Posted on 06/23/2005 8:10:25 PM PDT by andie74
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- On Bill Von Winkle's side of town, word of the Supreme Court decision spread like the news of a passing relative. His cell phone rang incessantly.
"Hello," he answered. "Yeah, we lost. I know, hard to believe, huh?"
No sooner had he hung up the phone than his letter carrier walked by.
"Need a hug?" he asked.
Von Winkle is one of seven homeowners who learned Thursday that the city's plan to demolish their working class neighborhood in the name of economic development is constitutional.
On the other side of town, city leaders cheered the decision, calling it a victory for cash-strapped cities that want to spur redevelopment. The holdouts and their 15 homes were all that stood in the way of plans to build a hotel, office space and upscale homes.
"This case makes New London look good and you should be proud to live in New London," said the city's attorney, Wesley Horton, who argued the case before the high court.
Like New London, the high court was divided on the issue. Five justices sided with the city, saying economic revitalization qualifies as a public good and local officials know best when to use their eminent domain power for the community's benefit.
Four justices, led by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, said the decision opened the doors for wealthy to developers to drive poor residents out of their homes.
"The U.S. Supreme Court destroyed everybody's lives today, everybody who owns a home," said Richard Beyer, who owns two rental properties in the once vibrant immigrant neighborhood that has largely been reduced to swaths of rutted grass. "This was America."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Here's a look at the people fighting for their property after living the American dream. I am in tears.
I know we have a 2nd amendment but i just cant remember what for....
If we're going to have such madness imposed on it, then let's use it. Drill ANWR NOW!! Let's get those windmills built of the Massachusetts coast! Set up the rigs off of Florida and Carolina and California!
Sauce for the goose...
The community's benefit. Now, there is a broad term!
LOL, love the screen name!
If their land is being taken from them, they should get a stipend based on the revenues generated on it. Anything else is theft and is beneath the dignity of any country that I would be proud of.
And who decides the benefit? So utilitarianism, e.g. the greatest good for the greatest number, decided by elected officials?
This is what we fought a revolution over gang. This is out and out tyranny.
The depth of this disasterous ruling cannot be overstated.
The city should have been declared bankrupt and dissolved.
The officials and lawyers behind this are pond scum socialists. And the 5 justices who rubber stamped this thieft are unfit to sit on any bench.
Excuse me while I go off and puke.
Excuse me while I clean my arsenal.
You got it. The Supremes today crushed the foundation the country was built on. There is just no rational excuse for what 5 lawyers did to us.
This is horrible but what do we expect. We've seen people lose their houses to the government before. The most insiduous is for failure to pay property taxes. One guy lost his home after his wife fell sick with cancer and he couldn't pay taxes on his home on Long Island. The county took the property and sold it for 100 times what he owed in taxes and the guy didn't get anything. That's America today. Property rights are an illusion, we need a Constitutional amendment to spell it out for the morons on the Supreme Court. The question is do we have anyone in the Republican party who has the temerity to push what would be a very popular Amendment. Even the left isn't supportive of this kind of thing.
But it will take the people applying constant pressure to politicians to make this happen. It would be a popular Amendment. While we're at it, let's make property taxes unconstitutional.
Also, how long do you suppose it'll take for municipalities to look at churches, especially older ones on prime real estate, and decide that a better use would bring tax dollars instead of an exemption?
Mr. Andie74 is reading over my shoulder. He says, "It's bad enough that they take away their homes to build an office building and a hotel, but private homes? That's appalling."
Odds are, in the end, this city council is going to generate more than a few jailbirds.
It's not like we haven't seen this sort of thing before ~ Fairfax County, where I lived, once lost it's County Board of Supervisors to the state prison ~ it was really bad ~ only one left was this Packard woman, and she was terribly obnoxious.
That Board had big plans to economically develop the county, and all those plans had a direct link to their own pockets.
My residential neighborhood actually has an R100 lot immediately adjacent to it.
You ever see an R100 building in the suburbs? This gang was stupid.
Someone on another thread said that churches were safe because of the first amendment and the free establishment clause.
I wouldn't bank on it.
A black day.
I vote for civil war.
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