Posted on 06/24/2005 8:35:12 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Some Homeowners Vow To Stay Despite Ruling Against Them
But few options seem available
New London — Drive by Michael Cristofaro's home at 50 Denison Ave. tomorrow; he promises you'll see this sign: FOR SALE.
“I'm out of here. I'm selling my home,” Cristofaro, a New London resident for 43 years, said Thursday. “I'm a white-collar worker, a computer engineer. Who do they want living in this town?”
The Cristofaro family owns a second home, at 53 Goshen St., in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the city's right to take that home, and the homes of six other property owners, by eminent domain.
The decision came as no surprise to those fighting to save their homes.
“I sort of figured it would go that way,” said Byron Athenian, who lives at what used to be 78 Smith St. before the street in front of his house was demolished. “That's the way the government works.”
But there was anger nonetheless.
“Those justices made the wrong decision,” Cristofaro said. “Four of them protected our property rights; five threw them out the door. I hope their property is chosen next for eminent domain so they know what it's like to be thrown out into the street.”
And even though, after six years of fighting the city, the group seemed to have run low on options, several promised that they would never leave.
“I'm not going anywhere. I'm here,” said William von Winkle, who owns three buildings on what remains of Smith Street. “I'm going to fight until they give up. They can do their little development around here with us here or they can do no development and try to take it, because until they stop trying to take my property by eminent domain, they will not build anything at Fort Trumbull. It's simple as that.”
“I don't know how they're going to get us out,” Cristofaro agreed. “We're going to keep our homes to the bitter end, because what they've done is wrong.”
And they warned every citizen of New London and the nation at large that the court's ruling stripped them of their right to own private property.
“One of the most fundamental rights that the country was built upon has been pretty much obliterated,” said Scott Sawyer, a lawyer who represented the homeowners. “Owning property doesn't seem to amount to much in the United States anymore. Certainly, none of us own our property anymore.”
Richard Beyer, a plaintiff who owns two homes at 41 and 49 Goshen St., agreed.
“We've pretty much lost our right to have private property,” he said. “Everybody that owns homes, their homes are at risk for eminent domain.”
And that, said Beyer, Cristofaro and von Winkle, now translates into giving the land of small property owners to big corporations.
“As one gentleman that I just got off the phone with said, ‘Welcome to Russia,' ” Beyer said. “So it's scary. I just feel bad for my kids when they get to be my age and own their own home. They don't own it. Either the bank owns it or a private corporation's going to own it.”
The homeowners predicted that more land in the city would end up in the hands of private corporations.
“I guarantee you that just about every house from Howard Street to Shaw's Cove is going to be targeted,” Beyer said. “I see that whole district in New London as being Pfizer's business park. It'll be like Avery Point minus the houses. You'll have access to Fort Trumbull State Park and that'll be it.”
Beyer, who with a partner had renovated one of his two houses and was working on the second when the city took them, said one bitter lesson he had learned was never again to do business in New London.
And he pointed out the city has never delivered on its promise that Pfizer's arrival in the city would mean lower taxes.
“The city of New London promised all the residents of New London that all your property taxes will be reduced,” he said. “That promise was never fulfilled. The taxes keep going up ... When is enough enough?”
And who, several asked, would want to build in the Fort Trumbull area now?
“They're taking the properties for an obsolete plan,” von Winkle said. “Today, who would build a hotel in New London, Connecticut? And they certainly wouldn't build an office building. We have half the city empty now. So what are they taking it for?”
For Cristofaro, the home at 53 Goshen St. is the second the city has taken from his family by eminent domain. The city took the first house, on Woodbridge Street near Shaw's Cove, in 1972.
It was a home, Cristofaro said, that his father had lovingly surrounded with fruit trees, grapevines, yews and rhododendrons.
Today it is a parking lot.
Y'all are great!
Thanks!
This absurd ruling is more proof that we shouldn't allow the current Court to hear a Second Amendment case, they don't appear to care very much for our rights.
What the heck good would a Constitutional Amendment do? We've already got one. The Constitution means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this country anymore.
This is a nation of lawlessness.
Believing any law in this country and any Constitutional right is taking a gamble.
Offshore set ups....The Insurance/Re-Insurance guys at first.
Then Banks got envious.
Finally corporations.
So ..while the BIG wealth ran offshore in the 80's and 90's,
What did the Federal Government do?
They raised Taxes on the nations citizens..and amended law to capture wealth leaving and coming.
of course...the offshore children had no problem with this.
Overcomming Federal law was old hat to this crowd.
Launder money...move drugs into America.
Hey...even find favor within the U.S. intelligence community
Emperor Clintonius even dabbled in offshore brokering.
He could'nt tell you on a good day how many planes sat at airport tarmacs...some with serial numbers assigned to U.S. intelligence agencies....but their was allways a few in country on any given day.
Its a blurr now.
The Taxes are still on.
The offshore club Med..club Carrabee rolls along.
IMF and World Bank learn to navigate the offshore port of call..or laiding : )
Relocate....Privitize...outsource.
The children of the Rich understand these words.
Wasn't it Manetho who commented about the Great Pyramids building.
"And Khufu drove them into derision"....
It all goes well for the Offshore Khufu's...except that dumbass from AIG Insurance who is getting clobbered.
Do the Offshore Pharaohs practice Sacrifice?.
Has Khufu sacrificed his AIG son for the delight of the Temple Preists?.
Congress.....which temple is the one they like most.
The one in Washington?.....or Khufu's offshore?
I guess the Big question to ask now,
Have the Masons gone offshore too : )
My hubbie has been saying that for 25 yrs...communists will take this country without ever firing a shot.
Really? It's always been in the constitution that if Victoria's Secret wants to build a store on my property they can and I have no say about it?
I wasn't thinking about it but don't mean to offend anyone who lives in one.
I DO NOT like them at all as I once watched one burn down in a very short time and we didn't know if anyone was in it!
I'm no lawyer, but I would guess that "unproductive nonprofits" that pay no taxes on their properties would be the juiciest targets for a TIF-takeover. In what way are they now protected in law? I'd love to see the DC city government decide to condemn the Supreme Court Building for a taxably "more productive" apartment complex!!!!
The Feds won't stop it. That is up to your friends and neighbors, the same ones that select you to defend your country.
Trailers scare me. The hurricanes in Florida and the South East, go right them like cutting a cream pie. They have to be brave souls.
Lucky for me I don't "own" any property in this country, but I sure will do what I can for folks that have spent a lifetime and a lifetime's worth of money building their homes. I despise those who think that the government has the last say on what belongs to who.
That they do is not in question. Whether they should is something else. The issue of property rights is as murky as anything could be. Perhaps this turn of events will cause people to wake up and figure out what they have been doing all this time. Drifting and dreaming.
Thanks for the ping!
Property rights are plain and simple...I paid for it, it's mine. Any thing different from that shall be nuked.
My anger at government knows no bounds at this point. The sons of bitches and the bitches on Capitol Hill work for us.
#170 Pookie.
Thanks.
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.
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You know I've listend to that catchy tune for how many decades now and just now realized how serious that song really was.
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