U.S. gives Flight 93 site landowners one week to sell (Update #14, Nixed)

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 6/6/09 | Amy Worden

[jimbo123]

The federal government issued an ultimatum yesterday to people who own land designated for the Flight 93 memorial in Western Pennsylvania: They have one week to reach an agreement on the sale of their land or the government will initiate proceedings to seize it.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Maybe Obummer will change it to the Hammer & Sickle.

Feh...he'd build a mosque

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Poor reporting is usually the result of trying to be the first with the story. Noboby gets all of the facts anymore before going to press with their “story”. That’s why breaking news stories are so widely mis-reported in the media before we finally get the straight story, sometimes days later.....

[khnyny]

Yes, you're right. The point I was trying to make is that eminent domain has been expanded and that we currently have a Supreme Court who is extrememly sympathetic to this expanded view.

BTW, the whole Kelo vs. New London development was a total failure and wasted taxpayers money to the tune of $80 million.

The Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) affirmed New London’s authority to take non-blighted private property by eminent domain, and then transfer it for a dollar a year to a private developer solely for the purpose of increasing municipal revenues. This 5-4 decision received heavy press coverage because the Court sided with the city's argument that this sort of taking and private redevelopment was a public benefit. Kelo inspired a public outcry that eminent domain powers were too broad. As a reaction to Kelo, several states enacted or are considering enacting state legislation that would further define and restrict the state's own power of eminent domain. The Supreme Courts of Illinois, Michigan (County of Wayne v. Hathcock (2004)) Ohio (Norwood, Ohio v. Horney (2006)), Oklahoma, and South Carolina have recently ruled to disallow such takings under their state constitutions.

The redevelopment in New London, that was the subject of the Kelo decision, proved to be a failure and as of the spring 2009 (over four years after the court's decision) nothing has been built on the taken land in spite of the expenditure of some $80 million in public funds.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Oh, I agree, but these are completely opposite this time, just seems like too much manipulation going on these days. OTOH, maybe I'm just looking for the bogyman behind every door.

[TrueKnightGalahad]

Wait a minute... there might be legal precedent. Of course! Land-snatching!
[grabs a law book]
Land, land... “Land: see Snatch.”
[flips back several pages]
Ah, Haley vs. United States. Haley: 7, United States: nothing. You see, it can be done!

[Cicero]

Well, I think there should be a memorial of some kind to remember the heroes of Flight 93.

But why do they have to have a large national park? And why does it have to be in the inescapable shape of a Muslim crescent?

Why not just buy an acre or two at the crash site, put up a granite memorial with the names of the deceased, and arrange to have some sort of right-of-way out to the nearest road?

I don’t think the guys who gave their lives to defeat the hijackers would have wanted this.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"They have one week to reach an agreement on the sale of their land or the government will initiate proceedings to seize it."

Seems Flight 93 went down for no reason.

[khnyny]

The “bogyman” is an arrogant government drunk with its own power.

In most instances I believe it to be an almost ignorant arrogance - they really do believe that what they are doing is “for the common good”. But, in the case of government corruption, it means that if you have no money or power and someone with money and power (legal team) wants a piece of property that you own, you are basically screwed.

Imho, the real issue is, and will be, states rights versus federal law.

[laconic]

I couldn’t agree with you more; 3 and 1/2 SQUARE MILES of farmland and tens of millions in acquisition costs and annual upkeep for this? Many of the Civil War battlefields are much smaller in size than this; what’s wrong with the Pentagon Memorial to 9/11, it takes up maybe an acre and is very moving and none of the relatives complained a bit about it, to my recollection. A tablet with the names of the passengers, a small museum and 10 acres of land with parking would be much more appropriate.

[edcoil]

What is this suppose to represent?

[jimbo123]

FLIGHT 93 MEMORIAL: SEEING IS BELIEVING

http://michellemalkin.com/2005/09/10/flight-93-memorial-seeing-is-believing/

[edcoil]

Thanks - I was not aware they already had a design.

http://www.zombietime.com/flight_93_memorial_project/

[bboop]

Fair value is indeed appropriate. As is taking the time to make it work for everybody. But NO, Obama is the Rush-Rush King. Push it through before anyone knows what has hit them. No need to READ or negotiate with the peons who just happen to OWN the land.

Oh, yes, and let’s make the crescent point towards the Belly of the Beast.

I sort of feel like flying out there.

[jimbo123]

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.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Read the entire story:

Salazar told the park service to negotiate with landowners for one more week. Eminent domain will be used as a last resort if no agreement can be reached.

[biff]

The land owners have said they would gladly donate the land for an appropriate memorial. The government wants several hundred or maybe it is thousands of acres. Uncalled for demands.

[jimbo123]

Ping to #54. The eminent domain threat was not nixed by Salazar. Only delayed by 1 week. Update #14 is not correct.

[Racer1]

An appropriate memorial would be about an acre or two not the land grab the government is intending. How do you think the people that were fighting for freedom would feel to find out that their crash site caused a greedy act of government seizing of land. This is just wrong.

[rawhide]

Isn’t there a law against unlawful seizures? Maybe Supreme Court Justice Souter can clear this up for me?

[combat_boots]

How close is the site to the ‘Murtha’ airport that’s pretty near never used?