Posted on 09/25/2005 4:21:38 AM PDT by FortRumbull
My name is Michael Cristofaro and I live in New London, Connecticut. My family is one of the group of homeowners in the now infamous U.S. Supreme Court case of Kelo v. City of New London. I am here to tell you a little about my family’s struggle against the use of eminent domain for private economic development. The City of New London and the New London Development Corporation are trying to kick us out of our homes not for a public use like a road or reservoir but to make way for a luxury hotel, up-scale condominiums, and other private developments that supposedly are going to bring in more taxes to the City and possibly create more jobs.
The day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against us, I had the unpleasant task of telling my father he may lose the house that his family has lived in for over 35 years. He said: “What do you mean?” I told him the city had won in court. He then told me, in his heavy Italian accent, that he did not sign a contract to sell the house and he was refusing to let them take it from him.
My parents came from Italy in 1962 to pursue the American Dream. Within the first year, they worked hard and saved enough money to buy their first home. They raised 5 children in that home and my father nurtured his garden and numerous flowers and shrubs. My father actually worked for the City of New London. At one point, he almost lost his life when the control room of the incinerator caught on fire and he was trapped in the room.
The city approached my parents in 1971 and took their first home by eminent domain. They said it was for a sea wall to protect the residents of the city. My parents, having come from a country where you didn’t question the government -- and wanting to do the right thing -- gave up the home they loved, understanding that a sea wall was a public use. Unfortunately, that sea wall was never built. Instead, an office park now stands where our first home stood. That’s hardly a public use.
Thirty years later this story repeated itself in Fort Trumbull.
By that time, my father had retired from his job with the City after 27 years of loyal service. Nevertheless, when the Fort Trumbull development was proposed, no one from the City treated him like a gentleman. Instead, there was harassment, intimidation and outright threats to take his property. Many of our elderly neighbors sold out to the City because they thought there was nothing else that could be done. One of my neighbors was 93 years old. Just hours before he passed away, his final words were “What about my house?”
The poor and the elderly are usually the individuals that municipalities target. Agents hired by the NLDC harassed my parents all hours of the day, showing up at their door and telling them to “Sign the contract! If you don’t, we will take your property by eminent domain and you will not get what we are offering now.” We constantly told them to leave us alone. We were no longer able to enjoy the peace and sanctuary of our own home.
The sad day came in November of 2000, during the week of Thanksgiving, when the sheriff came to my parent’s home and served them with condemnation papers. At that time, my brother Tony, who had just retired from over 20 years of service in the US Air Force, was living in the Fort Trumbull home with his wife and sons. My mom started crying and wanted to know where her family was going to move. My mom became so distraught that we had to call an ambulance and bring her to the hospital. She was having heart palpitations.
This was the start of our fight to save our home.
We contacted attorneys and were told it would be a fight that couldn’t be won. They charged large retainer fees that, even if we won in court, we would not be able to recoup from the city. We would be penalized for fighting for what we believed in.
In the end, it’s not about the money – it is the loss of choice. With economic development in a free market, the property owner chooses whether or not to sell. In a free market, the price is determined by what the market will bear. Choice belongs to both the one selling – and the one buying. By keeping the threat of eminent domain in the municipal “toolbox” of economic development, government takes away a fundamental right of its citizens to choose.
The City of New London says that there is nothing wrong with the laws as they currently stand. But my family’s struggle and the struggle of the other homeowners in New London demonstrates that the law is in desperate need of change. New London needs to stop tearing down its past and build its future on its wonderful history. Developers should try and incorporate new projects with existing homes and allow owners who want to stay to remain. The City of New London can build all that they want and still incorporate the disputed properties in the plan. The property owners never objected to the development but only want to be part of it and remain in their homes. Today, even with the loss in the Supreme Court, we are fighting to keep our homes.
Congress needs to send a strong message to municipalities that tear down working class neighborhoods to replace them with office buildings or a big-box retailer: if you do so, you will not receive federal tax dollars for economic development. By doing this, you will protect families like mine who simply want to keep the homes they love.
Thank you very much for asking me to testify today and for your consideration of legislation that would go a long way toward stopping government’s ability to take property from Peter to give to Paul.
The struggle is not only for those in Connecticut, but for citizens all over the U.S.
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
Thanks for the ping. If they can hold on for a while longer they will win because it is going to be a campaign issue in state elections, believe me. And people are going to vote against scum who steal private property, right and left alike. You heard it here first. :-}
Brings tears even to my jaded eyes.
Perhaps there will be a silver lining if Kelo is reversed by legislation...or the Roberts' court.
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