Landowners must yield to ballpark

The Washington Times ^ | 10-6-05 | Tim Lemke

[JZelle]

The District will begin using eminent domain to acquire parcels of land at the site of the Washington Nationals' ballpark by the end of this month, after unsuccessful negotiations with nearly half of the landowners. City officials said they expect to file court documents to take over at least some of the 21-acre site in the coming weeks and have $97 million set aside to buy the properties and help landowners relocate. The city made offers to all 23 landowners on the site last month but received no response from 10. "We think there are some that we'll have good-faith negotiations with," said Steve Green, director of development in the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. "There are some we haven't heard from at all."

[SunkenCiv]

Instead of banning stearoids -- which clearly doesn't work, because of the huge financial incentives for violating the "policy" -- their use should be regulated, and...

Whew. That was close.

[Servant of the 9]

City officials said they expect to file court documents to take over at least some of the 21-acre site in the coming weeks and have $97 million set aside to buy the properties and help landowners relocate.

I don't aprove of using imminent Domain to take land for purposes like this, but at over $100.00/sq ft at least they aren't ripping people off financially by paying them a pittance.

So9

[A. Pole]

Meanwhile, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission has been sparring with the new Anacostia Waterfront Corp. (AWC) on the location of ballpark parking. The AWC, which the city created to promote development along the Anacostia River waterfront, said it prefers an underground parking garage beneath 600,000 to 800,000 square feet of office and retail development. The commission said that would run up too many costs and take too long to build.

No problem, now AWC can use domain grab in turn (until someone else comes)

[P8riot]

Well. first they take your guns, then they take your property. Does there seem to be a pattern here?