I think the case you are thinking about was in Atlantic City NJ. They wanted some woman’s property for a casino parking lot, I believe.
Donald Trump’s Lame Attempt to Push Back on Eminent Domain
Posted at 3:00 pm on February 15, 2016 by Joe Cunningham
There is a difference between the use of eminent domain for public use and eminent domain for private use.
In normal society, the conversation actually ends there. In normal society, that’s the end of this post. But, we don’t live in a society that recognizes the difference between public good and private gain. There are segments of society – all of whom flock to the banner of Donald Trump, it seems – who believe that these are really the same thing, and that Jeb Bush is a hypocrite for blasting Trump on his use of eminent domain when he himself as governor bought land from private owners.
Take, for example, this person, whose article Trump has been tweeting out today as a lame defense for his support of eminent domain:
During the pre-New Hampshire ABC GOP presidential debate, Bush slammed Donald Trump on eminent domain. He was playing to a clearly hostile anti-Trump crowd, knowing that the Trump supporters only received 20 tickets for the debate. Jeb used eminent domain as a club to bash The Donald, citing a decades-old case of an elderly Atlantic City lady who refused to sell her property to Trump, which he wanted for a parking lot. Atlantic City condemned her property, trying to force her to sell, she challenged the condemnation in court and won. Trump quickly abandoned the idea in favor of more willing neighbors who sold their property to Trump for his parking lot, and he paid them quite well for their properties.
The Atlantic City story is now being repeated over and over again by the neo-cons to try to destroy Mr. Trump. They’re using the tactics of Joseph Goebbels, repeat a lie often enough….and people will eventually believe it.
As Florida Governor, Jeb Bush loved eminent domain and practiced it.
Please note that right away we have a reference to Goebbels, and the tossing about of neo-cons as an insult. Oh boy.
What follows is a series of stories about Jeb Bush’s administration seizing land for wetlands, weathering a deadly crop disease, and something about W. building a stadium in Texas. Of the three stories, one would maybe look askance at the last, of which Jeb had no part.
Jeb Bush as governor was doing things for public interest. There is a notable environmental impact from disappearing wetlands, and does do harm to the state when it happens. The same goes when there is a crop disease that could wipe out a key staple of Florida farmers. That is public good. That is the type of thing the government has to do sometimes. You can also see where the government offered the swamp property owner millions when he paid just $600,000 for the land originally. The government wasn’t out to swindle a guy.
Donald Trump, however, loves eminent domain, and has worked with government bodies to get land taken by the government not for the public good, but for his own private game. The Atlantic City case the aforementioned writer brings up? That wasn’t for the greater benefit of Atlantic City. That was for a limousine parking lot for one of Trump’s buildings. There was nothing about that case that would make you think “You know, it’s wrong to take someone’s land, but damn if Trump didn’t just save Atlantic City.”
Hell, Donald Trump broke Atlantic City.
This is not a difficult concept to understand. In a normal society, I wouldn’t need more than 550 words to explain this. But, a normal society wouldn’t let someone like Donald Trump be a leading presidential candidate either.
As they say, sometimes "you can't stand in the way of progress".
In the case you're referring to, in fact Donald Trump never deprived this woman of her property. But it was not for lack of trying, I guess...
He never got the house in AC - woman's grandson finally sold it years later to Ichan for a lot less than The Donald had offered.
Gosh, Hillary - I thought the election was over..
Georgia or Atlantic City where he was building a hotel and property was needed.
Try Vera Coking if I remember correctly.
Cut it out, do not waste time messing with libtards.
Type it in the your search engine and you will all you want.
Eminent domain abuse could be avoided with a constitutional amendment prohibiting confiscated land from ever generating $$ for any government in the future. Seized land would be exempt from taxes and prohibited from generating more money than operating costs in the instance of a waste treatment plant, for example.
“DT is a compassionate and caring person.”
I agree, he is. I don’t know if the stories about DT’s use of eminent domain are true or not. I do know that there have been abusive uses of eminent domain.
You’re never going to convince a douche wad anti Trumper of anything. They are demented. Don’t even try.
here’s a few of my old posts that might help. The pix of the ‘before’ house (first link) makes an impression.
The discussion on FR was about 2/16.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3402334/posts
Vera Coking would have lost her house within months to the tax collector if not for Trump’s contractor giving her the money to pay her back taxes of some $25K.
Vera’s tenant house before Trump (she wanted $5million for this):
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2876/12243145186_71315e50ce_z.jpg
Vera’s first action against Trump was to sue to keep the beams in place; she lost her suit. Trump offered to put up a privacy wall; Vera claimed it would ‘block the sun’. So he put landscaping and flagpoles in the bus/taxi waiting area on one side of her home. Vera’s tenant house after Trump removed the rusty steel shell. Notice the boarded up windows on the condemned floors:
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/pressofatlanticcity.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8ad7a3-1051-5d8e-8b76-df12601b1806/546a548559c1d.image.jpg?resize=730%2C390
corner shot of Vera’s house, showing ongoing dilapidated condition of the structure:
http://www.oyster.com/atlantic-city/hotels/trump-plaza-hotel-and-casino/photos/street—v1064011-48/
‘’’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3395069/posts
The taxpayers of New Jersey decided to set aside a district for casinos in Atlantic City. All the owners in the designated area sold except Coking. Penthouse publisher Guccioni offered Cokings a million. She wanted more.
“Coking’s grandson, Ed Casey, previously told the Press of Atlantic City.... his grandmother....wasn’t opposed to selling...”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-time-trump-nemesis-91-is-moving-on/
Instead of being happy about Trump coming along with a contractor to tear down the steel beam shell Guccioni built over Coking’s tenant house, that she had lived under for years, Coking immediately sued Trump’s contractor for ‘damages’, for six months refusing and then accepting an out of court $90K no-blame settlement.
Coking’s real reason for suing was revealed by her attorney:
“Glenn Zeitz, Coking’s attorney, said Coking settled so she could pay some $25,000 in back taxes - a debt that could cost her the house if not paid by December. He said Coking also needs to repair the house to prevent the city’s demolition department from leveling it.”
http://articles.philly.com/1997-02-19/news/25533159_1_donald-trump-trump-plaza-eminent-domain
“I did something that had never been done before in condemnation work,” Zeitz said. “I filed an answer to that complaint, and then filed a third-party complaint against Trump and against the CRDA, alleging that they were conspiring to violate her civil rights, by taking her property without due process.
“I sued them, and brought Trump into the case,” Zeitz said. “It was, ‘The Widow vs. The Tycoon.’ You want to know what this really was? It was two people with gigantic egos, namely me and Trump...”
http://articles.philly.com/2002-08-20/news/25336318_1_property-owners-vera-coking-casino-reinvestment-development-authority
“Jim Whelan, a frequent Trump critic who served as Atlantic City’s mayor at the time, told NJ Advance Media... “That property was a dump,” Whelan recalled this past week. “... The property was in disrepair. It was a blight on the city.”
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/10/trumps_eminent_domain_comments_recall_1990s_atlantic_city_property_battle.html
The pushed story that a poor old widow woman was being ‘forced from her home’ was a farce - further exposed when Coking listed the tenant house for 5 million. Trump offered (more than) a million and a free apartment for life at a Trump property. (Coking’s building went to auction last year with a $199K starting bid. Icahn bought it).
In retrospect, had Trump not bought Guccioni’s project, Coking would have lost her home to the tax collector. Had the Redevelopment Agency (taxpayers) and/or Trump coughed up the 5 million, it’s easy to speculate Coking might have laughed all the way to the bank in Palm Springs without so much as a backward wave.
I see everyone is missing THE POINT.
The premise your so called Friend is making is that Trump is a Meanie because he attempted to use Eminent Domain Laws to develop a Property.
Did Trump write and pass into Law those same Eminent Domain Laws? That would be NO.
Did he pass the Atlantic City Redevelopment Plan?
That would be NO.
A group of Mean and Uncaring Politicians, in the case of New Jersey, typical Democrat Politicians passed the Laws.
Trump was using the Law and when it went to Court, he lost.
He could have offered the Woman Market Price, but Mr. Meanie Trump offered her FOUR TIMES the Value. What a Pig.
The Woman put pride over common sense and she got the deal she wanted in the end, nothing. Boo Friggin Hoo.
Take my advice, cut off your ignorant so called Liberal Friend. They won’t care what you tell them anyway. Facts to Liberals are like Crucifixes to a Vampire.
