New London Route Complete
It's all over for Susette Kelo and Michael Cristofaro. The last two holdouts from the original, failed Kelo v. New London suit have settled with the city of New London, CT. Kelo and Cristofaro will lose their homes and receive an undisclosed settlement. (Nutmeg State Gov. Jodi Rell has authorized some state funds for the property owners.)
A small sampling of Reason's coverage of this landmark eminent domain battle here, here, here, here, and here. Thanks to Fred Nolan for the tip.
Update: Institute for Justice emphasizes a couple pieces of good news for Kelo and Cristofaro:
In a compromise put forward by Kelo and accepted today by the City of New London, the home will be saved and moved to another location, perhaps close to where it originally stood over a century ago, on Pequot Avenue in New London…
Faced with eviction and the destruction of her beloved home, Kelo put forward an idea that she had originally proposed when first threatened with eminent domain abuse: preserving the home and moving it. When she first proposed this idea, it was rejected by the New London Development Corporation (NLDC). Now, the City, NLDC and the State of Connecticut have agreed to the move. While the precise location has not yet been determined, the house may be moved on or near Pequot Avenue, which is where the home originally stood before it was moved to Fort Trumbull over 100 years ago. There, the home, like Kelo's property in Fort Trumbull, will be very close to the Long Island Sound…
While Kelo's agreement today signifies her deep attachment to her home, the agreement reached with the other remaining homeowner, the Cristofaros, reflects the family's deep affiliation with the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, where they have lived for over 30 years. Although the Cristofaros will lose their current home, under the agreement, the City and the NLDC have agreed to support an application for more housing in Fort Trumbull, and the Cristofaro family has an exclusive right to purchase one of the homes at a fixed price. Moreover, a plaque will be installed in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood to commemorate the loss of family matriarch Margherita Cristofaro, who passed away while the battle against eminent domain abuse occurred in New London.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Well. I guess you really can't fight city hall..
I had damned good reasons for moving up to Connecticut ten years ago. I know I did. What the hell were they?
I find the lack of street rampages in homemade tanks depressing.
I had damned good reasons for moving up to Connecticut ten years ago. I know I did. What the hell were they?
Hot guys?
I knew I had good reasons for moving away from CT a year ago...this must have been one of them.
BTW, any guesses as to how much coverage the failure of the development will get?
Hot guys?
I did meet one here, but I think my motivation was something more noble and uplifting than that. Something about "a better place to. . ." hell, I don't remember.
As of July 1, Connecticut towns and cities will also get to keep $10 from every traffic ticket they give out. For safety reasons, of course. Happy Fiscal New Year!
But to give credit where it is due: Connecticut is a fine place for people traveling between New York and Boston to stop for a bathroom break. It really is. And I personally know of at least two mayors here who are neither child molesters nor buddies with the Mob.
And there's a little spot of newly vacant land in New London that's a great place to dump all your used motor oil and any plague-ridden corpses you might have lying around. But don't let the cops see you. And don't tell them it was my idea.
It's a bypass. You've got to build bypasses.
I am making this post solely because in my last two posts I put the wrong address and instead of my own little blog it led people to some Bible website. Oh, lord, I couldn't have embarrassed myself more if I tried.
I'm just not having a good day today.
Oh, and back on topic: the Kelo decision totally sucks.
Is the spelling of "route" in the title of the post a pun or a typo?
My daughter, it's spelled, B-L-O-G-S-P-O-T, not B-L-O-G-P-S-O-T.
Thou shalt not transpose letters.
Well, "The Lord," tell your followers that "Fer la genius" is a dumb-ass name for a Website. As opposed to "feralgenius," of course, which is utter perfection.
Thank you for the heads-up, Pro Libertate.
Wow, Jennifer; you must really be important if people have snapped up the misspellings of your blog name to grab extra traffic. Do you get any kickbacks?
Here's a idea for you: organize a throng of "urban campesinos" to move in and plant crops on the Kelo land. You can grow corn and sell it to your neighborhood ethanol co-op.
Goddammit. THIS one should be the right one.
If I still smoked pot I could at least blame this on being stoned or something. But nooooooooo. Sober. Healthy. Well-rested. Fuck.
Sober. Healthy. Well-rested. Fuck.
That sounds like a good afternoon to me, actually.
me, too, except for the sober part
I find the lack of street rampages in homemade tanks depressing.
Voted 1. Thread needs more Killdozer.
biologist: I prefer to fuck sober, just a preference.
This is, of course, local news for me, and the other night I caught the end of a TV news piece about it, and there was this faint aura of "What a bitch this Kelo person is" because apparently moving her little house to its new location is going to be a hassle for the city, or something.
Fuck the city of New London. Fuck 'em bloody, raw and gangrenous. Fuck 'em with a rusty fucking chainsaw. Fucking goatfuckers.
Sorry for the horrendous f-bomb carpetbombing job, but this is the most depressing thing I've read in weeks of bad news. 🙁
It seems rather sketchy that there is public money involved but it can't be disclosed.
What the hell isn't sketchy about all of this?
3 and a half years I spent in NL - there ain't much there except the base and Electric Boat (no wonder they fought so hard to get the subbase off the BRAC list) and there still won't be anythign after the "redevelopment" since apparently most of the private developers have backed out.
Basically most of the last couple of years of this story has been a great big fascist fuck you to the NL residents.
Why are the settlements undisclosed? I thought property sales were public record, especially when public money is being spent.
I hope new london goes bankrupt soon. The tax base of the city should take a hint and leave town. move to a less repressive city that respects home and family.
Why are the settlements undisclosed? I thought property sales were public record, especially when public money is being spent.
The settlement is likely considered compensation for damages. It could then be considered separately from the compensation for the actual property which, as you note, should be a matter of public record.