Kelo Update: Media Ignores Latest New London Development Setback

newsbusters.org ^ | November 30, 2007 | Tom Blumer

[grundle]

As an exemplar of a government-run enterprise stuck in the mud, it's hard to come with a better example than what is happening in the area that was the subject of the infamous Kelo v. New London ruling in 2005. Nearly 2-1/2 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that the city could evict Susette Kelo and other holdouts and take their homes, and 17 months after the final settlement between the city and the final two holdouts, very little has been done in the affected area.

The latest setback to substantive progress in the area is significant, and is being totally ignored by the non-local press.

Here are the two major stories and the local paper's editorial from earlier this week (New London Day links require a paid subscription after seven days):

Nov. 27 (report by Elaine Stoll) -- Fort Trumbull Developer Asks For More Time, Misses Deadline NLDC could claim default, but delay in project more likely

Preferred developer Corcoran Jennison missed an important deadline Monday for its Fort Trumbull peninsula housing development, whose groundbreaking will almost certainly be postponed again.

The firm informed the New London Development Corp. that it needed more time to secure financing for the $18 million project one hour before Monday's noon deadline for the company for that and other obligations outlined in a Sept. 27 agreement with the NLDC.

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Nov. 28 (report by Elaine Stoll) -- Developer Says Lending Climate Reason For Delay NLDC not yet ready to declare Corcoran Jennison in default

..... Corcoran Jennison attorney Glenn T. Carberry sent a two-page request for a six-month extension — ending May 29, 2008 — for the developer to finance the construction project, now estimated at $19 million. The Boston-based company failed to finalize financing and to sign a contract with a general contractor for the construction of 66 apartments and 14 townhouses on four acres by Monday's noon deadline, delaying what the NLDC believed would be a December groundbreaking.

“They're technically in default,” NLDC President Michael Joplin said Tuesday. “We haven't called them in default. There are other approaches we ought to evaluate and try before we get to that point.”

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Nov. 28 (editorial) -- Skepticism Grows Fort Trumbull developer has to stop raising false expectations and start delivering on promises.

It is understandable that given tightening credit and a changing housing market Corcoran Jennison would need more time to secure financing for its planned housing development on the Fort Trumbull peninsula.

It is not understandable, however, why the inability to get the financing was sprung as an 11th-hour surprise — and disappointment. The firm waited until one hour before Monday's noon deadline to inform the New London Development Corp. that it could not meet the obligations of a Sept. 27 agreement, including getting financing approved. Surely the developer had to know well before then that it would have trouble getting the needed loan in time. It would have been far better to go public with the financing difficulties sooner.

The word "Kelo" does not appear in any of the three items above -- perhaps to assist in avoiding search engine attention (I became aware of this because of an alert I have set up for "Fort Trumbull").

Note that the neighborhood homes taken as a result of the Kelo ruling are being replaced by ..... apartments and townhouses. As I understand it, more grandiose plans have long since been scaled back.

Considering the firestorm that erupted in the wake of the Kelo ruling, it's very disappointing to see the lack of any kind of meaningful follow-up media attention. I'm left to speculate why the clear and ongoing lack of progress isn't news.

[IncPen]

Politicians today act with impunity, enslaving the very people who elected them.

There’s a book by John Ross called ‘Unintended Consequences’ in which he proposes a solution for nonsense like this.

[lewislynn]

Karma

[Kevmo]

The word “Kelo” does not appear in any of the three items above — perhaps to assist in avoiding search engine attention (I became aware of this because of an alert I have set up for “Fort Trumbull”).

Note that the neighborhood homes taken as a result of the Kelo ruling are being replaced by ..... apartments and townhouses.
***Thanks for posting this disturbing follow up.

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Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
Posted on 11/15/2007 3:43:17 AM PST by Kevmo

[NDNBill]

I am in awe of the prescient effeciency of our Governing Class. Let’s turn all our decisions over to them. Peace and serenity will then certainly prevail and the ‘world’ will ‘feel’ better about us. (Sarc)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

When private property rights are ignored in favor of what is good for the state (more tax revenue) individual freedom is being ignored. This country was founded on, and prospered on, the idea of the individual as opposed to the collective. The left, Communism/Socialism is based on the collective.

If we want the few, our elected representatives, to control the many (us) then we are getting just that. We must make our voices heard and correct this situation. We know it can be done because we stopped amnesty.

In this case, Kelo, it looks as if the promise of more taxes is in jeopardy but the individuals have lost their property nonetheless. We must remind them that WE run this country, not them, and that our collective votes will tell them so.

[bonehead4freedom]

No your wrong our votes don’t count The COURT made law the law is whatever the government says it is so they can receive the most revenue!The courts are the final say on what the law is,there is no Andrew Jackson who tells them no!We have turned our country over to the black robe priests who will make up the law on fly.Congress can say we remove from your jurisdiction the following (abortion) but it’s easier to say we can’t do anything it’s the courts! If we really want to get a handle on the courts Congress can abolish the lower courts and remake them and also reduce the Supreme Court to one justice and issue their annual budget so the courts can be reigned in...I’m done ranting the D.C. case has me really worried.

[PGalt]

But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law — which may be an isolated case — is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.

The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry; that this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and to pay higher wages to the poor workingmen.

Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interests. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this has already occurred. The present-day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else; to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it.

from “How to Identify Legal Plunder” here...

http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html#SECTION_G1425

Thanks to FReeper raygun for the link.

[Pontiac]

We must make our voices heard and correct this situation. We know it can be done because we stopped amnesty.

We postponed amnesty. They are reworking the amnesty bill even now.

[Tunehead54]

Reminder bump for all! ;-)