction in California, to impose rent controls on apartments or mobile home parks. The stated purpose...

...The NY Times article noted the involvement of the paper's parent company with Forest City Ratner in the construction of the new headquarters building opposite the Port Authority Terminal. It neglected to mention that the land was stolen by eminent domain. I called this scheme Time$cam.

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...

Time is almost up for Texas residents who wish to submit a comment on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, which must be received by the Texas Department of Transportation by Wednesday. Submissions of comments would have to be made either by mail or online at this point, and can be sent to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761, or go to keeptexasmoving.com, then click on “question or comment” on the left side of the screen. Previously, throughout February and March, TxDOT held 47 well-attended hearings at which oral comments from the public were taken into account. The TTC has...

A dispute over the proper valuation of 10 acres of property in Eisenhower Valley has two of the city’s oldest families and the Sanitation Authority pitted against each other, with the sellers asking for $40 million and the city holding out for $10 million less. The Hoof-Fagelson Tract, formerly a go-kart track that now serves as a maintenance parking lot for Thrifty Rent-A-Car, is landlocked on one side by Carlyle development, and on the other side by I-495. While the tract sits next to Alexandria’s Waste Treatment facility, it also adjoins a proposed $150 million office and retail development at...

...The City of Long Beach is advertising for planning consultants to carry out their plans. Will they be hired if there is some danger that the consultant will say "We have studied the situation carefully and we belive the city should not impose zoning restrictions on property owners and their uses of the land. Nor do we believe that eminent domain is justified." Would such a consultant be considered or hired? The planning consultants are accomplices before the fact to legalized theft. They represent in Hannah Arendt's words "the banality of evil." So too do the officials who hire them.

If David Paterson as governor displays the opposition to eminent domain that he showed as a state senator, several high-profile development projects in New York City could be derailed or delayed, including a Columbia University expansion, the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, and the transformation of Willets Point in Queens. As a state Senate leader, Mr. Paterson in 2005 held a rally with Council Member Letitia James and state Senator William Perkins on the steps of City Hall during which he called for a statewide moratorium on the use of eminent domain. Mr. Paterson said a decision handed down by...