Posted on 06/05/2009 11:33:22 AM PDT by AbeKrieger
SOMERSET, Pa. -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the U.S. government will not use eminent domain to seize people's land for a permanent Flight 93 memorial and instead will renew negotiations with landowners near the terrorist crash site in Somerset County.
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Salazar met with families of victims and landowners on Friday in Shanksville to discuss issues surrounding the planned national memorial for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, fatal hijacking.
Specter's office said Friday's meeting also focused on what still needs to be done for the memorial to be complete in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2011.
Recently, the National Park Service said it would use eminent domain to seize land from seven property owners needed for the memorial. But Salazar said those plans are now changed.
(Excerpt) Read more at thepittsburghchannel.com ...
Salazar will still seize the land if the owners refuse to sell:
Date: June 5, 2009
Contact: Kendra Barkoff (202) 208-6416
Secretary Salazar Gives NPS and Landowners Deadline for Agreement for Flight 93 Memorial
No condemnation needed if parties can reach agreement
WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today reiterated his commitment to complete the Flight 93 Memorial in time for the 10th anniversary and directed Dan Wenk, Acting Director of the National Park Service, to negotiate for one more week to reach an agreement with the landowners over the property needed to build the memorial. The Park Service and the landowners have been working to find agreement for several years.
“Our grateful nation will never forget the heroism of the men and women of Flight 93 who died in the fields of western Pennsylvania, and we have a moral obligation to complete the memorial by September 11, 2011,” said Salazar.
“After meeting with the landowners and the Park Service today, I have high hopes that the parties are close to agreement and will be able to reach consensus over the land in the next week so we can keep the memorial on track without using eminent domain. Only if the parties are not able to reach agreement will we have to use the last resort of eminent domain to acquire land – in either case, however, landowners will return a fair price for their land,” said Salazar.
In the letter, Secretary Salazar outlined the following actions National Parks Service will take in the next week:
Contact all landowners and schedule negotiations beginning on Monday, June 9, 2009.
Have National Park Service representatives available in Somerset, Pennsylvania, from June 9 through 11, 2009.
Report to my office the status of negotiations by Friday, June 12, 2009.
Full text of the letter is below:
The meeting today with the landowners regarding the acquisition of their property necessary for the construction of Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, was informative. It also provides an opportunity for the National Park Service to engage in negotiations to acquire those lands without the need to use eminent domain authority. It is in our collective interest to reach agreement in a timely manner in order to complete Phase I of the memorial by the September 11, 2011.
The National Park Service will take the following actions;
Contact all landowners and schedule negotiations beginning on Monday, June 8, 2009.
Have National Park Service representatives available in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, from June 9 through 11, 2009.
Report to my office the status of negotiations by Friday, June 12, 2009.
I expect the National Park Service to negotiate within the full extent of the government’s authority for federal acquisition of property and to make every effort to come to a willing seller agreement with the landowners.
However, if we are not able to reach agreement during the week of June 8 through 12, 2009, it will be necessary to continue the legal processes that were initiated with the landowners in our letters of May 6, 2009.
I’m not sure. I don’t know if it’s politicians trying to outdo the other for brownie points or what, but it sure is a strange thing to observe.
The government wants 2200 acres for this memorial. Do you think that's necessary for the "public good"?
“So the people that owned the land under our Civil War battlefields should have been allowed to turn them into used car lots or housing developments and destroy our history?”
Obviously you’ve never been to Shanksville.
The Official Flight 93 Memorial.org site
http://www.officialflight93memorial.org/
Then why is that developer allowed to rebuild on the ground 0 site? make it a national park with a mosque on it like in PA.
FYI, this is a well-developed specific issue among a great many people. And as for crescents, the only thing I'm interested in is who's smiling when they see one.
The Islamo fascist aspects of the memorial are beyond belief. Imagine the Islamo fascists making a shrine with the cross in it, in Iraq.
What goes through the mind of an idiot that would design a memorial like this, in a manner to herald the beliefs of the perps?
Simply dumbfoundingly astounding...
It's hard to miss a giant red crescent at the scene of Islamic mass murder on American soil that points directly to Mecca (that's out of 360 possible degrees of pointing potential, covering over ten thousand miles of distance).
But hey, some people see only what they're paid to see, so it's not worth arguing about.
Deal Struck for Flight 93 Memorial (eminent domain used to get land)
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