Fighting Juvenile Delinquency, And Government Land Grab, Too
At this boxing gym, they were just supposed to be fighting juvenile deliquency, but they're also fighting the San Diego government, which is trying to take over their property by calling it "blighted." It's a sham designation, says Institute for Justice, which has taken on their case. Unbelievable that in America, government tries to do this -- tell a property owner to hand over their land so a developer can use the land to build luxury condos.
More on this from IJ:
"The law doesn't allow the government to take away your property so that someone wealthier can have it," said IJ Senior Attorney Dana Berliner. "National City's bogus blight designation is a deliberate strategy of using 'blight' as a pretext for transferring property from owners of modest means, like the CYAC, to powerful developers for their private use.""This case is reminiscent of the California Supreme Court smackdown of National City in 1976," Rowes said. "That landmark decision rejected the use of bogus blight designations for private economic development and National City has set itself up to be rightfully smacked down once again.
More recently, in January 2009 the California Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a lower court ruling that had for a short time derailed the gym's legal challenge seeking to prove how governments in California declare property "blighted" and pave the way for eminent domain abuse. The Court of Appeals' decision sent the case back to the trial court with instructions to allow the nonprofit CYAC to make its case that National City violated the law when it declared roughly 700 properties blighted in 2007.
"This will be the first case decided under the reforms passed by the Legislature in response to the infamous Kelo decision, and it will decide whether those reforms offer any protection for the CYAC and property owners throughout the state," Berliner said.
"National City ignored this new California law in ramming through a false blight declaration targeting humble property owners across the city. The CYAC is fighting this outrage not only for itself, but to establish precedent to protect all Californians."
More and more, these days, I'm hearing the sort of stories that I used to think didn't happen in America. I grew up believing I was so lucky to live in a country where human rights were respected. I'm feeling less and less like that today.
A bit on the Kelo case here. Here's Tibby Rothman's LA Weekly story about a case in Los Angeles -- a Glendale motel owner who doesn't want to sell to mallapalooza developer Rick Caruso.
Here's another case in Mount Holly, New Jersey:
Just an update on the Mount Holly situation. The Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit said the township could not file for eminent domain. See http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/118224124.html.
However, with the precedence of the Kelo decision, it's certainly conceivable that Mount Holly could appeal the decision and win.
factsarefacts at March 18, 2011 8:11 AM
Didn't New Haven, CT do this?
Radwaste at March 18, 2011 8:13 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/03/fighting-juveni.html#comment-1936420">comment from RadwasteDidn't New Haven, CT do this?
Kelo. See the link above. Disgusting.
Amy Alkon
at March 18, 2011 8:51 AM
Nah, Raddy, it was New London, CT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London
Flynne at March 18, 2011 9:59 AM
This is an issue that conservatives and liberals ought to be able to agree on. Neither should a person enjoy special privileges under the law just because they are wealthy, nor should the government be a party to trampling on private property rights.
Cousin Dave at March 18, 2011 10:14 AM
From 2005:
"The Supreme Court ruled that the government has the right to seize your land. And today Native Americans said, what else is new?"
--Jay Leno
lenona at March 18, 2011 12:22 PM
I'll have to find the link, but I just read about a small business owner who has lost 5 properties to so-called eminent domain. He has one property left to move his business, but they won't let him because of the neighborhood zoning restrictions. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say he peeesed off someone in power, but that doesn't happen, right?
Kat at March 18, 2011 11:48 PM
Leave a comment