Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide a property rights dispute on whether government entities violate the Constitution when they seize homes for failure to pay taxes and then keep all the proceeds or allow private investors to profit. The justices will decide whether such seizures violate the takings clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which requires that the government pay compensation when property is taken. They will also weigh whether government action could be viewed as an excessive fine under the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment. The justices will weigh a claim brought by Geraldine Tyler, a 93-year-old...

It doesn't matter how many years in-a-row one pays the mortgage on-time; because the government can just buy the home for a fraction of its worth any day, any time some official shouts, "Blight!" in yet another fruit of the Kelo decision.

An oft-heard justification for the use of eminent domain to acquire private property for redevelopment projects is that you “need to break some eggs to make an omelet” As someone who worked 20 years acquiring property by eminent domain for public agencies, I find this to be a bad analogy. A better analogy might be that people’s nest eggs need protection lest predator foxes steal the eggs under the guise of helping the food chain. Redevelopment is sold to the public as revitalizing older commercial districts, increasing the property tax base and sales taxes, and stimulating jobs and the local...

Opponents of a $165.2 million retail and commercial center that would replace 254 homes in the Sunset Manor subdivision of Sunset Hills asked a judge this morning to order the city to let its voters decide whether the project should go forward. Members of the Stop the Sunset Hills Land Grab, a grassroots organization opposed to the project, have collected more than 600 signatures to force a vote but city officials have rejected the initiative petitions, said Will Aschinger, a spokesman for the group, in a press conference outside the St. Louis County courthouse in Clatyon. The project by Novus...

A St. Louis auto mechanic whose repair shop was targeted for acquisition to make way for a “Media Box” will get to keep his land after all. The board of directors for Grand Center, the development agency which presides over the arts district of the same name, voted this morning to drop its eminent domain suit against Gentle “Jim” Day, owner of Royal Auto Repair. Since Day’s plight became public earlier this year, the son of Arkansas sharecroppers has received an outpouring of support from opponents of eminent domain at a time when the issue has reached the national spotlight....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Attorney General Jay Nixon sued the Department of Natural Resources on Thursday to try to stop the dismantling of an old Missouri River railroad bridge that historic preservationists hope could someday become part of the Katy Trail State Park. The lawsuit contends the department had no authority to relinquish the state's rights to Boonville bridge to Union Pacific Railroad Co. without getting specific approval from the Legislature. It also contends the Missouri Constitution bars the state from giving its bridge interests to a private company without compensation. And Nixon claims that losing the rights to...

THE Illinois House last week passed reasonable rules for the payday loan industry. If the Senate follows suit, as it certainly should, some down-on-their-luck Illinoisans should be saved from penury. Payday loan shops provide a needed service - at an outrageous price. They provide small, short-term loans to people who can't get them elsewhere. Most are people shunned by credit card companies because of low income or bad credit history. If your car is broken down, and you need it for work, the payday loan store will provide money to pay the bill. But charges are steep, averaging $20 to...

On February 22nd, the future of property rights in America will be at stake as the Supreme Court begins oral arguments in the case of Kelo v. New London. The central question at issue is: should the government be able to use its power of eminent domain to seize property from one private party and transfer it to another? The seven property owners on the side of Kelo are the last remaining of more than 70 families whose homes and businesses were targeted for demolition several years ago by the city of New London, Connecticut, to make room for a...

In Rock Hill: (a St. Louis Suburb City) Eminent Domain Considered For Novus (Novus is a developer) by Linda Jarrett The Rock Hill Planning and Zoning Committee voted to recommend allowing Novus Companies to use eminent domain under Chapter 353 of the Missouri code in acquiring properties on the northwest side of the Manchester/McKnight roads redevelopment area. Acting City Administrator Don Cary told the Times that while Tax Increment Financing (TIF) allows the same process, using Chapter 353 keeps the "TIF clock" from starting. He said that once the "tear down" begins, the TIF clock starts and the city has...