By private gain, do you mean Mr. Cagle personally stands to gain from his "powerplay", or that the City of Duncanville is looking to gain more tax revenues than they can get from Mrs. Hidge's property as is? Or, a combo of both?
I live on a small lake with no municipalities closeby. But hypothetically, let's say the county decided a marina-boat storage-restaurant-motel would pay more taxes than they could get from me and my neighbors. If they tried to use the "eminent domain" concept to let a developer profit from our private property while they raised their revenues, we'd get a good laywer, and fight the county like wildcats. I hope to die here.
The town of Alabaster is trying this ruse to get a Wal-Mart SuperCenter built in their town limits. And there is one already less than 10 miles south off I-65. The mayor wants more tax revenues and the developer wants a hefty profit.
You don't think the developer would accidently misplace some cash where the mayor could find it, do you? They only do that sort of thing in the movies, right? /sarcasm
I'm not saying that Mr. Cagle or the Alabaster mayor is a crook. But, some may doubt their motives are entirely for the public good.
I don't exactly equate the public good with shaving 5 minutes off your travel time to Wal-Mart.
There are some shenanigans going on here, and those defending it have made it clear they can be bought and sold. Thankfully, most of us can't be bought and sold.