Posted on 04/14/2021 4:05:57 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
When Modesti Cooper returned home to Houston in July 2019 after more than a decade overseas with the United States military, she moved into her dream house on the corner of Nance and Grove streets in Houston’s Fifth Ward. She’d bought a parcel of land and designed the home from scratch in her downtime while touring from Kuwait to Afghanistan to Iraq. It was a relief to finally move in. “It’s a calm, cool, nice area,” Cooper says. “Besides the traffic, there’s no violence, no noise. It’s so quiet, it’s unbelievable. I had rockets and mortars and missiles blown over my head. To come home to peace of mind and say, OK, this is my forever home.”
Cooper, 35, had barely unpacked when she started receiving letters from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The agency was planning to expand Interstate 10 as part of the North Houston Highway Improvement Project: a $7.5 billion initiative to expand I-45 from downtown Houston north to Beltway 8 and rebuild and reroute parts of the downtown loop.
When Cooper started getting letters, the project was working its way through the years-long environmental review process required by the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The agency couldn’t yet compel Cooper to sell her forever home through eminent domain to make way for a new overpass. “At first, it seemed like they were going to work with me,” she says. “But once I actually got to the TxDOT office and met with everyone, it was more like: you’re going to lose your house. You might as well just give it up to us.”
(Excerpt) Read more at texasobserver.org ...
PING!
She chose her home location... poorly.
Date of value versus of condition is always an interesting issue in these kinds of cases. It can affect the property’s highest and best use.
I worked in Right of way for the Mississippi Department of Transportation in the early ‘90’s. For one thing, every displaced homeowner will be compensated for having to move. I think it’s a bunch of homeowners negotiating.
“She’d bought a parcel of land and designed the home from scratch in her downtime while touring from Kuwait to Afghanistan to Iraq.”
Lots of nice places to tour, but I wouldn’t put Afghanistan or Iraq near the top of that list.
The Houston Democrats are trying to make a swamp. The city is at sea level. They want 20+ lanes of 45 and 59/69 to sit next to each other underground so they can have a public private park on top of it.
Kill peoples’ businesses that have stood gor 50 years etc.
It’s a bad deal.
Fool’s paradise? Houston is a lost cause. Let it go.
I still don't consider that I made money on the deal, but at least I didn't lose money considering the lost income potential of the land. My point is that if eminent domain is being used to take someone's property then the landowner should demand generous compensation. At it's heart eminent domain is an unethical, although sometimes necessary, part of our legal system and it should only be undertaken when absolutely necessary. The property owner should always be made whole.
eminent domain is certainly one of the flaws in our republic.
At least both Iraq and Afghanistan are safer places than any major Democrat dominated city is. Seriously, Baghdad is literally safer than every major city in California.
I was in the clearance section. If we went to a house that was overvalued, the residents would welcome us in with open arms, offer us cookies and lemonade, and everybody was happy.
The undervalued ones? Had to look to see if they were holding a shotgun. :)
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