Free Republic

In June, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled government has the right to seize homes to make way for private redevelopment, it set off fear in the hearts of homeowners and lawmakers alike. A flurry of bills and state ballot initiatives have been introduced in response to concern that the court's decision can put anyone's property up for grabs through eminent domain. That case, Kelo v. City of New London, Conn., involved seizure of waterfront homes to allow the nonprofit New London Development Group to develop a hotel and health club near a new research center. It wasn't a blighted...

Dozens of major firms that relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina are unlikely to return to Louisiana unless they get a positive message from state policymakers by January, business leaders told lawmakers on Thursday. "Our hearts are in New Orleans but we have shareholders," said Richard Bachmann, chairman and chief executive officer of Energy Partners, a New Orleans oil and gas exploration firm that has moved key operations to Houston. Bachmann spoke for the leaders of about 50 firms that represent oil, banking, manufacturing and hospitality interests who are trying to decide whether to stay in Houston or return their...

Yorba Linda City Clerk Will Not Certify "Right to Vote" Initiative In what appears to be a classic legal delay tactic on behalf of the City of Yorba Linda, City Clerk Kathy Mendoza will not certify the "Yorba Linda Right to Vote Amendment." On advice from her independent legal counsel, the Clerk would not certify the petition, based on a 1999 Appellate Court interpretation of the State Election Code. Rather than go into the complex details of the case and the actions of the City Clerk in this text, you can download the complete report at Yorba Linda Forum....

The city of San Diego, with its much-admired downtown ballpark and Horton Plaza projects, has long been the poster child for the wise use of eminent domain: the right of government to seize private property, with just compensation, for what it deems public benefit. But after two outrageous stories in two weeks, a pair of local government bodies may find themselves held up as poster children for eminent domain's misuse – and deservedly. First came a report on the San Diego Model School Development Agency's push to seize and demolish 188 homes in the thriving City Heights neighborhood to build...

This coming Saturday, August 11th, I will address the Coalition for Redevelopment Reform in San Jose concerning our efforts to restore the private property rights of Californians through the Homeowner and Property Protection Act (SCA 15). I look forward to meeting fellow advocates of curbing eminent domain abuse and strengthening the support base for SCA 15. Nothing would send a louder message of the strength of our effort than citizens demanding that government return to its natural role as the defender of our property rights. The meeting is open to the public and I urge you to join me on...

Landowners become PALS to combat eminent domain by predatory L.A. redevelopment wolf-PACS Wednesday, August 03, 2005 With all the media hullabaloo about the recent U.S. Supreme Court case eminent domain ruling, one would think that local redevelopment agencies are hunkered down in bunkers fearing the wave of new legislation being proposed in California and other states to eliminate the use of eminent domain for redevelopment projects. Not so in Los Angeles where the City Council has adopted new procedures which will grab power away from eight citizen advisory committees for redevelopment projects, called Project Area Committees or PACS. In reaction...

An idea to pay a nearby community to build Mission Viejo's share of low-income homes fails. A short-lived idea in Mission Viejo to pay a neighboring community to provide its share of low-cost housing has renewed debate on whether the master-planned city is doing enough to create such housing. SNIP Last year, city officials angered housing advocates by twice rejecting plans for an apartment complex that would have fulfilled the city's low-cost housing obligation. The housing debate in upscale Mission Viejo has been rekindled by an idea quietly raised two months ago by Planning Commissioner Brad Morton, who suggested the...

PALMDALE - The ink was hardly dry on Wednesday's 5-4 Supreme Court decision widening community powers of eminent domain when Mayor Jim Ledford and the City Council found themselves confronted over the site where construction has begun for a new Valley hospital. Council members will meet Monday night in closed session to discuss a threatened eminent-domain action brought by the Antelope Valley Healthcare District to seize a 30-acre parcel southeast of Palmdale Boulevard and Tierra Subida where a private hospital would be built by Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania. Palmdale and the city's Community Redevelopment Agency share a stake in...

The name Vignali receded into L.A. history after the “Pardongate” scandal of 2001, but questions remain about drug-dealing son Carlos and his real estate magnate father, Horacio, who just might be pulling the strings in the remaking of downtown L.A. --snip--- “Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House,” House Report 107-454, documents the involvement of Hugh Rodham, the brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Vignali affair. Rodham was Horacio Vignali’s chief lobbyist inside the White House and received more than $200,000 for his services. The two met through Los Angeles attorney James Casso in October 2000, according...

SANTA CRUZ — Downtown property owner Ron Lau vows he will fight the city’s attempt to seize his land for redevelopment. "That’s unfortunate and misguided and just a flaw in how we as human beings operate," Lau said of the city Redevelopment Agency’s plans to condemn his Pacific Avenue property that has been sitting empty since the Loma Prieta earthquake leveled much of the area in 1989. A Hawaiian native who lives in Watsonville, Lau is a self-described free spirit who doesn’t like to be told what to do or when to do it. He owns the gaping concrete pit...

EAST PEORIA - An Iraqi minister has encouraged Caterpillar Inc. to establish a base of operations in the Middle Eastern country. "Iraq has been in a state of disrepair for 40 years. There's a lot of work to be done, and Caterpillar could play a role in that redevelopment," said Iraqi Minister of Transportation Behnam Polis, who spoke Monday at the Par-A-Dice Hotel, site of the International Construction Innovations Conference, sponsored by Bradley University. "We are looking to partner with the best companies in the world. Caterpillar has roots in Iraq that go back to the 1950s. I would like...

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proved he is serious about bringing a NFL team back to Los Angles, signing a bill Thursday to help boost the redevelopment of the Los Angeles Coliseum, according to the L.A. Times. Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2805, which essentially aids the Hoover Redevelopment Zone by committing specific tax revenue to the stadium project. It is important to note the money generated can't be used on the stadium specifically, but it could defray the cost of surrounding infrastructure by $25 million to $30 million. However, Schwarzenegger's willingness to sign the bill in the first place seems to...

<p>One writer called it "the Dresden of eminent domain cases."</p> <p>Two decades ago, Detroit's Poletown neighborhood was leveled to make way for a General Motors Corp. auto plant. Turned to rubble was an area of more than 1,200 homes, 140 businesses, six churches and a hospital.</p>

Miami's Community Redevelopment Agency gave a little-known painter about $24,000 in cash and subsidies over a one-year period as part of an obscure ''Artist-in-Residence'' program tailor-made for him, not long before negotiating a deal to buy his late father's church. Ernest King, an often-homeless street artist with a felony arrest record, received food vouchers, clothing allowances, and even hundreds of dollars for paintings paid by Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. and then-CRA Director Annette Lewis, who were then reimbursed by the CRA, records from the city's finance department show. Taxpayer payout to King from the CRA: $11,000 -- rent $7,860...

CALIFORNIA CITY - Facing opposition from landowners, California City has postponed until July a decision to use eminent domain to secure land for a proposed Hyundai Motor Co.-Kia Motor Corp. test track facility. The decision gives property owners and the city nearly a month to continue negotiations for sale of the properties without resorting to eminent domain proceedings. "It is the city's philosophy not to use eminent domain except as a last resort," City Manager Jack Stewart said. The City Council, meeting as the Redevelopment Agency, voted 3-2 June 3 on a resolution that would begin eminent domain proceedings to...

<p>A modern, mass transit friendly village for an aging population is one vision for an often ignored section of Auburn Boulevard.</p> <p>Citrus Heights city officials are being challenged to look 25 years ahead as they decide how to revamp nearly two miles of Auburn Boulevard, stretching from Roseville into the heart of Citrus Heights.</p>

<p>When Gov. Gray Davis unveiled his $10.2 billion down payment on closing the state's immense budget deficit, now calculated at about $35 billion, a significant chunk was grabbing the estimated $500 million in housing money that local redevelopment agencies have accumulated but not spent.</p>

<p>Pittsburgh will get a long-promised new hotel at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, even if the city has to build it.</p> <p>Steve Leeper, executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, said Tuesday that he wants the Downtown hotel under construction by spring.</p>