Eminent Domain is for the Birds

Damon W. Root | July 8, 2009

From an editorial in The Day:

What does New London have after all the emotional damage, the hard feelings, the wounds to the community spirit that refuse to fully heal? What is there to show for the eminent domain fight, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld it, the struggle that ensued to enforce it and the $100 million state investment?

There are birds. As described in a front-page story in this newspaper Tuesday, the former neighborhood plowed under in the interest of developing the Fort Trumbull peninsula has sat undeveloped so long that it is turning into a wildlife refuge, "a meadow of wildflowers, milkweed and tall grasses" that has become a burgeoning bird habitat.

Read the rest here. Reason on Kelo v. City of New London here.

Thanks to Bob Ewing for the tip, who expresses my sentiments exactly: "Seriously, you can't make this stuff up."

Comments

|7.8.09 @ 3:46PM|#

I disagree with the Kelo decision.

|7.8.09 @ 3:55PM|#

Who wants to bet me that:

1. Some rare bird will be found there, stopping all development to keep it a wildlife preserve.

2. Those who sued to take the land will be happy at that development.

|7.8.09 @ 3:55PM|#

Please, Ghod, let some endangered critter show up there so it can't be developed, ever.

|7.8.09 @ 3:55PM|#

Dammit, jsh!

|7.8.09 @ 3:56PM|#

Please, Ghod, let some endangered critter show up there so it can't be developed, ever.

That wouldn't be a failure in the eyes of the liberals who supported the land grab.

robc|7.8.09 @ 4:06PM|#

At least a wildlife refuge would, technically, fall under "public use". And, unlike when takings are done with regulations, this one was done "right".

|7.8.09 @ 4:14PM|#

At least a wildlife refuge would, technically, fall under "public use".

Birds are members of the public now?

X|7.8.09 @ 4:28PM|#

Birds are members of the public now?

No, but their existence is a public good, or some such shit.

|7.8.09 @ 4:30PM|#

The wildlife refuge will be public use, when 30 years into the reign of President-King Barack of Chicago, the Bird Czar allows starving Connecticuters to hunt seagulls on those lands. With bows and arrows of course, since the scourge of guns on our country will have been removed by His Hopefulness' national gun ban.

|7.8.09 @ 4:32PM|#

The wildlife refuge will be public use, when 30 years into the reign of President-King Barack of Chicago

Poaching on the King's land is punishable by death, which is why the Anglican Lord's Prayer asks to "forgive us our trespasses", while the greedy Scots Presbyterian version is "forgive us our debts".

Or so I hear.

|7.8.09 @ 4:35PM|#

will have been removed by His Hopefulness' national gun ban

You mean the Pleasantness in Interpersonal Interaction Act? Your ugly words violate the Transparency in Intentions Act.

Such violations are not tolerated.

kinnath|7.8.09 @ 4:56PM|#

Please, Ghod, let some endangered critter show up there so it can't be developed, ever.

Ditto

Spoonman|7.8.09 @ 5:11PM|#

Can somebody just sneak an endangered species on there, and also onto City Hall grounds? Some kind of endangered wildflower or something?

¢|7.8.09 @ 5:16PM|#

Speaking of rare birds:

There are birds.

That's a 100% accurate sentence from the news.

Bird Shit Is Good For America|7.8.09 @ 5:23PM|#

Did you really think this would get built?

No need to "make room for an expansion by pharmaceutical giant" when GovCo is going to be nationalizing healthcare.

Pfizer (under the Obamacare) will scrape up the bird shit, put it in capsules, and have the government docs prescribe it for those unworthy souls who have become a burden on society.

Wake the fuck up, be a patriot, shut the fuck up, and take your pills boys and girls. This is AMERICA!

|7.8.09 @ 5:26PM|#

The big stink in Oxford Alabama is that the builders of the new Sam's Club have gotten permission from the city to scalp the top of the local Indian mound for fill dirt.

jtuf|7.8.09 @ 6:32PM|#

In NJ we have two ways to bully land owners. Redevelopment involves eminent domain and requires the government to cite blight as the reason. Rehabilitation does not involve eminent domain. It just requires the government agents to show up, say "Nice property here. It would be a shame if it became part of a redevelopment project. Here are some ideas we have on the new building you should build on it as part of a rehabilitation project." My town council members spent forever debating on the design for the rehabilitation project they planned for the Main Street area. While they were arguing, the real estate market crashed. There is no longer a demand for the condos they wanted to put up. The only thing the market can support is lower rent, smaller condos. I find poet justice in the prospect of low income single parents moving in when all is finished.

|7.8.09 @ 6:52PM|#

I would like very much to hear on this from a certain Blue commenter who, at the time of the original Kelo decision, said that the increased tax revenue that would be generated by the taking was sufficient reason to justify it.

BTW: I'm not hoping for an endangered bird, I'm hoping for a rabies outbreak brought on by the skunks that have moved in now that the people are gone.

Paul|7.8.09 @ 7:19PM|#

At least a wildlife refuge would, technically, fall under "public use".

Birds are members of the public now?

If I can walk on the land without having to be a Pfizer employee, than admittedly, that's "public use". Whereas before, the land was being taken for (hang on, I have to spit) a "public purpose".

zoltan|7.8.09 @ 7:24PM|#

I would like very much to hear on this from a certain Blue commenter who, at the time of the original Kelo decision, said that the increased tax revenue that would be generated by the taking was sufficient reason to justify it.


Bh-bh-but, Arrrrrrrresen, he meant at the time. And now with the evil bankers sending our economy into a downturn and causing this land not to be developed, it's still a good idea.

LarryA|7.8.09 @ 7:30PM|#

That wouldn't be a failure in the eyes of the liberals who supported the land grab.

This time it was a happy unintended consequence. Next time the enviros will be keloing land for the purpose of "letting it return to nature."

|7.8.09 @ 10:15PM|#

That wouldn't be a failure in the eyes of the liberals who supported the land grab.

But it would so fuck over the turd that used the state to get the land for him. Wonderful object lesson in double edges for that person.

Wonderful Hitchcock tie-in there Damon. We actually took a family vacation to Bodega Bay the summer after that movie came out; I was one scared kid the whole time we were there.

|7.8.09 @ 10:18PM|#

What do you want to bet that the birds will carry and transmit a killer flu to the population, bad enough that New London's connection with Kelo will be nothing more than an historical footnote in discussions of the greater calamity?

Hey, Libertarians are lately being called "Cassandras," I thought I would just run with that. You don't have to believe in the calamity. It believes in YOU.

Charlie Parker|7.8.09 @ 10:49PM|#

It's cuz I'm black, isn't it?

|7.8.09 @ 11:15PM|#

This really is one of the most revolting things our government has done in the last couple years, and that's saying something.

It would be hard to blame one of the former residents if they went all Ruby Ridge and formed some nutzoid militia group. I'd have to think I'd be rather emotional about it if it were me.

My favorite from the article:

"There is the promise of a U.S. Coast Guard museum that could one day spur other development"

Ah yes, A U.S. Coast Guard museum. They'll have to hire extra police just to deal with the mobs of tourists that undoubtedly will flock to such an attraction.

|7.9.09 @ 6:53AM|#

I was thinking that maybe Sir Barney Frank might order GM to build a factory in New London so that we can all have a Chevy in every pot. Then I remembered that the purple one is from Mass, ahhh, same difference.

wake up call|7.9.09 @ 9:13AM|#

WAKE UP AMERICA!

|7.9.09 @ 10:43AM|#

Cassandra is cool. You know her as Elvira. :-)

Justice has feathers...

Invisible Finger|7.9.09 @ 12:02PM|#

Please, Ghod, let some endangered critter show up there so it can't be developed, ever.

the only problem with that is it'll be the excuse to take over the 400 parcels next to it.